Boudicca uprising
The Boudicca uprising was the uprising of the two indigenous tribes of the Iceni and Trinovantes against the Roman occupiers of Britain in AD 60 and 61, led by the British queen and military leader Boudicca . The poor treatment of the tribes by the Romans sparked the uprising. Both sides fought with great brutality. Boudicca's forces destroyed three large Roman settlements (including Londinium ), killing most of the remaining residents and defenders. An outnumbered Roman army under Gaius Suetonius Paulinus put the insurgents in the " Midlands " along Watling Street and destroyed them. By far the most important source for the events is the Roman historian Tacitus .
background
Humiliation of the Iceni
The British Iceni lived under their king Prasutagus in what is now East Anglia ( Norfolk and Suffolk ). Prasutagus had decided early on for an alliance with Rome. The treaty of 43 AD regulated that he could continue to rule his empire as the client king of the Romans. Prasutagus died around AD 60 and inherited his kingdom in equal parts to his two daughters and the Roman emperor Nero . He hoped to ensure the continued existence of his empire and above all to protect his family from attacks by the Romans. But the opposite happened: the Romans, under the leadership of the procurator Catus Decianus , moved into the land of the Iceni and from then on treated the kingdom of the previous client king as part of the Roman province. As Tacitus reports, Roman soldiers destroyed Prasutagus' lands and the procurator's slaves destroyed his house. They also allegedly mistreated Prasutagus' widow, Boudicca, and raped and kidnapped both of her daughters. In addition, there was the sudden repayment of large loans by Roman creditors, including the philosopher Seneca .
This humiliation was preceded by longstanding provocations by the Romans. A high point of this development was in AD 47 the attempt of Publius Ostorius Scapula to disarm tribes that appeared threatening or suspicious to him. This had sparked an uprising by several groups, including the Iceni. However, the insurgents were defeated in a decisive battle (probably at Stonea Camp in Cambridgeshire ) and had to submit to the Roman occupiers.
Expulsion and provocation of the trinovants
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The other Roman provocations included, above all, the expulsion of the Trinovantes from their capital, Camulodunum , today's Colchester , in order to build a veteran colony for former legionaries there on behalf of the Roman Emperor Claudius . This should serve to maintain the Roman influence in the city after the Legio XX originally stationed there had been moved to the west to fight the Silurians . Tacitus describes the confiscated land as " agri captivi " (German "conquered land"). So it was allowed to the Romans to appropriate the land and to treat the population like slaves. Findings of British skulls in Colchester with injuries indicative of executions support this assumption.
An additional provocation was the start of construction of a temple in Camulodunum in honor of Claudius, who died in AD 54 and was consecrated by the Roman Senate , in which recruited Britons were to serve as priests. Rome wanted to impose a "god" on the trinovants, who had allowed them to be humiliated through expulsion and oppression during his lifetime. What was more serious, however, was that the temple was supposed to be paid for by the Trinovantes themselves, which meant that there was a very high tax burden on the trunk. Archaeological finds suggest that the temple was not completed and fell victim to the uprising.
The riot
Chronological order
Although Tacitus only writes about the year 61, historians today assume that Boudicca called the tribes to an uprising immediately after the death of her husband in the late year 60 and that this continued into the following year. This is supported by the fact that the humiliation of Boudiccas and her tribe after the death of her husband must have been a strong trigger for a spontaneous uprising. Incidentally, the moment was extremely favorable for the Iceni and Trinovantes: the Roman camp in Saham Toney, which had been built specifically to control the Iceni, had been abandoned by the Romans two years earlier, and most of the Roman army was far away fighting the Druids at Mona ( Anglesey ). The spontaneity of the uprising and the determination of the insurgents is further underlined by the fact that the fields to feed the tribe were no longer tilled and the fighters were accompanied by their entire families. Such migrations had already taken place in comparable situations among Gallic and Germanic tribes and can be seen as evidence that the uprising was not preceded by lengthy strategic considerations.
course
Boudicca gathered an army after the previous humiliations. In addition to the Iceni, it was joined by the neighboring Trinovants and small parts of other, but unknown tribes, who also saw themselves suppressed by the Roman treatment. They decided to go out together and look for new settlement areas in which they could live independently of the Romans.
Their path first led them to the Camulodunum veterans' colony. This colony was completely unable to defend itself and therefore asked the procurator Catus Decianus for assistance. However, the latter only sent 200 poorly armed soldiers who quickly fell victim to the insurgents. As a result, the rebels razed the former headquarters of the Roman occupying power to the ground. The Legate Quintus Petillius Cerialis opposed them with the Legio VIIII Hispana at Camulodunum, but could not stop the superiority of the Britons either. His foot troops were wiped out, and Cerialis had to retreat to a fortified camp with the cavalry . The procurator Decianus fled to Gaul.
The Roman general and governor of Britain, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, then ordered his legions stationed in Mona to march to Londinium (London), while he himself hurried ahead of them to assess the situation and, if necessary, to raise auxiliary troops. In Londinium, however, he realized that it was not possible to defend the city with the resources available. He could therefore not prevent the insurgents from continuing their march to Londinium and pillaging the city. At this stage of the war, he had to give up both Londinium and Verulamium ( St Albans ) without a fight, with the result that the local tribe of Catuvellaunen, allied with Rome, fell victim to plundering Boudiccas. Boudicca's army is said to have comprised around 80,000 people at that time - but this is probably a considerable exaggeration - and was now a serious threat to Roman rule in Britain. However, it must be taken into account that a large part of this army consisted of the women and children of the insurgents who followed the soldiers on wagons. Nevertheless, according to Tacitus, around 70,000 Roman citizens and allies were killed in the attacks by Boudicca's army.
Suetonius Paulinus therefore only saw the possibility of looking for an open field battle. His main concern was that his force in wooded areas would be destroyed from ambush by numerous smaller attacks. Under similar circumstances, the Legio IX under Petilius Cerialis had previously been defeated by the Iceni and was now incapacitated in the eastern Midlands. Suetonius could not expect any support from the Legio II in Exeter under the Praefectus Castrorum Poenius Postumus, as the latter refused to join Suetonius' armed forces.
against the Romans
Schematic representation of the battle
| date | 61 AD |
|---|---|
| place | unknown (probably Manduessedum on Watling Street ) |
| output | Victory of the Romans |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
Britons |
Roman Empire |
| Commander | |
|
Boudicca |
Suetonius Paulinus |
| Troop strength | |
| reportedly over 80,000 | 10,000 |
| losses | |
|
allegedly 80,000 |
400 killed, 400 injured |
The Battle of Watling Street
Place and setup
Where exactly the battle took place can no longer be determined today. It is believed that the two forces met at a location along Watling Street, which runs northwest from London, near what is now Atherstone or Mancetter (then Manduessedum ).
Suetonius Paulinus, who had about 10,000 men - consisting of the Legio XIV , vexillations of the Legio XX and auxiliary troops - chose a plain bounded by a ravine with a forest in the background so that he could face the enemy on an open plain in front of him and didn't have to fear an ambush.
The legionary soldiers were lined up in close ranks, the auxiliary troops on both sides and the cavalry on the outermost wings. The Britons, however swarmed all over unorganized and squadrons around. Confident of victory, they had brought their wives with them, who sat on wagons at the edge of the plain.
course
After the speeches that the two military leaders Boudicca and Suetonius had given to their armies, according to Tacitus, the battle began. The Legion stood motionless in the cover of the ravine at the beginning and let the enemy come within range for their javelins . After she had thrown her javelins at the unordered advancing Britons, she advanced in an orderly phalanx and drove a wedge into the ranks of the attackers. The auxiliary troops and the cavalry now also advanced and the Britons could no longer hold out. They turned to flee, but it was difficult to escape because they found the paths blocked by their own wagons standing around. So the fleeing people and their wives were massacred by the Romans. Tacitus reports losses of 80,000 people on the British side, compared to 400 on the Roman side. The figures are questionable, but it is clear that the Romans were outnumbered, but were able to achieve a complete victory.
rating
Tacitus summed up the result of this battle aptly: “The happy outcome of a single battle brought the province into its old submissiveness.” It is unclear how great the chances of Boudiccas and her troops actually were to defeat the Romans decisively and thus the history of the conquest To steer Britain in completely new directions. It was above all the undisciplined fighting style of the British fighters in the open field that made them succumb to the disciplined and tactically well-positioned Romans.
Consequences of the uprising
There are two versions of the further fate of Boudicca: Tacitus reports that Boudicca took his own life through poison, while Cassius Dio thinks that Boudicca fell ill and died. However, the uprising hit the Iceni tribe hard, as the people had not taken care of the harvest during the war and consequently suffered from a great famine.
Poenius Postumus, who had refused to support Suetonius Paulinus with the Legio II, threw himself into his own sword after his victory in order to regain his honor.
Suetonius was now considered a hero among the Romans, but was also heavily criticized for his retaliatory actions against the Iceni and Trinovantes. His extremely harsh punitive actions threatened to plunge the British island into chaos. Nero therefore commissioned his freedman Polyclitus to investigate the allegations, whereupon Suetonius Paulinus was replaced by Publius Petronius Turpilianus that same year . The latter took no further military action against the Iceni and the other insurgent tribes. The uprising had such a negative impact on the morale and strength of the Roman troops that no further attempts at conquest of Britain were made for the next ten years. The biographer Suetonius reports that the events of the Boudicca uprising even led Nero to consider withdrawing entirely from Britain.
After this conflict, the Iceni were controlled by means of a strict military rule, but at the instigation of the Romans received an autonomous government again in the 1980s. The peaceful and cautious policy of the Romans (especially under Marcus Trebellius Maximus, 63–69) lasted until 71, when Quintus Petilius Cerialis - who had almost lost his life in the Boudicca uprising - was appointed the new governor of Britain and the Campaigns of conquest in the west and north of Britain resumed.
For the archeology of particular importance to the so-called "Boudican destruction is horizon " (dt. Boudicca's destruction horizon ). This is a 30 to 150 cm thick layer of burned material found during excavations in cities that fell victim to the uprising. It shows the extent of the destruction by the arson insurgents. Archaeological finds can also be easily assigned to a specific time.
See also
literature
swell
The main sources are the annals of the Roman historian Tacitus and the historical work of Cassius Dio . Both report extensively on the uprising and provide valuable information, but Tacitus is generally believed to be more reliable. The speeches handed down by the two writers, which the military commanders gave before the decisive battle, are not authentic. Here the Thucydideic principle applied, according to which a historian could write down the speeches as they could have been given.
- Tacitus: annals . Artemis & Winkler Verlag, Düsseldorf 2005, ISBN 3-7608-4113-9 (translation by Erich Heller)
- Tacitus: Germania. Dialogue . VMA-Verlag, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-928127-71-3 (translation by Karl Büchner and Reinhard Häußler)
- Cassius Dio: Roman History . Artemis-Verlag, Zurich 1985–1987 (5 volumes, translation by Otto Veh )
Secondary literature
- Heinz Bellen : Fundamentals of Roman history . Volume 2: The Imperial Era from Augustus to Diocletian . Primus-Verlag, Darmstadt 1998, ISBN 3-89678-073-5 .
- Kai Brodersen : The Roman Britain . Primus-Verlag, Darmstadt 1998, ISBN 3-89678-080-8 .
- Karl Christ : History of the Roman Empire. From Augustus to Constantine . Beck, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-406-36316-4 .
- Erich Koestermann (comm.): Cornelius Tacitus, Annalen . 4th volume. Winter, Heidelberg 1968.
- Helmuth Schneider : Nero . In: Manfred Clauss (Ed.): The Roman Emperors . 2nd Edition. Beck, Munich 2001, pp. 77ff., ISBN 3-406-47288-5 .
- Paul R. Sealey: The Boudican Revolt against Rome (Shire Archeology; Vol. 74). Shire Books, Prines Risborough 2004, ISBN 0-7478-0618-7
Web links
- James Grout: Boudica , part of the "Encyclopædia Romana" (English)
Remarks
- ↑ Tacitus, Annals 14.31.1.
- ↑ Cassius Dio , Roman History 62,2; see. Christiane art : Boudicca. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 2, Metzler, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-476-01472-X , Sp. 758.
- ↑ Tacitus, Annals 12: 31-32.
- ↑ Sealey: The Boudican Revolt against Rome , p. 19
- ↑ The New Pauly ibid.
- ↑ Sealey: The Boudican Revolt against Rome , pp 12-13.
- ↑ Tacitus, Annalen 14,43,3: victor Britannus, Petilio Ceriali, legato legionis nonae, in subsidium adventanti obvius, fudit legionem, et quod peditum interfecit; Cerialis cum equitibus evasit in castra et munimentis defensus est. The camp was presumably identified by Sheppard Frere with a fortification excavated at Longthorpe; see. Peter Salway, Roman Britain , University Press, Oxford 1981, p. 118 with note 1.
- ↑ Tacitus, Annalen 14,32,3: qua clade et odiis provinciae, quam avaritia in bellum egerat, trepidus procurator Catus in Galliam transit.
- ↑ Tacitus, Annalen 14.37.
- ↑ Tacitus, Agricola 16.2.
- ↑ Tacitus, Annalen 14.37.3.
- ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 62,12,6.
- ↑ Tacitus, Annalen 14.37.3.
- ↑ The New Pauly ibid.
- ↑ Sealey: The Boudican Revolt against Rome , S. 52nd
- ^ Suetonius, Nero 18; 39-40.
- ↑ Sealey: The Boudican Revolt against Rome , p. 23
