Showing posts with label The Angles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Angles. Show all posts

Friday 5 June 2020

Roman Britain part 3: The Opposition.

As explained previously the Roman Army of Britain in the 4th Century suffered repeated raids from tribes on the periphery of Britannia.

The Picts:

This group of people lived North of Hadrians Wall  The Picts lived in the Central and Eastern part of  what is now Scotland. The Romans called the area Caledonia. At one stage the Romans tried to bring this area under their  control.

To do this the Antonine Wall was built, North of Hadrians Wall. This wall was made of turf. It was not held for long as the Romans realised that holding the territory was not gaining any advantage. Eventually, Hadrians Wall marked the Northern  boundary of Roman Britain.

As the Roman garrisons on the Wall were reduced the Picts saw their chance to launch raids into Roman territory.


The warriors themselves went into battle semi-naked, their bodies being tattooed in a blue dye.
Only the Chiefs wore any sort of armour if at all. More usually just a helmet. All the warriors carried a shield either square or round.


Only the Chiefs carried swords. The warriors carried a mix of javelins with either spears or axes. Some also carried long spears thus when they assumed a basic close order formation, the long spears would extend out over the front rank.

Some of the men may have been armed with crossbows and short bows..
The Picts used horses or ponies probably ridden by the nobles and their hearth troops.

The raiding parties could range from maybe 50 or 60 men up to 4,000 warriors for a serious attack. As previously stated, the Picts were also capable of mounting seaborne raids as well, using small ships carrying 50/60 men.

The Scots-Irish or "Scotti".

These people lived on the East Coast of Ireland ( known to the Romans as Hibernia ) and the West Coast of Scotland ( Caledonia).
 The warriors raided the coast of Wales, Devon and Cornwall. Wales was called Britannica Secunda. Devon and Cornwall together were known as Dumnonia which became part of the Roman Province of Britannica Superior.

The Scots-Irish were very much like the Picts with the same mix of weapons. The Scots-Irish were also known as the Del Riatta, " the people of the Chariot ".  I don't know if they were actually using chariots in this era. However in recent times some metal parts of chariot harness have been found in the North-East of England. Therefore personally I've gone in favour of a bit of colour and added some to my collection!.


These would be light chariots which in my own rules have a chance to avoid combat.
The Scots-Irish also had ships capable of carrying 50/100 men.

Both the Picts and the Scots-Irish were not enemies who were easy to beat, especially when allied to the terrain they operated in, which was a tangle of hills, valleys and forests.

Like the Picts, pitched battles were a rarity with guerrilla tactics being the norm. Warbands could be 30 to 50 individuals up to about 3 or 4,000 strong for a serious attack.

By about the 8th century ( I think?) both nations had amalgamated in Caledonia to become the Scots.

The Saxons ,Angles and Jutes.

These people were the ones who exercised the most influence over Roman Britain and its future history especially in England.

During the time of the Roman Empire these three nations shared the territory of Denmark, which if I understand correctly was called Himlingoje at this time.

By the 4th century there were groups of these people already living in this country. They had been bought in by the Roman army and settled here as Federated troops.

Update 25th August 2010
As stated in a previous article, any Angles, Saxons or Jutes in Britannia prior to 450AD would have been living within the military posts
They may have bought their families in with them or married into the local British population.

Most of the warriors were armed with shields and a long knife with a single edge called a seax. Throwing weapons were javelin and spears. Those warriors who were really poor carried a bow.


The Chieftains, apart from having swords and shields could also have had body armour.
On the continent, the Saxons lived in close proximity to the Frank's, so, there is a chance that the Saxons had horse-handling skills. They could also have used the throwing axe ( the fransisca ) and the spiculum ( a metal javelin akin to a pilum ).

Those warriors recruited into the Army would be armed with Roman equipment.

Like the Picts and Scots-Irish, the Angles, Saxons and Jutes were also capable seafarers.


These Germanic people were capable and loyal troops until the money ran out. There is a history of embezzlement in this and subsequent eras of the Late Empire.
Some Roman officers were retaining money that was supposed to go to the men.
There was also "dead mans pay" where Officers drew money for more men than they actually had!.

This was one of the reasons why, when someone like Maximus came along and looked after the troops they in turn would promote the General in his quest for Imperial power.


Frankish and Frisian Pirates.

As previously stated the "Saxon" raiders could have been Franks or Frisians. As they spoke a Germanic dialect the Britons could have just labelled them "Saxon" as the Romans did.

The Franks and Frisian when they came in as raiders sometimes allied themselves with the Picts. It would not be unusual to have Romano-Saxon troops fighting  these other tribesmen.


By the end of the 4th  century the situation in Britannia continued to get worse but luckily the Civil Administration continued to operate albeit in a ramshackle state!

There is a possibility that the Christian Decuriones ( the rich, land-owning Civil administrators ) paid some of the troops to protect their area and property, giving the rise to private armies. This was happening within other parts of the Empire.

The figures are mostly from Hat miniatures. The Scots-Irish chariots are Hat Miniatures Gaulish Chariots.  The chariot figures have different heads and shields. The Pictish Army is mix of Hat Saxons, Hat Gothic Cavalry, and Red Box Pict Infantry. The Saxons are a mix of Hat Goth Infantry and Miliart German Tribesmen.

 The Roman heavy cavalry are a mix of Roman, Sassanian and Parthian Heavy cavalry with changed heads. Some of the horses are Ceaser miniatures. The spears and lances are 28mm from North Star. All the Roman infantry are from Hat Late Roman Auxilliaries. The fortifications are scratchbuilt as are the boats. The stand are 40mm square picture framing cardboard. The round bases are 40mm mdf from Minibits.