Legio XX Valeria Victrix

The origin of the Legion's name is unclear and there are various theories, but the legion may have gained its title Valeria Victrix from a victory it achieved during the Great Illyrian revolt under the command of the general Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus. The legion had a boar as its emblem.

History

The legion was probably founded shortly after 31 BC by the emperor Augustus.

XX Valeria victrix was probably part of the large Roman force that fought in the Cantabrian Wars in Hispania from 25 to 19 BC.

The legion then moved to Burnum in Illyricum at the beginning of the Pannonian uprising (Bellum Batonianum) in AD 6. It is recorded operating against the Marcomanni in AD 6 in the army of Tiberius.

In Illyria they were led by the governor of Illyricum, Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus, who may have given his clan (gens) name Valeria to the legion. Although understrength, they managed to defeat the rebels led by Bato of the Daesitiates. In one battle the legion cut through the enemy lines, was surrounded, and cut its way out again.

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

The legion was one of the four with which Claudius invaded Britain in 43 AD. It was also one of the legions that defeated Caratacus at the Battle of Caer Caradoc, after which, from the AD 50s, it was encamped at Camulodunum, with a few units at Kingsholm in Gloucester.

Around AD 55 under The command of Manlius Valens it moved to Usk, in an unsuccessful attempt to pacify the Silures, a tribe very resistant to the imposition of Roman rule in Wales. But the legion suffered defeat, resulting in Valens’ replacement as legate In AD 60 or 61 the Twentieth helped put down the revolt of queen Boudica, after outflanking the Ordovices it took part in the second Roman invasion of Anglesey which destroyed the Celtic Druids and their religious practices. In AD 66, the legion was transferred to the much more passive Viroconium (Wroxeter). It may also have occupied Gloucester (Glevum) at this time.

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

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

The legion probably went on campaign in 196 under Decimus Clodius Albinus into Gaul, and would have suffered heavy losses in Gaul before returning to Britain.

During the Carausian Revolt, which established the Britannic Empire under Carausius and Allectus in the 280s and 290s, the XX Valeria Victrix was still active. No further information is known after this period and scholars believe Legio XX was still stationed in Britain when Constantine III pulled the bulk of the military forces from there in the year 407 for his doomed campaign on the continent.

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