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Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.
(11-23-2015, 11:41 AM)John1 Wrote: I understood Verulamium and Towcester were not meaningfully fortified in 61AD.

Nowhere in the south east was - Colchester and London were both unfortified settlements at this point. It seems that the Romans did not regard the south east as a military zone, and (excepting some possible forts on the margins of Iceni territory, and the procurator's bodyguard in London) they took no steps to garrison or fortify the province. Tacitus calls St Albans 'unsafe for a defending force'.


(11-23-2015, 11:41 AM)John1 Wrote: if the “threat” of the Druids wasn’t yet subdued why would this be the case?... The distribution of garrisons at this period also seems rather peripheral

I think you answer your own question here! There's no evidence of significant fighting in south-east Britain or the Midlands between the conquest campaign and Boudica'a revolt. So there was no 'druid threat', and no military campaign against the central Britons either - the Romans just marched in and occupied the place. They would have built temporary marching camps, but the fortifications at Towcester (as you've said), Mancetter and the Lunt seem to date from the years following the revolt.



(11-23-2015, 11:41 AM)John1 Wrote: He had time as the other side assembled and his staff and allies may have had the intimate knowledge he needed.

The note about Paulinus being drawn to fight 'contrary to his judgement' suggests that time was not on his side, and he was forced to take action. This would count against any idea that he had withdrawn to a position he'd prepared well in advance, and was waiting for the Britons to come to him. His chosen battle site would be the best available to him at short notice from a limited range of options.



(11-23-2015, 11:41 AM)John1 Wrote: the theory that the Iceni were culturally different to the other tribes, an isolated land of immigrants from over the North Sea perhaps? A proto Saxon/Norse bridgehead?

This has cropped up before. Saxons and Norse are well out of it! But we perhaps shouldn't discount the idea that the eastern Britons might have had closer cultural and even ethnic links with the peoples on the far side of the North Sea - Menapii, Batavians, Tungri perhaps - than the Britons of the far west and north. Britain at this date was surely not a sealed environment populated by an entirely homogenous people.
Nathan Ross
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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 Nathan Ross - 11-23-2015, 12:23 PM

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