Hosker, G [Sword of Cartimandua 00.5] Ulpius Felix- Warrior of Rome (33 page)
Read Hosker, G [Sword of Cartimandua 00.5] Ulpius Felix- Warrior of Rome Online
Authors: Griff Hosker
Quintus Cerialis was the Legate who tried to relieve Camulodunum but, as I say in the novel, he only took 2,500 men and all but 500 of the cavalry, including the First Cohort of the Ninth were massacred. The procurator did behave as suggested in the novel. He sent a mere 200 auxiliaries to face Boudicca and he did flee to Gaul. Boudicca was flogged and her daughters raped by Roman soldiers. In reality Cerialis is not implicated but it suited my novel to make him seem corrupt. Nor was it auxiliaries who raped the queen’s daughters, it was legionaries; again it suited my novel. The reasons for the rape are confused but it appears that the Romans were victims of their own sense of order. Virgins could not be executed and therefore the rape would facilitate that sentence. As they were the joint heirs with Nero this would seem a logical precursor to their death. All of which begs the question, why, having committed such an outrageous act did the Romans not execute them? There was a time gap which Boudicca used to ignite the rebellion. I used the escape from the settlement as a means of explaining that.
The lines spoken by the Governor and Boudicca at the Battle of Watling Street are taken from Tacitus. I put them in italics to show what a lazy author I am. They may be fiction (he was writing many years after the event) but if you are going to steal lines then why not from a Roman. In terms of the numbers at the actions they are fairly accurate. It is estimated that Boudicca slaughtered almost 80000 at the three colonia. Paulinus, who emerges as the real hero of the uprising, did only have ten thousand men to face an army estimated to be 100,000 in number. He is reported to have only lost 400 hundred men whilst the rebels were slaughtered. The wagons and their placement, with the families watching on, was an action which had occurred in other conflicts. It cost the rebels their lives as it prevented their escape. The Prefect of the Second Augusta did fail to respond to an order to join Paulinus and, after the Governor’s victory, he did kill himself. Apparently his men were a little miffed to have missed a great victory!
Quintus Cerialis did become Governor of Britannia when Vespasian became Emperor after the year of four Emperors in 69 A.D. He was not as good as Paulinus who was, probably, the reason why Britannia remained a colony for another four hundred years. His battle plans suited the Romans but even so the defeat of Boudicca by such a small number of men beggars belief.
The roads were not called Watling Street, Dere Street etc until Saxon times. The roads were named after the Emperor in whose reign they were constructed. As most of them were constructed during the reign of Claudius this must have been confusing although as the action in this book is centred mainly along the A1 it is not such a problem.
Griff Hosker October 2013
| | | |
People and places in the book.
Fictitious characters and places are in
italics
.
| | |
| | Pannonian Chief |
| Aulus Didius Gallus | Governor of Britannia 52-57 AD |
| | Cavalryman 9th Legion |
| Bucco | A name meaning fool |
| Capsarius | Medical orderly |
| Caesius Nasica | Legate who first defeated Venutius |
| | Pannonian warrior |
| | Pannonian village |
| | Cologne Legionary Fortress |
| cornicen | The trooper with the cornu. |
| Durobrivae | Peterborough |
| Dunum | River Tees |
| cornu | Roman horn for signalling in battle |
| Decius Spurius | Prefect 1 |
| | Pannonian warrior |
| | Corbulo’s aide |
| | Cavalryman 9th Legion |
| Durocobrivis | Luton |
| | Cavalryman 9th Legion |
| Fossa Lindum | Ermine Street (A1) |
| | Pannonian warrior and aquilifer |
| Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo | Legate- Germania Inferior |
| Ituna Est | River Solway, Cumbria |
| | Tribune 9th Hispana |
| | Chauci chief |
| | Legate 5 |
| | Pannonian warrior |
| Marcomanni | German tribe |
| | Legate Ninth Hispana |
| | First Spear of the Ninth |
| | Prefect of 1 |
| Navarchus | In charge of ten ships |
| | Cavalryman 9 |
| oppidum | Hill fort |
| Nundinal cycle | A Roman week; it changed from 8 days to 7 in the 1 |
| | Pannonian warrior |
| | Cavalryman 9th Legion |
| | Cavalryman 9th Legion |
| Quintus Petillius Cerialis | Legate of the Ninth and later Governor |
| Quaestor | Roman official or tax collector |
| sesquiplicarius | Corporal |
| | Cavalryman 9th Legion |
| signifier | The soldier who carries the standard |
| | Decurion 9th Legion |
| | Pannonian warrior and deserter |
| tonsor | Roman barber |
| Tuathal | Iceni warrior |
| Trierarch | Captain of a Roman warship |
| Via Claudia | Watling Street (A5) |
| Via Nero | Dere Street (Al)-Eboracum North |
| Via Hades | Road to Hell (A1) |
| Venta Icenorum | Castor St Edmunds near Norwich |
| Vicus pl vici | Roman settlement close to a fort |
| Vindonissa, | Roman legionary fortress on Swiss border |
| | Pannonian |
Other books by Griff Hosker
If you enjoyed reading this book then why not read another one by the author?
The Sword of Cartimandua Series
(Germania and Britannia 50A.D. – 128 A.D.)
Ulpius Felix- Roman Warrior
Book 1 The Sword of Cartimandua
Book 2 The Horse Warriors
Book 3 Invasion Caledonia
Book 4 Roman Retreat
Book 5 Revolt of the Red Witch
Book 6 Druid’s Gold
Book 7 Trajan’s Hunters
Book 8 The Last Frontier
Book 9 Hero of Rome
Book 10 Roman Hawk
Book 11 Roman Treachery
They are all available in the Kindle format.
The Aelfraed Series
(Britain and Byzantium 1050 A.D.- 1085 A.D.)
Book 1
Housecarl
Book 2
Outlaw
Book 3
Varangian
These are available in the Kindle format.
The Wolf Warrior series
(Britain in the late 6
th
Century)
Book 1
Saxon Dawn
Book 2
Saxon Revenge
Book 3
Saxon England
Book 4
Saxon Blood
Book 5
Saxon Slayer
Also available in paperback and Kindle is the book aimed at 12-15 years olds,
Great Granny’s Ghost
Carnage at Cannes
is a modern thriller and is available in the Kindle format
.
Travel
Adventure at 63-Backpacking to Istanbul
The Lucky Jack Civil War series
Book 1
Rebel Raider
Book 2
Confederate Ranger
The Napoleonic Horseman Series
Book 1
Chasseur a Cheval
For more information on all of the books then please visit the author’s web site at
http://www.griffhosker.com
where there is a link to contact him.
Prologue
AD 50 Stanwyck
Claudius might have been Emperor of the largest Empire the world had ever seen but he still hated the rain. This outpost of the Empire was a foul, wet, disease ridden cesspit. In addition he had a wicked and persistent cold; he never had a cold in Rome. He sneezed noisily and glowered angrily at the slave by his side. “Well? Why are we still waiting?” His famous stammer disappeared when he addressed servants or was angry and on this wet and dismal morning he was not at his best.
“I was assured, divine one, that she would be here presently.”
He shuddered at the title; like his Uncle Tiberius and his father Germanicus he despised the very notion that a mortal could become a living god. He had hoped that both the horrendous journey across the interminable land of Gaul, the ferocious ocean leading to this end of the world and the barbaric people he had so far met would make the journey worthwhile. The kings and queens who had been presented to him were all barbarians and the not so divine Claudius was glad that his Praetorians were on hand for he did not trust one of them.
Claudius was about to make some barbed comment about divinity when he heard the three blasts on the buccina which heralded the arrival of Queen Cartimandua, leader of the Brigantes. Even Claudius was impressed by the striking young woman who confidently manoeuvred her chariot between the waiting lines of legionaries. He had heard stories of her beauty but he was not prepared for both her presence and power; she seemed to dwarf her surroundings. Her jet black hair framed an incredibly white face. Her deep set violet eyes seemed to leap out from her face and her lips, obviously coloured by the crushed body of a scarab beetle, surrounded by remarkably white teeth looked like luscious plums. The Queen was, Claudius realised, everything he had heard and more. He found it hard to countenance that a young woman who looked as though she had only seen a handful of summers as a woman should rule the most powerful tribe in Northern Britannia and had done so, successfully, for over seven years. The way she handled a chariot showed that she was a warrior as did the skulls adorning the outside of the chariot. He could make out, just behind the chariot, the wretch who was being dragged in chains. Although he had never seen him, the Emperor knew it was Caractacus the leader of the Britons in their fight against Rome. Caractacus was the charismatic leader who had sought refuge with the most powerful ruler in the North of these islands, Cartimandua. Caractactus he was also the ex-lover of the rapacious young Queen and had been used and then discarded. If there was one thing that Claudius admired it was someone who could scheme, plot and survive as well as he had. She certainly had been a confident young queen who took over the rule of her land, Brigantia when her father was murdered. She ruled the largest tribal lands in Britannia; spanning the country from coast to coast. Claudius realised that she was wise beyond her years; she had seen the power of the Roman war machine and come to an accommodation rather than conflict. Perhaps that was why she ruled this enormous land of wild men and even wilder places. The Emperor of Rome himself would need to be careful about the promises he made.