Crazy boys, those brittish

[derek forrest]

Many Thanks Jurgen much appreciated

[jvrjenivs]

And, finally the second part

The Romans were not dirty of using exterior power, to impress both their own as the enemy lines. ‘Crap, another teeth broke down’, says David Hare (37), while pulling his wolf head tighter onto his helmet. Hare, manager of a contact lens factory, is raised till the function of vexiliarius of the 20th legion of the Guard – newbies start as soldiers -, an lower officer who has to bears the flag.
‘Once we imported 2 wolf- and 2 bearskins from Canada, but those are now falling apart. Nowadays you don’t get these thing out of customs anymore.’ De vexillarius isn’t the same as the cornicen (horn player), which also uses a wolf head. Or the men with the bears head, the signifier (standard-bearer) and the imaginifer (bears an image of the emperor).
Most spectacular is the demonstration of Roman artillery. During the years of service, the guard has, experimental, built a most authentic set of weaponry. Like the ballista and the onager, deadly mobile machinery with which you can fire missiles of several kilograms over hundreds of meters.
‘And this is the catapulta’, says legionair Greig Watson, in normal life an editor at BBC news. Today, he’s the orator. ‘It is a heavy cross-bow. With those arrows you could hit the enemy at over 250 meters distances. Just an early grandparent of today’s snipers.’

De Romans used for their sieges for instance stones, firebombs or decayed meat as missiles for their artillery. The guard only uses melons and apples. Most of these splash apart, under loud shouting of the public, on far away located wooden boards.
The group plays it safe since an accident with a wooden missile, which has broken a roof of a nearby house. The owner, a retired RAF pilot with humour, said he didn’t charge the Guard, because he didn’t know how to plausible tell the insurance that there was ‘damage of ballista-shooting’ on the insurance form.
If there is one lesson from this living history event, it is that British Celts – and a lot of other European folks – had no change against the Romans. Although the Celts, known for their courage, every time outnumbered the Romans. They painted their faces bleu and used to fight naked.
‘But it remained badly organised farmers’, says BBC-man Watson. ‘Imagine that in a moment you’re facing the professional Roman army. This was the elite of the ancient world, the army your granddad told you about at the campfire. An army which march in silence, with helmets scattering in the light. An army that, in nice files, a moment before the battle starts tapping on their shields with their swords. There you’re with your magic spells.’
He’s pointing to the biggest battle the Romans had in England, around the year 61. De revolt of the Celtic queen Boudicca had already destroyed 3 cities, including Londinium (modern day London). ‘There we less than 15 thousand Roman soldiers facing at least 150 thousand British soldiers, but they loosed the battle. History writer Tacitus tells us that about 80 thousand Celts lost their lives.
In the inspiration of Watson is liing the origin of these historical societies. Since what is making these men to dress up like Romans in their spare time, working on leather belts, or putting together a lorica hamata? Making such a coat of mail, out of thousands of metal rings, takes over 250 hours.
Councillor Forrest: ‘As a small child, I was fascinated already. That’s the same with most of the people here.’ Others tell that reading Asterix and Obelix can be enough to get involved. ‘We bring history to live and show how the army looked like that formed our country much.’
At the Cathedral the Guard set up their camp. Where most other groups use mainly canvas tents, the Ermine Street Guard use handmade goat leather tents, which took over 1500 hours of stiching, just like back then.
The public takes a look, children got photographed. A cauldron is hanging down from a tripot, in where a Roman meal is been prepared. De legionairs come to the fire, drinking wine from their vessels. Monday all back to office.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Thanks Jurjen!

[jvrjenivs]

No thanks. Glad you like I translated the article.