Welcome to the Website of
THE NATIONAL ROMAN LEGION
What's a "National Legion?" and why do we need it? The National Legion is an attempt to bring together all the pieces to a authentic legion. Part of the problem with reenacting is getting enough people together to show a realistic portrayal... As the hobby has grown, many Roman military reenactment groups have sprouted throughout the United States and the world at large. The remarkable growth of our hobby is largely due to the fascination that this remarkable army has always had to both historians and buffs alike. This, coupled with a renaissance in Roman subject films and games, but most importantly, the availability of a wealth of inexpensive yet, realistic reproduction armor and equipment.
Size and Authenticity
It's nice to have smaller, local groups, but usually each local group proudly claims the name and number of a real Roman Legion (a formation numbering roughly 5,000 men). 5000 men... that's a LOT and in reenacting, it is usually more likely to see quite small groups, rather than large. Our goal is to change that! Our plan is to have local groups that come together during big events and form into one big group.
We ask: "Do these groups really show an accurate portrayal of the Roman Army?" No, not really, because most of these smaller groups (usually three to ten men in each) strives for a unique look. Alas, when the groups do gather and try to work together (as they occasionally do), they appear more like a hodge-podge than a real, disciplined army. An unfortunate fact is that often the standard bearers and officers outnumber the rank and file legionaries. This really doesn't show what a real legion looked like. Could there be a better way? Yes, a National Legion!
Origins of National Roman Legion Concept
The concept of a National Roman Legion is based on lessons learned through trial and error, from nearly a half-century of reenacting the American Civil War. When Civil War reenacting began back in the CW Centennial years, it was customary for every 'hometown' group (no matter how small) to represent a famous 'Regiment'. Unfortunately, they all seemed to start from the top, with the organizer becoming the Colonel, the obligatory Regimental Color or Battle Flag is then created, and often no more than a handful of soldiers are available to march behind the Color. When we watch the films of those early CW reenactments, it's not uncommon to see sword-waving officers and flag waving color-bearers actually outnumbering the musket carrying soldiers!
Fortunately, the hobby has come a long way since then, and now the serious Civil War reenactor can attend many good events, along with finding many good units to join. Over the next forty years, many good ideas were developed by dedicated living historians who wanted to make their impressions more realistic. Instead of creating more of these small "regiments" local groups of friends began to form "messes" — historically, these "messes" were a group of soldiers in the same company who ate and camped together. By creating a mess, it allowed the groups to devote their attention towards creating more realistic 'common solider' impressions, rather than more unneeded officer impressions and flags. These messes, and others like them around the country, represented fairly generic soldiers of the Union and Confederacy and would join together around the most authentic headquarters elements. By joining with authentic headquarters, they gained a union that offered them the most fulfilling reenactment experience.
This is what we wish to do w/ Roman reenacting—we wish to make it so that when smaller groups do get together, they will fit together into a realistic larger group. By doing this, we will enhance everyone's experience, which is, after all, why we got into the hobby in the first place.
National Legion
Like the Civil War "messes", Roman centuries were divided into eight man squads that shared a common tent called a contuburnium. So ideally, the various localized groups in the National Legion would devote their energies and resources in making their individual soldier impressions, and their own squad tent as excellent as possible and not worry about making yet more legion standards, musician and centurion impressions.
No, you don't have to quit your current group — the National Roman Legion welcomes all who wish to be a part of this organization—something larger than themselves! The National Roman Legion will only attend a few of the bigger events and when those come about, we'll take our places in that larger "picture." It is also a way in which film companies and educational institutions can acquire the services of a large body of authentic Roman reenactors who respond to the same commands, have a uniform shield device and general appearance.
Welcome
While the National Legion welcomes all preexisting groups, it also welcomes all individual Roman reenactors everywhere—even those who cannot join a local group, even if they can attend only one event a year. Those who are not members of a formed contuburnia, well be welcomed into the "core" group which already has two authentic leather conturburnia tents. And for newly forming Roman groups, by joining the National Legion as a specific contuburnia, unnecessary expenses need not go into creating a new "mini legion" with centurions, musicians and standards, but devote all of their energies into making an authentic conturbernium with a leather tent to join the others in the National Legion's authentic camp.
LEGIO XIIII GEMINA MARTIA VICTRIX
Members of the National Legion will be part of one of the oldest Roman reenactment groups ever created, which for over two decades conducted Roman living history activities throughout Europe at places as distant as Romania to Wales and from Holland to Ostia. See this map for a campaign history of many of the European locations where the modern legion has campaigned. Along with the Ermine Street Guard and other British units, the combined forces created the world's first full Roman century of 80 men at the annual Kirby Hall event of English Heritage.
The original concept of the legion, envisioned by its co-founder and Centurion, Dan Peterson was to enable active duty U.S. Army soldiers stationed in Germany to learn about European history and culture by taking part in historical display across the continent. With over forty complete sets of issue armor, over a thousand soldiers have served in Legio XIIII already, undoubtedly a record among all Roman reenactment groups. The Legion Headquarters still maintains this enormous armory, thus ensuring the unit can always have an impressive turnout at key events. For example, if only twenty fully equipped members each brought two potential 'recruits' who have no equipment, it would mean 60 fully equipped Roman soldiers could be fielded, an almost unheard of number for any individual recreated Roman unit. If only half of the existing Roman groups in the United States joined the National Legion, two full centuries of 80 men each could mass, all with matching shields and trained in the same commands!
Why does the National Legion Represent Legio XIIII?
When Legio XIIII was first conceived in Germany in 1980, it was based on a careful study to determine which actual Roman legion could be most authentically depicted based on extant archaeological finds. This will be explained in more detail in other articles of this website, but in a nutshell, Legio XIIIII is really the only First Century AD Legio that we know what its actual shield emblem, Centurial Signum and Eagle actually looked like. Furthermore, some of the most popular items of Roman armor and equipment of the 1st Century AD were found in the Rhine River at Mainz, an important garrison of Legio XIIIII for many years. Additionally, the original Legio XIIII is one of the most celebrated in the Roman Army, received the title Martia Victrix for its magnificent performance in the Boudiccaan Revolt, and also a key unit in both the invasion of Britain under Claudius, and the reconquest of German territory under Domitian.
A great place to start:
