Paul Elliott\'s \'The Last Legionary\'

[Quadratus]

My copy arrived from Amazon this morning. Looks fascinating and can't wait to read it.

[Virilis]

Great!
I wonder where mine is, I ordered it before christmas on amazon.co.uk ...

[Arthes]

I think the author has only recently received his own complimentary copies.....so hopefully the rest will soon follow....
No doubt Mithras will post accordingly on here...!

[Virilis]

My copy of "The Last Legionary" has arrived! It is snowing here and it isn`t a perfect time to go to the country house so it saved my weekend!
A perfect pastime for the weekend with 12 bottles of cheap red wine :wink: ....

[John Conyard]

The strength of Paul's book is the way it highlights the everyday life of the legionaries of the Praesidiensis, Comitatus's own legion, in North East England inn the late 4th century. It is not a simple copy of Bishop and Coulston, examining military equipment in detail. Nor is it a straight history of the decline of Roman Britain. But it is a part fictional account of the life of an ordinary soldier. Paul makes use of his marching and camping experiences in Comitatus to help bring his fictional characters to life. The history of the Praesidiensis allows him to examine both the roll of the frontier troops and that of the field army. He touches on equipment, and history is used as a framework in which to place his account. But the question Paul examines is "what was life like for the last legionary"?

I enjoyed the book so much that with the prior agreement of Paul's wife, Demetrius and myself kidnapped Paul last weekend. He was told the Picts were landing and he had twenty minutes to get his gear together. After so many previous marches he knew what to take and what to leave behind, and even the choice of alcohol was relatively simple.

After a short walk we were unable to find a camping spot in the pitch dark in a deciduous wood. So we opted for the beach. We soon had a fire going, and the lights of Bridlington Bay plus a wonderful starry night made for an atmospheric experience. Sleeping a flat chalky stones proved to be OK, cloaks kept us warm and shields were turned in to blankets. A hot meal gave us warmth and the drink sent us to sleep. Too lazy to take boots off and put feet inside kit bags, we were frozen beneath the knee by morning. But a quick get up and fast march soon warmed us up. And the patrol worked because no Picts landed.

Bringing the 4th century legionary to life is really what the book is all about.

[Virilis]

Sounds absolutely great, John! I can imagine how cold it is to wake up in the morning. I have been sleeping in the snowy forest in temperatures
-20 celsius below zero, although with a modern gear & sleeping bags. In fact I have been more cold in the morning in the 0 celsius conditions when it is damp and everything is wet.

Perhaps I should try too camping with late roman gear in the future here. This new book certainly is impressive and gives material & imaginary "fuel" to my re-enacting. A real treat :wink: ...

[John Conyard]

I would certainly encourage anyone to try period camping. If we make any claim to authenticity, we need to test our equipment. That means ideally living in it for extended periods of time, working and moving in a realistic way. But short of that, testing it in hard conditions can be more fun.

Back in 2005 I'd always wanted to do some Roman marching and camping, and I was able to talk some Comitatus members into coming too. I realsie many groups have already trodden this path and we were not doing anything new. Paul was a less than enthusiastic recruit at first. He thought I was going to get them all killed, or at least rescued by helicopter. Re-enacters don't like wearing out their expensive footwear, and the perceived discomfort is always worse than the real thing. After the first walk people slowly realised authentic footwear will cope if made properly. They could leave their walking boots behind! A chat with friends around a camp fire easily outweighs wet ground or hard stones. If you are going to walk any distance in full armour you need to be relatively fit, but why not march as a light infantryman? Wet conditions are a pain. Wet feet become the norm and I gather leaves to sleep on. Generally people sleep on shields, but I walk carrying a parade shield and I don't want to scratch the paintwork. I think we still have an article about marching on www.comitatus.net

But I cannot envisage camping out in -20 degrees! I think we must live in very different countries. But if the Romans did it, we should try it!

[Robert Vermaat]

I enjoyed the book so much that with the prior agreement of Paul's wife, Demetrius and myself kidnapped Paul last weekend. He was told the Picts were landing and he had twenty minutes to get his gear together.

Fantastic.. Just bl... brilliant.

[Quadratus]

I finally got round to reading the book, and once started devoured it in one session. Very impressed! Written in a clear, lucid style that makes the book accessible to an extremely wide variety of readers, Paul manages to tread the difficult line between dry, disembodied fact and Disneyland hype brilliantly.

I learned a lot from this book, and what's more, thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thanks Paul.

[Virilis]

Paul manages to tread the difficult line between dry, disembodied fact and Disneyland hype brilliantly

Exactly, great read wink: ...

[Tarbicus]

Of course we "late romans" are forerunners again in this respect :wink: ...

Yeah, right, call yourselves Roman? :wink:

[Virilis]

:twisted:

[Mithras]

Hi, Alan, Jyrki - I am incredibly pleased that you found the book an interesting read! After having spent so long researching, reading, writing, re-writing, you do wonder what the final outcome will look like.

Having you as afficianados of Roman military history read it, is really a crucial test -

Cheers!

[Praefectusclassis]

Reading it now for a short review in Ancient Warfare Paul... :twisted: (nah, I'm enjoying it so far).

[Caballo]

And bought my copy in the British Museum this afternoon where a pile were prominently displayed! Started it on the train home- great stuff!

And now finished it- excellent, and really enjoyed it. If you are a re-enactor and don't read this, you are really missing out...

Cheers

Caballo