Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.

[MonsGraupius]

The size of London in 55AD is shown as about 550x250m by Dominic Perring or 14 hectares

Wrong again, I'm afraid. This is page 87 of Perring's London in the Roman World, 2022:



As you can see, London at the time was between 39 and 60 hectares, with a population of 10-15 thousand, and was 'Britain's most important town in AD60'.

This is according to the very historian you have just cited.

Anyway, it appears we have radically different views on all this, and any further debate will be a waste of time, so I shall leave things here.

The size of London given by Dominic Perring in 55AD is shown as 550x250m ... I may be out by a few 10s of meters, but that is the size he shows.

London was not an important town ... in that it wasn't a Roman or Civic town, the type of towns that someone of the status of Suetonius would even bother with ... except that it had a port and merchants and a bridge.

It was not a civil centre, it was not a military centre ... but the tradesmen and women were flourishing so it had grown rapidly, but in 60AD it was not an important town as far as Suetonius was concerned ... except that it had merchants and a port, which could be important if his key priority were logistics (but you reject that) and a bridge, which would be important if his key priority were to hold the SE (which you also reject).

So, there is absolutely nothing in Londinium worth Suetonius going there to see ... let alone defend ... let alone bypass St.Albans, a civic centre, to waste his time on merchants and traders ... which you claim have nothing at all to do with his campaign.

So why did Suetonius want Londinium as his "seat of war" ... when all it had was a bridge to the SE and second class merchants and traders? If it was reputation, he would have chosen St.Albans as a civic centre. Instead he goes past St.Albans to defend second class merchants and traders who you claim are of no benefit to him, because you have him rushing at speed back up north where he is then immediately cut off from those Merchants and traders and a crossing you do not defend. Neither the merchants and traders nor the bridge can be part of your strategy, when he knew London was just about to be taken. So, you have no reason for Suetonius to go to Londinium.


In contrast ... if you merely accept that Suetonius made the short crossing over the Thames. He then has numerous ports to use those merchants and traders and he can easily defend the Crossing. The only draw back is that Suetonius has to give up Londinium and St.Albans "for the sake of the province".