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RE: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand. - Theoderic - 09-25-2021
Populations seem to be correct at Colchester 15,000, London 10,000 and St Albans 5,000 but as both London and St Albans would have been evacuated either under their own violition or with SP (with a few left behind in London) it seems that the actual civilians in those places who were slaughtered would be less than 20,000 as opposed to the 80,000 mentioned.
Regarding the grain stored in these places the Iceni and Trinovantes would have emptied the granaries as part of the sacking of Colchester but as SP arrived in St Albans and London before the Brythons. SP in turn would have raided the stores that he needed or had capacity to move and destroyed anything he couldn’t in order to prevent the enemy accessing the supplies.
I still feel that the quickest way to London would have been via Watling Street and to St Albans, a Roman City that had to be protected. If this was the case the food caches at the forts would have been consumed on the way down the country and therefore retreating back up Watling Street would not have been a preferred option. Akeman Street then comes into play as the best way back to Roman Army strength in the West.
Difficult to estimate numbers of Brythons as there were other tribes at the battle other than the Iceni and Trinovantes, according to the sources.
I agree with Nathan as the battle playing out in autumn but I would go for third week in September to allow for the arrival of re-inforcements from Germany and the replacement for Catus.
The fact that there were 400 dead and 400 wounded romans would imply that it wasn't a walkover but 80,000 dead Brythons does seem excessive. Certainly a lot of Brythons escaped to fight another day - for a long time.
RE: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand. - Nathan Ross - 09-25-2021
(09-25-2021, 03:15 PM)Theoderic Wrote: it seems that the actual civilians in those places who were slaughtered would be less than 20,000
I agee - perhaps considerably fewer. But with a citizen population that small, even a few thousand deaths would have had a great impact.
(09-25-2021, 03:15 PM)Theoderic Wrote: the quickest way to London would have been via Watling Street and to St Albans, a Roman City that had to be protected.
I agree with Michael that Paulinus would first have directed his march towards Colchester, intending to link up with Cerialis on the way. Only after abandoning London would he fall back on St Albans, where supplies would remain intact.
The strategic map of the campaign, considering only Roman movements, would look like this:
(Original map from here)
(09-25-2021, 03:15 PM)Theoderic Wrote: I would go for third week in September to allow for the arrival of re-inforcements from Germany and the replacement for Catus.
Possibly, at a push, but probably requiring a bit too much motu propere from Paulinus, and from his intended reinforcements from the west!
RE: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand. - Hanny - 09-25-2021
(09-25-2021, 02:18 PM)Nathan Ross Wrote: In Britain the campaign season started in the summer (Tacitus, Agricola 20) - in Gaul it only began in July (Ammianus 17.8).
As Paulinus had completed his operations on Anglesey by the time he heard of the revolt, it must have begun in late summer. The planting season missed by the Iceni, therefore, would be the main autumn one, in October. They would have completed their harvest, in August, before beginning the revolt.
In the UK on the summer solstice (June 21st) there are 16 hours, 41 minutes and 5 seconds of daylight; sunrise is at 04.42, sunset at 21.23.
However, the battle almost certainly happened in the autumn.
Roman campaign season along with all its religious festivals set at specific times had a set month to start and ends in October, just because this campaign set out late would not change that.
Pliny tells us emmer wheat, the most likely cereal crop of the Iceni, has to have 4 months of fallow after harvest in autumn, it takes 8 to months to grow and is single crop a year Cerial so this is one reason why I think it may be a 2 year event as you can’t get the crops and campaign to align in a single year, nor do I see an easy way to establish a timeline for a single campaign period.The next wheat crop is spelt, and could be sown in spring for a summer crop, ie a deliberate change to its natural cycle to avoid pests, and Buster farm project has show that spelt produces lower crop yields than emmer when sown in spring.
Throughout history campaigns start when crops are milk ripe so you can take them for use.
Romans used a 12 hour daylight and 12 hour nightime water clock, so a 3 hour battle to a Roman was not always the same as modern 3 hour battle, so just using modern sunrise to sunset does not yield the same hours a Roman worked.
(09-25-2021, 02:18 PM)Nathan Ross Wrote: Do you mean Wroxeter, and Mona? Iona is in the Hebrides...
![[Image: wink.png]](https://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/images/icons/wink.png){kind=icon}
Mona, predictive texting or to many beers by the ?♀️
RE: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand. - Nathan Ross - 09-25-2021
(09-25-2021, 06:15 PM)Hanny Wrote: Roman campaign season along with all its religious festivals set at specific times had a set month to start and ends in October
The traditional festivals of Tubilustrium and Armilustrium were developed when Roman warfare was still small scale and centred in Italy. Even then, there is surely a reason why they had a second Tubilustrium on May 23rd.
Unless we are to believe that practical Roman military considerations were everywhere and at all times subordinate to arcane religious rituals, we must take seriously the evidence of Roman literature (given above) that the campaign season in northern Europe and Britain did not begin until mid summer.
Paulinus no doubt intended to finish his campaign in Wales by late August or early September, and would have done so had he not been interrupted by those pesky Icenis...
Armilustrium was not until October 19th, however, so he had plenty of time (even given religious considerations!) to conduct a rapid punitive expedition against the rebels before sending his troops into winter quarters - which is exactly what he did, as soon as the operations were concluded.
(09-25-2021, 06:15 PM)Hanny Wrote: Pliny tells us emmer wheat, the most likely cereal crop of the Iceni, has to have 4 months of fallow after harvest in autumn...
Interesting - do you have a reference for that? I'm guessing it's in Book 18, but all I can find is a note about crop rotation: "Another order of rotation is for ground where there has been a crop of emmer wheat to lie fallow during the four winter months and to be given spring beans; but it should not lie fallow before being sown with winter-beans." (NH 18.52)
(09-25-2021, 06:15 PM)Hanny Wrote: The next wheat crop is spelt, and could be sown in spring for a summer crop, ie a deliberate change to its natural cycle to avoid pests, and Buster farm project has show that spelt produces lower crop yields than emmer when sown in spring.
Yes, there is archaeological evidence for both emmer and spelt from Iron Age Britain, and both have been grown experimentally at Butser. As you say, spelt does a lot better when planted in the autumn, and as emmer was also planted in both autumn and spring then autumn planting was probably the source of the bulk cereal crop. There's still a lot of uncertainty about ancient agricultural patterns, but we could pore over this study from 1999 (pp.268-270) for some hard data on crop yields and planting seasons.
(09-25-2021, 06:15 PM)Hanny Wrote: nor do I see an easy way to establish a timeline for a single campaign period.
The chronological coordinates we have are that the revolt broke out while Paulinus was away in North Wales, he had completed his campaign against Anglesey by the time he heard of the revolt, and there was time for reinforcements to arrive from the Rhine army before he put his troops into winter quarters. Also that the Iceni later suffered famine as they had gone away to war and so did not plant crops.
It is possible to fit these events into a single year - little more than a month for the main events (I'll share an updated chronology here when I've tidied it up a bit!). In fact, I think we must put the main events, up to the final battle, into a short space of time - the rest of Paulinus's army was still in North Wales, and if they and other troops had time to join him before the battle, he would have had more then 10,000 men with him. He did not, so they did not, so there was insufficient time for them to do so.
(09-25-2021, 06:15 PM)Hanny Wrote: Romans used a 12 hour daylight and 12 hour nightime water clock... just using modern sunrise to sunset does not yield the same hours a Roman worked.
Just to be clear - the amount of time was the same, they just measured it differently... Just as changing from Roman miles to modern miles doesn't make a distance shorter, changing from the flexible Roman hour to the regular modern hour doesn't make a day shorter either.
RE: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand. - Renatus - 09-25-2021
(09-25-2021, 05:39 PM)Nathan Ross Wrote: The strategic map of the campaign, considering only Roman movements, would look like this:
Nice map. My only reservation is that I do not think that the veterans of Legio XIV would have joined Suetonius on his way to relieve Colchester. I think that he would have summoned them, along with those of Legiones XX & II after he had made his assessment of the crisis, probably while in London, and that they joined him, with the veterans of Legio XX, on Akeman Street.
RE: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand. - Hanny - 09-26-2021
Nathan, I’m on my hols so can’t give links to where I know things from atm, so can just tell you what I found before leaving, but since you keep posting interesting stuff I wont wait till Hols are over. Yes I have the Buster data sets, have you had a chance to look at the DEFRA Lidar data?, it was on my to do list.
Re second festival.
March 23 is the first festival and May 23 is the second one, first is for Mars, the God of War, and starts the years military campaigns, Army is asked if they are ready for war and they respond, ready ready ready, and the next day wills are recorded, second on 23rd is for Vulcan, God who makes the implements for warfare, and blesses the weapons and gear for war.
Re seasons.
Celtic calendar had 8 seasons, same as Marcus varro book on the Roman 4 seasons* and 8 season calendar, Celtic farming was a single crop of emmer allowing its natural cycle, which takes 8 months to grow without manure, the adoption of a 2 crop cycle with manure, is a man made adaption.Ovid also has some interesting tidbits.
*Rome has 4 seasons spring 7th Feb, is for sowing, summer May 9th, for reaping, while in the 8 season calendar he also gives us, it’s in line with Celtic calendar.Different Callander for different circumstances.
Its poss that blaming no crops being being sown was from observing a single crop system in operation, when expecting to see a 2 crop cycle and observing things out of sequence from that point of view, this was how slavery in the USA was thought to be un economic compared to free labour as northern observers viewed it that way, not understanding its cycle and mis understanding their observation.
If you look at when emmer or spelt are harvested, your going to have to be creative in getting it all in a year.
Roman way of telling time, and what they can do in that time, preclude giving them modern number of hours to do it, the distance a legion can March was defined by how they measure time, if you then say but there is 16 hours of daylight they can triple that, that’s not how a Roman would have seen it, just as giving 16 hours of daylight for the days combat is over cooking it.
RE: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand. - Theoderic - 09-26-2021
Nathan wrote:
I agree with Michael that Paulinus would first have directed his march towards Colchester, intending to link up with Cerialis on the way. Only after abandoning London would he fall back on St Albans, where supplies would remain intact.
Excellent map as Michael points out.
Certainly a feasible solution but you would have thought that Cerialis would have got a message to SP at Mona, telling of his march to Colchester or even a later message of his defeat whilst SP was on the road or at Wroxeter.
Typically you would expect that Cerialis would have gathered what troops he had and gone to the aid of the roman citizens at Colchester as soon as possible. It was his responsibility for that part of the Province and would have been a typical roman response to confront the enemy directly.
Certainly Cerialis was not censored for his action and for losing half a Legion for what otherwise may have been regarded as rash, so this was an acceptable response by Cerialis according to the Administration.
This immediate response may have been the very move that the Iceni were expecting and how they were able to ambush the Ninth Legion. I stick to the ambush theme because as far as I am aware no Brythonic Army ever beat the Roman Army in a formal battle.
My other concern is that St Albans was undefended and open to attack from the Brythons and as Governor SP was responsible for its roman citizens he needed to protect them and this would have been a priority. If Rome could not protect its own citizens it would have lost its reputation as an Empire.
To add emphasis to this St Albans is strategically placed (as can be seen well from your map) as a base to rendezvous at from the West, the North and the South.
I will stick with our original theory that the veterans of the Twentieth came from Kingsholme and travelled along Akeman Street as Michael says as part of the original callout to the Second and Twentieth and the Ninth when SP left Anglesey.
Nathan adds an interesting point that if there was a general callout why didn’t the Twentieth come in force from Monmouth, Usk and Cardiff? Does this support the theory that the army was garrisoning so much territory that they would have to abandon the recent conquests? Pointing to the fact that neither the Second nor the Twentieth sent active troops but only Veterans of the Twentieth attended. Also that after the defeat of Boudicca, Wales was abandoned and effectively re-conquered later.
Of course it would be remiss of me not to agree that the final battle was fought near Tring but I have come to the final conclusion that it was at Pitstone Hill not Newground or Dancers End.
RE: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand. - Nathan Ross - 09-26-2021
(09-26-2021, 07:08 AM)Hanny Wrote: second on 23rd is for Vulcan, God who makes the implements for warfare, and blesses the weapons and gear for war.
Convenient, wouldn't you say? I mean, he couldn't bless the weapons if they'd already been taken off to war!
Mars was originally a god of agriculture, I believe - traditional fighting seasons are based on agriculture in central Italy. Seasonal differences elsewhere mean differences in practical military matters. I would rather trust evidence from contemporary sources than ideas about traditional beliefs.
(09-26-2021, 07:08 AM)Hanny Wrote: Celtic farming was a single crop of emmer allowing its natural cycle, which takes 8 months to grow without manure, the adoption of a 2 crop cycle with manure, is a man made adaption.
When are you referring to? As I understand it, the single emmer crop was prehistoric. The book I linked above suggests evidence both for spelt cultivation, manuring and autumn planting in Britain in the late Iron Age. Again, I would rather trust modern archaeology over whatever Pliny thought was going on.
(09-26-2021, 07:08 AM)Hanny Wrote: If you look at when emmer or spelt are harvested, your going to have to be creative in getting it all in a year.
This is the problem - the revolt began while Paulinus was away at war (Agricola, 18), but had almost completed his operations. The war was in progress during the planting season, which the Iceni missed as they were away on campaign.
Since the Roman campaign season in Britain began in summer and would have ended in late summer or early autumn, the revolt must have begun around then. If the spring planting season is the one to which Tacitus refers, it must have been the following year's crop - that of spring AD62 - that was not planted. The war would therefore have lasted over the winter with the Iceni away from their own lands for many months. Paulinus would surely have been reinforced with more men in that period. By the time troops from the Rhine arrived and he put his army into winter quarters it would be autumn AD62 - and Paulinus had been replaced by Turpilianus by then.
If you want the spring planting of AD61 to be the missed one, you would have to assume that Paulinus had gone to war in the late winter and had completed the subjugation of Anglesey by around March at the latest.
(09-26-2021, 07:08 AM)Hanny Wrote: the distance a legion can March was defined by how they measure time, if you then say but there is 16 hours of daylight they can triple that
Weirdly, Pliny seems to believe that there are 17 hours of summer daylight in Britain (NH 1.77)!
The distance a legion could march was defined by the stamina of the troops and the state of the roads, not time measurement. Vegetius (I.9) says that 'at the military step, 20 miles should be covered in five hours, at least in summer time.' That would be 18.3 modern miles.
The Roman day always lasted twelve hours (at least in Italy), but the summer hours were longer. The first hour always began at sunrise, and the twelfth ended at sunset.
In our estimates above of how long the battle might have lasted, we were referring to sunset and sunrise, mid-morning, noon, etc - not Roman hours (we have no sources giving the times as they would have been judged by contemporaries). The stages of the day, and the length of the day, would remain the same however they were counted.
(09-25-2021, 11:16 PM)Renatus Wrote: veterans of Legio XIV...he would have summoned them, along with those of Legiones XX & II after he had made his assessment of the crisis
That sounds very plausible indeed - you don't call out the reserves unless matters have come to a crisis!
(09-26-2021, 10:00 AM)Theoderic Wrote: you would have thought that Cerialis would have got a message to SP at Mona, telling of his march to Colchester or even a later message of his defeat whilst SP was on the road or at Wroxeter.
By my current reckoning Paulinus would only have been two days or so away from combining his forces with Cerialis, and was marching as fast as he could, when Cerialis decided to push on ahead and try to save Colchester. A reckless decision, maybe, but clearly one which was subsequently held to be reasonable. We don't know what orders Paulinus had given Cerialis beforehand, and how open they may have been to interpretation.
(09-26-2021, 10:00 AM)Theoderic Wrote: why didn’t the Twentieth come in force from Monmouth, Usk and Cardiff?
I agree with Michael's idea that the main force of the Twentieth would have been with Paulinus in North Wales, along with the main force of the Second under their legate. Bringing his army together to crush the last of the rebellion would also have meant Paulinus giving up much of his recent conquests.
RE: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand. - Renatus - 09-26-2021
(09-25-2021, 06:15 PM)Hanny Wrote: I think it may be a 2 year event as you can’t get the crops and campaign to align in a single year, nor do I see an easy way to establish a timeline for a single campaign period.
I don't see this as a problem. Nathan has made a case for the revolt starting after the harvest in AD61 and for the campaign being a short one. I have made a crude calculation of the time it would take the rebel army with ox-drawn wagons to travel from Thetford to Tring, via Colchester, London and St. Albans. This is approximately 144 miles and, at eight miles a day, would take 18 days. If you want to go as far north as Church Stowe (too far, as I've said before, but we'll let that pass), the figures become 178 miles and 22 days. Obviously, this does not take account of the time spent in sacking Colchester, London and St. Albans (at least two days in the case of Colchester) and other delays but it gives an idea of the sort of time-scale we are talking about.
On that basis, the beginning of the uprising to the final battle could easily be accomplished within one year. However, that is not the whole story and Suetonius' campaign of reprisals could easily have extended into the following year. This brings me to the famine. Tacitus does not actually tell us when this took place and, as I have argued before, it need not have been during the winter of AD61-62. If the harvest had been got in but no new crops planted, the famine could have occurred in the winter of AD62-63 and even beyond that, if they had had to eat the seed corn. This results in a lengthy period of misery, beginning with the reprisals and extending into a famine of possibly many months' duration.
RE: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand. - Crispianus - 09-26-2021
(09-26-2021, 10:24 AM)Nathan Ross Wrote: Weirdly, Pliny seems to believe that there are 17 hours of summer daylight in Britain (NH 1.77)!
Accurate for York in mid summer, the other measurements he gives are also good if you assume Rome as Italy...
RE: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand. - Theoderic - 09-26-2021
Renatus wrote:
However, that is not the whole story and Suetonius' campaign of reprisals could easily have extended into the following year
I think this observation by Michael is correct. SP was certainly determined to destroy the rebellious tribes which was why the new procurator wanted him recalled as the destruction was excessive and possibly using a scorched earth policy. The last straw was the loss of the ships in the swamps of the Wash in the attempt to crush any resistance left.
Nathan wrote:
By my current reckoning Paulinus would only have been two days or so away from combining his forces with Cerialis, and was marching as fast as he could, when Cerialis decided to push on ahead and try to save Colchester.
Nathan, could you point me to the timeline to support this scenario.
By my calculations it would mean that SP would have already been on the road when he received the first letter from Cerialis re the concerns at Colchester. The problem with that is that even if SP had completed the subjugation and garrisoning of Mona he would either be between Mona and Wroxeter or in Wroxeter with the Fourteenth itself as the season had finished.
Even if SP was at Wroxeter it was a 4 day march to Godmanchester and he would have to mobilise the army so probably at least 5 days.
RE: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand. - Renatus - 09-26-2021
(09-26-2021, 01:43 PM)Theoderic Wrote: By my calculations it would mean that SP would have already been on the road when he received the first letter from Cerialis re the concerns at Colchester.
I don't think it was quite like that. Tacitus tells us that there was a small military unit at Colchester. My guess is that, perceiving that there was a major threat on the way, the commander of that unit would send messages simultaneously to all possible sources of help, Catus Decianus, Cerialis and Suetonius. By my calculations, given sufficient remounts and relief riders, a message could have been got to Suetonius at the Menai Straits within 24 hours.
RE: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand. - Nathan Ross - 09-26-2021
(09-26-2021, 01:43 PM)Theoderic Wrote: could you point me to the timeline to support this scenario.
Here's what I currently consider likely.
(I have the rebels moving very slowly here, which I think probable - they were not a trained army, had no established chain of command, march discipline or logistics network and were travelling with ox carts, plundering and living off the land, with groups splitting off here and there to roam more widely.
My only uncertainy with this at the moment lies in the closing stages - Tacitus is a bit vague about the comings and goings of Classicianus and Polyclitus, and their messages to Rome; it's quite likely that Polyclitus turned up in spring AD62, and Turpilianus wasn't nominated as replacement governor until the summer of that year; proconsular governors seem normally to have taken command in the summer following their consulate, so this would be a last-minute substitution.
But I've put everything into the same year just to show that it is possible to do so, allowing for some rapid decision-making!)
[edit - I've slightly revised this, as trying to tie Paulinus's march to the few and scattered Roman locations along his route was proving too difficult! Instead I've just divided the c.198 miles from the Menai Strait to Godmanchester into 11 stages (18 miles a day). I've gone with Michael's suggestion above and had Catus's messenger moving more speedily too, although still three days up to join Paulinus.]
AD61
c.June – Prasutagus, King of the Iceni, dies. His will divides the Iceni kingdom between Rome and his own two unmarried daughters. His widow Boudica becomes regent.
c. June/July – Paulinus advances from Wroxeter into North Wales, heading for Anglesey, building roads and bridges and subduing resistence as he marches.
c.July/August – After questioning the terms of Prasutagus's will, Procurator Decianus Catus sends men to flog Boudica and rape her daughters. Boudica begins to muster her forces over the harvest period. Paulinus builds landing barges in his camp on the Menai Strait.
August 25th – End of harvest. Boudica holds tribal assembly and calls for revolt. Paulinus begins his amphibious operation against Anglesey, crossing the Menai Strait using barges and attacking defenders on the shore.
August 26th – Iceni begin mobilisation. Paulinus expands his landing area on Anglesey and pushes inland.
August 27th – Attacks on outlying Romanised settlements and villas begin. News of Iceni mobilisation reaches Colchester. Request for military assistance sent to Catus. Conquest of Anglesey continues.
August 28th – Romans engaged in subduing remaining resistence on the island of Anglesey. Iceni sending messages to outlying settlements and to the Trinovantes, requesting alliance.
August 29th – Roman troops burning Druid groves on Anglesey. Catus gets request for aid from Colchester. He forwards message on to Paulinus by express courier. Iceni begin mustering at Thetford.
August 30th – Paulinus completes his conquest of Anglesey and begins establishing and garrisoning forts around the Menai Strait and North Wales. Catus sends 200 men from his bodyguard and office staff to reinforce Colchester.
August 31st – Iceni, having completed muster, move from Thetford to Bury St Edmunds.
September 1st – Catus’ message requesting military support against the Iceni reaches Paulinus at his camp beside the Menai Strait. Catus’s 200 men reach Colchester.
September 2nd – Paulinus musters an expeditionary force.
September 3rd – Paulinus, with c.7000 men (14th Legion, plus 4 auxiliary units) begins a march of c.198 miles to Godmanchester: Paulinus march day 1. He sends messengers to Cerialis to meet him at Godmanchester for operations against the Iceni. Iceni move south to Sudbury, attacking Romanised settlements.
September 4th – Iceni and Trinovantes gathering at Sudbury. Paulinus march day 2.
September 5th – Iceni and Trinovantes agree alliance at Sudbury. Paulinus march day 3.
September 6th – Paulinus march day 4. Iceni and Trinovantes move south to West Bergholt, attacking Roman farms and villas. Cerialis, legate of the Ninth Legion at Longthorpe, receives the order to advance to Godmanchester and await Paulinus there.
September 7th – Paulinus march day 5. Iceni and Trinovantes moving towards Colchester. Cerialis, with detachment of the 9th Legion, plus auxiliary units, marches from Longthorpe.
September 8th – Paulinus march day 6. Iceni and Trinovantes surround Colchester. Cerialis arrives at Godmanchester and sends out scouts to determine enemy movements.
September 9th – Paulinus march day 7. Iceni and Trinovantes attack Colchester. Civilians barricade themselves inside the temple. Cerealis holds position at Godmanchester.
September 10th – Paulinus march day 8. Iceni and Trinovantes besiege temple at Colchester. Cerialis orders an advance by rapid marches to relieve Colchester.
September 11th – Paulinus march day 9. Last defenders of the Colchester temple die by fire. Cerialis marching towards Colchester.
September 12th – Paulinus march day 10. Iceni and Trinovantes muster to oppose Cerealis’s approaching relief force. Cerialis’s force is destroyed a few miles outside Colchester. Cerealis falls back to his last marching camp and defends himself there.
September 13th – Paulinus march day 11. He reaches Godmanchester and meets survivors of Cerialis’ force fleeing north. News of defeat reaches London. Catus flees for Gaul by ship. Iceni and Trinovantes plundering Colchester and celebrating their victories.
September 14th – Paulinus marches south from Godmanchester towards London (c.56 miles away). Catus arrives in Gaul and sends a message to Rome, reporting the imminent loss of the province. Iceni and Trinovantes begin to muster outside Colchester and advance south-west towards London.
September 15th – Iceni and Trinovantes advance towards London, plundering area between Braintree and Maldon. Paulinus marching south ‘though a hostile population’.
September 16th – Iceni and Trinovantes plundering area of Chelmsford. Paulinus arrives in London that evening.
September 17th – Paulinus in London. Iceni and Trinovantes plundering in the area of Romford.
September 18th – Paulinus, deciding that London cannot be held, orders the inhabitants to evacuate the city. He sends messages to the 2nd Legion detachment at Exeter to march via the Fosseway and Akeman Street, and to the 20th Legion veterans at Usk, the 14th legion veterans at Wroxeter, and his remaining troops in North Wales – collective rendezvous at St Albans – and to Rome requesting reinforcements.
September 19th – Paulinus prepares his troops and gathers supplies at London.
September 20th – Paulinus retreats from London towards St Albans with refugees and supplies. Order to march reaches 20th Legion at Usk.
September 21st – Boudica, learning of Paulinus’s retreat, enters London and her army commences plundering. Paulinus reaches St Albans, delaying there for 10 days while awaiting reinforcements. Order to march reaches 2nd Legion (under Poenius Postumus) at Exeter and 14th veterans at Wroxeter. 20th Legion veterans and auxiliaries set off from Usk.
September 22nd – Paulinus still at St Albans, sending out scouts and detachments to watch the enemy and attack wider-ranging rebel bands. Iceni plundering and burning London. 20th Legion veterans, from Usk, on the road towards Gloucester. 14th veterans set off from Wroxeter. 2nd Legion detachment under Postumus at Exeter refuse to move (if they did, they could reach St Albans in 10-12 days)
September 23rd – Rebel plunderers spread west as far as Brentford and Putney. Paulinus remains at St Albans. 20th Legion veterans arrive at Gloucester, collecting any troops remaining there and at Kingsholm. Order to march reaches legions in North Wales.
September 24th – 20th Legion veterans at Cirencester, collecting more auxiliaries there. Legions begin march from North Wales to join Paulinus at St Albans; they would arrive in c.13-15 days.
September 25th – Rebels plundering as far as Staines, and across the Thames to Southwark. Paulinus holds position at St Albans.
September 26th – Rebels still plundering vicinity of London, west and south. Paulinus remains at St Albans, waiting for news of reinforcements. Catus’s initial message of disaster arrives at Rome.
September 27th – 20th Legion veterans reach Alchester, collecting further auxiliaries there. Rebel plundering bands potentially reach as far west as Silchester.
September 28th – Paulinus holding position at St Albans. 20th Legion veterans from Usk and auxiliaries from Usk, Gloucester or Kingsholm, Cirencester and Alchester reach Tring.
September 29th – 20th Legion veterans and auxiliaries join Paulinus at St Albans. Boudica recalls scattered plundering bands to London.
September 30th – Paulinus continues holding position at St Albans. 14th legion veterans arrive from Wroxeter. Boudica musters her full army north of London. Paulinus’s request for reinforcement reaches Rhine army, and Rome by express courier.
October 1st – Boudica’s army begins advance north from London on Watling Street. Paulinus pulls back along Akeman Street to Tring, hoping in vain to meet the advancing 2nd Legion detachment there. Polyclitus, ordered to investigate the situation in Britain, sets out from Rome with a huge retinue. Crop planting season begins around now, interrupted due to war.
October 2nd – (2nd Legion should have reached St Albans by now) Paulinus camps at Tring and prepares his position at Newground. He discovers that the 2nd Legion have not left Exeter. Rebels sack and burn St Albans.
October 3rd – Iceni advance up the Bulborne to Cow Roast. Classicianus ordered to Britain from Gaul as replacement procurator.
October 4th – Battle is joined. Roman victory. Boudica defeated.
October 5th – Paulinus rests his troops after the battle. Roman authorisation for troop transfer reaches Rhine garrisons. Troops start marching from Rhine garrisons.
October 6th – Paulinus enters the ruins of St Albans.
October 7th – Advance units from North Wales arrive at St Albans. Paulinus marches south and enters the ruins of London.
October 8th – Paulinus establishes camp outside London and sends a victory message to Rome.
October 9th – Paulinus consolidates army outside London. “The whole army was then brought together and kept under canvas to finish the remainder of the war.”
October – Roman troops spread out across Iceni land burning crops and villages. Boudica takes poison and dies.
October 18th – Classicianus reaches Britain as replacement Procurator.
October 25th – troops from Rhine garrisons reach the Channel ports and commence a late crossing to Britain.
October 27th – Polyclitus reaches Britain.
October 30th – Paulinus sends his main army into winter quarters. Detachments continue devastating rebel lands: “whatever tribes still wavered or were hostile were ravaged with fire and sword.”
November 1st – Classicianus sends report to Rome complaining of Paulinus’s actions: “no cessation of fighting must be expected, unless Suetonius were superseded.”
November 4th – Polyclitus sends more favourable report to Rome, then departs Britain.
November 10th – Several ships wrecked in a storm while supporting land troops in counter-insurgency operations. Classicianus sends report of the losses, and the ongoing severity of Paulinus's actions, to Rome.
November 11th – the seas close for winter.
December 2nd – Turpilianus (ordinary consul of that year) nominated to replace Paulinus as governor of Britain.
Spring/summer AD62: Turpilianus arrives in Britain and replaces Paulinus.
RE: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand. - Theoderic - 09-27-2021
Renatus wrote:
I don't think it was quite like that. Tacitus tells us that there was a small military unit at Colchester. My guess is that, perceiving that there was a major threat on the way, the commander of that unit would send messages simultaneously to all possible sources of help, Catus Decianus, Cerialis and Suetonius. By my calculations, given sufficient remounts and relief riders, a message could have been got to Suetonius at the Menai Straits within 24 hours.
Certainly I would agree that if a message had been sent when the military at Colchester perceived there was an imminent danger it would have been an urgent matter and at 10mph (which the Pony Express moved at) you are right around 24 hours to do the 265 miles to Segontium, 5 hours to London and 7.5 hours to Longthorpe.
The question is where was Seutonius at this time? If he was at the Menai Straits he was still 200 miles (or 10 days) away from Godmanchester (which would be the obvious place to rendezvous with the 9th and Cerialis) or if at Wroxeter, 100 miles or 5 days away from Godmanchester.
One would assume that the letter from Colchester was "Come quick, huge force spotted on the outskirts of the town". No commander with 2,000 soldiers and a cavalry force at hand would wait for at the very least 5 days when he was 4 days march away from a roman city about to be attacked. He would go straight away. I believe that this would have been the standard response anyway in these circumstances.
Interesting that according to local history, the fort at Godmanchester (Durovigutum) was burnt at around the time of Boudica and rebuilt later.
RE: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand. - Steve Kaye - 09-28-2021
Deryk wrote, "the fort at Godmanchester (Durovigutum) was burnt at around the time of Boudica and rebuilt later.", which didn't echo with what I remembered.
Heritage Gateway records that ...
"The fort covered about 2.4 ha and was defended by twin ditches with associated timber and earth rampart. These defences were not completed before the fort was dismantled, indicating only a very short occupation." A town developed at the site and it is this that was supposedly burnt during the Boudican uprising.
More at https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=366799&resourceID=19191
Regards, Steve Kaye