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Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.
(10-24-2016, 11:12 AM)kavan Wrote: some historians reckon that Paulinus retreated as far north as Mancetter before giving battle

The reasoning behind placing the battle in the Midlands, suggested by Haverfield, Webster and others, is that Paulinus could not have marched all the way to London in time to head off Boudica - so he must have left his troops on the road, nipped down to London for a personal recce, then nipped back to join them on the march. This would indeed put the final battle somewhere around Mancetter.

However, this idea isn't supported in the texts, and has no parallel in Roman military history. I far prefer the suggestion that Tacitus's dramatic presentation of events seems to compress the time available, and Paulinus in fact would have had a few more days, time enough to get to London by normal marching pace. So no need to assume he was anywhere in the Midlands when it came to the confrontation.

The chronology we're assuming for the campaign, though, doesn't leave too much free time - once things get moving, the critical battle needs to happen within a month or two at most, to allow time for reinforcements and various messages and travellers to and from Rome. That reduces the time available for long distance manoeuvres prior to the battle.

So it seems likely that the battle took place close to London, rather than far away in the west (or the Midlands) - places that would have taken much marching for the Romans, and more importantly the slower-moving Britons, to reach.

But one thing we have established in all these years of discussion is that there are multiple interpretations of even the simplest aspect of the campaign, and we could all be completely wrong!



(10-24-2016, 11:12 AM)kavan Wrote: if they were hoping to link up with Legio II. 

Most people have assumed that the 2nd legion were somewhere in the west at full strength. I've come to prefer Michael's idea that it was only a veteran detachment left to guard the legion camp under the praefectus Postumus, while the bulk of the legion were away in Wales. If so, there would far more troops available in north Wales than anywhere in the west, and if Paulinus was looking for large-scale support he would have been better to move in a northern direction than a western one... The proposed location(s) near Tring suits both avenues of reinforcement!
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 - 10-24-2016, 03:00 PM

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