What We Do
Comitatus is Britain's leading Late Roman re-enactment group helping to set a new standard in historical authenticity. Putting on events across the North and down into the Midlands, the group is able to bring to an event a complete living history presentation demonstrating the life and skills of the Late Roman army, including infantry, cavalry, archery, artillery and everyday life.
Cavalry Displays
Comitatus is not a for-profit business but a strong friendly society, where all are welcomed and families encouraged. After the public has gone we reinforce those values by eating and drinking together around the campfires. We have plenty of competition and armed conflict within the arena, but that's not all we do.
The full cavalry display is spectacular and involves all of the cavalry weapons in a round of exciting competitions, demonstrating the power of specially selected and trained horses and the skills and tactics of both riders and infantry!
Comitatus has researched and developed its own Late Roman cavalry squadron, representing the Late Roman unit known as the Taifali. The public love the beautiful horses, the thunder of hooves and the crack of sharp javelins punching through the targets.
Our Roman Cavalry squadron is the largest in Britain, pushing authenticity and experimental research to new heights for the period. We reconstruct Roman cavalrymen from the Republican period through to the fall of Constantinople. However we specialise in recreating the late Roman cavalry unit, the Equites Taifali.
Our full cavalry display includes demonstrating control of the horse without stirrups, using the kontos - a 4m long spear held in both hands - at the gallop, the spectacular damage inflicted by sharp weapons on static targets, attacking infantry formations in the 'Cantabrian Circle' with javelins, darts and horseback archery and riding down specially trained stunt legionaries with javelins, throwing darts, swords and lances. After the display, the public get the chance to meet the riders and pet the horses.
Infantry Displays
Rather than 'battle re-enactment', our professional field displays show authentic training based on manuals of the period, complete with Latin drill, missile competitions, sharp weapons demonstration, combat sparring and, whenever possible, an opportunity for young members of the public to experience things first-hand.
We have our own metal frame bolt-shooting ballista; designed with the help of our own research and with power enough to punch fist sized holes through plywood targets at 220m!
The public will also be able to have the opportunity to talk to the soldiers, in and out of the arena.
This allows them to ask soldiers questions and get up close to the weaponry and equiptment they used.
It is possible to reconstruct individual items of miliary equipment with some degree of accuracy.
Relying on archaeological evidence over writen and iconographic evidence results in a relatively conservative approach, but one that insures a high degree of authenticity. However while individual reconstructions of military equipment may be conservative, placing together an assemblage of reconstructed artefacts to recreate a late Roman soldier is by its very nature speculative. Individual items may share a close resemblance to the original finds, but placing them together as a whole “simulation” often goes beyond the available evidence into supposition.
Members of Comitatus try and recreate the look of late Roman soldiers in the north of Britain, but much of their equipment will be from necessity based on finds from elsewhere in the empire. However by recreating or simulating the clothing and equipment of a speculative soldier we can begin to appreciate how the individual stood, moved and fought. An artist’s impression of the same soldier would not give the same level of understanding.
Our legionaries depict soldiers serving with the Praesidienses, a legion possibly named after the fort once called Praesidium probably located close to Bridlington but now lost to costal erosion.
Skills and Crafts in the tent-based encampment
We aim to both educate and entertain, positively engaging the public. Children are encouraged to feel, touch, smell, carry and generally get a good hands-on experience within the encampment. We explain who we are and what we are attempting to portray and bring them a little closer to the reality of ancient life.
During the period frontier soldiers would have practiced many different crafts to help feed their households. Soldiers could be accompanied by their families on campaign, and Comitatus is very much a family oriented society. Much of the equipment used by the group is made by our members, and learning new skills is always encouraged.
The range of skills and knowledge we can offer is amazing and we can offer time-tabled talks and tours to bring the best out of our encampment. We have traders, armourers, weavers, basket-makers, dyers, woodworkers, net-makers, bakers, surgeons, bone-workers, potters and cooks! Our campsites really are the bustling little communities they appear to be!
One of the aims of Comitatus is to discover more about everyday life in Late and Post-Roman Britain by experiencing elements of it for ourselves and to present it to others. While our experimental reconstructions increase our technical knowledge of the period, we often feel that we understand it most in the commonplace: the pace of cooking on a wood fire, the satisfaction of eating with a spoon that you carved yourself, the sound made by approaching rain.
The tented encampment that the group sets up at an event is not set dressing, but where we rest, repair kit, cook, eat, socialise and sleep after the public has gone. During the day, members present the craft skills known to have been practised by the people of the day to make ends meet, both the 'civilian' population and professional legionaries and their families.
The Late Roman period is fairly unfamiliar to many members of the public.
Our aim is to change that...
Talks & Conferences
We have welcomed opportunities to work with Time Team, universities and various small Trusts and organisations dedicated to opening up history to a wider audience. If you have a project, get in touch.
Members participate in archaeological and living history conferences and are sometimes available to give talks and small scale displays at suitable events. Comitatus was the major sponsor of the LATE ANTIQUE ARCHAEOLOGY 2007 Conference at the Ashmolean, Oxford. This partnership acknowledged our commitment to authenticity and to experimental archaeology. We maintain close links with the University of Kent.
Reconstruction Archaeology
We wish to make a genuine contribution to knowledge of the period.
Comitatus endeavours to reconstruct military equipment based on archaeological finds, period iconography and written evidence.
The group uses its reconstructions to produce and publish information and hard data on the late Roman army. Members of the group give academic papers on late Roman military equipment and have appeared on television, radio etc.
Becoming a Member
Members of the public frequently join us as members after seeing the displays, we are open to new recruits!
Please click here to find out more about becoming a member, and what an enjoyable past-time Roman re-enactment can be!
The group is always expanding and taking on new and exciting aspects of Roman re-enactment.
The views of individual members expressed on this website do not necessarily reflect the view of the group as a whole. Photos/Images: These are normally copyright of an individual Comitatus member. Use of an image for educational or research purposes will be happily granted, if permission is sought first, and we can secure an acknowledgement, and higher resolution images can often be arranged for publication or display! Please e-mail first.