THE FORTRESS

CHAPTER 2

THE LONG MARCH TO CHESTER

The British Isles were not unknown to the Romans and it is likely that the two peoples had traded with one another for hundreds of years prior to any dispute arising between the two societies. With the rapid development and growth of its nation state, Rome was a leading trader within Europe and Britain was said to have surpluses of grain and metal ores which this new southern Empire was keen to acquire in order to fuel its growing economy and to feed its burgeoning population.

The first of two early military reconnaissance expeditions to Britain had been led by the Roman General Julius Caesar in 55 BC, but had been generally beset by logistical problems and poor planning from the very beginning and consequently resulted in a total inability to secure a decisive victory over the local tribes. Caesar's second campaign against the British in 54 BC was much better planned and despite the unforeseen adverse weather conditions which had affected his fleet of ships, he managed to successfully land his force on the English coastline.

Facing Caesar’s legionary army was a large force of native British tribesmen who had watched the arrival of the invading armada and were well prepared to meet them. Despite this, the highly experienced legionary force easily overcame the native warriors and their defensive positions and within a day or so Caesar was able to begin consolidating his territorial gains and move further inland.

Once again though, the British weather proved to be his greatest adversary and a severe storm resulted in substantial damage to his ships which required a major reassignment of his legionary manpower. In order to protect his beach-head and the remainder of his fleet, Caesar found it necessary to construct a protective enclosure around his landing area, thereby diverting valuable military resources from his planned advance into the country.

These unforeseen delays hindered the progress of Caesars invasion forces and offered substantial benefits to his opponents. With a common enemy to unite against, the native British tribes put aside their differences and joined together to oppose the Roman invaders. Under the command of the British warlord Cassivellaunus the native warriors carried out a constant guerrilla campaign against Caesar's forces and continually threatened to disrupt his supply lines. The indigenous forces were also said to have adopted a scorched earth policy, removing people and livestock from the path of the advancing Romans and destroying crops or food stores that might have been of use to them.

Despite such tactics being employed against him and his soldiers, Caesar continued to progress towards his ultimate target, which was the tribal capital of the Trinovantes. Threatened by the forces of the warlord Cassivellaunus, the Trinovantes people had requested that Caesar offer their prince Mandubracius protection from his enemies and guarantee his safe return from the continent, where he had fled following the death of his father.

Following the restoration of Mandubracius to his tribe, Caesar simply retraced his path back to his landing area, where his restored fleet was waiting to carry him back to the continent. The intended purpose of these early forays into Britain appears to have been three-fold. Firstly, Caesar had managed to reconnoitre the British coast and determine the locations of possible landing points as well as the level of military forces required to achieve a successful invasion. Secondly, he had now met and measured the likely native opposition and studied the tactics that they were likely to employ against any future legionary force. Thirdly, and perhaps more importantly, Rome now had some influence and communication with a native British tribe, the Trinovantes and through these relationships could gain intelligence and influence within the British islands.

Although it would be nearly a hundred years before the Romans once again set their forces against Britain, Caesar's own experiences, his recording of the events and the trade agreements that he signed would be instrumental in Rome's later decision to incorporate these islands into their vast western empire.

Born in 10 BC, the Roman Emperor Claudius was the youngest son of Drusus, the brother of Tiberius, and Antonia, who was herself the daughter of the famous Roman General Marc Anthony. From childhood, Claudius had suffered from regular ill-health and persistently twitched and stammered when he was put under any sort of pressure. He was an old man by the standards of the day, when his nephew Caligula was assassinated in 41 AD and Claudius at 51 years of age was nominated as Emperor by the Praetorian guards that discovered him cowering within the royal palace. No doubt considering him to be highly “controllable” these army officers later forced the Senate to accept their choice for Emperor and the fathers of Rome, no doubt in fear for their own lives, agreed to the succession of the faltering Claudius.

Throughout the period of his reign he was distrusted by the Senate who believed him to be incapable of fulfilling the role that was required of him. For his part, Claudius seemed to thrive after becoming Emperor and the responsibility of his new office seemed to improve his earlier sickly nature. He was always extremely cautious about his own personal protection and employed stringent security measures to ensure his continued safety. It was fortunate that he chose to do so, as he was thought to have survived at least six or seven attempts on his life by the time he died in 54 AD and even then it was suggested that he had been poisoned.

In order to divert these attentions away from himself and perhaps to increase his own prestige within the empire, Claudius chose to resurrect an earlier plan to invade the island of Britain. His predecessor, Caligula, had planned to invade the island during his own reign but a refusal by a large number of legionaries to cross beyond the known limits of the empire and their belief that Britain was inhabited by demons and spirits had prevented the plans from going ahead. The military and Claudius regarded Britain and her people as a direct threat to their northern borders and the known deposits of tin, gold and lead which existed there would in part pay for the cost of this new venture. Their decision was also influenced by the fact that Claudius had been asked for help by the ousted ruler of the British Attrebates tribe, Verica, part of whose homelands had been seized by a rival tribal leader called, Caractacus.

In 43 AD four Roman legions under the command of Aulus Plautius and supported by an equally large Auxiliary force landed unopposed at Richborough and began their final and decisive invasion of Britain. The British tribes that were aware of the impending invasion threat, held widely differing views as to how such an event would actually affect them, if at all. The Iceni and Coritani tribes seem to have initially adopted a fairly neutral stance to the invasion, choosing to believe that the arrival of a large number of Roman troops would have little direct effect upon them or their people.

The Trinovantes and the Catuvellauni tribes believed that the arrival of any such force represented a direct threat to them and their plans for further expansion within their home regions and chose to oppose Rome's legions at all costs. Others tribes, such as the Dobunni were prepared to help resist the invasion, but only for as long as it suited their own purposes. The Attrebates, whose leader Verica had helped to persuade Claudius as to the merits of such an invasion, believed that the arrival of the Roman forces would ultimately help him to secure his tribal lands and future prosperity within mainland Britain and sought to offer unconditional support to the invaders.

The Roman expeditionary force that landed was thought to have consisted of some 50,000 men, including cavalry and auxiliary units and landed at the Kent site in three separate waves, thus avoiding the possibility of individual units being caught in any sort of backlog which might make them vulnerable to attack. The native tribes that had earlier assembled to meet the invaders, had been informed of another potential mutiny amongst the ranks of the legionaries based in Gaul and had returned to their tribal settlements, only to find themselves unable to the meet the invasion when it finally did arrive.

Unexpectedly and perhaps gratefully, Plautius found himself facing only a relatively small number of native tribesmen once his men had come ashore and who once again resorted to guerrilla tactics, rather than face the overwhelming Roman force that had managed to land on the coastline. When the native Britons did finally manage to muster their armies to meet Plautius, they were subsequently routed by the highly professional and experienced legionnaires, both at Rochester and later on the banks of the River Thames.

It was here that the Roman Legions were deliberately held by Plautius, to await the arrival of Claudius from Rome, thereby allowing him the honour of leading his victorious troops into the enemy capital of what is now modern day Colchester. The new Emperor spent just over two weeks in Britain and then returned home to receive homage from the people of Rome. The senate having heard of his successful conquest ordered a series of celebrations and conferred on Claudius the title Britannicus. Now secure within the empire, he was able to use the remainder of his reign to modify and improve the lives of his people and the military that served them so well. Sadly for Claudius, his judgement seems to have failed him in later years when he took a second wife and formally adopted her son Nero, who history would remember for fiddling while Rome burned, although this legend has now been largely debunked by later scholars of the period.

Initially the Roman invasion force seems to have been content to limit their area of occupation and control and by about 47 AD had secured an area stretching from Gloucester in the south-west to Lincoln in the north-east. Legionary bases were established at both locations and it is thought a third was built somewhere in the Midlands. These three major military garrisons were probably protected along their lines of communications by a series of smaller forts and eventually developed into what we know today as the Foss Way. Although the Romans had achieved many of their initial objectives, the obvious delay caused by their having to wait for the arrival of the Emperor from Rome, had allowed the native tribal leader Caractacus to evade capture, something which would prove to be a costly mistake for them in the future years.

Wherever possible and appropriate, the Romans entered into political agreements with the native Celtic tribes, including the Brigantes who controlled extensive territories in both Lancashire and Yorkshire and introduced client-kingdoms which helped to pacify large areas of the country. Other native tribes including the Silures from South Wales and the Ordovices in North Wales were far more hostile to the invaders and took every opportunity to harass and attack the incoming Roman forces. In response to these regular incursions against their bases, the Romans began a series of campaigns against their Welsh adversaries which resulted in the construction of additional bases and fortresses to support each subsequent military campaign. These included the legionary fortress which was constructed at Wroxeter near modern day Shrewsbury. It was perhaps during these early forays against the tribes of North Wales that the native settlement on the River Dee was first identified as a potential military site from which to launch campaigns against the enemy forces. However, these first initial skirmishes were relatively short-lived and Roman forces were quickly withdrawn once again in around 50 AD.

The later arrival of Suetonius Paulinus as Governor in around 58 AD marked a sea-change in the Romans approach to the subject of the Welsh tribe’s on-going hostility and the new military commander immediately mounted a highly vigorous campaign against the island of Anglesey, which was thought to be the heart of the native opposition. As part of this major campaign, it was reported that a new supply base was located at Chester in order to provision the campaigning Roman forces and was itself protected by a small fort which was constructed nearby Archaeological evidence from within the later fortress, supports the idea of a Roman presence at Chester at this time and also suggests that this earlier construction was not sited on the same spot as the much later development. A Roman burial urn which was found within the precincts of the later fortress area has been dated to around 60 AD, just two years following the arrival of Paulinus in Britain. However, Roman burials within a fort were strictly forbidden and would almost certainly have taken place outside of the immediate defensive ramparts.

The discovery of these urns could be explained by the decision to build a much more substantial fortress at the later date, which was of such a greater size and area that it inadvertently incorporated the burial area within its defensive walls. Fragments of an early rampart were discovered during modern day excavations at Abbey Green in the city. These finds have suggested the possibility of a pre Flavian style of construction which might indicate an even earlier period of Roman occupancy. Between 52 and 57 AD Didius Gallus was known to have campaigned against the northern Brigantes tribe and between 47 and 52 AD Ostorios Scapula campaigned against the tribes of North Wales who were supporting the rebel warlord Caractacus.

The king of the Caruvellauni people and said to be a son of King Conubelinus, Caractacus had continued to fight the Roman invasion of Britain from the start and following the death of his father had been seen as the head of British resistance. Under constant military pressure from the legions he had been forced further west to the lands of the Silures in modern day Glamorgan, but had failed to stop their advance. Forced further north, he eventually came to the tribal homelands of the Ordovices in North Wales and tried once again to hold the Roman forces, but once again was unsuccessful and saw his armies defeated. By now Caractacus and his family were on the run and being relentlessly pursued by the Roman forces. He and his family finally managed to escape to the lands of the Brigantes in the north of England, but unfortunately for him, their Queen Cartimandua was a client-chief of the Romans and was therefore obliged to hand Caractacus and his family over to the Roman General Ostorios Scapula, which she did.

Shackled and chained Caractacus, along with his wife and daughter were then transported to Rome to be publicly paraded through its streets and to be exhibited before the thousands of fascinated citizens who came to catch a brief glimpse of the infamous British warlord. Finally he was brought before the Emperor Claudius and Caractacus made such an impassioned and eloquent speech that so impressed the awkward Caesar, that he freed the warlord and his family on the spot and allowed them to settle and live the rest of their lives in Italy.

The finds uncovered at Abbey Green might well be remnants of these earlier campaigns or could just as likely be attributed to the campaigns of Suetonius Paulinus who led the Roman army against the Welsh tribes of Anglesey between 58 AD and 60 AD. In that year Boudicca, queen of the Iceni revolted against Roman rule and Paulinus found it necessary to turn his military resources southward. His campaign against the Druidic religious centres on Anglesey, had been generally successful, but the uprising led by Boudicca ultimately prevented him from completing the total pacification of Wales.

Between 69 AD and 70 AD a civil war erupted within the Empire between the supporters of the Roman General Vespasian and the Emperor Vitellius that caused major factional disputes between the various legionary forces and it was considered ill-advised to use any of these troops for any further campaigns. The restless native tribes of Britain were not slow to exploit these problems and the Brigantes were said to have seized complete control of their tribal lands in Lancashire and Yorkshire. It was only at the end of this turbulent period that Rome decided to adopt a new policy of total conquest of the British Isles, which would ultimately lead to the establishment of the first permanent military presence at Chester.

The policy of total conquest would be implemented by the “hammer” of Rome, the legendary legions that had successfully conquered much of the known world and brought the “civilising” influence of Rome to some of the most barbaric lands and peoples that had ever existed, according to Roman writers of the time. Their ability to march long distances and to fight a hard battle at the end of it was one of the unique features that made them so difficult to defeat, as was their comradeship and esprit de corp. which threaded each of these individual military units together.

New recruits to the legions were intensively trained by their commanders and poor behaviour or skills were simply not tolerated by the non-commissioned officers that were in day-to-day charge of the new volunteers. Although individual fighting skills were important, the ability to fight as a cohesive and integrated unit was perhaps more vital and a great deal of time was spent on teaching the new recruits how to fight in co-operation with their comrades and to achieve a common goal. Archaeological evidence suggests that new legionary’s were taught their basic military tactics using real targets and objectives, so that each man could fully understand how each particular technique and strategy could be employed in any specific instance.

The Roman Centuria represented a military unit of 100 men, which in earlier times had been the standard. However, in later years each Centuria comprised only 80 men, with each of these larger units divided into 10 Centubernu, or 8 individuals. Within a Legionary force, there were 60 Centuria, comprising a total of 4800 men, plus their Officers. The First Cohort of any Legionary force was made up of 160 men; twice the normal number and so brought the full Legionary compliment to 5400 men in total. In addition to this there were reported to have been an equal number of auxiliaries for each of these regular legionary units.

Each of these 60 Centuria was commanded by a Centurion who was assisted by a number of NCOs and other subordinates. Typically, these Centurions were housed in slightly better conditions than the men they commanded. Within his command, each 8 man unit or Centubernu, was led by the most experienced soldier in the group, who would organize his comrades and teach new recruits the rules and regulations which governed their lives When based at their home garrison, the common soldier’s accommodation was constructed of Wattle and Daub and was perhaps something similar to the much later military Barrack Huts which most people are familiar with. The 8 men within each Centubernu would often spend much of their service together, eating, drilling, fighting and perhaps often even dying as a unit.

The Legatus Legionis or Legate was in command of the Elite Legion, but was subordinate to the Legatus Pro Praetor who was the Governor of the Province. In the case of Britain, he had overall control of the 4 Legions that were stationed here. The Camp Prefect was third in overall charge of the fortress and represented the highest military appointment that could be achieved by a Plebian, somebody born a commoner. Often, the holder of this office had worked their way up through the ranks and distinguished themselves in some way. On a day-to-day basis, they were responsible for ensuring that the camp ran smoothly and that everything was in order.

Once they had completed their basic military training, recruits would be posted to their regular units which was where they could spend the next twenty-five years of their lives, assuming of course that they lived that long. It was at their home garrison that they would learn to fully hone their fighting skills and build the team work that would help them to accomplish their task regardless of the time and effort involved. New legionaries would also have to become adept in working with various building materials, including wood and stone which were common components of their forts and camps. The techniques involved in building earthen ramparts and erecting wooden palisades, in building bridges and roads were all skills that a soldier of the legions was required to master, along with the more mundane tasks like keeping his kit clean as well as having to undertake regular patrols and sentry duty. Typically, experienced legionaries were thought to be able to march thirty-odd miles a day and at the end of it build a marching camp that could hold the entire military force within a few hours of having stopped. 

Because military service was a highly popular source of employment for the empire’s young men, the Roman army could afford to be extremely particular about the young men that it accepted to serve. Only free men could apply and they were generally young males between the ages of 18 and 21 years who were in excellent physical condition and known to be of good character. The saying that an army marches on its stomach was well understood by the commanders that led the legions into battle and although basic field rations were fairly limited, there was always plenty of wheat and barley for the soldiers to use to make broths and coarse bread. On the march there were opportunities for the units to forage in the local area for rabbit, hare or wildfowl which could be added to the cooking pot. When they were garrisoned, food was not such a problem, with regular shipments of wheat, barley and green vegetables including, cabbage and celery. Protein levels were sustained with legionaries eating mutton, beef, pork and occasionally goat as well as wildfowl and fish.

When they were not patrolling or campaigning against the native tribes, life for a legionary was fairly mundane, with their days taken up with building or refurbishing their garrison, general maintenance and keeping their own equipment in good order. When they were off-duty they occupied themselves with gambling or spending time in the legionary bath-houses and occasionally a visit to the local prostitutes or their womenfolk that might be located outside of the defensive wall.

For those that infringed army rules, punishments could range from being put on unpleasant duties like cleaning the camps latrines or the company’s barracks, through to “decimation” where every tenth man in the force was executed as an example to the remaining legionary’s. In other circumstances, ssoldiers that had been found guilty of a serious crime could find themselves being taken out of the fortress’ rear gate and stoned to death by their comrades.

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