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Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.
Renatus wrote:


The role of the Ninth after Cerialis' defeat is quite enigmatic. If he had met up with Paulinus and was ordered to bring his legion down, I agree that he would have sent a messenger with a summons to whoever was in charge to join the main force with all speed. That evidently did not happen or we would have known that it was involved in the final battle. Perhaps it still had a role as a blocking force to deter the northern tribes from travelling south to join the revolt, in which case Cerialis would, I think, have gone back to resume command of it.

Tacitus has Boudica state that Cerialis after his defeat was penned up in a fort rather than had escaped back to his Legion. 

For such an important figure (dashing cavalry leader and future Governor of Britannia) not to be mentioned again in any of the documentation would imply that he was trapped and played no further part in the events leading up to the battle.   

St Albans is I believe pivotal as it was the last official Roman municipium and ts ctzens had to be protected. It is also strategically important as it links North to Wroxeter, South to London, East to Braughing and Colchester and West to Alchester and possibly Cookham and Silchester with its road networks.

It always had been strategically important as the seat of Cataulellauni power next door to Wheathampstead.
 
Nathan Ross wrote:

As you know, I don't believe there were anything like that number of warriors!

Even if there were only half the numbers Aldbury would have been surrounded…

Nathan Ross wrote:
Wouldn't that affect your Tring site too? 

Not really because the scenario that I use is a slow build up of tribes congregating and camping below Chivery top however if 150,000 people escaped none of the sites was escape proof.

Nathan Ross wrote:

So why would they plan on getting Roman grain, rather than planting their own, if both winter and spring crops would have been ready for harvest in late summer of 61? A winter crop planted in autumn 61 could not have been harvested before July 62, so unless we're postponing this famine period another 12 months (by which time Paulinus had been superceded) it surely can't have been the winter crop that was neglected?

I am not so sure.

The passage seems to be reflective, a lookback on what happened in later proceedings:

 “….whatever tribes still wavered or were hostile were ravaged with fire and sword”……. then “nothing however distressed the enemy as much as famine, for they had been careless about sowing corn, people of every age having gone to war….”

Tacitus was very supportive of the attacking military and had little time for appeasers such as the new Procurator who had tried to have Paulinus removed because he continued to carry on with the campaign and kill the tribes that had rebelled.

My thought is that Tacitus was saying in Paulinus defence that although his regime was harsh the Brythons suffered far more from a famine which they had brought upon themselves in the first place after he had been replaced.

In other words Paulinus’ Governorship was not as disastrous as some were making out.

Of course you would have thought that the granaries at Colchester would have been looted as everyone retreated to the Temple and possibly had no time to destroy the foodstocks. London and St Albans food stocks on the other hand were probably destroyed or removed by the Roman Army.  


Deryk
Deryk
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Messages In This Thread
Re: Calling all armchair generals! - by Ensifer - 03-11-2010, 03:13 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-18-2012, 06:26 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 12:02 AM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 02:50 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 05:40 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 11:26 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 05:11 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 09:42 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 10:10 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 03:11 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 03:25 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 08:36 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-26-2012, 02:57 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-27-2012, 01:50 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 08-05-2012, 02:24 PM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-07-2014, 02:18 PM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-08-2014, 01:50 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-11-2014, 02:03 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-18-2014, 07:54 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-20-2014, 02:37 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-25-2014, 08:29 AM
RE: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand. - by Theoderic - 12-02-2015, 01:05 PM

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