Roman Governors of Britania

Governors of the unified Province(s) of Britannia

Britain was an imperial province and the appointment of the governor was the choice of the Emperor and was a senator from the highest classes in Roman society. The formal title of the governor under the early empire was legatus Augusti pro praetore. – literally: “envoy of the emperor – acting for the praetor”. 

As the unified province “Britannia”, Roman Britain was a consular province, meaning that its governors had to first serve as a consul in Rome before they could govern it. While this rank could be obtained either as a suffect or ordinarius, a number of governors were consules ordinarii, and also appear in the List of Early Imperial Roman Consuls. 

Roman governors had full control of all the military forces stationed in the province and could take any military action without prior consent of the emperor or the senate. The governor was also the supreme judicial authority of the province and was the only person who could order the imposition of the death penalty. Financial duties included the audit of the financial records of the cities within the province, and to set taxation rates and appoint tax collectors.

To help the Governor in his duties he had a personal staff of about 30-40 individuals, including personal assistants, secretaries, police officers, couriers, accountants and clerks. Some of the staff would have been slaves or freedmen. There was also a legatus iuridicus, or law-officer, who could go around the province and deal with some of the legal matters to leave more of the Governor’s time free for campaigns and peace-keeping.

Governors of Britannia

The list of governors is complete from the Roman invasion until the recall of Julius Agricola, either in AD 83 or 84, and often with a margin of error of no more than a year.  From from 83 AD to 409 AD, record-keeping became patchier, with frequent gaps in the records and elements of unreliability in all dating.  The situation becomes worse following the division of Roman Britannia into two provinces, and records for the fourth century are almost nonexistent.

#	Name	Period
1	Aulus Plautius	43 – 46 AD
2	Quintus Petillius Cerialis	71 – 73/4 AD
3	Publius Ostorius Scapula	47 – 52 AD
4	Aulus Didius Gallus	52 – 57 AD
5	Quintus Veranius	57 – 58 AD
6	Publius Petronius Turpilianus	61/2 – 63 AD
7	Marcus Trebellius Maximus	63 – 69 AD
8	Marcus Vettius Bolanus (c. 33 – 76)	69 – 71 AD
9	Sextus Julius Frontinus	73 – 78 AD
10	Sallustius Lucullus	83/4 – 96 AD
11	Publius Metilius Nepos	c. 94 – 98 AD
12	Tiberius Avidius Quietus	c. 97 – c. 101 AD
13	Lucius Neratius Marcellus	101 – 104 AD
14	Marcus Appius Bradua	115 – 118 AD
15	Quintus Pompeius Falco	118–122 AD
16	Aulus Platorius Nepos	122 – ?125 AD
17	Trebius Germanus	c.126 AD
18	Sextus Calpurnius Agricola	By 163/4 – ?166 AD
19	Quintus Antistius Adventus	Period 169 – 180 AD
20	Caerellius Priscus	Period 169-180 AD
21	Ulpius Marcellus	180 – c.184 AD
22	Publius Helvius Pertinax	185AD – c.187
23	Virius Lupus	197 – 200/202 AD
24	Marcus Antius Crescens Calpurnianus	c. 202 AD
25	Lucius Alfenus Senecio	205/207 – c.208/9 AD
26	Sextus Julius Severus	c.131AD – 132/3 AD
27	Publius Mummius Sisenna	c.132/3 – 135 AD
28	Quintus Lollius Urbicus	138/9 – ?144 AD
29	Gnaeus Papirius Aelianus	c. 145 – c. 147 AD
30	Longinus	158 – 161 AD
31	Marcus Statius Priscus	161 – 162AD
32	Gaius Suetonius Paulinus	58 – 61 AD
33	Gnaeus Julius Agricola	77/8AD – 83/4 AD
34	Gnaeus Julius Verus	by 158 AD
35	Decimus Clodius Albinus	c. 187 – c. 191 AD

Around 197 AD, the Severan Reforms divided Britain into two provinces: Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior. Roman tradition was to name divided provinces in line with their actual distance from Rome. The closest or upper (in rank) province was the superior and the further away, lower province was the inferior. The superior had a consular governor, while the inferior was ruled by someone of the praetorian rank. 

Governors of Britannia Inferior

#	Name	Period
1	Gaius Julius Marcus	c. 213 – 214 AD
2	Marcus Antonius Gordianus	214 – 216 AD
3	Modius Julianus	AD 219
4	Tiberius Claudius Paulinus	220 AD
5	Marius Valerianus	221 – 223 AD
6	Claudius Xenephon	223 AD
7	Maximus	225 AD
8	Valerius Crescens Fulvianus	225 – 235 AD
9	Calvisius Ruso	225 – 235 AD
10	[T]uccianus?	237 AD
11	Claudius Apellinus	–
12	Egnatius Lucilianus	238 – 244AD
13	Maecilius Fuscus	238 – 244 AD
14	Nonius Philippus	242 AD
15	Marcus Valerius Felix	244 AD
16	Octavius Sabinus	262 – 266 AD

Governors of Britannia Superior

• Tiberius Julius Pollienus Auspex (sometime during c. 223 – 226)
• Gaius Junius Faustinus Postumianus (probably sometime during 222–235)
• Rufinus (probably early 3rd century)
• Marcus Martiannius Pulcher (3rd century)
• Titus Desticius Juba (253–255)