Legio XX Valeria Victrix

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Map of the Roman empire in AD 125, under emperor Hadrian, showing the Legio XX Valeria Victrix, stationed at Deva Victrix (Chester, England), in the province of Britannia. They were stationed there from AD 88 until at least the late 3rd century.

A Roman Antefix roof tile showing the badge and standard of the Twentieth Legion

Legio vigesima Valeria Victrix (Twentieth Victorious Valerian Legion) was a Roman legion, probably raised by Augustus some time after 31 BC. It served in Hispania, Illyricum, and Germania before participating in the invasion of Britannia in 43 AD, where it remained and was active until at least the beginning of the 4th century. The emblem of the legion was a boar.

The Valeria part of Legio XX cognomen is a reference to the area the Romans called Valeria on the river Danube in east-central Europe. When the legion was stationed in Illyricum, Valeria was subordinate to the province of Illyricum. The legion won its title from victories in this region while campaigning in the Marcomannic Wars. (Later, in the year 296, Valeria became a separate Roman Province.)

[edit] History

XX Valeria Victrix was part of the great army that campaigned against the Cantabrians in Hispania Tarraconensis from 25 to 13 BC.

The legion then moved to Illyricum, and is recorded in the army of Tiberius operating against the Marcomanni in AD 6. From there, they were withdrawn to fight the Pannonian uprising. In Illyria they were led by the governor of Illyricum Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus. Although understrength, they managed to defeat the rebels led by Bato of the Daesitiates.^[1]

In one battle the legion cut through the enemy lines, was surrounded, and cut its way out again. It is probably this particular battle from which the legion's title is derived.

After the disaster of Varus in 9 AD, XX Valeria Victrix moved to Germania Inferior and was based at Oppidum Ubiorum, then moved to Novaesium at the sight of modern Neuss during Tiberius's reign.

The legion was one of the four with which Claudius invaded Britain in 43, after which it encamped at Camulodunum, with a few of units at Kingsholm in Gloucester and a garrison at Wroxeter from the AD 50s .^[2] In AD 60 or 61 the XX helped put down the revolt of queen Boudica.

The Legio XX built Deva Victrix (now Chester), a roman castrum shown in the figure. The Legio stationed in Roman Britain until the beginning of the fifth century

The legion was then based at Deva Victrix.

In the year of the four emperors, the legion sided with Vitellius. Some units went with him to Rome. In 78-84 AD, the legion was part of Gnaeus Julius Agricola's campaigns in northern Britain and Scotland, and built the base at Inchtuthil. In 88 AD the legion returned south and occupied Castra Devena Deva Victrix, where it remained for at least two centuries.

The Twentieth was among the legions involved with the construction of Hadrians Wall, and the discovery of stone altars commemorating their work in Caledonia suggests that they had some role in building the Antonine Wall.

During the reign of the usurper emperors Carausius and Allectus (286-293 and 293-296 AD) the XX Valeria Victrix was still active. The entry of Alaric I with his Visigoths into Italy about 401 necessitated the recall of Legio XX Valeria Victrix from Britain to defend Rome itself. No further records are present in the 4th century.

This legion has been much studied; at least 250 members of the legion have been identified in surviving inscriptions.

[edit] Fiction

Legio XX Valeria Victrix and their final days in Deva (Chester) in the early 400's AD form the backdrop to the Tom Stevens mythic-fiction genre novel 'The Cauldron'^[3] with the story's protagonist Valerian - the Praefectus and Chief Centurion defending the city with the rump of the legion against the incursions of Hibernian pirates as the 'Dark Ages' settle on Brittannia [1]

Legio XX Valeria Victrix was the legion featured in the novel Eagle in the Snow; author Wallace Breem postulates that they were annihilated by the Germanic invasion of 406.

Several of the main characters in the early novels of Jack Whyte's A Dream of Eagles series were former members of Legio XX Valeria Victrix.

Gaius Petrius Ruso, protagonist of Medicus by Ruth Downie is a military doctor in Britannia attached to Legio XX.

Legio XX Valeria Victrix lends its name to the character Valeria Matuchek in Poul Anderson's Operation Chaos.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• livius.org account of XX Valeria Victrix
• LEGIO XX, Maryland (USA) re-enactment group