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Watling Street

History, about Watling Street

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Watling Street

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  1. Watling Street DefeatofBoudica Text: wikipedia

  2. It is agreed that Boudica was of royal descent. Cassius Dio describes her as tall, with tawny hair hanging down to below her waist, a harsh voice and a piercing glare. He writes that she habitually wore a large golden necklace (perhaps a torc), a colourfultunic, and a thick cloak fastened by a brooch. Boudica's husband, Prasutagus, was the king of the Iceni, a people who inhabited roughly what is now Norfolk. During Claudius's conquest of southern Britain in AD 43, the Iceni initially allied with Rome. They were proud of their independence, and had revolted in AD 47 when the then Roman governor Publius OstoriusScapula planned to disarm all the peoples in the area of Britain under Roman control following a number of local uprisings. Ostorius defeated them and went on to put down other uprisings around Britain. The Iceni remained independent, under Prasutagus. It is unknown whether he became the king only after Ostorius's defeat of the Iceni; Tacitus does not date the start of Prasutagus's reign and first mentioned him, as a long-reigning king who had died, when he wrote about Boudica's rebellion

  3. Location of Iceni territory in eastern England; modern county borders are shown. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_the_Territory_of_the_Iceni.svg

  4. Defeat of Boudica The decisive battle of the defeat of Boudica took place in Roman Britain in AD 60 or 61 between an alliance of indigenous British peoples led by Boudica and a Roman army led by Gaius Suetonius Paulinus. Although heavily outnumbered, the Romans decisively defeated the allied tribes, inflicting heavy losses on them. The battle marked the end of resistance to Roman rule in Britain in the southern half of the island, a period that lasted until 410 AD. Historians are dependent on Roman sources for accounts of the battle. The precise location is not known, but most historians place it between Londinium and Viroconium (Wroxeterin Shropshire), on the Roman Road now known as Watling Street. This name for the road originated in Anglo-Saxon times, thus the alternative modern name of the battle (Battle of Watling Street) is anachronistic as well as being somewhat speculative.

  5. Boadicea by Thomas Thornycroft, depicting Boudica with her daughters in their chariot as she addresses troops before the battle. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boudiccastatue.jpg

  6. Background In 43 AD Rome invaded southeastern Britain. The conquest was gradual. While some kingdoms were defeated militarily and occupied, others remained nominally independent as allies of the Roman empire. One such people was the Iceni in what is now Norfolk. Their king, Prasutagus, thought he had secured his independence by leaving his lands jointly to his daughters and to the Roman emperor, Nero, in his will. However, when he died, in 61 or shortly before, his will was ignored. The Romans seized his lands and violently humiliated his family: his widow, Boudica, was flogged and their daughters raped. Roman financiers called in their loans

  7. Background 2 When the Roman Governor of Britain, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, was campaigning on the island of Mona (Anglesey, north Wales), the Iceni allied with their neighboursthe Trinovantes, whose former capital, Camulodunum (Colchester), was now a colony for Roman veterans. To add insult to injury, the Romans had erected a huge temple to former emperor Claudius in the city, built at local expense. The rebels descended on Camulodunum and destroyed it, killing all those who could not escape.

  8. A map of the known Roman road network, highlighting the routes included in the Antonine Itinerary https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iter.Britanniarum.jpg

  9. In AD 60 or 61, when the Roman governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was campaigning on the island of Anglesey off the northwest coast of Wales, Boudica led the Iceni, the Trinovantes, and others in revolt. They destroyed Camulodunum(modern Colchester), earlier the capital of the Trinovantes but at that time a colonia, a settlement for discharged Roman soldiers and site of a temple to the former Emperor Claudius. Upon hearing of the revolt, Suetonius hurried to Londinium (modern London), the 20-year-old commercial settlement that was the rebels' next target. He lacked sufficient numbers to defend the settlement, and he evacuated and abandoned Londinium. Boudica led a very large army of Iceni, Trinovantes, and others to defeat a detachment of LegioIX Hispana, and they burned and destroyed Londinium and Verulamium. An estimated 70,000–80,000 Romans and British were then killed in the three cities by those led by Boudica, many by torture.[7] Suetonius, meanwhile, regrouped his forces, possibly in the West Midlands; despite being heavily outnumbered, he decisively defeated the Britons. The crisis caused Nero to consider withdrawing all Roman forces from Britain, but Suetonius' victory over Boudica confirmed Roman control of the province.

  10. Roman Colchester Soon after the Roman conquest of Britain in AD 43, a Roman legionary fortress was established, the first in Britain. Later, when the Roman frontier moved outwards and the twentieth legion had moved to the west (c.AD 49), Camulodunum became a colonianamed in a second-century inscription as Colonia Victricensis. This contained a large and elaborate Temple to the Divine Claudius,[20] the largest classical-style temple in Britain, as well as at least seven other Romano-British temples. Colchester is home to two of the five Roman theatres found in Britain, the one at Gosbecks (site of the Iron Age royal farmstead) being the largest in Britain, able to seat 5,000.

  11. Colchester is located in Essex https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Essex_ UK_location_map.svg

  12. Londinium was a settlement established on the current site of the City of London around ad 43. Its bridge over the River Thames turned the city into a road nexus and major port, serving as a major commercial centre in Roman Britain until its abandonment during the 5th century. A general outline of Roman London in late antiquity, with the modern banks of the Thames. Discovered roads drawn as double lines; conjectural roads, single lines. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_Londinium_400_AD-en.svg

  13. Background 3 Boudica and her army headed for Londinium(London). So did Suetonius and a small portion of his army but, arriving ahead of the rebels, he concluded he did not have the numbers to defend Londinium and ordered the city evacuated before it was attacked. Londinium, too, was burnt to the ground and the Roman historian Tacitus claims every inhabitant who could not get away was killed. While Boudica's army continued its assault in Verulamium (St. Albans), Suetonius regrouped his forces. According to Tacitus, he amassed a force including his own LegioXIV Gemina, parts of the XX Valeria Victrix and any available auxiliaries, a total of 10,000 men. A third legion, II Augusta, near Exeter, failed to join him; a fourth, IX Hispana, had been routed trying to relieve Camulodunum.

  14. Battle Hugely outnumbered (20 times), Suetonius had chosen his battleground carefully. He selected a narrow gorge with a forest behind him, opening out into a wide plain. The gorge protected the Roman flanks from attack, while the forest would impede approach from the rear. This would have prevented Boudica from bringing considerable forces to bear on the Roman position, and the open plain in front made ambushes impossible. Suetonius placed his legionaries in close order, with auxilia infantry on the flanks and cavalry on the wings

  15. Map General route of Watling Street overlaid on an outdated map of the Roman road network in Britain

  16. Although the Britons gathered in considerable force, they are said to have been poorly equipped, as the Iceni had been disarmed before the rebellion. They placed their wagon train in a crescent at their end of the field, from which point their families could watch what they may have expected to be an overwhelming victory. Two Germanic leaders, Boiorix of the Cimbri and Ariovistus of the Suebi, are reported to have done the same thing in their battles against Gaius Marius and Julius Caesar, respectively. Statue of Gaius Suetonius Paulinus on the terrace of the Roman Baths in Bath, Somerset

  17. Although Tacitus, like many historians of his day, was given to invent stirring speeches for such occasions, Suetonius' speech here is unusually blunt and practical. Tacitus' father-in- law, the future governor GnaeusJulius Agricola, was on Suetonius' staff at the time and may have reported it fairly accurately. Boudica led her army forward across the plain and into the narrowing field in a massive frontal attack. As they advanced, they were channeled into a tightly packed mass. Just before the Britons got into close contact with their enemies, the Romans threw their pila, a type of javelin, to cut down some of the charging Britons and to damage the shields of the others, forcing them to discard their shields and leave themselves exposed. When the Romans had exhausted their missiles, they rushed out and marched forward in a tightly packed wedge-like column. The Romans, with a clear advantage in armor, weapons and discipline, had a decisive advantage in the close-quarters fighting against the tightly packed Britons. The Roman cavalry, lances extended, then entered the battle.

  18. As the Britons' losses increased they tried to retreat, but their flight was blocked by the ring of wagons and they were massacred. The Romans killed not only the warriors but also the women, children, and even pack animals. Tacitus relates a rumor that 80,000 Britons fell against the loss of only 400 Romans. However, the figures quoted for the campaign in the ancient sources are regarded by modern historians as extravagant. Boudica is said by Tacitus to have poisoned herself;[13] Cassius Dio says she fell ill, died and was given a lavish burial. Poenius Postumus, prefect of the 2nd Legion, which had failed to join the battle (thus robbing his men of a share of the glory), committed suicide by falling on his sword.

  19. Location The site of the battle is not given by either historian, although Tacitus gives a brief description. A wide variety of sites, all consistent with an army attacking from the area of London toward the Roman forces concentrating from the direction of Cornwall and Wales, has been suggested. One legend places it at Battle Bridge Road in King's Cross, London, although from reading Tacitus it is unlikely Suetonius returned to the city. Most historians favor a site in The Midlands, probably along the Roman road between Londinium and Viroconium(Wroxeter), which became the Anglo-Saxon Watling Street and subsequently the A5. Plausible suggestions include Manduessedum(Mancetter), near Atherstone in Warwickshire, a site close to High Cross in Leicestershire, and a small dip on Watling Street at Cuttle Mill, two miles southeast of Lactodorum(Towcester) in Northamptonshire, which has topography very closely matching Tacitus' description and where large quantities of human bones of both sexes and including children, have been found over a wide area together with fragments of Roman pottery from the 1st century.

  20. In 2009 Arbury Banks, near Ashwell (Herts.) was suggested as a location. In March 2010 evidence was published suggesting the site may be located at Church Stowe, Northamptonshire. The Kennet valley, close to Silchester has also been suggested as a candidate site for the battle. More recently a suggestion has been made that the battlefield was on the A5183 (formerly, A5) just south of Dunstable, Bedfordshire.

  21. Aftermath It is said that the emperor Nero was so shaken by these events that he considered withdrawing from Britain altogether, but with the revolt brought to a decisive end, the occupation of Britain continued. Fearing Suetonius' punitive policies would provoke further rebellion, Nero replaced him with the more conciliatory Publius Petronius Turpilianus. The defeat of Boudica ensured Roman rule in southern Britain; however, northern Britain remained volatile. In AD 69 Venutius, a Brigantes noble, would lead another less well documented revolt, initially as a tribal rivalry but soon becoming anti-Roman

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