THE ancient records of Bononia, or Boulogne-sur-Mer, date back to about
half a century before Christ--to the time when Julius Caesar,
anticipating Napoleon the Great, stood on the north-eastern cliffs of
that town gazing through the Channel mist on the dim outline of that
Britain which he had resolved to subjugate.
At that period two headlands stretched out into the sea for a distance
of three miles--one on the northeastern side of the town, near to what
is now known as Fort la Cresche; and the other from Cape Alpreck, about
three miles lower down on the south-western coast. These headlands,
stretching out into the sea, so encircled a bay as to form it into an
outward haven.
The inner harbour of Boulogne was approached by a narrow channel
dividing the north-eastern from the south-western cliffs; and the
waters of the bay, flowing through it and uniting with the River Liane
in covering the present site of the lower town, rushed onwards as far
as the valley of Tintelleries and the vale of St. Martin.
Facing the site of the present town there was an island called Elna,
and on it was built the ancient town of Gessoriac, which was connected
with the mainland by a bridge. Realising the future importance of the
place both for naval and military purposes, Caesar commissioned Pedius,
a native of Bononia, in Italy, to lay out a town on the declivity of
the Grande Rue, leading to Haute Ville, as the upper town and the hill
leading to it are called at the present day. (Bertrand's "History of
Boulogne-sur-Mer," pp. 17, 18. "Walkernaer's Geography," vol. i., p.
454).
The walls of the present fortifications of Haute Ville, built in the
thirteenth century, rest on the ancient foundations of the old Roman
encampment. This fact was proved at the time when a tunnelling was made
for the railway from Boulogne to Calais under Haute Ville
("Dictionnaire Historique et Archeologique du Pas de Calais," vol. i,
p. 22). The circuit of the present fortifications, about 700 yards
square, present to-day the appearance pf the old Roman encampment. "The
camp of a Roman legion," writes Gibbon, "presented all the appearance
of a fortified city. As soon as the place was marked out, the pioneers
carefully levelled the ground and removed every impediment that might
interrupt its perfect regularity. It forms an exact quadrangle, and we
might calculate that a square of 700 yards was sufficient for the
encampment of 20,000 Romans, though a similar number of our troops
would expose to an enemy a front of more than treble its extent. In the
midst of the camp the pretorium, or general's quarters, rose above the
others; the cavalry, the infantry, and the auxiliaries occupied their
respective stations; the streets were broad and straight, and a vacant
of 200 feet was left on all sides between the tents and the ramparts.
The rampart itself was usually twelve feet high, and defended by a
ditch twelve feet in depth, as well as in breadth. This important
labour was performed by the legionaries themselves, to whom the use of
the spade and the pick-axe was no less familiar than the sword and the
pilum" ("Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," vol. i., p. 27.) This
gives a faithful description of the Roman encampment (Castra Stativa)
at Boulogne, which is described by St. Patrick as Bonaven Tabernise, or
Bononia, where the Roman encampment was pitched. Bononia, according to
Bertrand's "History of Boulogne," was regarded by the Romans as their
"principal dockyard" in Northern Gaul; and Suetonius, in his "Lives of
the Twelve Caesars," describes it "as the port from which the Roman
legions successively departed for Britain" (p. 283, note).
Many err in supposing that Gessoriac and Bononia were one and the same
town, originally called Gessoriac, and later, that is to say during the
reign of Constantine the Great, known as Bononia. It is true, however,
that during that Emperor's reign Gessoriac also came to be called
Bononia.
It is well to observe that the Morini, or inhabitants of the coast in
the neighbourhood of Boulogne, were converted to Christianity by St.
Firmin about the close of the second century; and that St. Fusian built
a chapel on the banks of the River Liane, which flows through Boulogne,
in the year 275.
St. Patrick, in his "Confession," represents himself and the fellow-
citizens of his youth as Christians who had not observed the
Commandments of God, and who had not been obedient to their priests. At
that time the Northern Britons were pagans; St. Ninian, who flourished
about the year 400, was the first missioner who preached the Gospel to
the Dalraida and Southern Picts. They could not, therefore, have been
described in the year 388, when St. Patrick was made captive, as
Christians who had ceased to practise their religion. "I knew not the
real God," writes St. Patrick, "and I was brought captive to Ireland
with many thousand men, as we deserved, for we had forgotten God and
had not kept His Commandments, and were disobedient to our priests, who
admonished us for our salvation. And the Lord brought down upon us the
anger of His Spirit, and scattered us amongst many nations, even to the
ends of the earth, where now my humble self may be witnessed among
strangers" ("Confession").