evening somewhere in the desert...
out of the burning sun... for awhile
VERULAMIUM MUSEUM TALK
Carthage
Hunting with Hawks... you will never go hungry! ...............................
What you cant see is the non stop rain... and late November cold!
Moments like this give one a real feel of the past...
MANY PEOPLE HAVE E MAILED US OVER THE YEARS ASKING FOR INFORMATION ON VARIOUS LEGIONS... XIIII IN PARTICULAR, SO HERE IS JUST ABOUT ALL WE KNOW ABOUT THEM.
The first legion
numbered XIIII of which we are aware was raised by Julivs Caesar 58-67 BC and
fought in his Gaelic campaigns. Later they were part of a force that crushed
the formidable Nervii and they came closer to shortening Caesar’s career than
anyone outside of Rome. Four years later this legion was destroyed in battle….but
Caesar quickly replaced it with another of the same number. This was later disbanded
in 46-45 BC just before Caesar himself was forced into early and terminal retirement
by certain members of the senate.
LEGION XIIII GEMINAE - A BRIEF HISTORY
, THE LEGION OF THE TWINS, WAS COMMISSIONED IN 41-40 BC BY OCTAVIAN,
THE SUCCESOR TO CEASAR, WHO NEEDED A LARGE ARMY DURING THE CIVIL WARS SO THAT
HE COULD WIPE OUT ALL HIS RIVALS….INCLUDING CLEOPATRA. THE TARGET WAS AN ISLAND BEYOND THE EDGE OF THE KNOWN WORLD THAT
WAS FULL OF TERRORS AND SUPERNATURAL BEINGS. STRANGE GODS DWELT THERE AND
DEMONS OF EVERY SORT. MYSTICAL DRUIDISM FLOURISHED IN ITS DARK FORESTS WHERE
THERE DWELT FIERCE AND TERRIBLE TRIBES WHO PRACTISED ABOMINABLE RITUALS AND
SACRIFICED UNINVITED GUESTS IN THE MOST UNPLEASANT WAYS! WHILE THE LEGION II ROLLED UP THE COUNTRY SOUTH OF THE THAMES AND
LEGION XX HELD DOWN THE CATUVELLAUNIAN TERRIROTY NORTH OF ITS BANKS AND TO
THE EAST, THE NINTH AND FOURTEENTH PUSHED UPWARDS AND WESTWARDS, FORCING CARATACUS,
THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION, TO TAKE A FAST TRIP TO WALES. LATER HE WENT
NORTH BUT SOMEHOW ENDED UP IN A VILLA IN ROME. HE HAD NOT EXPECTED THIS.
BY 60AD THE FRONTIER STRETCHED IN A SLANTING LINE FROM DEVON TO
THE WASH. IT WAS BOUNDED ON THE NORTH BY THE GREAT BRIGANTIAN TERRITORIES
WHO WERE NOMINALLY FRIENDLY TO ROME SO LONG AS THEIR QUEEN CARTIMANDUA REMAINED
IN CONTROL SUPPORTED BY ROMAN ARMS AND CASH. NOW THAT THE SETTLED AREAS WITHIN
THE PROVINCE WERE THOUGHT TO BE SUFFICIENTLY PACIFIED IT WAS TIME TO DEAL
WITH THE WESTERN TRIBLES BEYOND THE BRISTOL CHANNEL AND THE SEVERN RIVER.
THESE WERE DEFINITELY A NUISANCE AND HAD DEFEATED PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS TO CIVILISE
THEM.
SUETONIUS PAULINUS, THE NEW GOVERNOR, LED A COMBINED FORCE AGAINST
THE ENEMY. THIS CONTAINED VARIOUS AUXILIARY UNITS WITH LEGIONS XX VALERIA
AND XIIII GEMINA. CUTTING THROUGH THE NORTHERN COASTAL REGION, HE TOOK ANGLESEY,
THE ISLE OF THE DRUIDS AND A CENTRE OF RESISTANCE TO ROME. UNFORTUNATELY,
HE WAS ROBBED OF THE FRUITS OF HIS LABOUR BECAUSE OF A CIVIL SERVICE BLUNDER.
THE CLIENT KINGDOM OF THE ICENI, WHO CONTROLLED NORFOLK AND PARTS
OF SUFFOLK, HAD JUST LOST THEIR KING, PRASUTAGUS, AND IT WAS ASSUMED THAT,
AFTER THE USUAL BRIBES TO THE EMPEROR, HIS QUEEN BOUDICCA WOULD CONTINUE TO
RULE. HOWEVER, THE CIVIL ADMINISTRATOR, CATUS DECIANUS, ATTEMPTED TO USE THIS
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY TO ENFORCE LOAN REPAYMENTS AND THE GENERAL SEQUESTRATION
OF GOODS FROM THE NATIVES. TAKING SUFFICENT ENFORCERS, HE DECLARED THAT IT
WAS AXIOMATIC THAT WOMEN WERE NOT ALLOWED TO RULE COUNTRIES. THIS SURPRISED
A LOT OF PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY BOUDICCA. WHEN HE WAS CHALLENGED HE PROMPTLY ORDERED
THE FLOGGING OF ONE WHO WAS NO LONGER ROYAL AND THEN LOST CONTROL OF THE SITUATION
AS HIS FOLLOWERS BEGAN TO RAPE AND PILLAGE. HAVING EXCEEDED HIS BRIEF, HE
HASTENED BACK TO LONDON AND THE ICENI PREPARED TO FOLLOW.
IT HAS BEEN SAID THAT IT IS NOT SOLDIERS WHO MAKE WARS. CATUS WAS
DEFINITELY NOT A SOLDIER AND HAD PICKED THE IDEAL MOMENT TO CAUSE TROUBLE
BY WAITING UNTIL THE ARMY AND ITS COMMANDER WERE AS FAR AWAY AS THEY COULD
POSSIBLY BE. URGENT DISPATCHES WERE SENT AND THE NEWLY CONQUERED TERRITORIES
IN WALES HAD TO BE ABANDONED. LEGION FOURTEEN WITH A SECTION OF THE TWENTIETH
FORMED THE BACKBONE OF THE FORCE THAT MARCHED TO MEET BOUDICCA.
BY THE TIME PAULINUS HAD REACHED LONDON THINGS WERE SERIOUS. COLCHESTER
AND THE SETTLED LANDS TO THE NORTH-EAST OF THE THAMES HAD BEEN LOST OR WERE
ABOUT TO BE. THE REFUGEE PROBLEM WAS ACUTE. ST ALBANS HAD NO CHANCE AND PART
OF THE NINTH LEGION HAD BEEN OBLITERATED NORTH OF COLCHESTER. THE SECOND LEGION
WHICH WAS HOLDING DOWN THE SOUTHERN WELSH TRIBES HAD STAYED PUT, DESPITE ITS
ORDERS TO JOIN THE CONCENTRATION IN THE EAST.
CAUGHT WITH HIS TUNICA DOWN, PAULINUS WITHDREW RELUCTANTLY AND LEFT
LONDON TO THE MERCY OF THE HORDES. THE SMOKE FROM ITS BURNING ROSE BEHIND
HIS COLUMNS AS THEY MARCHED.
ON A SITE YET TO BE DETERMINED, THE ARMY HALTED AND AWAITED THE
FOE. THE BRITONS SAW LOW WOODED HILLS SPLIT BY A LONG CLEARING AT THE TOP
OF WHICH STOOD THE LAST SUBSTANTIAL BODY OF TROOPS THAT COULD BE GATHERED
TO OPPOSE THEM. THE ROMANS WERE VASTLY OUTNUMBERED, VICTORY WAS CERTAIN AND
ANY STRAGGLERS THAT REMAINED AFTERWARDS COULD BE SWEPT INTO THE SEA.
PAULINUS SENT MESSENGERS TIME AND TIME AGAIN, REQUESTING THE SECOND
LEGION TO JOIN THEM AND GIVE BATTLE …BUT THE SECCOND WERE HAVING PROBLEMS
WITH THE TRIBES AROUND EXETER AND REFUSED TO ASSIST…LEAVING THE FOURTEENTH
TO STAND ALONE. AFTER EVERTHING HAD BEEN TIDIED UP, THE TWENTIETH WERE AWARDED THE
TITLE ‘VICTRIX’ (VICTORIOUS) AND THE FOURTEENTH THE TITLES ‘MARTIA VICTRIX’
(WARLIKE AND VICTORIOUS). THE SECOND GOT NOTHING, THEY HAD REFUSED TO TURN
OUT.
PEACE RESTORED, THE LEGION WAS BASED AT WROXETER UNTIL 66AD WHEN
NERO PLANNED AN EXPEDITION AGAINST THE ALBANI TRIBES ON THE BOSPHOROUS. ONCE MORE A PROMISING CAMPAIGN WAS ABORTED, THIS TIME BY THE REVOLT
IN GAUL OF VINDEX, WHO RAISED A TRIBAL REBELLION AND LOST, COMMITTING SUICIDE
TO AVOID FACING HIS CRITICS. NERO SOON FOLLOWED HIS LEAD AND GALBA, WHO REPLACED
HIM, FARED NO BETTER. THE SUPPLANTER OF GALBA, OTHO, TRIED TO AVOID PREMATURE
DEMISE BY SWINGING THE LEGIONS OF DALMATIA AND THE DANUBIAN PROVINCE OF PANNONIA
ACROSS TO DEFEND ITALY FROM THE LATEST CONTENDER, VITELLIUS. THESE LEGIONS
EACH SENT 2,000 MEN ON AHEAD. THEY WERE FROM THE VII AND III VETERAN LEGIONS,
THE XI AND XIII AND, OF COURSE, THE XIIII. AT THE FIRST BATTLE OF CREMONA
IN NORTHERN ITALY, THIS FORCE WAS OUTNUMBERED AND ROLLED UP. SOON OTHO DIED
AND VITELLIUS BECAME EMPEROR. FIGHTING STOPPED AND LEGIONS WERE LEFT SCATTERED
THROUGHOUT ITALY, SOME OF THEM MUTTERING THAT THE OUTCOME HAD BEEN UNFAIR.
THE FOURTEENTH WERE SORE LOSERS AND IT WAS PERHAPS AN ADMINISTRATIVE MISTAKE
TO BILLET THEM IN TURIN, A TOWN SHARED WITH THE BATAVIAN COHORTS WHO HAD FOUGHT
ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE AT CREMONA. THE BATAVIANS HAD OFTEN WORKED IN CLOSE CO-OPERATION
WITH THE LEGION BEFORE THE PRESENT TROUBLES BUT WERE NOW CONVINCED THAT THEY
HAD KNOCKED THE FIGHTING FOURTEENTH INTO A COCKED HAT. THE FOURTEENTH POINTED
OUT THAT ONLY THEIR ADVANCE GUARD HAD BEEN INVOLVED AND, HAD THE REST OF THE
BOYS BEEN PRESENT, THE BATAVIANS WOULD HAVE KNOWN WHAT SIX INCHES OF IRON
FELT LIKE. THE PEOPLE OF TURIN BEGAN TO WORRY.
ONE DAY A WORKMAN AT TURIN WAS BEING CURSED BY A BATAVIAN WHO SAID
THAT THE ROMAN HAD CHEATED HIM, WHEREON A LEGIONARY BILLETED AT THE HOUSE
CAME OUT AND TOLD THE BATAVIAN WHERE TO TAKE HIMSELF. A FIGHT BEGAN IN NO
TIME AND SOON MORE AND MORE MEN FROM BOTH SIDES WERE WADING IN. IT WAS TIME TO GO AND VITELLIUS ORDERED THE LEGION TO LEAVE ITALY
VIA THE LITTLE ST BERNARD PASS, AVOIDING VIENNE. THE SOLDIERS MARKED THEIR
DISSATISFACTION BY LEAVING FIRES EVERYWHERE THEY COULD. AS THEY MARCHED AWAY,
A RED GLOW SPREAD IN TURIN AND YET AGAIN DARK SMOKE AROSE IN THE REAROF THE
COLUMNS AS THE TOWN BLAZED. SO LEGION FOURTEEN RETURNED TO BRITAIN. CONSTERNATION! HOWEVER, IT WAS ALRIGHT BECAUSE THIS WAS ACTUALLY
THE TAIL-END OF THE VITALLIAN ARMY. (WHETHER THEY ATTACKED OR NOT IS UNRECORDED.)
LEGION XIIII HAD HARDLY SETTLED DOWN WHEN IT WAS ORDERED OUT OF
BRITAIN FOR THE LAST TIME. VESPASIAN HAD REPLACED VITELLIUS AS EMPEROR AND
WAS DETERMINED TO STAY IN OFFICE. THEREFORE HE WAS QUITE UPSET WHEN CIVILIS,
A NOBLEMAN OF THE BATAVIAN TRIBE FROM HOLLAND, RAISED THE BANNER OF REVOLT
IN AN ATTEMPT TO SEPARATE GAUL FROM ROME. IMPERIAL TROOPS PROMPTLY MARCHED
INTO THE AREA IN ORDER TO ELIMINATE CIVILIS. THESE TROOPS WERE UNDER THE COMMAND
OF CERIALIS WHO HAD ONCE LED THE NINTH HISPANA IN ITS VAIN ATTEMPT TO SAVE
COLCHESTER FROM THE ICENI. THE ARRIVALS OF THE II, VI AND XIIII LEGIONS DOUBLED
THE NUMBERS AND, DURING AN ORATION TO HIS SOLDIERS, CERIALIS CALLED THE MEN
OF GEMINA THE ‘TAMERS OF BRITAIN’. IT IS TO BE HOPED THAT HE PRAISED THE OTHER
UNITS AS WELL SINCE THE FOURTEENTH WERE ALREADY TOO FULL OF THEMSELVES.
CIVILIS TOOK A LOT OF REMOVING BUT HE WENT AND LEGION XIIII RETURNED
AFTER A LONG ABSENCE TO ITS OLD BASE AT MAINTZ IN GERMANY WHERE IT AGAIN FORMED
PART OF THE RHINE ARMY.
EMPERORS PASSED AND DOMITIAN TOOK HIS TURN. IN 89AD THE FOURTEENTH
AND LEGION XX1 RAPAX WHICH SHARED THE SAME CAMP WERE INVOLVED IN THE ABORTIVE
REVOLT OF SATURNINUS. THIS CAUSED GREAT ALARM IN ROME AND THE EMPEROR HIMSELF
SET OUT FOR GERMANY. THE LEGIONS OF THE LOWER RHINE, HOWEVER, STAYED LOYAL
AND THE REVOLT FAILED. THE LEGION DECIDED TO SETTLE DOWN AGAIN AT VIENNE, CAMPED BRIEFLY
AT VINDILONAN AND BRIGATIO IN EASTERN AUSTRIA AND THEN IN 101AD WERE CALLED
UPON TO HELP SETTLE THE BALKAN QUESTION.
TRAJAN, A VERY ACTIVE EMPEROR, HAD DECIDED TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION
ONCE AND FOR ALL, BY TEACHING THE FIERCE DACIAN WARRIORS TO RESPECT ROMAN
ARMS. HOWEVER, THEY DIDN’T AND THE LEGIONS HAD TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN. AT
LAST, IN 106AD, HE HAD WON AND COULD BUILD HIS FAMOUS COLUMN. THE GREAT DAYS OF ROME WERE PASSING. FORTY-EIGHT YEARS LATER THE
EMPEROR MARCUS AURELIUS SENT PART OF THE LEGION TO SYRIA TO FIGHT THE PARTHIANS
AND THE REST TO FIGHT IN THE MARCO-MANNIC WARS WHICH LASTED FOR FIFTEEN YEARS.
PERHAPS HE THOUGHT THAT THIS WOULD KEEP THEM OUT OF TROUBLE. APPARENTLY HE
WAS RIGHT, FOR NOTHING MORE WAS EVER HEARD OF THEM. NOBODY KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED TO LEGION XIIII…… BUT MEN DO WHISPER
TO THIS DAY THAT SHADOWY LEGIONARY FIGURES STILL HAUNT THE INNS AND TAVERNS
IN THE OLD ROMAN QUARTERS OF VERULAMIUM. SOME YOUNG CHILDREN EVEN SAY THAT
THEY HAVE HEARD THE VOICES OF SOLDIERS IN THE MUSEVM……
GAIVS AQUILLA
Now these
boys look more like Roman soldiers, than most of today's re enactors do!
It was a
pleasure to train them!
Whether or not either of these legions had any connection with Legion XIIII
Geminae is uncertain, but what we do know is as follows:
THE PEACE WHICH FOLLOWED BROUGHT ABOUT A WIDE REORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY AND
LEGION XIIII WAS STATIONED IN THE BALKANS FOR THE NEXT 21 YEARS OR SO. THE TERRIBLE
DISASTER IN 9AD WHEN THREE LEGIONS WERE WIPED OUT IN THE TEUTOBERG FOREST LEFT
THE RHINE FRONTIER WIDE OPEN AND IT IS FAIRLY CERTAIN THAT THE FOURTEENTH WAS
ONE OF THE UNITS THROWN INTO THE GAP TO PLUG IT. THEY CONTINUED TO PLUG IT FOR
ANOTHER THIRTY YEARS UNTIL 43AD WHEN THEY WERE ORDERED TO JOIN THE TASK FORCE
COMMANDED BY AULUS PLAUTIUS WHICH WAS ASSEMBLING FOR THE INVASION OF BRITAIN.
IT WAS AN ANTICLIMAX TO LAND IN THE VICINITY OF RICHBOROUGH AND FIND NO-ONE
THERE. LATER WHEN THE BRITISH FORCES EVENTUALLY TURNED UP AND DIED IN BATTLE
AS EASILY AS ANYONE ELSE, THE LEGIONARIES FELT MUCH BETTER AND DID THEIR JOB
EFFICIENTLY AND WELL.
PAULINUS GAVE A ROUSING SPEECH TO HIS TROOPS. THE LEGIONARIES ALTHOUGH COMPLETELY
OUTNUMBERED SAW BEFORE THEM A DISORGANISED MASS OF FIERCE WARRIORS WHO POURED
THEMSELVES INTO THE NARROW GAP. THIS CRAMPED THEIR STYLE AND FORCED THEM TO
ATTACK FROM BELOW ON A FRONTAGE THAT DENIED THEM THE ADVANTAGE OF ENGAGING
NUMBERS. THEY HAD XIIII WAITING FOR THEM AND THEREFORE HAD NO CHANCE. (AT
LEAST, THAT IS WHAT OLD SOLDIERS WOULD TELL ANYONE WILLING TO LISTEN AND BUY
THEM A DRINK IN YEARS TO COME!)
THIS FORCE CONSISTED OF VARIOUS LEGIONARY DETACHMENTS DRAWN FROM THE RHINE
FRONTIER, THE NEWLY FORMED LEGION I ITALICA AND LEGION XIIII GEM.MV. THE LATTER
LEFT BRITAIN AND HEADED FOR DALMATIA, AN AREA COVERING MUCH OF WHAT WAS YUGOSLAVIA,
WHICH THEY PROBABLY REACHED BY THE YEAR 68AD. IT IS RECORDED THAT NERO ANNOUNCED
THEY WERE HIS BEST TROOPS, NO DOUBT PLEASING THEM AND ANNOYING EVERYONE ELSE.
BODIES STARTED FALLING AND DESPERATE FIGHTING WOULD HAVE BROKEN OUT BUT FOR
TWO COHORTS OF THE PRAETORIAN GUARD WHO SIDED WITH THE LEGIONARIES AND BOOTED
THE BATAVIANS BACK TO THEIR QUARTERS.
THE TROOPS REGARDED THE COUNTRY THROUGH WHICH THEY MARCHED AS FAIR GAME AND
VIENNE WAS NEARLY VISITED BY THE LEGION IN A SEARCH FOR SOUVENIRS TO REMIND
THEM OF THEIR TRIP TO SUNNY ITALY. HOWEVER, THE MORE SENSIBLE OF THE MEN MANAGED
TO PERSUADE THE HOT-HEADS TO STAY ON THE ROAD.
MEANWHILE IN THE COUNTRY THAT THEY HAD JUST LEFT DISCORD WAS THE ORDER OF
THE DAY. A SOLDIER OF THE V LEGION HAD LOST TO A GALLIC AUXILIARY IN A FRIENDLY
WRESTLING MATCH. THE GAUL HAD JEERED AT HIM.
LEGIONARIES AND GAULS HAD STARTED A PUNCH-UP. PRESUMABLY NO PRAETORIANS WERE
AVAILABLE BECAUSE WEAPONS CAME INTO PLAY AND TWO WHOLE COHORTS OF THE AUXILIARIES
WERE REPORTED SLAIN. AS THE FIGHTING WAXED, DUST WAS SEEN IN THE DISTANCE,
PIERCED BY THE GLINT OF ARMS AND A SUDDEN CRY WENT UP THAT THE FOURTEENTH
HAD TURNED IN ITS TRACKS AND WAS ABOUT TO ATTACK.
THE RAPAX WERE SENT OF PANNONIA AND WERE WIPED OUT THREE YEARS LATER IN 92AD
WHEN THE MARCOMANNI AND THE QUADI ATTACKED THE PROVINCE.
DOMITIAN, NO DOUBT WITH A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF BLACK HUMOUR, SENT THE FOURTEENTH
TO REPLACE THEM IN READINESS FOR A CAMPAIGN PLANNED AGAINST THE SARMATION
AND SUEBI TRIBLES.
DESPITE THESE PLANS THE LEGION LASTED LONGER THAN HE DID, AND, AFTER HIS REPUTATION
HAD BEEN POSTHUMOUSLY TORN IN SHREDS…. THEIRS WAS STILL INTACT.
THIS WAR OVER, THE VARIOUS ARMY UNITS DISPERSED BACK TO THEIR STRATEGIC AREAS
AND THE FOURTEENTH MARCHED HOME, ONLY TO FIND ORDERS DEMANDING THEY GET TO
CARNUNTUM IN PANNONIA BY 114AD. IT SEEMED THAT NO-ONE EVER WANTED THEM TO
STAY!
HAVING ACHIEVED THIS, MARCUS AURELIUS ALLOWED HIMSELF TO BE MURDERED QUIETLY
SO THAT ROME COULD DECLINE AND FALL WHICH, OF COURSE…. IT WENT AND DID!
Legionxiiii@hotmail.com
