Castrametation, or the Measurement of a Camp

CAMP MEASUREMENT.

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baggage and those who follow it: Furthermore, all these ought to be surrounded by the Cavalry, and around them the Infantry, for the reason that against a sudden surprise attack by the Enemy, the infantry is sooner armed and ready to fight than the Cavalry, whose horses must be saddled and bridled, in addition to the arming of their own bodies. Moreover, the infantry is also more suited to prevent the Enemy's unforeseen arrival over the trench and breastwork of the Camp, while in the meantime the Cavalry can make themselves ready. However, Xenophon has described this rule so generally that one cannot create a specific ground plan from it, following the manner in which Cyrus used it Xenophon described the Persian king Cyrus the Great’s camp in his work Cyropaedia, emphasizing a circular layout with the king at the center for protection..

There was another camp organization belonging to Tamerlane Timur (1336–1405), the Turco-Mongol conqueror., which appears to have been very distinctive, described in Arabic by Alhacen likely referring to Ahmad ibn Arabshah, whose biography of Timur was translated into French by Jean de Bec, Abbot of Mortemer, in 1595. in the 5th Chapter, and translated into French by the Abbot of Mortemer. This Camp, to distinguish it from five other camps, was called the Imperial Camp, constantly containing 60,000 infantry and 40,000 horse. In this, Tamerlane willed that the first number over which command was given should be 10, thereafter 100, then 1000, then 10,000. Additionally, for the guard of the General, there were 4,000 men on foot, with 2,000 horses lodged around him. Furthermore, there were 25,000 laborers for the entrenching and fortification of the Camp, for it was not placed in cities but had to always be in the field, winter and summer, as well in times of peace as of war; and moving from one place to another, it had to be entrenched everywhere. This Camp served to always be ready in haste wherever it was necessary, and also for the strengthening and restoration of the other five Camps which might have fallen into disorder, which lay in Syria, China, Cambalu original: "Cambalu" — the capital of the Mongol Empire, modern-day Beijing., Muscovy, and the Chersonese original: "Cheronesse" — likely the Crimean Peninsula, historically called the Tauric Chersonese., each with 40,000 foot and 20,000 horse, though not always in the field like the Imperial Camp, but only when it was necessary. But because in this Imperial Camp, over a period of some two or three years, some disorder had broken out which Tamerlane had Axalla Axalla was a Genoese general who, according to semi-fictionalized historical accounts of the period, served as a high-ranking commander under Tamerlane. set right, it is greatly to be suspected from this that there was a certain order in the manner of lodging, seeing that the encampment always lasted with a selfsame multitude of people, always in a selfsame order of division, and that Tamerlane, moreover, took such serious heed of the order in general. However, its form being undescribed, nothing specific can be said of it.

But Polybius describes the Romans' camp measurement with greater distinction, such that various writers have drawn ground plans from it, among which those of Patricius, the Duke of Urbino, Robertello, Du Choul, and Lipsius Stevin lists prominent Renaissance scholars who attempted to reconstruct Roman military life: Francesco Patrizi, Francesco Maria II della Rovere, Francesco Robortello, Guillaume du Choul, and Justus Lipsius. have come to my hand. From these, I have redrawn the form by Lipsius to set here as an example, where the square A signifies the lodging of the General, called the headquarters original: "prætorium" — the central administrative hub of a Roman camp.; the squares with B are the infantry; with C, the cavalry. The rest are the market, the supply center original: "quæstorium" — the area designated for the quaestor, responsible for the camp's treasury and provisions., streets, and other quarters for the camp followers who are not soldiers. Of these things, more specific details will be given hereafter; for now, it is enough to have shown the manner of the Romans' field lodging in general, to better explain in rough terms what "camp measurement" signifies.