The Roman
Auxiliary Cavalry of Britannia
Who guarded the Wall?
For much of its first 300 years of use Hadrian's Wall marked the
north-west frontier of the Roman Empire. In movies such as The Eagle
or Centurion we see the Roman foot soldier astride its battlements
looking north, spear and shield in hand. But was its defence all
about the humble infantryman? What of the cavalry? Why did many Wall
forts include a mounted contingent within its garrison?
It has been calculated
that sustaining a cavalryman with his kit and horse cost 5 times that
of an infantryman. Why would the Romans invest so much in such an
expensive asset?
We know from more
recent times that cavalry can move at lightning speed, and are
highly mobile, making them effective on patrols and as scouts, which
would have been particularly important north of the Wall. They make
speedy messengers, giving warning of sudden threats and incursions.
In Roman times they would also have ensured food security, protecting
local farmland and guarding supply trains to the Wall’s outlying
forts.
But
to my mind possibly the greatest significance of their presence is,
they projected the image of power and renown of Rome and its imperial
might. If you have ever seen the Household Cavalry in London or
mounted police outside of a football (soccer) stadium you will get an
idea of what a disciplined, armoured unit of Roman cavalry must have
looked like to an Iron Age population.
Outlying forts, such
as at Birrens and Netherby housed specialist, double-strength, mixed
infantry and cavalry cohorts (milliaria equitata) as well as
specialist scouts (exploratores) enabling them to command the local
area and suppress any uprising of the local tribes. The effect on the
indigenous people must have been as much psychological as physical.
But who were these
cavalrymen? Well they certainly weren’t drawn from the Roman
aristocracy as they often were in the time of the Republic. No, the
names of their units give a clear indication the Romans recruited
from all over the empire and mainly from the homelands of its
conquered peoples. Germanic and celtic Gaulish units were prevalent,
such as the Germanic units of the I Nervana Germanorum and the Cohors
II Tungrorum. But regiments from as far away as Spain, modern day
Bulgaria and Croatia have also been identified. However, as the needs
of the empire changed over time individual units increasingly
recruited from the local populations. With sons moving into the
family business by joining the cohorts of their fathers and
grandfathers.
So what was life like
for the cavalryman? Well each troop, known as a turma, typically 30
men when at full complement, were housed in a single barrack block.
Trios of men lived at the back of the building with their horses
stabled at the front. There were surely few nights that troopers fell
asleep without the sound of the snorts of their mounts and the sweet
smell of hay and manure in their nostrils. Each room had a hearth set
against the stable-side wall for warmth and cooking. The decurion,
who commanded the turma, lived in rooms at the end of the block along
with his family. Troopers ate, slept and kept their weapons and tack
in these small rooms. It is also thought grooms and slaves may have
slept in the roof space above.
The training for
cavalrymen and their mounts was extensive and intense. If you have
seen horses being drilled for modern day dressage you will get the
idea, with each trained initially on a long rein to teach basic
skills as well as special steps. It is likely horses were broken and
prepared by specialists before being assigned to its rider. They
learned to overcome their instinct to flee when startled and to cope
in the noise and fervour of combat. The early instruction of the
cavalryman would have focussed on mastering the basic skills of
controlling and riding the horse whilst holding a sword or spear in
the right hand and the shield and rein in the left. From there they
would have progressed to learning to fight as a turma, with unit
drills enabling large numbers of men to manoeuvre in battle.
Image
from unsplash.com
The average cavalryman
was well armed and armoured. He typically wore chainmail armour that
allowed greater movement whilst on horseback. Their weapons consisted
of the long cavalry sword often referred to as the spatha. They had a
fighting lance and two shorter throwing javelins. Their shields were
a variety of shapes including square and oval, but were usually flat
with a steel rim and a rounded metal boss to enable it to be used as
a weapon. It is not hard to imagine the damage the charge of even a
small unit of auxiliary cavalry could inflict on the largely
unprotected bodies of the tribal warriors of the north of Britain.
Memorial
stone of Insus of the Treveri tribe, cavalryman of the Ala Augusta,
Lancaster Museum. Image Alistair Tosh personal
When researching for
my Edge of Empire series, which focuses on the lives of the men of a
mixed Germanic cohort, I was surprised by the amount of detail we now
have on the everyday life of a Roman cavalryman. In their adventures
I have worked hard to be faithful to that knowledge and attempted to
bring it to life for the present day reader.
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Best
selling author, Alistair Tosh was born in Dumfriesshire, a place
filled with ancient place names such as Torthorwald and Caerlaverock.
But it was his visits, as a boy, to nearby Burnswark Iron Age
hillfort and its Roman siegeworks that first fired his interest in
Roman and Dark Ages history.
On
leaving school he began a 35 year communications career, firstly with
the Royal Navy, that included covert riverine and seaborne operations
during the height of ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland, before
moving into the corporate telecommunications world. Military life is
unique, and Alistair aims to reflect an authentic view of that
experience and its language in his stories.
His
debut historical novel, Siege, the first book in the Edge of Empire
series, is set against the backdrop of the Antonine push into
Caledonia. When not writing or researching, Alistair likes to spend
time with family. He and his wife also love hill walking and have
spent a great deal of time exploring the mountains of both the UK and
Andalucia accompanied by their dog Hurley.
Follow
Alistair on: X (Twitter) at https://twitter.com/alistair_tosh
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