Thursday, April 2, 2020

Liticiani-Letavi -Letavii-letaniae or more Bretons!

Breton light infantry 

Liticiani-Letavi -Letavii-Letaniae, much conjecture surrounds them as to where they were located in Brittany during the dark ages. Mentioned in a number ancient references with the field army of Aetius by Gregory of Tours. Mentioned by Jordannes at Challons with the Roman army of Gaul against the Huns and with Paulus and Riothamus defending Angers against the Goths,   some suggest they were a Saxon German tribe or perhaps even a mainland Welsh tribe.

Personally I follow the thought train that a Celtic Godess is named Letavia and the mentions on name of a Latin region in the Armorican peninsular in a large number of documents refer to the southern region of modern Pays de Loire as Letavi and the recent archeological find at Clisson near Nantes pointed toward an inscription on a partial tile of a military unit building with “Leto”(waiting for the full report though, before fully drawing my bow).

Looking at all of this I have settled that were either Auxilla or old veterans in Armorican peninsular, around Nantes and Angers defending the Breton Marshe under command of Riothamus.

Figures are 28mm Footsore miniatures, I have elected to depict the unit of skirmishers in pure white bleached tunics and shields, and for the following heavy infantry I will do the same. The current pandemic has allowed me to complete another two units which I will roll out over the next few days.

Cheers
Matt











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