Roman Britain's Missing Legion

What Really Happened to IX Hispana?

Simon Elliott

• Editorial: Pen & Sword Military
• Año: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781526765734
• Categoría: History
• Categoría: Military & Maritime History

"Examines all the possible fates of the famous IX legion... takes you on a fascinating detective journey through all the corners of the Roman Empire." — History... The Interesting Bits! Legio IX Hispana had a long and active history, later founding York from where it guarded the northern frontiers in Britain. But the last evidence for its existence in Britain comes from AD 108. The mystery of their disappearance has inspired debate and imagination for decades. The most popular theory, immortalized in Rosemary Sutcliffe's novel The Eagle of the Ninth, is that the legion was sent to fight the Caledonians in Scotland and wiped out there. But more recent archaeology (including evidence that London was burnt to the ground and dozens of decapitated heads) suggests a crisis, not on the border but in the heart of the province, previously thought to have been peaceful at this time. What if IX Hispana took part in a rebellion, leading to their punishment, disbandment and damnatio memoriae (official erasure from the records)? This proposed 'Hadrianic War' would then be the real context for Hadrian's 'visit' in 122 with a whole legion, VI Victrix, which replaced the 'vanished' IX as the garrison at York. Other theories are that it was lost on the Rhine or Danube, or in the East. Simon Elliott considers the evidence for these four theories, and other possibilities. "A great and fascinating read... a page turner... The book offers some interesting and intriguing ideas around the fate of the Ninth." — Irregular Magazine "An historical detective story pursued with academic rigour." — Clash of Steel "A seminal and landmark study." — Midwest Book Review

Chapter 1

Background: The Principate Military

The IXth was a classic legion of the Principate period of the Roman Empire, though had its roots in the earlier Roman Republic. It fought across a wide range of geographies and against many different enemies of Rome before its mysterious disappearance. To enable the reader to fully understand its nature, this first Chapter therefore considers the Roman military of the later Republic and early Empire, beginning with an analysis of that most elite soldier of the ancient world, the Roman legionary. There then follows a specific consideration of the early history of legio IX Hispana, designed to set the scene for its later exploits. The Chapter then concludes with a discussion of the Principate Empire troop types that supported the legions when on campaign and in battle, namely the auxiliaries and regional fleets.

The Roman Legionary

The Roman legionary of the later Republic and early Empire was a heavy infantryman whose battlefield role was, more often than not, fighting other lines of battle heavy infantry. His appearance by the late first century BC was the result of over 700 years of military evolution in terms of equipment and tactics. This reflected the fact that, even when the Romans lost in war or battle, they were quick adopters of opposing ideas and technology, ensuring they usually won in the long run. This progression featured five distinct phases:

•The Tullian system devised by Servius Tullius, sixth king of Rome and the city’s second Etrusco-Roman king who reigned from 575 BC to 535 BC. This was based on his Servian Constitution, with these first Roman armies built around an Etruscan-style hoplite phalanx of armoured spearman, wealthy citizen cavalry, and four classes of supporting troops.

•The Camillan System of Marcus Furius Camillus who became consular tribune for the first time in 401 BC. He completely reformed the Roman military system after its devastating defeat by Brennus’ Senones Gauls at the Battle of Allia in 390 BC, and the traumatic sack of Rome that followed. Camillus introduced the manipular legion of 3,000 men (this later growing to 5,000), featuring three classes of legionary, this term being applicable for the first time from this point on. The classes were the triarii veterans, principes older warriors and hastati ‘flower of the young men’. Among his other reforms of the Roman military, Camillus also introduced regular pay for his legionaries after the eight-month siege of the Etruscan city of Veii that finally ended in 396 BC.

•The Polybian System, a revision of the Camillan system introduced after Rome’s narrow victory over Pyrrhus of Epirus in the conflict in southern Italy that lasted from 280 BC to 275 BC. The key change here was the introduction of other troop types to support the legionaries, including velite skirmishing javelinmen.

•The Marian System created by the seven-times warrior consul Gaius Marius at the height of the Cimbrian Wars in 107 BC. This totally new system was introduced against a backdrop of the manipular legions losing on a regular basis against the Cimbri Germans and their allies invading Gaul (see Chapter 5 for detail). The new legions of Marius featured 6,000 men organized in centuries rather than maniples. Each had 4,800 legionaries armed as front line troops, all now equipped in exactly the same way, while the remaining 1,200 legionaries were specialists and support staff. Their inclusion enabled the Marian legion to operate as a homogenous unit, unencumbered by siege trains and other subsidiary units. As detailed below, legio IX Hispana was founded in both of its early forms in this period.

•The Augustan System introduced by the first Emperor after his elevation by the Senate in 27 BC. Having inherited 60 legions as Octavian, his main contribution to the evolution of the legion was rationalizing their number down to 28. This fell to 25 after Varus’ loss of legios XVII, XVIII and XIX fighting Arminius in the Teutoburg Forest in Germany in AD 9. The total number of legions would then hover around 30 for the rest of the Principate. Augustus also rationalized the number of legionaries in a legion down to 5,500, though still maintaining the balance between front line fighting troops and legionary specialists. This system was to remain in place throughout the Principate period of Empire.

Given the story of legio IX Hispana falls into the Marian and Augustan phases detailed above, from this point on the narrative concentrates on the legions of those periods.

The numbering and naming of these legions can seem confusing, but simply reflects their being raised at different times, and by different Republican leaders and later Emperors. Many legions shared the same number but had different names, for example there being five third legions. Meanwhile, others shared the same name but had different numbers, for example legios I, II, III and IV Italica.

From the later first century BC onwards, as the final phase of the Republican civil wars came to an end, the legions were usually deployed around the borders of the later republic and early Empire. There they were best placed to expand the frontiers of Roman controlled territory when ordered to do so, at the same time providing a fearsome deterrent against any neighbours contemplating a confrontation with Rome. These legions were based at regularly spaced legionary fortresses in Spain, on the Rivers Rhine and Danube, along the eastern frontier with Parthia, in North Africa, and later in Britain. The legions were often stationed at these locations for significant periods of time and developed a fierce sense of identity, with Goldsworthy (2003, 50) saying: ‘…legionaries were proud of their unit and contemptuous of others.’ This sense of self could often get out of hand, with the legions occasionally being prone to mutiny, as happened with legio IX Hispana in Pannonia (see below). This phenomenon is further detailed in Chapter 3.

The 6,000 men of the Marian legions and 5,500 men of the Augustan legions were organized into ten cohorts. Using the latter as our example here, the first of these had five centuries of 160 men, with the rest six centuries of 80 men each. The normal century was then broken down into ten eight-man sections called contubernia, whose men shared a tent when on campaign and two barrack block rooms when in their legionary fortress. Additionally, the legions also featured 120 auxiliary cavalry, these acting as dispatch riders and scouts. We know specifically of one such individual who actually served in this latter role in legio IX Hispana. This is Quintus Cornelius whose now-lost tombstone was found around 1800 on the south side of the churchyard of St Peter-at-Gowts in Lincoln. His inscription (RIB 254) reads:

Quintus Cornelius, son of Quintus, of the Claudian voting-tribe, trooper of legio IX from the century of Cassius Martialis: aged 40 years, of 19 year’s service, lies buried here.

Later Marian and all Augustan legions were led by a Senatorial-level legatus legionis, with the second-in-command from the time of the Principate being a tribunus laticlavius. This was a young Senator gaining personal experience to enable him to command his own legion in the future. Third in command of the legion was the praefectus castrorum camp prefect, a seasoned former centurion responsible for logistics and administration. Below him were five younger equestrian-level tribunes, these known as the tribuni angusticlavia who were allocated responsibilities in the legion as required. Meanwhile control of each cohort in the legion was the responsibility of centurions, with six to a normal cohort. Each had a specific title that reflected their seniority, the names based on the old manipular legions of Camillus. In ascending order, these were:

•hastatus posterior

•hastatus prior

•princeps posterior

•princeps prior

•pilus posterior

•pilus prior.

Senior officers and centurions controlled their legions with standards and musical instruments. In terms of the former, each legion had a variety of types. By far the most important was the gold Aquila eagle standard carried by the aquilifer. This only left camp when the entire legion was on campaign, and the Roman authorities heavily frowned upon its loss. As will be seen, the fate of the eagle standard of legio IX Hispana is a subject much debated throughout this book, and indeed gave Rosemary Sutcliff the title of her fictional account of the legion’s fate. By the time of the Principate Empire, the next most important standard was the imago featuring an image of the Emperor, this either a bust or a portrait within a phalera medallion. This standard was carried by an imaginifer. Next came the signa standards allocated to each individual century and carried by the signifer, these featuring the unit’s battle honours on medallions fixed vertically to the wooden shaft. We have specific insight here into an actual signifer of legio IX Hispana in t...

Índice

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Dedication
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Background: The Principate Military
• Chapter 2: Background: Early Roman Britain
• Chapter 3: Trouble in the North
• Chapter 4: The Hadrianic War in London
• Chapter 5: The Rhine and Danube Frontier
• Chapter 6: Lost in the East
• Conclusion
• Timeline of the late Roman Republic and Roman Empire
• Bibliography