The Batavian Rebellion and Quintus Petillius Cerialis (between 69-70 CE. Cerialis was made Governor of Britannia from 71 to 74 CE)
Posted by kluciole at 5/24/2010 11:27 PM 
Categories: International, Science, Conflict, Politics, Cultures, History
Categories: International, Science, Conflict, Politics, Cultures, History
Vespasian Acts
 |
By now, the North was in total chaos. In Gaul, numerous tribes and armies declared themselves for the Gallic Empire and even fought against one another. Further north, the Batavian revolt was at its peak. All of the Roman legions had surrendered and there was no other major Roman force in the area to challenge Civilis and his Batavian army. Roaming bands of renegades plundered the country side in the name of the rebellion. While the situation was indeed dire, the reports flowing into Rome wildly exaggerated what was happening. Vespasian summoned a force of eight full veteran legions to quell the rebellion. The Legions VIII Augusta, XI Claudia, XIII Gemina, II Adiutrix and XXI Rapax came north from Italy over the alps. The VI Victrix and I Adiutrix legions came from Hispania, and XIV Geminia sailing in from Britain. This huge force was placed under the command of the capable Quintus Petillius Cerialis and Gallus Annius (37).
The two generals were a wise choice made by Vespasian. Both had recently served in the recent string civil wars. Cerialis was Vespasian's own brother-in-law and had escaped from Vitellius in order to fight in Vespasian's army. Annius fought for the doomed Emperor Otho against Vitellius as he made his way down Italy. So not only were they well seasoned soldiers, but they were loyal as well, and neither had sympathies to the recently defeated Vitellius. Further more, Cerialis was very familiar with local rebellions. Ten years prior, he served in Britannia under Governor Paulinus against the rebel Queen Boudica, and ironically probably served with Civilis while he was stationed their as well.
Although the army was large they made good time crossing the Alps, which remained unguarded due to the lack of response from the Gallic leaders. The rebel Gallic tribes collapsed as the army approached, fearing its very size. Cerialis spread the three legions from Hispania and Britain out along Gaul to quell the remaining rebel tribes and the armies still thriving there (38). The rest of the army marched north to Germania to crush Civilis and the rebel Batavian army.
While the Romans advanced, no one was prepared to meet them in battle. Civilis and his Batavian army were out chasing the remnants of what was left of the Roman armies. But more importantly, Civilis was also chasing his long time enemy, Claudius Labeo. You may remember Labeo from earlier on. Labeo was the commander of the Batavian unit that defected during the first battle between Civilis and the Roman legions. Labeo’s reward for deserting the Romans and turning the tide of the battle for Civilis was exile beyond the Rhine River. However, he of course returned and tried to bring Civilis down. This is important because it left the Trevirians and Lingones alone to face the Romans. The forces met near modern day Riol where three Roman legions successfully routed the rebel forces and forced them to submit. The Gallic Empire was disintegrated and the two surrendered legions, I Germania and XVI Gallica, were dishonorably disbanded by Cerialis due to their desertion to Sabinus (39). The loyal legionnaires were sent to reinforce other legions in other parts of the Empire (principally in Syria). The army than marched to on to the important city of Trier, which lay on the banks of the Moselle river in modern day Western Germany. There, the Romans pitched camp and waited patiently for the remaining legions to unite into one fighting force. Now, Cerialis started to rebuild the broken Roman fortifications along the Rhine river (40).
Civilis, knowing he had to attack the army before it was fully united, decided he had to strike the Roman encampment at Trier. On the moonless night of June 7th 70 CE, Civilis launched a surprise attack on the Romans at Trier. This attack did come as quite a shock to the Romans. The Batavian army managed to penetrate into the Roman encampment itself. However, the battle was never in favor of the Batavians. The Roman legions rallied and badly bloodied the Batavian force. The Batavians withdrew and Cerialis was now free to reconstruct the Roman defenses along the Rhine border as he pleased. Mainz was back in control of the Romans, and four legions began their advance north. Worse, Civilis’ base of operations, Cologne, revolted against him. His forces were ousted and his officers killed. However, all was not bad for Civilis. He learned later that his allies, the Cananefates, successfully raided and burned down part of the Roman navy along the coast but this did little to stop the Romans from advancing (41).
The Batavian leader now ordered what was left of his army back to their home island of Betuwe. But at this time, Cerialis did not consider an invasion of the island important. He was more concerned with restoring order to the rest of the Rhine. He began rebuilding its fortifications, rebuilding the navy on the Rhine and patrolling the old border once more. But after Cerialis consolidated his power in the region, he took four of his legions and began to march on the last Batavian stronghold near Castra Vetera, the old Roman fort (42).
An attack on the Batavian stronghold, however, would be no easy thing. The land according to Tacitus was “a vast expanse of swampy ground.” (43). The heavy legionaries found it hard to walk and maneuver in the harsh swampy land. The Batavians used their knowledge of the landscape to perform a series of successful raids upon the besieging Roman force. Furthermore, Civilis built a dam, prior to the Romans arrival and flooded the land as the Romans advanced (44), making it very difficult for the Romans to engage the Batavian force on favorable terms. But the two forces eventually met, in what would be a two day engagement. On the first day, the fight was inconclusive. On the second day, the Romans eventually overcame the Batavian force, but due to a sudden violent rain storm, the Romans could not pursue their defeated opponents. Civilis made his retreat to Betuwe and prepared for a last stand.
Now, the Roman force was reinforced by two more legions that had caught up with them right after the Batavians retreated. Upon his arrival Civilis had the Batavian capital, Oppidum Batavorum as the Romans called it, burned. Then, the Batavians attempted to capture Cerialis by towing away his own flagship in a surprise raid late at night. The Batavians were disappointed to find that he was not on board. Although this had little impact on the Roman force, it was humiliating to Cerialis who then readied his ships the army began its invasion.
The Roman force first began by invading the western side of the island, crossing the Waal river. Another force, commanded by Cerialis himself, crossed the Waal from the south, and landed near the burned remains of the Batavian capital. Cerialis than wasted no time and he “ravaged the Island of the Batavians severely.” (45). However, on August 30th, his attack was ceased by a great rain storm that had swept in over night. Civilis did not take advantage of the rain storm. Instead, he surrendered a few days later. The two generals, Civilis and Cerialis, met at the remains of a broken bridge near the charred Batavian capital.
Aftermath
What was said between to two leadeCrs is not known, the account Tacitus has laid out for us suddenly stops. What is known is that the Batavians were forced to rebuild their capital in a less defensible position. A full Roman legion was stationed near the new Batavian capital just in case at a newly build Roman fort just outside the capital. The Batavians were forced to give men and arms to the Roman Empire henceforth without interruption, but no tribute or taxes were every collected from them (46). The leader, Civilis suddenly disappeared from the annals of history. While we don’t know what happened to him, some speculate that he was either killed by the Romans afterward, or by one of his Batavian rivals. The Batavians themselves, along with all of the other tribes were said to have lost at least one son from each family over the course of the revolt (47).
The Batavian revolt manages to separate itself from all the other revolts within the Roman Empire during the 1st century for two very important reasons. One reason was that one of the contributing factors of rebellion was not taxes. In all of the other major rebellions during the 1st century, the oppressive taxes forced upon the local populace had been major incentives for rebellion (48). However, the Batavian people were never forced to pay taxes or tribute to the Romans. Second was the fact that if Civilis stopped atastra Vetera, the Batavians probably would have been recognized as independent by Vespasian after his victory over Vitellius. While this has been done before to the Frisians and the Chauci by Tiberius years prior, it was relatively quite rare for the Romans to allow a nation to declare itself independent after an attack on a Roman unit. It is interesting to ponder what an independent Batavia would have been like had Civilis not attacked the legion stronghold at Castra Vetera.
More HERE
Comments