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The Rise of Claudius
With no obvious successor to Caligula, a political vacuum emerged. While the Senate met to decide the fate of the Empire, the Praetorian Guard discovered Claudius, Germanicus's younger brother, cowering behind a curtain in the palace. At their insistence, the Senate named him the new Princeps, despite their reservations.
Claudius was, at first glance, an unlikely choice, and viewed as unsuitable by the Roman elites. He was already 50 years old, had no administrative or military career, and had physical disabilities, because of which the Senate and other elites were prejudiced against him. However, he was an intelligent man (something even recognized by Augustus, who had spent late nights talking with him over drinks) and a historian. Most importantly, he had produced a 41-volume history of Augustus, and thus, he knew all about the Empire, its history, and how to administrate it.
Claudius’s Domestic Policy
Claudius was interested in governmental efficiency, something that further soured his relations with the Senate. Though he was not hostile to it as a body, he did revive the censor to remove Senators who did not meet the qualifications and abolished a number of senatorial offices that overlapped with imperial ones. He also interfered with proconsular appointments and took control of the aerarium, the main Roman treasury. Even if these actions created greater administrative efficiency, it still reduced the Senate's power and was taken as an insult.
In the name of efficiency, Claudius created a vast Roman bureaucracy. While Augustus had made administrative changes, his rule had been exceedingly personal, requiring him to manage all matters himself. However, by Claudius’s time, the amount of administrative matters was becoming too much for one person to handle. Claudius thus founded a secretariat with Roman freedmen as its staff, each handling different matters such as imperial correspondences, finances, and judicial matters, much to the Senate’s displeasure.
Claudius also exhibited a liberal citizenship policy, expanding trends begun under Augustus. Whole tribes in the Alps and Gaul were granted citizenship, with their chiefs now running for the office of quaestor, a senatorial-level position with financial investigative powers. This was legal, given their newly acquired citizen status, but incurred senatorial ire. Claudius, stating that the greatness of Rome lay in its acceptance of foreign elements, forced the Senate to allow the elections of Gallic chiefs to quaestor and used his control over the censors to assure their election.
Claudius’s Foreign Policy
Claudius revived Augustus's policy of military expansion. He was served well by highly competent generals and began his conquests with Mauretania in North Africa. Caligula had previously invited the native king to Rome and ordered him to commit suicide, causing Mauretania to revolt. Claudius inherited the disturbance, and, in 41-42 CE, repressed the revolt and annexed the region as an imperial province.
His crowning conquest was Britain. In 44 CE, Roman troops landed on the island, and pushed the British forces back to the Thames. At that point, Claudius arrived to accept their surrender. For this, he received a triumph, renamed the area Britannia, and was given the title Britannicus, which he passed on to his son. Rome would not conquer all of Britain under Claudius, but the south was theirs.
Claudius’s Downfall
Claudius was no stranger to attempts on his life throughout his reign, but it was his final wife who succeeded. Upon the execution of his previous wife, who had planned to usurp the throne with her lover, he married Agrippina the Younger, daughter of Germanicus, and her adopted her son, Nero. She was ambitious, killing any relatives that could prevent Nero's (and her) assent to power. Claudius died in 54 CE, with most accounts agreeing that Agrippina had him poisoned. Upon his death, the Praetorian Prefect named Nero as Princeps, and the Senate agreed.
Claudius, despite doing much for the Empire, was represented negatively Roman histories. This was partially because of the prejudices of the Roman elites against him due to his disabilities, and partially because of his disregard for the traditional role of the Senate. Instead, he expanded the powers of the Princeps in such a way that he truly became the first Roman emperor to fully embrace the power of the title. He left behind a legacy of administrative and fiscal efficiency, increased citizenship, and a less powerful Senate.
