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Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.
Nathan Wrote:

The Iceni were a client kingdom before the revolt in 61, not a colony, so although they'd been defeated and largely disarmed after the 47 revolt their lands and wealth hadn't yet been claimed by Rome. There may have been forts demarking a border with Roman territory in the Trinovante lands, but the Iceni themselves were, I think, largely left alone (albeit under the supervision of the procurator). It was the threat of direct annexation - the Roman claim on Prastutagus's will - that led in part to the revolt.

I agree with everything you say up to the point that they were left alone (albeit under the supervision of the procurator). From what Tacitus states(see following paragraph) the Procurator robs the aristocracy blind and this must be over a reasonable time to have the effect Tacitus states.

The event was otherwise. His dominions were ravaged by the centurions; the slaves
pillaged his house, and his effects were seized as lawful plunder. His wife, Boudicca,
was disgraced with cruel stripes; her daughters were ravished, and the most illustrious of the Icenians were, by force, deprived of the positions which had been transmitted to them by their ancestors. The whole country was considered as a legacy bequeathed to the plunderers. The relations of the deceased king were reduced to slavery


I suspect that AD60 was the year that these depredations took place. This was not just Boudica and the Royal Household but the whole of the Iceni nobility and landowners much as was happening to the Trinovantes.

Catus Decianus, the procurator of the province, alarmed at the scene of carnage which he beheld on every side, and further dreading the indignation of a people, whom by rapine
and oppression he had driven to despair, betook himself to flight, and crossed over into
Gaul.


Again this an indicator that Catus had been doing this over a period of time not just a week or two and if we agree that the revolt was in AD61 it is likely that this happened during AD60.


Nathan wrote:

Both, surely! If we accept Boudica as the leader, or one of the leaders, of the revolt, and if we accept that Boudica was the wife of the Iceni king (and if we don't then we don't have much else to go on!), then the Iceni were certainly involved in all stages of the uprising. The Trinovantes alone may have had cause to attack Colchester due to the overbearing attitudes of the Roman colonists on their land, but it took the rising of the Iceni (spurred by the annexation threat and the insults to Boudica herself and Prasutagus's daughters) to spark a full scale revolt.


I think that we can accept that Boudica was one of the leaders and her uprising and her successful taking back the lands in the Iceni territory could have been a "torch" and a template that others could follow. She does not necessarily have to have lent her army's weight to the destruction of Colchester.

The Trinovantes could then have taken back Colchester on their own (virtually an undefended town) with no need for help.

I think that also to a degree your argument against John (1) about the Iceni going back home and then attacking Seutonius Paulinus also shows that the Iceni probably did not march on Colchester.

The reason for this is that by your own timelines you state that the Iceni leave to attack Colchester on May the 18th but don't do this until June the 5th nearly 3 weeks later and then hang around before attacking London on June 13th another 8 days later.

To keep an army sitting around doing nothing was logistically unwise and expensive in food terms and why attack London anyway? Yes it was a thriving port and trading post but it was not a centre of power and wealth at that time.

Certainly the Iceni after their uprising in AD47 would have known how the Romans would have reacted and that is to get to grips with the enemy ASAP in a battle where the odds were on their side.

The Iceni would have waited to ambush them as they entered their territories and the first force sent against them (the Ninth were ambushed in this way) although the Iceni territories were not the target and Colchester was, the Iceni were not to have known this.

I expect that the Trinovantes would have done the same protecting their own territories rather than acting in concert with the Iceni at this time.

As an aside wouldn't the Iceni have sowed winter wheat in the Autumn and not the Spring?

Regarding the bypass of the forts. I think this happens later on the march across the country towards London and St Albans in a mad dash to bring SP to battle whilst he still had a "small army".

This was the time that it would make sense to combine ideas and forces to take on SP after he had retreated from London.
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
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Deryk - 08-22-2012, 01:51 AM
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

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