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 From there, they were withdrawn to fight the Pannonian uprising.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, 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 9 AD, 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. It was also one of the two 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 and a garrison at Wroxeter. In AD 60 or 61 the XX helped put down the revolt of queen Boudica, after having routed the Ordovice by crossing Menai Strait in Wales to destroy the Druids' sacred groves in 58.
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 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.
During the reign of the usurper emperors Carausius and Allectus (286-293 and 293-296 AD) the XX Valeria Victrix was still active. No further information is known after this period and scholars believe the XX legion was still stationed in Britain when the usurper 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.
Read more about this topic: Legio XX Valeria Victrix
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