03-08-2015, 05:44 PM
Why would the Iceni go this way?
because they are looking for a fight. They know the Romans are coming down Watling Street or assembling around the Street so they are going to get them. We could go for a direct westward move across the Wash as Steve hints it may be passable, but I'd suggest they are off for a hunting expedition up Watling Street to finish off the Romans, last seen returning from a recce to London. (recce implies far less elan and more routine than dash in my dictionary) also the move to hit a Roman position on Watling Street, need not have come up the road itself, maybe the Ouse or Nene vallies instead, Roman Roads are massively over rated by Romanists.
We know that the rebels went south to the centres of Romanisation - Colchester, London and St Albans
We "know" they went to Colchester, we "know" some of them went to London and St Albans, we don't know if this was from the the North or East in the case of St Albans, you are overtly over egging the knowns with this, a little more discipline please, but I'm pretty sure I'm repeating recent stuff here.
Let me try and help you with the Wash stuff, it's not too deep and I'm sorry you are finding it impenetrable...... :whistle:
The Wash was an impediment to the Iceni movement, yes? (nod here)
It was big and wet and between Iceniland and where we know the Romans to have been during their advance South, yes? (nod here)
OK that means we can speculate that whether, in a first advance immediately post Colchester, or a second later advance, the Iceni and/or Trinovanti left what is effectively an East Anglian Peninsula somewhere between Great Chesterford and the Thames, thus delimiting their movement to a particular front, ok?
(did you get that one? if so please nod again)
"Could not have got much further from the Wash if they tried"
Now you are just being silly, whether Iceni territority was defined by the Western or Eastern boundary of the Wash it would have been a fundamental piece of their tribal geography. If they considered their tribal lands to include the Wash marshes, well blimey that puts their boundary a mere 25km from Watling St (Huntingdon to Milton Keynes) or 40km St Ives to Northampton. This makes the strategic position of the Wash important for a strike on the Romans (whether dug in or en route) but also brings the Roman force close enough to Iceni territory to comprise an existential threat to the Iceni home lands.
So two points for you to chew on, it will help you firm up your physical geography of the area and be a little less wishy-washy. If you do indeed feel a little less wishy-washy could you crack on with your Akeman St/Fosse Way nomination, your opportunity to make a credible case for a strategy is really undone the more you drift away from making a site nomination :woot: :woot: :woot: I'm happy to help you further with the wetlands but please reciprocate with a nomination and defence. The idea that there are Romans bibbling around on Akeman Street, maybe waiting for reinforcements, maybe busy looking over their shoulders with no vallies to defend seems undefensible, so what is it you are not telling us? After all Bicester (Akeman street) puts you just 20-30km South of Church Stowe.
because they are looking for a fight. They know the Romans are coming down Watling Street or assembling around the Street so they are going to get them. We could go for a direct westward move across the Wash as Steve hints it may be passable, but I'd suggest they are off for a hunting expedition up Watling Street to finish off the Romans, last seen returning from a recce to London. (recce implies far less elan and more routine than dash in my dictionary) also the move to hit a Roman position on Watling Street, need not have come up the road itself, maybe the Ouse or Nene vallies instead, Roman Roads are massively over rated by Romanists.
We know that the rebels went south to the centres of Romanisation - Colchester, London and St Albans
We "know" they went to Colchester, we "know" some of them went to London and St Albans, we don't know if this was from the the North or East in the case of St Albans, you are overtly over egging the knowns with this, a little more discipline please, but I'm pretty sure I'm repeating recent stuff here.
Let me try and help you with the Wash stuff, it's not too deep and I'm sorry you are finding it impenetrable...... :whistle:
The Wash was an impediment to the Iceni movement, yes? (nod here)
It was big and wet and between Iceniland and where we know the Romans to have been during their advance South, yes? (nod here)
OK that means we can speculate that whether, in a first advance immediately post Colchester, or a second later advance, the Iceni and/or Trinovanti left what is effectively an East Anglian Peninsula somewhere between Great Chesterford and the Thames, thus delimiting their movement to a particular front, ok?
(did you get that one? if so please nod again)"Could not have got much further from the Wash if they tried"
Now you are just being silly, whether Iceni territority was defined by the Western or Eastern boundary of the Wash it would have been a fundamental piece of their tribal geography. If they considered their tribal lands to include the Wash marshes, well blimey that puts their boundary a mere 25km from Watling St (Huntingdon to Milton Keynes) or 40km St Ives to Northampton. This makes the strategic position of the Wash important for a strike on the Romans (whether dug in or en route) but also brings the Roman force close enough to Iceni territory to comprise an existential threat to the Iceni home lands.
So two points for you to chew on, it will help you firm up your physical geography of the area and be a little less wishy-washy. If you do indeed feel a little less wishy-washy could you crack on with your Akeman St/Fosse Way nomination, your opportunity to make a credible case for a strategy is really undone the more you drift away from making a site nomination :woot: :woot: :woot: I'm happy to help you further with the wetlands but please reciprocate with a nomination and defence. The idea that there are Romans bibbling around on Akeman Street, maybe waiting for reinforcements, maybe busy looking over their shoulders with no vallies to defend seems undefensible, so what is it you are not telling us? After all Bicester (Akeman street) puts you just 20-30km South of Church Stowe.
