Battle of Watling Street
| Battle of Watling Street | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conflict | Roman conquest of Britain | ||||||||||||||||
| Date | AD 61 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place | Watling Street | ||||||||||||||||
| Result | Roman victory | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
The Battle of Watling Street took place in AD 61 between an alliance of Briton tribes and the Romans. Though outnumbered by more than 20 to 1, the Romans held their ground against the Briton hordes and gained victory. The revolt had shaken Rome's hold on its new province, but victory secured Roman rule in Britain.
Background
In the year AD 43, Rome invaded south-eastern Britain. The conquest was gradual. While some kingdoms were defeated militarily and occupied, others were for the time being allowed to remain nominally independent as allies of the Roman empire. One such tribe was the Iceni in what is now Norfolk. Their king, Prasutagus, secured his independence by leaving his lands jointly to his daughters and to the Roman emperor in his will. But when he died, in 61 AD or shortly before, his will was ignored. The Romans seized his lands and violently humiliated his family: his widow, Boudicca, was flogged, and their daughters raped. Roman financiers called in their loans, which must have placed an increased burden of taxation of the Iceni.
While the governor, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, was campaigning in Wales, the Iceni revolted, allied with the neighbouring Trinovantes, whose former Capital, Camulodunum (Colchester) was now a colony for Roman veterans, with a temple to the former emperor Claudius, built at local expense. They descended on Camulodunum and destroyed it. Verulamium (St. Albans) followed. Suetonius raced to Londinium (London), but, concluding he did not have the numbers to defend it, evacuated the city. It, too, was burnt to the ground.
While Boudicca's army engaged in an orgy of destruction, Suetonius marched north and regrouped his forces. According to Tacitus, He amassed, including his own Legio XIV Gemina, parts of the XX Valeria Victrix, and any available auxiliaries, a total of 10,000 men. A third legion, II Augusta, failed to join him; a fourth, IX Hispana, had been routed trying to relieve Camulodunum. The size of Boudicca's army is estimated at a quarter of a million by Cassius Dio, one hundred thousand by Tacitus.
Battle
Suetonius chose his battleground carefully. A forest provided protection for the Roman flanks and rear against attack. The field also narrowed at the end Paullinus had deployed his troops, which meant Boudicca could not outflank the Romans, thus reducing her advantage of numbers. He placed his legionaries in close order, with lightly-armed auxiliaries on the flanks and cavalry on the wings.
As their armies arranged, the commanders sought to motivate their soldiers. The Roman historian Tacitus, who wrote of the battle no more then fifty years later, recorded Boudicca's speech to her followers. "Nothing is safe from Roman pride and arrogance. They will deface the sacred and will deflower our virgins. Win the battle or perish, that is what I, a woman, will do."
The Britons placed their wagon train in a crescent at the large end of the field, from which point their wives and children could watch what they expected to be an overwhelming victory. The German king, Ariovistus, is reported to have done the same thing in his battle against Julius Caesar a century before.
Tacitus also wrote of Suetonius addressing his legionaries, "Ignore the racket made by these savages. There are more women than men in their ranks. They are not soldiers - they're not even properly equipped. We've beaten them before and when they see our weapons and feel our spirit, they'll crack. Stick together. Throw the javelins, then push forward: knock them down with your shields and finish them off with your swords. Forget about booty. Just win and you'll have the lot." Although Tacitus, like many historians of his day, was given to invent stirring speeches for such occasions, Suetonius's speech here is unusually blunt and practical. Tacitus's father-in-law, the future governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola, was on Suetonius's staff at the time and may have reported it fairly accurately.
Boudicca led her army forward across the plain and into the narrowing field in a massive frontal attack. As they advanced, they were channeled into a tightly packed mass. At approximately forty yards, their advance was staggered by a volley of Roman pila, the Roman javelin. The pilum was designed to bend when it hit a shield, making it impossible to pull out; the enemy would either be encumbered with a heavy iron spear weighing down his shield, or have to discard it and fight unprotected; very few if any of the Britons would have had any armour. A second volley followed, as each Roman legionary carried two pila.
The legionaries and auxiliaries pushed forward in wedge formation, their superior discipline, tactics and equipment giving them a decisive edge in the close quarters fighting against the tightly packed British. The cavalry, lances extended, then entered the fray. As British losses quickly mounted, the Britons tried to retreat, but their flight was blocked by the ring of wagons, and they were massacred. The Romans killed not only the warriors but also the women, children and even pack animals. Tacitus says that, according to one estimate, 80,000 Britons fell compared to only 400 Romans.
Boudicca is said by Tacitus to have poisoned herself; Dio Cassius says she fell ill and died and was given a lavish burial. Poenius Postumus, prefect of the 2nd legion which had failed to join the battle, fell on his sword.
The site of the battle is not given by either historian, although Tacitus gives a brief description. Legend places it at Battle Bridge Road in King's Cross, London, although from reading Tacitus it is unlikely Suetonius returned to the city. A site along the Roman road of Watling Street, somewhere between Londinium and Viroconium (Wroxeter in Shropshire) is more likely. Plausible suggestions include Atherstone in Warwickshire, or a site just south of Lactodorum (Towcester) in Northamptonshire.
Aftermath
The emperor Nero, it is said, was so shaken by these events that he considered withdrawing from Britain altogether, but with the revolt brought to a decisive end, the conquest of Britain continued. Suetonius was relieved of the governorship and replaced by the more conciliatory Publius Petronius Turpilianus. This was not the end of resistance to Roman rule: Venutius of the Brigantes would lead another, less well documented but possibly more successful, revolt in 69 AD.