01-01-2013, 05:45 PM
Most of what we think we know about the movements of the legions in Britain in the decades after the invasion is just conjecture based on later evidence, I think. There's the note in Suetonius (Vespasian 4.1) that the future emperor "was sent in command of a legion to Germany... from there he was transferred to Britain, where he fought thirty battles with the enemy. He reduced to subjection two powerful nations, more than twenty towns, and the island of Vectis." Tactitus (Histories 3.44) then tells us that Vespasian was in command of the Second legion. Since most of the inscriptional evidence for II Augusta is in the south west, and Vectis is off the south coast, we can assume that Vespasian led his legion that way.
The ninth ended up around Longthorpe and Lincoln decades later, so we could assume that they were sent off in that direction. Same with the Fourteenth at Wroxeter. The Twentieth spent time at Colchester, so perhaps they were some kind of reserve...
So Vespasian was probably still commanding the second when he subjegated those powerful nations, but he may have had detachments of other legions added to his force. Legions at this date appear to have had particular auxiliary units attached or associated with them (mention in Tacitus, I think, of a certain legion 'and its auxiliaries'), so together these may have made up what you could call a 'battle group' for a particular campaign. Later in Suetonius there's mention of 'two legions with eight alae and ten cohorts' sent to Judea, which suggests this may have represented the usual accompaniment (around 4500 auxiliaries per legion, in this case).
As we know from our discussions on the Boudica revolt, though, Roman troops at this time didn't always operate as full legions. Often they were detachments of several cohorts, a few thousand men sometimes from different legions brigaded together with auxiliaries. The assumption that individual legions moved on a neatly linear course from point A (London, or Colchester) to point B (Exeter, Caerleon, Wroxeter or Lincoln) over the course of two or three decades is almost certainly too simple. There are men of the twentieth attested at Wroxeter, for example, and of the second at Alchester. So the reality was possibly a lot more complex, with bits of armies and legions moving about all over the country in various combinations, under various commanders.
The ninth ended up around Longthorpe and Lincoln decades later, so we could assume that they were sent off in that direction. Same with the Fourteenth at Wroxeter. The Twentieth spent time at Colchester, so perhaps they were some kind of reserve...
So Vespasian was probably still commanding the second when he subjegated those powerful nations, but he may have had detachments of other legions added to his force. Legions at this date appear to have had particular auxiliary units attached or associated with them (mention in Tacitus, I think, of a certain legion 'and its auxiliaries'), so together these may have made up what you could call a 'battle group' for a particular campaign. Later in Suetonius there's mention of 'two legions with eight alae and ten cohorts' sent to Judea, which suggests this may have represented the usual accompaniment (around 4500 auxiliaries per legion, in this case).
As we know from our discussions on the Boudica revolt, though, Roman troops at this time didn't always operate as full legions. Often they were detachments of several cohorts, a few thousand men sometimes from different legions brigaded together with auxiliaries. The assumption that individual legions moved on a neatly linear course from point A (London, or Colchester) to point B (Exeter, Caerleon, Wroxeter or Lincoln) over the course of two or three decades is almost certainly too simple. There are men of the twentieth attested at Wroxeter, for example, and of the second at Alchester. So the reality was possibly a lot more complex, with bits of armies and legions moving about all over the country in various combinations, under various commanders.
Nathan Ross
