The Mystery Location of BOUDICA'S Battle. How to find it!

Transcript
· Part I Boudica
0:01 · have a look at this rather unassuming we albeit pretty Valley here in Wilshire
0:06 · nothing spectacular to the untrained eye but what have I told you that right here was the
0:11 · exact location of the battle of Boudica and yet we're over 80 miles away from her last
0:17 · known location St Albans how exactly did we come to that conclusion [Music]
0:31 · [Music] the Striking imagery we're often presented with when we talk about the
0:38 · person that was at Boudica is one of Courage bravery Rising against oppression, empowerment
0:44 · perhaps Against All Odds it's because Boudica was a female and seemingly uniting a nation of tribes
0:51 · in a rise against the Roman Empire Boudica story is one that's long fascinated me in particular
1:00 · the location and how we could find that potentially Buddha came so close to removing the
1:07 · Romans from Britain and perhaps that would have just delayed the inevitable who knows ultimately
1:14 · she failed in that Quest but my goodness me she didn't go down without one hell of a fight welcome
1:21 · to the short story of how we found Boudica last stand on age Britain was a land of tribes 800 BC
1:33 · to ad43 the land was covered from the far reaches of Scotland to the South with all manner of Celtic
1:41 · divisions the iceni were one such tribe located in what we would now see as the north of East
1:48 · Anglia now we know a lot about those tribes not least from Roman historical accounts but
1:56 · also artifacts found here within those areas in particular coins some of which even had a king
2:02 · on and you can sort of plot the location of their find and give you a broad area of that tribe and
2:09 · its base when Juliias Caesar first invaded the shores of Britain in 55 BC he makes no mention
2:18 · of this tribe instead some further to the South nevertheless though for the next Century the
2:24 · threat of another Roman invasion was one that stuck with the minds of many even here in the
2:31 · iceni world now there were seemingly ways around this ever impending threat of the Roman Empire you
2:40 · would potentially be doing trade with them already but you could also consider a client Kingdom one
2:45 · in which you would keep your status as king of the tribe and your area but you would align yourself
2:51 · with the Roman Empire now one such tribe that did this with the iceni and their King prasutagus
3:04 · the client Kingdom clearly worked for the aini tribe but there would be a problem upon the death
3:10 · of the iceni king prasutagus it was noted by Roman historian tacitus that the Romans
3:16 · plundered the kingdom ignoring the will and the wishes of the king taking the land of the Nobles
3:23 · the king's wife Boudica was flogged and her two daughters brutally assaulted without doubt the
3:30 · Romans had underestimated what they did here I think perhaps they thought that Boudica would
3:35 · just lay silence lay in shame at what had happened to her but what they did do however was perhaps
3:42 · start the wills in motion for an uprising that would almost end Roman Britain at such an early
3:48 · stage ad. 58 just 2 years before the death of the Iceni king and we have suetonius installed
· Part II Suetonius
4:00 · as a governor of Britain commander of the 2nd the 9th the 14th and the 20th Legions we are
4:08 · only 20 years or so into Roman rule and we still have not subdued the island we still have areas
4:15 · of client Kings we still have Scotland and we still have pockets of resistance ad. 60 to 61
4:24 · and suetonius is doing just that he's on his way to Anglesey to Conquest a druid stronghold
4:29 · hold news arrives on route that there is an uprising a rebellion led by the
4:34 · iceni a tribe that he will be well aware of perhaps confused at this notion that
4:41 · the now suppressed iceni could uprise until he learns of course who exactly is leading this
4:48 · Uprising Boudica and the iceni along with neighboring tribe the trinovantes marched
4:54 · into Colchester and they absolutely leveled the place now understand the significance of
4:59 · this archaeology has shown that they left nothing standing and this was a principal town of Roman
5:06 · Britain the ninth Legion now marched to suppress this Uprising and protect London they were met
5:15 · on rout and largely defeated retreating back to their fort suetonius with the 14th and 20th
5:23 · Legion now began to head back towards London perhaps now heading through unknown territory
5:29 · hostile maybe facing over a 100,000 of the tribes Revolt perhaps now Gathering
5:35 · momentum suetonius had around 10,000 men he needed to stop and think and use his military
5:45 · brain what was going to work best and he decided upon reaching London that London was not the
5:50 · place for a battle he gathered the troops and headed in a completely different direction he
5:56 · knew that the Rebellion would follow and they had maybe 10 times the number suetonius would
6:03 · find the spot that suited him meanwhile London was leveled and the Rebellion now headed for St
6:09 · Alban's so here is where things get really interesting now we have little to go on from
6:17 · that era in terms of writings other than those that were victorious and on that notion we have
6:23 · the writings of two Roman historians from maybe 100 200 years after the battle is is it possible
6:30 · to find the battle location from those writings here is the best guess at two of those [Music]
· Part III Windyridge Farm
6:40 · locations tacitus gives us three significant Clues suetonius took
6:49 · on a narrow passage the passage had wood behind him he established that there would
6:56 · be no enemy except at his front where there was an open plane with no fear of
7:02 · Ambush now our first location is pretty close to here in St Albans and that location I'm about to
7:11 · show you is largely based on the research by Duncan Mackay and his book echolands now
7:18 · Duncan Mackay discusses Boudica taking the town of St Albans Veralanium in fact this is
7:24 · shown on some of the signs around the town now the ruins here are definitely worth a
7:29 · visit it and this all happened of course before the final battle on Watling Street
7:34 · [Music] street we would all like to see her Footprints here now everything
7:43 · fits the line of travel the fact that this would be the last Roman major settlement in
7:48 · the area perhaps the last that she was aware of to take the town and the 14th
7:54 · and the 20th Legions of suetonius would surely mean victory [Music]
8:03 · I'm here what I think is the center of Verulamium inside the walls of this Roman town there's an old
8:09 · Mosaic just to the left of me but you can't get in to see it and the signs have all gone
8:15 · from here now when suetonius arrived here with his 10,000 troops we probably been told of the
8:21 · news that now London had also been leveled as well as Colchester once again he decided that
8:28 · this was not the place that he wanted to do battle with Boudica he headed along Watling
8:34 · Street Verulamium amphitheater Roman Amphitheater quite different from many others I've seen in the
8:49 · fact that it's more like a theater it's got a stage and had some pillars there it seems
8:54 · quite small for a Roman Amphitheater now alongside this beautiful spot lies Watling Street the Roman
9:00 · Road that headed Northwest now many traditional theories believe that somewhere on that route
9:06 · suetonius and Boudica battled once again this would mean abandoning another Roman town to
9:12 · justify this suetonius really needed a plan up his sleeve in the words of Duncan Mackey this
9:17 · spot among Watling Street represents our last historical glimpse of Boudica at the
9:22 · known location it look like a grainy black and white CCTV footage of the queen on a mountain
9:29 · Chariot now Duncan Mackey in his work takes in consideration a number of sites along watling
9:37 · Street heading in that direction away from Verulamium but his biggest issue
9:43 · with all of those is the distance from Verulamium dunstable is one of the last of these guesses and
9:50 · the intersection with watling Street and the NN way some suggest named after Boudica feels like
9:56 · compelling evidence in itself suetonius needs a defensible landscape the undefendable towns of
10:03 · London and St Albans didn't give him that perhaps Boudica had seen this as him Running Scared Now
10:11 · McKay argues that letting Boudica reach the Icknield Watling Street would have potential for
10:18 · the tribes to disband maybe head back home split up and that's the worst thing that suetonius would
10:24 · want because it would mean an unsettled Britain it would mean that the tribes were still active
10:29 · and they will be unruled so McKay decided that he needed to draw a
10:34 · 10m radius around St Albans and look for a location that would fit the battle for
10:41 · suetonius now if you take that 10 m radius from St Albans you add that to tacitus is description
10:53 · of the battlefield and you take in consideration a 1987 paper entitled the lead slingshot found at
11:01 · Windridge Farm well then you end up right here 60 oval lead slingshots and another 50 found
11:09 · years before were located here this gives us physical evidence of a battle as these
11:15 · are very typical of first century Roman weapons on talking of the rebels tacitus describes them
11:22 · as they were confident excluding a vaster host than ever assembled on so fierce in spirit that
11:30 · they actually brought with them their wives riding in wagons which they placed on the border of the
11:36 · [Music] plane and then we have another location here in Wiltshire and we have
· Part IV Ogbourne St George.
11:47 · the workings of Steve Kaye now if like me your eyebrows raised when
11:51 · you heard the word workings you're going to love this one the number two [Music]
12:01 · so we're now high up on the Ridgeway in Wilshire above the village of ogborne St George we've got
12:08 · routeways Crossing all over here Earthworks you name it it's a fascinating landscape now Steve
12:13 · Kay took the words of tacitus to describe the battle location he also added to that the need
12:20 · for water in the form of a river and he put them all into a database and tried to work out every
12:27 · possible location that would fit in the lower half of England if you think that's mad you'd be right
12:34 · now I am going to briefly explain this study in a way I personally understand and that will
12:39 · likely not do the study Justice you can however read this yourself I'll add the links below so
12:45 · Steve Kaye took the tacitus description he took the need for water from both parties and he took
12:52 · the proximity of the major Roman towns the Roman roads and the routes available to them [Music]
13:02 · so Steve Kaye in his initial study came up with 263 locations that could fit based on
13:10 · the description by tacitus now in 2013 he whittled this down even more to just 110 Happy Days however
13:20 · 2015 came along he scrapped all that started again with a new method to the madness I say Madness in
13:28 · an entirely respectful way Steve K really is a man after my own heart now he added something called
13:35 · template matching and he gave every feature in Britain a color whether it was a plane a ridge
13:42 · a slope of more than 5° and it was all rotational now with that Steve Kaye extracted nine templates
13:52 · based on Tacitus his description nine squares that could then be placed back on the map
13:59 · and came up with 2,700 potential sites East of the river 7 yes 2,700 now the work begins now
14:11 · based on Tacitus his writings once again well Steve K suggested that suetonius liked to delay
14:18 · a battle he liked to be considered and structure what he was going to do so this gives us at least
14:24 · two or 3 days marching now this helped Steve Kaye ruled out a lot of sites and he went on to Rule
14:31 · out some ones that were too small or too large and he was left then with a much smaller set of
14:37 · 2,187 potential sites now there's a reason why I'm walking along this River in ogborne St George in
14:48 · Wilshire we'll come to the location soon but Steve K considered water was essential not too much but
14:54 · not too little he calculated that the Roman army the 10,000 men would need a flow of 0.89 m/s now
15:04 · that was much slower than he what he predicted of the iceni tribe that were following him so
15:11 · he needed just the right balance brilliant with that in mind we're now down to just 862 potential
15:20 · Sites now Steve Kaye couldn't Whittle this list down much anymore with the current scheme so
15:27 · decided to start ranking them the criteria were height terrain stability of Roman front line
15:34 · length distance to London wetness distance from Main Roman roads induced stress on the rebels
15:41 · distance from Rivers effect of river flow through front lines the effect of blocking or trapping by
15:48 · large rivers so consider the importance of the rivers once again the absolute perfect
15:53 · flow enough for their army and the possibility that they could also block and man it water
15:59 · course now if that is true well that really tells us how clever these Roman military generals were
16:09 · that's not my area of specialty at all but it also tells us how important the Roman Road
16:15 · network was that's more my area it tells you that that Roman Road Network could literally
16:21 · sustain an army the knowledge of the roads and knowledge of the routs and the camps along them
16:26 · that would have all been in the General's mind mines and it would literally sustain that army of
16:31 · 10,000 troops Steve K had three or four really good predicted sites based on a 100 different
16:40 · considerations the bulbourne valley dorking ranked up there but here we are at Steve's Top
16:46 · gestate This is ogborne St George in Wilshire and it lies not far north of the portway Roman
16:53 · Road and is also found on Route north towards the main Roman military area the safe towns of
16:59 · cirencester and above all the perfect topography and by that here the perfect size Valley for a
17:07 · legionary front line Rising topographic margins for auxiliary and Cavalry the perfect water flow
17:14 · the perfect distance from London and the safety of civilization for Recovery just a day March
17:19 · away I love both the contrast and views of Duncan m K and Steve kaye I love the locations
17:31 · that they've chosen as their their final answers if you will the location to Albin really fits well
17:37 · perhaps not the geography for me the geography here is just brilliant here at Ogbourne St George
17:42 · it fits perfectly I love those theories perhaps archaeology will one day tell us a final answer
17:48 · perhaps not in my lifetime but maybe one day now if you love the Romans you know I'll make
17:53 · a few videos on that sort of History where you can look at how they brutally took over or didn't made
17:59 · Castle down in Dorchester in the meantime we'll see you this time next week
18:10 · [Music]

This video focusses on the Roman Army's remarkable workload of cleaning up after battles. What happened to the hundreds of dead and wounded on the battlefield? How did Romans loot the field and share it? And what did they do with enemy survivors and prisoners? This video answers all of these questions and more!

The Aftermath of a Battle (0:00)
The Wounded (1:54)
The Dead (3:03)
The Enemy Wounded (6:19)
The Equipment (7:45)
The Loot (9:04)
Battlefield Secrets | How did the Romans "Clean up" after battles? | 12:32
Historia Militum | 265K subscribers | 302,535 views | June 18, 2024

Transcript
· The Aftermath of a Battle
0:04 · As the dust of the battlefield settles, the cacophony of thousands of men marching and
0:09 · weapons clashing are replaced by an eerie silence... Crows and vultures
0:14 · feast on the thousands of corpses that litter the now silent battlefield;
0:19 · a silence only interrupted by the occasional cries of wounded men and animals. Scattered next to the
0:25 · bodies are pieces of armor, shields, standards, swords and other equipment... As darkness falls,
0:32 · a series of shadows in military gear start to roam the battlefield. But these are not looters or
0:38 · returning survivors. They are specially sent out work parties, each undertaking a different task…
0:46 · [ad text redacted]
· The Wounded
1:54 · Claiming victory is one thing, but the aftermath of a battle is not limited to just storming the
1:59 · enemy’s camp and claiming the spoils; far from it. There is a lot to be done after the end of a
2:05 · battle. Groups of idle soldiers are sent out as soon as possible to look for wounded comrades.
2:11 · For some, every minute means the difference between life and death, and they first need
2:15 · to be found among the myriad of bodies. Every wounded soldier that can make a full recovery
2:20 · is one soldier less that has to be recruited and trained for months, and also allows the army to
2:26 · retain its experience. The wounded who can walk or have minor injuries are either treated on the
2:32 · spot by the army’s medical staff or loaded onto stretchers or wagons and taken to the hospital,
2:38 · where the medici will do their best. Those with lethal injuries or signs of infections
2:43 · will at least be taken care of as best as possible for the time period… This process
2:47 · can last for several days and the wounded might need weeks or even months before they
2:52 · are able to join the army again. Centurions and officers will also have to report the number of
2:57 · casualties and the identities of those fallen in combat during their respective headcounts.
· The Dead
3:03 · While part of the army is busy treating the wounded, others are put in charge of
3:07 · collecting the dead; an extremely important matter, as the historian Onasander explains:
3:12 · "The general should take thought for the burial of the dead, whether in victory or defeat,
3:17 · using neither the occasion, nor the time, nor the place as an excuse for delay. This
3:22 · is an act of both piety and reverence toward the dead and also a necessary example to the
3:27 · living. For if the dead are not buried, each soldier believes that no care will be taken
3:32 · of his own body should he have the chance to fall. The soldier observes what happens to the
3:37 · dead with his own eyes, and indignant at the careless neglect of burial, judges the future,
3:42 · believing that if he should die, he will likewise not be buried. (Onasander 36.1)"
3:46 · Leaving the bodies of the dead without a proper burial or funerary ceremony
3:50 · is something the Romans frowned upon, and wise generals always took care of treating
3:55 · the dead with a modicum of respect. In times of peace, every soldier would get a proper burial,
4:00 · but the Romans knew very well the medical risks of being exposed to rotting corpses for long periods
4:06 · of time. Therefore, in such situations, more expeditive methods were tolerated,
4:11 · and the dead from the rank and file were buried in mass unmarked graves or cremated
4:16 · in large pyres… Roman soldiers had a voluntary system of paying a portion of their salary
4:22 · towards a tombstone in the event of their death. For those who paid, their surviving
4:26 · comrades back in the fort would make sure to host them a proper ceremony and tombstone,
4:31 · even if no remains are present. Thousands of these have survived the ages and are being
4:36 · found continually to this day, detailing not only the names and careers of soldiers,
4:41 · but also sometimes their families and status. It is always very intriguing to read them and imagine
4:47 · the unique people they once belonged to. This one, for example, was from Castra Vetera and belonged
4:53 · to a 53 year old centurion named Marcus Caelius of the XVIII legion who died at the Teutoburg
5:00 · Forest. (CIL 13, 08648) Caelius’ relatives could rest assured that he received a proper burial when
5:05 · Germanicus visited the battlefield years later and took great pains in burying all the dead…
5:11 · Of course this all was not the case for Roman generals or high ranking officers.
5:16 · Like everything in the Roman period, rank came with special privileges, and the same went for
5:21 · burials. In the case of generals and high ranking officers, a proper funeral would be
5:26 · held right after the battle, with the whole army taking part, as dictated by Roman tradition. This
5:32 · honor sometimes extended to heroes of the battle. Appian makes note of an honorary burial done for
5:39 · centurion Gaius Crastinus who led the charge of the entire Caesarian army at Pharsalus.
5:45 · "When sought for he was found among the dead, and Caesar bestowed military honours
5:49 · on his body and buried it, and erected a special tomb for him near the common
5:54 · burial-place of the others". App. BC.2.82. Only on very rare occasions would the Romans
5:58 · build a war memorial to remember the fallen, like the one Trajan built at Adamklissi. Impressively,
6:05 · all 4000 individual names of the deceased were carved into it,
6:09 · and special ceremonies would be carried out on certain dates. It would read:
6:13 · "In honor and memory of the stoutest men who fell fighting and died for the Republic '' (ILS, 9102).
· The Enemy Wounded
6:19 · But what about the countless wounded on the enemy side? Sometimes even they would be
6:24 · taken care of, depending on their level of civilization and nature of their injuries,
6:29 · only to be taken prisoner or enslaved, as the slave markets paid well for healthy captives.
6:36 · Those whose injuries were too severe would be finished off on the spot. Something similar would
6:40 · happen to the bodies of those "less civilized" enemies of Rome, who would be left to rot. But
6:45 · a very different treatment would be offered to those belonging to the enemy nobility. After all,
6:51 · they can be very lucrative assets to be ransomed or used as political bargaining chips. During the
6:57 · later stages of the Second Punic War, Scipio Africanus freed Masinissas' nephew, Massiva,
7:03 · who had been captured in Hispania. He of course did this as a gesture of good faith to win over
7:08 · the Numidian prince to the Roman cause. In the case of over captives, they would also be
7:12 · used in prisoner swaps. Especially shameful for the Romans was the episode after the disastrous
7:18 · battle of Cannae, when the Senate flat out refused to pay the ransom for the soldiers who
7:23 · had surrendered to Hannibal... In other cases, we know the Romans took great care in tracking Roman
7:29 · citizens who had been sold into slavery by the enemy and demanding their release and
7:34 · repatriation as a peace condition. Unfortunately, the same did not happen to many of Rome’s enemies,
7:40 · who would be mercilessly sold into slavery or paraded as war trophies.
· The Equipment
7:45 · With the dead and wounded being taken care of by the soldiers and medics, the legion’s smiths
7:50 · and artisans also had their share of work to do, And it’s not smaller in size. First and foremost,
7:56 · broken equipment needed to be repaired and brought into service as soon as possible. So
8:00 · it is not uncommon to find small bands of soldiers scavenging for broken gear or stripping fallen
8:06 · comrades of their weapons and armor. In fact, even the enemy gear was often collected and stored as
8:11 · trophies for public display, or for emergencies. Livy narrates that after the battle of Cannae,
8:17 · Rome needed such vast quantities of equipment for its legions that even enemy weapons that
8:22 · were displayed as trophies in temples or in storage were used to equip the men. The
8:27 · appearance of that Roman army would surely have been very unique. One thing for sure,
8:34 · in a matter of days the entire battlefield would be stripped clean of every bit of
8:36 · equipment worth collecting. Only arrowheads, artillery missiles, sling bullets and smaller
8:42 · objects are often discarded because many are too damaged or very hard to find. So
8:47 · it's unsurprising why these represent the most common findings among excavated battlefield sites,
8:53 · while a complete sword or helmet in good condition is extremely rare, as they would
8:57 · have had to stay hidden from not just the army, but from centuries of graverobbers and looters.
9:03 · The collection of the spoils of war in the form of important and valuable objects was another
· The Loot
9:08 · key post-battle activity. This, however, was supervised by members of the general’s staff,
9:13 · who counted up the loot and made sure nothing was appropriated by the soldiers,
9:18 · because unless explicitly stated, soldiers had no right to battlefield loot,
9:22 · as it lawfully belonged to their general, acting as a representative of the state.
9:27 · Soldiers had to give up everything and wait for it all to be gathered, processed,
9:32 · and evenly distributed among them, normally in the form of cash. There are records detailing
9:36 · large amounts being given to soldiers after the end of the campaign... But this didn’t
9:41 · mean that soldiers and camp followers didn’t TRY to lurk in the shadows and pocket valuable items.
9:47 · Nothing prevented a soldier from looting an enemy corpse or tent while no officers
9:51 · were around. Footwear, cloaks, weapons, small jewelry, or even everyday items like
9:58 · cups were very prized among soldiers. Not only are they carriable and easy to hide,
10:03 · but they can fetch a good price in markets. Winning a lottery for a soldier would mean
10:08 · getting his hands on a luxurious saddle or a piece of furniture from an enemy officer's tent,
10:13 · which could easily be equivalent to a few months salary. The only problem would be somehow carrying
10:17 · them home without being caught and punished. Therefore, it is safe to assume that soldiers
10:22 · would always leave the most bulky and burdensome loot to the general and focus on pocketing smaller
10:27 · items. Polybius comments on the actions of Roman soldiers after their victory at Cynoscephalae:
10:34 · "The Romans, after following up the fugitives for a certain distance, began, some of them,
10:38 · to strip the dead and others to collect prisoners, but most of them ran to plunder
10:43 · the enemy's camp. Finding, however, that the Aetolians had anticipated them there
10:48 · and considering themselves defrauded of the booty that was rightfully theirs, they began
10:53 · to find fault with the Aetolians and told their general that he imposed the risk on them and
10:58 · gave up the booty to others. For the present they returned to their own camp and retired to rest,
11:04 · and spent the next day collecting prisoners and what was left of the spoil…" (Polyb. 18.27.3)
11:09 · This quote gives us an idea of the tension that would sometimes arise when
11:13 · soldiers were denied their loot, which would result in less bonuses for them…
11:18 · On special occasions, the general could reward his men with all the battlefield loot and give them
11:23 · complete free rein. This was very good for keeping the men happy but wasn’t customary. Firstly,
11:29 · because the general was obliged to collect the loot and send part of it back to Rome,
11:34 · and secondly because it could raise even more tensions and complaints between soldiers about
11:39 · the unfair distribution of loot. In this case, the first ones to break rank after battle and
11:44 · start looting would often collect the best loot, while those who were on patrol, burying the dead,
11:49 · or healing the wounded would get second hand picks. This could easily diminish comradery and
11:55 · trigger fights not only between the soldiers, but also with officers who got in the way..
12:01 · What’s most interesting though is where was the limit after which the famous Roman discipline
12:05 · collapsed, and mutinous soldiers attacked their officers and did as they pleased? and how would
12:11 · their generals be expected to deal with them? These answers have already been compiled in our
12:16 · video about Roman mutinies. So make sure to check it out. Thank you to our patreons for
12:22 · making this video possible. If you wish to support us and participate in polls where we
12:27 · decide on future videos, please Consider signing up! Ill see you in the next one!

Join MKCDC and our guest, archaeologist Steve Young of Community Landscape Archaeology Survey Project (CLASP), as he talks us through the evidence (and lack thereof) for Boudicca's last stand! What would we be looking for in the landscape to determine possible sites? Where are the possible sites? What do you think about Steve's conclusions? Is he close? We think he's on the money (or should that be Roman coin)?
Boudicca's Last Battle. Part II: The Evidence | 7:28
MKCDC at Bradwell Abbey | 386 subscribers | 4,828 views | July 18, 2021

Transcript
0:00 · [Turgid Music]
0:20 · so
0:20 · we're left with many unanswered
0:22 · questions from an examination of the
0:24 · written sources
0:25 · some of which i'd like to put stephen
0:27 · young an experienced
0:28 · local archaeologist and roman expert
0:30 · first the battle of wattling streets
0:33 · that's a saxon name do we have any idea
0:35 · what the romans named it
0:37 · no i've seen many possible sites listed
0:40 · with one actually being towards the west
0:42 · country
0:43 · the popular assumption is that it took
0:45 · place on whitman street
0:48 · is there any archaeological evidence to
0:50 · support that
0:51 · archaeologically speaking it is very
0:54 · difficult to actually
0:57 · say anything about the boudiccan revolt
0:59 · in terms of the potential battle on
1:01 · wattling street
1:02 · what we need to have is the evidence the
1:05 · physical
1:06 · artifactual evidence of the event
1:09 · and what i've got here is a table of
1:12 · real period pieces and replica
1:15 · arms of the period the sort of thing
1:18 · that you would probably find
1:20 · if you were looking at the battle site
1:22 · and you were actually locating any
1:23 · archaeological evidence
1:25 · it battle sites are notoriously
1:27 · difficult to actually
1:29 · analyze and find of any period and you
1:32 · can only
1:32 · you can only actually work on the
1:34 · material that you can find
1:36 · from the cloud soil itself so
1:39 · if we were to find a site then
1:42 · we would need to find evidence
1:45 · particularly of the
1:46 · the roman army which was uh
1:48 · mass-produced
1:49 · highly effective work uh artifacts and
1:53 · material from the swords
1:56 · the helmets the armor
1:59 · and even the pelem to the arrowhead's
2:03 · personal adornment in terms of broaches
2:07 · and pottery depending on what the site
2:10 · was
2:11 · we don't know anything in terms of the
2:14 · actual site itself but there are several
2:16 · places that can be considered along
2:20 · wattling street in particular between
2:23 · the site mainly of maggie ovinium which
2:26 · is
2:27 · just to the outside fenney stratford
2:30 · drop shot just by to the east of milton
2:32 · keynes
2:33 · right the way through lactodorm which is
2:35 · toaster
2:36 · up into banaventa wilton locks and
2:38 · tripontium
2:40 · there are sites that are supposedly to
2:42 · do with the
2:43 · uh buick and revolt one is far north
2:47 · at a place called mansetta or mandu
2:49 · essien which is the preferred
2:52 · site of the battle and was put forward
2:54 · by graeme webster
2:56 · way back in the 60s and there is a
2:59 · potential another site
3:00 · to the south of the map on my right at
3:03 · dunstable
3:04 · which which has been put forward by
3:06 · barry horn as another potential
3:08 · place there are so many places that fit
3:12 · the very sparse detailed location site
3:16 · that tacitus
3:17 · and cassio dyers give us but what we do
3:20 · have
3:21 · are possibilities of a site that's put
3:24 · forward by
3:26 · martin marrick erins which is to the
3:28 · south east of lactadorum toaster
3:33 · south east of toaster at cuttlemill near
3:35 · paulsbury
3:37 · where interestingly there are fields
3:39 · which are known
3:40 · as large and little battlefield fields
3:44 · from victorian period and not far from
3:47 · there we also found evidence geophysical
3:49 · evidence
3:50 · of a large uh five uh acre
3:54 · five or six acre probable marching camp
3:57 · a thought the size of an auxiliary fort
4:00 · right in the position
4:01 · of this plane that matches most of the
4:04 · detail that's given by
4:06 · tacitus another place is possibly
4:10 · to dust around tripontium
4:13 · which is uh near rugby so there's
4:16 · there's lots of little
4:18 · sites there's nothing down at maggie of
4:20 · so we have nothing physical
4:21 · nothing like we've got on the table here
4:24 · we have a possible marching camp
4:27 · and we just have the geological
4:30 · morphological landscape to work on it is
4:33 · likely however that the battle did take
4:35 · place
4:36 · within this area because we know from
4:39 · the sources
4:41 · tacitus tells us that verilemium
4:44 · saint albans had been burnt and that the
4:46 · britons were moving
4:48 · to the north and the west and as steve
4:50 · has said there are lots of theories
4:52 · both about watling street and to along
4:55 · the ackermann street
4:56 · it depends entirely really on how long
4:59 · it would have taken the roman soldiers
5:00 · to have left
5:01 · the isle of anglesey and march down to
5:04 · the south east
5:06 · so intense of physical evidence we have
5:09 · none all we've got are the sources we
5:11 · know it actually happened
5:13 · one day somebody will find some evidence
5:16 · whether it be
5:17 · a spearhead of the first century or a
5:20 · sea of spearheads
5:22 · personal adornment that paul has fallen
5:24 · off
5:26 · i was in brooches or indeed evidence
5:29 · of helmets and
5:32 · gladiuses swords these are the typical
5:35 · um
5:36 · accoutrements of a legionnaire the short
5:39 · sword
5:40 · and the knife or
5:43 · actually evidence of a cavalry sword a
5:45 · sparta
5:48 · these bits of these do survive in the
5:50 · ground or it may be
5:51 · arrowheads where they've been fired or
5:54 · indeed if we do have associated
5:56 · with the romans with the roman sort of
5:58 · defense uh some sort of camp
6:00 · possibly pottery or armor pieces of
6:03 · armor
6:04 · or pieces of peeling those are sort of
6:06 · things we'd expect from the roman side
6:08 · but weapons
6:09 · and possibly talk elements of talks and
6:12 · things like that
6:13 · if you're talking about the battle where
6:16 · 230 people
6:17 · 230 000 people are present and they're
6:20 · trying to attack
6:21 · a force of perhaps 11 or 13 000 romans
6:25 · there is going to be a lot of detritus
6:26 · left after that battle
6:29 · you know the romans are going to be
6:30 · outnumbered at least 10 to 1 if not
6:32 · nearly almost 20 to 1
6:34 · so what happens after a battle
6:38 · they don't necessarily clear all the
6:39 · bodies away there may be
6:41 · actually large-scale uh pits
6:44 · where everybody all the bodies are put
6:46 · or they might just have been left there
6:47 · to
6:48 · to rot and therefore you would see
6:49 · evidence within the ground
6:52 · so that's the sort of thing we expect to
6:54 · find elements of
6:56 · what we need to do is as we look at the
6:58 · archaeology in these areas
7:00 · and at the moment the organization i
7:02 · work for
7:03 · we're looking at the roman landscape and
7:06 · characterizing it
7:07 · and as we're doing that we are finding
7:09 · potential
7:10 · potential evidence to support the idea
7:13 · of
7:14 · the voodoo can revolt such as the
7:16 · marching camp
7:17 · near cuttle mill

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Transcript
	·	Part I Boudica
0:01	·	have a look at this rather unassuming we albeit pretty Valley here in Wilshire
0:06	·	nothing spectacular to the untrained eye but what have I told you that right here was the
0:11	·	exact location of the battle of Boudica and yet we're over 80 miles away from her last
0:17	·	known location St Albans how exactly did we come to that conclusion [Music]
0:31	·	[Music] the Striking imagery we're often presented with when we talk about the
0:38	·	person that was at Boudica is one of Courage bravery Rising against oppression, empowerment
0:44	·	perhaps Against All Odds it's because Boudica was a female and seemingly uniting a nation of tribes
0:51	·	in a rise against the Roman Empire Boudica story is one that's long fascinated me in particular
1:00	·	the location and how we could find that potentially Buddha came so close to removing the
1:07	·	Romans from Britain and perhaps that would have just delayed the inevitable who knows ultimately
1:14	·	she failed in that Quest but my goodness me she didn't go down without one hell of a fight welcome
1:21	·	to the short story of how we found Boudica last stand on age Britain was a land of tribes 800 BC
1:33	·	to ad43 the land was covered from the far reaches of Scotland to the South with all manner of Celtic
1:41	·	divisions the iceni were one such tribe located in what we would now see as the north of East
1:48	·	Anglia now we know a lot about those tribes not least from Roman historical accounts but
1:56	·	also artifacts found here within those areas in particular coins some of which even had a king
2:02	·	on and you can sort of plot the location of their find and give you a broad area of that tribe and
2:09	·	its base when Juliias Caesar first invaded the shores of Britain in 55 BC he makes no mention
2:18	·	of this tribe instead some further to the South nevertheless though for the next Century the
2:24	·	threat of another Roman invasion was one that stuck with the minds of many even here in the
2:31	·	iceni world now there were seemingly ways around this ever impending threat of the Roman Empire you
2:40	·	would potentially be doing trade with them already but you could also consider a client Kingdom one
2:45	·	in which you would keep your status as king of the tribe and your area but you would align yourself
2:51	·	with the Roman Empire now one such tribe that did this with the iceni and their King prasutagus
3:04	·	the client Kingdom clearly worked for the aini tribe but there would be a problem upon the death
3:10	·	of the iceni king prasutagus it was noted by Roman historian tacitus that the Romans
3:16	·	plundered the kingdom ignoring the will and the wishes of the king taking the land of the Nobles
3:23	·	the king's wife Boudica was flogged and her two daughters brutally assaulted without doubt the
3:30	·	Romans had underestimated what they did here I think perhaps they thought that Boudica would
3:35	·	just lay silence lay in shame at what had happened to her but what they did do however was perhaps
3:42	·	start the wills in motion for an uprising that would almost end Roman Britain at such an early
3:48	·	stage ad. 58 just 2 years before the death of the Iceni king and we have suetonius installed
	·	Part II Suetonius
4:00	·	as a governor of Britain commander of the 2nd the 9th the 14th and the 20th Legions we are
4:08	·	only 20 years or so into Roman rule and we still have not subdued the island we still have areas
4:15	·	of client Kings we still have Scotland and we still have pockets of resistance ad. 60 to 61
4:24	·	and suetonius is doing just that he's on his way to Anglesey to Conquest a druid stronghold
4:29	·	hold news arrives on route that there is an uprising a rebellion led by the
4:34	·	iceni a tribe that he will be well aware of perhaps confused at this notion that
4:41	·	the now suppressed iceni could uprise until he learns of course who exactly is leading this
4:48	·	Uprising Boudica and the iceni along with neighboring tribe the trinovantes marched
4:54	·	into Colchester and they absolutely leveled the place now understand the significance of
4:59	·	this archaeology has shown that they left nothing standing and this was a principal town of Roman
5:06	·	Britain the ninth Legion now marched to suppress this Uprising and protect London they were met
5:15	·	on rout and largely defeated retreating back to their fort suetonius with the 14th and 20th
5:23	·	Legion now began to head back towards London perhaps now heading through unknown territory
5:29	·	hostile maybe facing over a 100,000 of the tribes Revolt perhaps now Gathering
5:35	·	momentum suetonius had around 10,000 men he needed to stop and think and use his military
5:45	·	brain what was going to work best and he decided upon reaching London that London was not the
5:50	·	place for a battle he gathered the troops and headed in a completely different direction he
5:56	·	knew that the Rebellion would follow and they had maybe 10 times the number suetonius would
6:03	·	find the spot that suited him meanwhile London was leveled and the Rebellion now headed for St
6:09	·	Alban's so here is where things get really interesting now we have little to go on from
6:17	·	that era in terms of writings other than those that were victorious and on that notion we have
6:23	·	the writings of two Roman historians from maybe 100 200 years after the battle is is it possible
6:30	·	to find the battle location from those writings here is the best guess at two of those [Music]
	·	Part III Windyridge Farm
6:40	·	locations tacitus gives us three significant Clues suetonius took
6:49	·	on a narrow passage the passage had wood behind him he established that there would
6:56	·	be no enemy except at his front where there was an open plane with no fear of
7:02	·	Ambush now our first location is pretty close to here in St Albans and that location I'm about to
7:11	·	show you is largely based on the research by Duncan Mackay and his book echolands now
7:18	·	Duncan Mackay discusses Boudica taking the town of St Albans Veralanium in fact this is
7:24	·	shown on some of the signs around the town now the ruins here are definitely worth a
7:29	·	visit it and this all happened of course before the final battle on Watling Street
7:34	·	[Music] street we would all like to see her Footprints here now everything
7:43	·	fits the line of travel the fact that this would be the last Roman major settlement in
7:48	·	the area perhaps the last that she was aware of to take the town and the 14th
7:54	·	and the 20th Legions of suetonius would surely mean victory [Music]
8:03	·	I'm here what I think is the center of Verulamium inside the walls of this Roman town there's an old
8:09	·	Mosaic just to the left of me but you can't get in to see it and the signs have all gone
8:15	·	from here now when suetonius arrived here with his 10,000 troops we probably been told of the
8:21	·	news that now London had also been leveled as well as Colchester once again he decided that
8:28	·	this was not the place that he wanted to do battle with Boudica he headed along Watling
8:34	·	Street Verulamium amphitheater Roman Amphitheater quite different from many others I've seen in the
8:49	·	fact that it's more like a theater it's got a stage and had some pillars there it seems
8:54	·	quite small for a Roman Amphitheater now alongside this beautiful spot lies Watling Street the Roman
9:00	·	Road that headed Northwest now many traditional theories believe that somewhere on that route
9:06	·	suetonius and Boudica battled once again this would mean abandoning another Roman town to
9:12	·	justify this suetonius really needed a plan up his sleeve in the words of Duncan Mackey this
9:17	·	spot among Watling Street represents our last historical glimpse of Boudica at the
9:22	·	known location it look like a grainy black and white CCTV footage of the queen on a mountain
9:29	·	Chariot now Duncan Mackey in his work takes in consideration a number of sites along watling
9:37	·	Street heading in that direction away from Verulamium but his biggest issue
9:43	·	with all of those is the distance from Verulamium dunstable is one of the last of these guesses and
9:50	·	the intersection with watling Street and the NN way some suggest named after Boudica feels like
9:56	·	compelling evidence in itself suetonius needs a defensible landscape the undefendable towns of
10:03	·	London and St Albans didn't give him that perhaps Boudica had seen this as him Running Scared Now
10:11	·	McKay argues that letting Boudica reach the Icknield Watling Street would have potential for
10:18	·	the tribes to disband maybe head back home split up and that's the worst thing that suetonius would
10:24	·	want because it would mean an unsettled Britain it would mean that the tribes were still active
10:29	·	and they will be unruled so McKay decided that he needed to draw a
10:34	·	10m radius around St Albans and look for a location that would fit the battle for
10:41	·	suetonius now if you take that 10 m radius from St Albans you add that to tacitus is description
10:53	·	of the battlefield and you take in consideration a 1987 paper entitled the lead slingshot found at
11:01	·	Windridge Farm well then you end up right here 60 oval lead slingshots and another 50 found
11:09	·	years before were located here this gives us physical evidence of a battle as these
11:15	·	are very typical of first century Roman weapons on talking of the rebels tacitus describes them
11:22	·	as they were confident excluding a vaster host than ever assembled on so fierce in spirit that
11:30	·	they actually brought with them their wives riding in wagons which they placed on the border of the
11:36	·	[Music] plane and then we have another location here in Wiltshire and we have
	·	Part IV Ogbourne St George.
11:47	·	the workings of Steve Kaye now if like me your eyebrows raised when
11:51	·	you heard the word workings you're going to love this one the number two [Music]
12:01	·	so we're now high up on the Ridgeway in Wilshire above the village of ogborne St George we've got
12:08	·	routeways Crossing all over here Earthworks you name it it's a fascinating landscape now Steve
12:13	·	Kay took the words of tacitus to describe the battle location he also added to that the need
12:20	·	for water in the form of a river and he put them all into a database and tried to work out every
12:27	·	possible location that would fit in the lower half of England if you think that's mad you'd be right
12:34	·	now I am going to briefly explain this study in a way I personally understand and that will
12:39	·	likely not do the study Justice you can however read this yourself I'll add the links below so
12:45	·	Steve Kaye took the tacitus description he took the need for water from both parties and he took
12:52	·	the proximity of the major Roman towns the Roman roads and the routes available to them [Music]
13:02	·	so Steve Kaye in his initial study came up with 263 locations that could fit based on
13:10	·	the description by tacitus now in 2013 he whittled this down even more to just 110 Happy Days however
13:20	·	2015 came along he scrapped all that started again with a new method to the madness I say Madness in
13:28	·	an entirely respectful way Steve K really is a man after my own heart now he added something called
13:35	·	template matching and he gave every feature in Britain a color whether it was a plane a ridge
13:42	·	a slope of more than 5° and it was all rotational now with that Steve Kaye extracted nine templates
13:52	·	based on Tacitus his description nine squares that could then be placed back on the map
13:59	·	and came up with 2,700 potential sites East of the river 7 yes 2,700 now the work begins now
14:11	·	based on Tacitus his writings once again well Steve K suggested that suetonius liked to delay
14:18	·	a battle he liked to be considered and structure what he was going to do so this gives us at least
14:24	·	two or 3 days marching now this helped Steve Kaye ruled out a lot of sites and he went on to Rule
14:31	·	out some ones that were too small or too large and he was left then with a much smaller set of
14:37	·	2,187 potential sites now there's a reason why I'm walking along this River in ogborne St George in
14:48	·	Wilshire we'll come to the location soon but Steve K considered water was essential not too much but
14:54	·	not too little he calculated that the Roman army the 10,000 men would need a flow of 0.89 m/s now
15:04	·	that was much slower than he what he predicted of the iceni tribe that were following him so
15:11	·	he needed just the right balance brilliant with that in mind we're now down to just 862 potential
15:20	·	Sites now Steve Kaye couldn't Whittle this list down much anymore with the current scheme so
15:27	·	decided to start ranking them the criteria were height terrain stability of Roman front line
15:34	·	length distance to London wetness distance from Main Roman roads induced stress on the rebels
15:41	·	distance from Rivers effect of river flow through front lines the effect of blocking or trapping by
15:48	·	large rivers so consider the importance of the rivers once again the absolute perfect
15:53	·	flow enough for their army and the possibility that they could also block and man it water
15:59	·	course now if that is true well that really tells us how clever these Roman military generals were
16:09	·	that's not my area of specialty at all but it also tells us how important the Roman Road
16:15	·	network was that's more my area it tells you that that Roman Road Network could literally
16:21	·	sustain an army the knowledge of the roads and knowledge of the routs and the camps along them
16:26	·	that would have all been in the General's mind mines and it would literally sustain that army of
16:31	·	10,000 troops Steve K had three or four really good predicted sites based on a 100 different
16:40	·	considerations the bulbourne valley dorking ranked up there but here we are at Steve's Top
16:46	·	gestate This is ogborne St George in Wilshire and it lies not far north of the portway Roman
16:53	·	Road and is also found on Route north towards the main Roman military area the safe towns of
16:59	·	cirencester and above all the perfect topography and by that here the perfect size Valley for a
17:07	·	legionary front line Rising topographic margins for auxiliary and Cavalry the perfect water flow
17:14	·	the perfect distance from London and the safety of civilization for Recovery just a day March
17:19	·	away I love both the contrast and views of Duncan m K and Steve kaye I love the locations
17:31	·	that they've chosen as their their final answers if you will the location to Albin really fits well
17:37	·	perhaps not the geography for me the geography here is just brilliant here at Ogbourne St George
17:42	·	it fits perfectly I love those theories perhaps archaeology will one day tell us a final answer
17:48	·	perhaps not in my lifetime but maybe one day now if you love the Romans you know I'll make
17:53	·	a few videos on that sort of History where you can look at how they brutally took over or didn't made
17:59	·	Castle down in Dorchester in the meantime we'll see you this time next week
18:10	·	[Music]

Transcript
	·	The Aftermath of a Battle
0:04	·	As the dust of the battlefield settles, the cacophony of thousands of men marching and
0:09	·	weapons clashing are replaced by an eerie silence... Crows and vultures
0:14	·	feast on the thousands of corpses that litter the now silent battlefield;
0:19	·	a silence only interrupted by the occasional cries of wounded men and animals. Scattered next to the
0:25	·	bodies are pieces of armor, shields, standards, swords and other equipment... As darkness falls,
0:32	·	a series of shadows in military gear start to roam the battlefield. But these are not looters or
0:38	·	returning survivors. They are specially sent out work parties, each undertaking a different task…
0:46	·	[ad text redacted]
	·	The Wounded
1:54	·	Claiming victory is one thing, but the aftermath of a battle is not limited to just storming the
1:59	·	enemy’s camp and claiming the spoils; far from it. There is a lot to be done after the end of a
2:05	·	battle. Groups of idle soldiers are sent out as soon as possible to look for wounded comrades.
2:11	·	For some, every minute means the difference between life and death, and they first need
2:15	·	to be found among the myriad of bodies. Every wounded soldier that can make a full recovery
2:20	·	is one soldier less that has to be recruited and trained for months, and also allows the army to
2:26	·	retain its experience. The wounded who can walk or have minor injuries are either treated on the
2:32	·	spot by the army’s medical staff or loaded onto stretchers or wagons and taken to the hospital,
2:38	·	where the medici will do their best. Those with lethal injuries or signs of infections
2:43	·	will at least be taken care of as best as possible for the time period… This process
2:47	·	can last for several days and the wounded might need weeks or even months before they
2:52	·	are able to join the army again. Centurions and officers will also have to report the number of
2:57	·	casualties and the identities of those fallen in combat during their respective headcounts.
	·	The Dead
3:03	·	While part of the army is busy treating the wounded, others are put in charge of
3:07	·	collecting the dead; an extremely important matter, as the historian Onasander explains:
3:12	·	"The general should take thought for the burial of the dead, whether in victory or defeat,
3:17	·	using neither the occasion, nor the time, nor the place as an excuse for delay. This
3:22	·	is an act of both piety and reverence toward the dead and also a necessary example to the
3:27	·	living. For if the dead are not buried, each soldier believes that no care will be taken
3:32	·	of his own body should he have the chance to fall. The soldier observes what happens to the
3:37	·	dead with his own eyes, and indignant at the careless neglect of burial, judges the future,
3:42	·	believing that if he should die, he will likewise not be buried. (Onasander 36.1)"
3:46	·	Leaving the bodies of the dead without a proper burial or funerary ceremony
3:50	·	is something the Romans frowned upon, and wise generals always took care of treating
3:55	·	the dead with a modicum of respect. In times of peace, every soldier would get a proper burial,
4:00	·	but the Romans knew very well the medical risks of being exposed to rotting corpses for long periods
4:06	·	of time. Therefore, in such situations, more expeditive methods were tolerated,
4:11	·	and the dead from the rank and file were buried in mass unmarked graves or cremated
4:16	·	in large pyres… Roman soldiers had a voluntary system of paying a portion of their salary
4:22	·	towards a tombstone in the event of their death. For those who paid, their surviving
4:26	·	comrades back in the fort would make sure to host them a proper ceremony and tombstone,
4:31	·	even if no remains are present. Thousands of these have survived the ages and are being
4:36	·	found continually to this day, detailing not only the names and careers of soldiers,
4:41	·	but also sometimes their families and status. It is always very intriguing to read them and imagine
4:47	·	the unique people they once belonged to. This one, for example, was from Castra Vetera and belonged
4:53	·	to a 53 year old centurion named Marcus Caelius of the XVIII legion who died at the Teutoburg
5:00	·	Forest. (CIL 13, 08648) Caelius’ relatives could rest assured that he received a proper burial when
5:05	·	Germanicus visited the battlefield years later and took great pains in burying all the dead…
5:11	·	Of course this all was not the case for Roman generals or high ranking officers.
5:16	·	Like everything in the Roman period, rank came with special privileges, and the same went for
5:21	·	burials. In the case of generals and high ranking officers, a proper funeral would be
5:26	·	held right after the battle, with the whole army taking part, as dictated by Roman tradition. This
5:32	·	honor sometimes extended to heroes of the battle. Appian makes note of an honorary burial done for
5:39	·	centurion Gaius Crastinus who led the charge of the entire Caesarian army at Pharsalus.
5:45	·	"When sought for he was found among the dead, and Caesar bestowed military honours
5:49	·	on his body and buried it, and erected a special tomb for him near the common
5:54	·	burial-place of the others". App. BC.2.82. Only on very rare occasions would the Romans
5:58	·	build a war memorial to remember the fallen, like the one Trajan built at Adamklissi. Impressively,
6:05	·	all 4000 individual names of the deceased were carved into it,
6:09	·	and special ceremonies would be carried out on certain dates. It would read:
6:13	·	"In honor and memory of the stoutest men who fell fighting and died for the Republic '' (ILS, 9102).
	·	The Enemy Wounded
6:19	·	But what about the countless wounded on the enemy side? Sometimes even they would be
6:24	·	taken care of, depending on their level of civilization and nature of their injuries,
6:29	·	only to be taken prisoner or enslaved, as the slave markets paid well for healthy captives.
6:36	·	Those whose injuries were too severe would be finished off on the spot. Something similar would
6:40	·	happen to the bodies of those "less civilized" enemies of Rome, who would be left to rot. But
6:45	·	a very different treatment would be offered to those belonging to the enemy nobility. After all,
6:51	·	they can be very lucrative assets to be ransomed or used as political bargaining chips. During the
6:57	·	later stages of the Second Punic War, Scipio Africanus freed Masinissas' nephew, Massiva,
7:03	·	who had been captured in Hispania. He of course did this as a gesture of good faith to win over
7:08	·	the Numidian prince to the Roman cause. In the case of over captives, they would also be
7:12	·	used in prisoner swaps. Especially shameful for the Romans was the episode after the disastrous
7:18	·	battle of Cannae, when the Senate flat out refused to pay the ransom for the soldiers who
7:23	·	had surrendered to Hannibal... In other cases, we know the Romans took great care in tracking Roman
7:29	·	citizens who had been sold into slavery by the enemy and demanding their release and
7:34	·	repatriation as a peace condition. Unfortunately, the same did not happen to many of Rome’s enemies,
7:40	·	who would be mercilessly sold into slavery or paraded as war trophies.
	·	The Equipment
7:45	·	With the dead and wounded being taken care of by the soldiers and medics, the legion’s smiths
7:50	·	and artisans also had their share of work to do, And it’s not smaller in size. First and foremost,
7:56	·	broken equipment needed to be repaired and brought into service as soon as possible. So
8:00	·	it is not uncommon to find small bands of soldiers scavenging for broken gear or stripping fallen
8:06	·	comrades of their weapons and armor. In fact, even the enemy gear was often collected and stored as
8:11	·	trophies for public display, or for emergencies. Livy narrates that after the battle of Cannae,
8:17	·	Rome needed such vast quantities of equipment for its legions that even enemy weapons that
8:22	·	were displayed as trophies in temples or in storage were used to equip the men. The
8:27	·	appearance of that Roman army would surely have been very unique. One thing for sure,
8:34	·	in a matter of days the entire battlefield would be stripped clean of every bit of
8:36	·	equipment worth collecting. Only arrowheads, artillery missiles, sling bullets and smaller
8:42	·	objects are often discarded because many are too damaged or very hard to find. So
8:47	·	it's unsurprising why these represent the most common findings among excavated battlefield sites,
8:53	·	while a complete sword or helmet in good condition is extremely rare, as they would
8:57	·	have had to stay hidden from not just the army, but from centuries of graverobbers and looters.
9:03	·	The collection of the spoils of war in the form of important and valuable objects was another
	·	The Loot
9:08	·	key post-battle activity. This, however, was supervised by members of the general’s staff,
9:13	·	who counted up the loot and made sure nothing was appropriated by the soldiers,
9:18	·	because unless explicitly stated, soldiers had no right to battlefield loot,
9:22	·	as it lawfully belonged to their general, acting as a representative of the state.
9:27	·	Soldiers had to give up everything and wait for it all to be gathered, processed,
9:32	·	and evenly distributed among them, normally in the form of cash. There are records detailing
9:36	·	large amounts being given to soldiers after the end of the campaign... But this didn’t
9:41	·	mean that soldiers and camp followers didn’t TRY to lurk in the shadows and pocket valuable items.
9:47	·	Nothing prevented a soldier from looting an enemy corpse or tent while no officers
9:51	·	were around. Footwear, cloaks, weapons, small jewelry, or even everyday items like
9:58	·	cups were very prized among soldiers. Not only are they carriable and easy to hide,
10:03	·	but they can fetch a good price in markets. Winning a lottery for a soldier would mean
10:08	·	getting his hands on a luxurious saddle or a piece of furniture from an enemy officer's tent,
10:13	·	which could easily be equivalent to a few months salary. The only problem would be somehow carrying
10:17	·	them home without being caught and punished. Therefore, it is safe to assume that soldiers
10:22	·	would always leave the most bulky and burdensome loot to the general and focus on pocketing smaller
10:27	·	items. Polybius comments on the actions of Roman soldiers after their victory at Cynoscephalae:
10:34	·	"The Romans, after following up the fugitives for a certain distance, began, some of them,
10:38	·	to strip the dead and others to collect prisoners, but most of them ran to plunder
10:43	·	the enemy's camp. Finding, however, that the Aetolians had anticipated them there
10:48	·	and considering themselves defrauded of the booty that was rightfully theirs, they began
10:53	·	to find fault with the Aetolians and told their general that he imposed the risk on them and
10:58	·	gave up the booty to others. For the present they returned to their own camp and retired to rest,
11:04	·	and spent the next day collecting prisoners and what was left of the spoil…" (Polyb. 18.27.3)
11:09	·	This quote gives us an idea of the tension that would sometimes arise when
11:13	·	soldiers were denied their loot, which would result in less bonuses for them…
11:18	·	On special occasions, the general could reward his men with all the battlefield loot and give them
11:23	·	complete free rein. This was very good for keeping the men happy but wasn’t customary. Firstly,
11:29	·	because the general was obliged to collect the loot and send part of it back to Rome,
11:34	·	and secondly because it could raise even more tensions and complaints between soldiers about
11:39	·	the unfair distribution of loot. In this case, the first ones to break rank after battle and
11:44	·	start looting would often collect the best loot, while those who were on patrol, burying the dead,
11:49	·	or healing the wounded would get second hand picks. This could easily diminish comradery and
11:55	·	trigger fights not only between the soldiers, but also with officers who got in the way..
12:01	·	What’s most interesting though is where was the limit after which the famous Roman discipline
12:05	·	collapsed, and mutinous soldiers attacked their officers and did as they pleased? and how would
12:11	·	their generals be expected to deal with them? These answers have already been compiled in our
12:16	·	video about Roman mutinies. So make sure to check it out. Thank you to our patreons for
12:22	·	making this video possible. If you wish to support us and participate in polls where we
12:27	·	decide on future videos, please Consider signing up! Ill see you in the next one!

Transcript
0:00	·	[Turgid Music]
0:20	·	so
0:20	·	we're left with many unanswered
0:22	·	questions from an examination of the
0:24	·	written sources
0:25	·	some of which i'd like to put stephen
0:27	·	young an experienced
0:28	·	local archaeologist and roman expert
0:30	·	first the battle of wattling streets
0:33	·	that's a saxon name do we have any idea
0:35	·	what the romans named it
0:37	·	no i've seen many possible sites listed
0:40	·	with one actually being towards the west
0:42	·	country
0:43	·	the popular assumption is that it took
0:45	·	place on whitman street
0:48	·	is there any archaeological evidence to
0:50	·	support that
0:51	·	archaeologically speaking it is very
0:54	·	difficult to actually
0:57	·	say anything about the boudiccan revolt
0:59	·	in terms of the potential battle on
1:01	·	wattling street
1:02	·	what we need to have is the evidence the
1:05	·	physical
1:06	·	artifactual evidence of the event
1:09	·	and what i've got here is a table of
1:12	·	real period pieces and replica
1:15	·	arms of the period the sort of thing
1:18	·	that you would probably find
1:20	·	if you were looking at the battle site
1:22	·	and you were actually locating any
1:23	·	archaeological evidence
1:25	·	it battle sites are notoriously
1:27	·	difficult to actually
1:29	·	analyze and find of any period and you
1:32	·	can only
1:32	·	you can only actually work on the
1:34	·	material that you can find
1:36	·	from the cloud soil itself so
1:39	·	if we were to find a site then
1:42	·	we would need to find evidence
1:45	·	particularly of the
1:46	·	the roman army which was uh
1:48	·	mass-produced
1:49	·	highly effective work uh artifacts and
1:53	·	material from the swords
1:56	·	the helmets the armor
1:59	·	and even the pelem to the arrowhead's
2:03	·	personal adornment in terms of broaches
2:07	·	and pottery depending on what the site
2:10	·	was
2:11	·	we don't know anything in terms of the
2:14	·	actual site itself but there are several
2:16	·	places that can be considered along
2:20	·	wattling street in particular between
2:23	·	the site mainly of maggie ovinium which
2:26	·	is
2:27	·	just to the outside fenney stratford
2:30	·	drop shot just by to the east of milton
2:32	·	keynes
2:33	·	right the way through lactodorm which is
2:35	·	toaster
2:36	·	up into banaventa wilton locks and
2:38	·	tripontium
2:40	·	there are sites that are supposedly to
2:42	·	do with the
2:43	·	uh buick and revolt one is far north
2:47	·	at a place called mansetta or mandu
2:49	·	essien which is the preferred
2:52	·	site of the battle and was put forward
2:54	·	by graeme webster
2:56	·	way back in the 60s and there is a
2:59	·	potential another site
3:00	·	to the south of the map on my right at
3:03	·	dunstable
3:04	·	which which has been put forward by
3:06	·	barry horn as another potential
3:08	·	place there are so many places that fit
3:12	·	the very sparse detailed location site
3:16	·	that tacitus
3:17	·	and cassio dyers give us but what we do
3:20	·	have
3:21	·	are possibilities of a site that's put
3:24	·	forward by
3:26	·	martin marrick erins which is to the
3:28	·	south east of lactadorum toaster
3:33	·	south east of toaster at cuttlemill near
3:35	·	paulsbury
3:37	·	where interestingly there are fields
3:39	·	which are known
3:40	·	as large and little battlefield fields
3:44	·	from victorian period and not far from
3:47	·	there we also found evidence geophysical
3:49	·	evidence
3:50	·	of a large uh five uh acre
3:54	·	five or six acre probable marching camp
3:57	·	a thought the size of an auxiliary fort
4:00	·	right in the position
4:01	·	of this plane that matches most of the
4:04	·	detail that's given by
4:06	·	tacitus another place is possibly
4:10	·	to dust around tripontium
4:13	·	which is uh near rugby so there's
4:16	·	there's lots of little
4:18	·	sites there's nothing down at maggie of
4:20	·	so we have nothing physical
4:21	·	nothing like we've got on the table here
4:24	·	we have a possible marching camp
4:27	·	and we just have the geological
4:30	·	morphological landscape to work on it is
4:33	·	likely however that the battle did take
4:35	·	place
4:36	·	within this area because we know from
4:39	·	the sources
4:41	·	tacitus tells us that verilemium
4:44	·	saint albans had been burnt and that the
4:46	·	britons were moving
4:48	·	to the north and the west and as steve
4:50	·	has said there are lots of theories
4:52	·	both about watling street and to along
4:55	·	the ackermann street
4:56	·	it depends entirely really on how long
4:59	·	it would have taken the roman soldiers
5:00	·	to have left
5:01	·	the isle of anglesey and march down to
5:04	·	the south east
5:06	·	so intense of physical evidence we have
5:09	·	none all we've got are the sources we
5:11	·	know it actually happened
5:13	·	one day somebody will find some evidence
5:16	·	whether it be
5:17	·	a spearhead of the first century or a
5:20	·	sea of spearheads
5:22	·	personal adornment that paul has fallen
5:24	·	off
5:26	·	i was in brooches or indeed evidence
5:29	·	of helmets and
5:32	·	gladiuses swords these are the typical
5:35	·	um
5:36	·	accoutrements of a legionnaire the short
5:39	·	sword
5:40	·	and the knife or
5:43	·	actually evidence of a cavalry sword a
5:45	·	sparta
5:48	·	these bits of these do survive in the
5:50	·	ground or it may be
5:51	·	arrowheads where they've been fired or
5:54	·	indeed if we do have associated
5:56	·	with the romans with the roman sort of
5:58	·	defense uh some sort of camp
6:00	·	possibly pottery or armor pieces of
6:03	·	armor
6:04	·	or pieces of peeling those are sort of
6:06	·	things we'd expect from the roman side
6:08	·	but weapons
6:09	·	and possibly talk elements of talks and
6:12	·	things like that
6:13	·	if you're talking about the battle where
6:16	·	230 people
6:17	·	230 000 people are present and they're
6:20	·	trying to attack
6:21	·	a force of perhaps 11 or 13 000 romans
6:25	·	there is going to be a lot of detritus
6:26	·	left after that battle
6:29	·	you know the romans are going to be
6:30	·	outnumbered at least 10 to 1 if not
6:32	·	nearly almost 20 to 1
6:34	·	so what happens after a battle
6:38	·	they don't necessarily clear all the
6:39	·	bodies away there may be
6:41	·	actually large-scale uh pits
6:44	·	where everybody all the bodies are put
6:46	·	or they might just have been left there
6:47	·	to
6:48	·	to rot and therefore you would see
6:49	·	evidence within the ground
6:52	·	so that's the sort of thing we expect to
6:54	·	find elements of
6:56	·	what we need to do is as we look at the
6:58	·	archaeology in these areas
7:00	·	and at the moment the organization i
7:02	·	work for
7:03	·	we're looking at the roman landscape and
7:06	·	characterizing it
7:07	·	and as we're doing that we are finding
7:09	·	potential
7:10	·	potential evidence to support the idea
7:13	·	of
7:14	·	the voodoo can revolt such as the
7:16	·	marching camp
7:17	·	near cuttle mill