Huddersfield in Roman Times
By Ian A. Richmond

ROMAN PIONEERS IN THE HUDDERSFIELD DISTRICT A.D. 71-79

THE ARMY OF OCCUPATION

Apart from the great power of destruction which science has given to modern armies, most of them differ considerably from the Roman Imperial Army in being short-service forces. After the reign of Tiberius (A.D. 14-36), all Roman soldiers, whether serving as legionaries or as auxiliaries (excepting, however, the “Household Troops” at Rome), spent twenty-five years with the colours. This produced both efficiency and stability, for the legionaries, as Roman citizens, were allowed to marry, and auxiliaries might contract a union which was recognised by law when the received Roman citizenship on their discharge. These “wives,” however, never lived within the barracks; but around a fort or fortress there grew up a village populated by women, children and traders, which under favourable conditions, as at York, became a town. The legionaries were Roman citizens born and bred, and thus were recruited from the more civilised parts of the Empire; for the Roman citizenship, unless possessed by its owner as a birthright, always was bestowed as a reward for the attainment of culture or, occasionally, for great valour, until in A.D. 212 the Emperor Antonius (nicknamed Caracalla) extended it to all free-born Roman subjects, except the Egyptian fellahin. The auxiliary troops, on the other hand, were commanded by Roman citizens, and were recruited from less civilised but not barbaric provincials who had not yet reached the level of culture required for Roman citizenship. As noted above, they received the citizenship when they were discharged.

It is difficult to define what arms and armour the auxiliaries used as a whole, since each regiment was allowed to retain its native weapons if they were effective, although it was not recruited from its native district after its foundation, but from wherever it happened to be stationed. Accordingly Syrians formed regiments of archers, and Raetians from modern Austria used their own type of spear, called “gaesum.” Other tribes provided excellent cavalry or pioneers; the Batavi, for example, who lived in the fens at the mouth or the river Rhine, often were useful on campaigns when swimming was necessary. Spear, sword and shield, however, formed the chief service equipment of these auxiliaries. Their organisation and division into units will be explained presently.

Relief From Trajan's Column: Fort Building By Legionaries

The armour of the legionary was more substantial. A metal corselet and shoulder-pieces protected his chest and shoulders and his head was covered by a large brazen helmet, with a splendid crest, which was not worn on active service. His principal fighting weapons were a short sword for stabbing and two long javelins, which were hurled against the enemy before coming to close quarters. Each man also carried a large oblong shield which could be interlocked at need on all sides with those of his companions, so as to form either a strong breast-work against attack or a slanting protection against missiles, like the shell of a “tortoise,” as the formation was called. Less cumbersome armour was supplied to the cavalry attached to each legion.

Relief From Trajan's Column: Cavalry

These men were clad mostly in leather for lightness sake, and equipped with a smaller elliptical shield, a sword and a lance. The artillery, a less personal weapon, developed apace in importance and efficiency after the opening of the first century A.D. These machines were worked by torsion in a variety of ways, and their effective range seems short by modern standards, for on the average it was not more than two or three hundred yards. But since, in western Europe at least, the normal range of projectiles was the length that a man could throw, artillery gave to the Romans an overwhelming superiority, especially in defence. Another advantage which they possessed was the property built transport wagon, with two or four wheels. And although there were no regular ambulances, each legionary fortress contained a scientifically-planned military hospital, and every legionary or auxiliary cohort possessed a doctor, whom common talk, however, did not distinguish from his assistants, calling both medici.

Methods of campaigning were orderly and precise. Each day the army preceded by pioneers and scouts (exploratores), moved forward, with its baggage train in the midst of the column of route. Each man carried entrenching tools, rations and cooking pots, while whatever would not be required on the march was stowed away in the transport carts. By nightfall the pioneers had selected and marked out the site for an encampment, and the soldiers set to digging a shallow ditch, behind which a rather low rampart was made with the upcast and eventually heightened by stakes. The shape of this earthwork, a camp in the strict sense of the word, varied according to the nature of the ground; but wherever possible it conformed to the rectangle of the Roman text-book. The methods of setting out a camp of simple shape will be explained later. Chance has preserved no complicated Roman earthwork in the Huddersfield district, nor have any traces of a “marching camp” been detected for certain. But the details here given should be sufficient to show that Roman army movements normally observed a definite plan of action; yet they were not hide-bound, for Hyinus, who appears to have written in the time of Trajan (A.D. 98-117), gives a notable number of rules for exceptional circumstances.

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