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The Batavian Revolt
This revolt indirectly led to the taking of Adelbhert and his sister as slaves, and hence begun the tale told in Vengeance of a Slave.
This took place between the years 69 and 70 CE. The Batavi was a small tribe living in Germania Inferior, near the Rhine delta. They sent some conscripts to Rome, who became what was known as The Germanic Bodyguard and were personal guards of the emperor. When they revolted, they were joined by other tribes in the area as well as some Gallic tribes.
Julius Civilis was a Batavian prince. He was also a Roman citizen and a prefect in the Roman army. He was stationed in Britain, but when his legion returned to Germania, he and his brother were arrested on trumped up charges of treason. His brother was executed and Civilis, being a Roman citizen was taken to Rome to be tried by the emperor himself.
The emperor Nero had been becoming more and more despotic, and so Julius Vindex, the governor of Gaul, decided to try to do something about it. He found what he thought as a worthy successor in a man called Galba. He fomented a revolution, Galba became emperor and Nero committed suicide.
Galba disbanded the Germanic Bodyguard because he mistrusted them as they had been loyal to Nero. The Batavian people took this as an insult.
After the death of Nero, Rome was plunged into civil war. There followed what is known as the Year of the Four Emperors. Galba’s deputy, Otho, overthrew him in a coup, then Vitellius prepared to take the Rhine legions to Rome to overthrow Otho. Once there, Vitellius released Civilis in order to gain his help. This Civilis did, and the Batavi joined the Rhine legions and overthrew Otho at the battle of Bedriacum.
After the battle, the Batavi were ordered to return home, but then Vespasian, commander of the forces in Syria, revolted. He was joined by the legions of the Danube.
Vitellius tried to conscript more than the agreed maximum number of conscripts from the Batavi. This, the brutality of the conscripting centurians and the sexual assaults on Batavian boys brought things to a head.
In the summer of 69, Civilis was commander of the Batavian troops in the Rhine regions. He persuaded the tribe known as Cananefates, to revolt and to attack a number of Roman forts.
This was a good time to do this since most of the troops were off fighting the civil war in Rome. The commander of the Rhine regions then sent troops to put down this rebellion, leaving the rest of the area vulnerable. Civilis and his men defeated the Romans near what is now Arnhem.
To deal with this insurrection, the commander sent two legions, V Alaudae and XV Primigenea to fight them. These legions included some Batavian cavalry, who defected to their countrymen during the battle and so the Romans lost after which the Batavians were promised independence.
Civilis wanted vengeance, however. He wanted to destroy the two legions. He besieged their camp. With the civil war in Rome, the Romans could do little about this. They did not have the troops to spare.
Then came the news of Vitellius’s defeat. This had been helped by Civilis pinning down two legions, but his aim was not to help Vespasian. He launched an attack on Krefeld, sending his eight best cavalry troops. This time, the Roman army was successful, destroying all eight troops, but at great loss to themselves.
Civilis then lifted the siege, saying that the legions could have free passage providing they left everything behind for his men to loot. The two legions left with nothing, but a few kilometers away, they were ambushed and all of them destroyed.
Vespasian, once he had established himself on the throne, sent an enormous army to deal with Civilis and his rebels. On hearing of the approach of the army, one of Civilis’s allies surrendered, but Civilis himself continued to fight.
He made a series of raids from land and from the river, once capturing a Roman flagship. The Romans then invaded Batavia and the revolt was over.
It is against this chaotic part of the Roman Empire that Vengeance of a Slave is set. Adelbehrt’s father and some of the other villagers take the opportunity of a weakened army on the Rhine to raid across the river into the Roman lands. This leads to the terrible punishment of the men at the beginning of the book.
If you are interested in reading more about Adelbehrt and his sister Avelina, and how they come to be in Britannia, click on this link.
http://mybook.to/vengeanceofaslave/
English is a strange language.
The 9th Legion
The 9th legion is the legion that appears in Vengeance of a Slave. It has an interesting history.
It was known as Legio IX Hispana, or the 9th Spanish Legion. It existed from the 1st centuryBC until around 120AD. It was said to have been founded in Hispania (modern Spain) by Pompey around 65BC.
They are one of the oldest Roman legions. They were taken over by Julius Caesar when he became Govenor of Hispania. They fought all across Europe with Caesar and came to Britain with him when he made his ill-advised invasion in 55 and 54BC. At this time, the Romans did not manage to conquer Britain, although Julius Ceasar empbroidered the truth a bit in order to boost his credentials in Rome.
The 9th came again to Britain, along with three other legions, in 45AD with Claudius’s more successful invasion. It took 4 entire legions to subdue the Britons.
The brutal rebellion of Boudicca, in which 70,000 civilians were slaughtered brought more conflict for the 9th legion. They were the first legion to fight Boudicca’s army and they were routed.
They had, however, bought time for the rest of the army to come down from Angelsey where they had been subduing the druids. They met Boudicca’s hordes in the Midlands, and, along with the remnants of the 9th, they fought and won, even though they were outnumbered 10 to 1.
It was Roman discipline that won the day against the ill-disciplined hordes of Britons.
In Vengeance of a Slave, Ailbert realised this when he planned his raids against the Roman army.
When they conquered the Brigantes in the north of Britain, the 9th was stationed in York. But there were still the wild tribesmen of what the Romans called Caledonia, and we call Scotland. For the Romans to feel safe, these tribes needed to be subdued. and so the 9th was sent there.
In 64AD, under Agricola, the 9th met with the Caledonian tribesmen in open battle. The Romans won. They had slaughtered many of the Caledonians.
For a while, all was peaceful until 117Ad when the 9th again went north to supress the Caledonians. That was the last anyone ever heard of them. They never returned. Were they all killed in battle, or were they lured into the bogs and mires of that wild land? No one ever found out.
Release on Smashwords
My historical novel, Vengeance of a Slave, has now been released on Smashwords and the other platforms it deals with, such as Kobo, Barnes and Noble etc.
You can access it via Amazon by following this link.
http://mybook.to/vengeanceofaslave
Here is a bit about it.
Adelbhert and Avelina, his sister, are forced to watch as the Roman soldiers crucify their father and other men from their village. They are only small children, but the Romans take them from their family and sell them as slaves.
They are bought by a rich merchant who takes them to the distant island of Brittania where they are treated as pets.
Adelbehrt has developed a hatred of the Romans because of his experiences and lives to gain his revenge, and to fulfill the promise he made to his little sister that they would escape one day.
Will Adelbehrt be able to escape? How can one man take on the might of the Roman Empire?
Can Adelbhert rid himself of the hatred that is eating away at his soul?
If you read it, would you mind giving a review. Reviews are very important to both authors and readers as it is the main way that people get to know about books, and lets readers know if they would like the book they are looking at. It does not need to be a long, comprehensive review. Just a few lines saying if you liked the book, and what you did or did not like about it.
Thank you for your time.
Please leave a comment in the comments box.
The Story of Cartimandua, a Queen of the Ancient Britons
In Vengeance of a Slave, although she does not appear, there is mention of the Queen of the Brigantes, Cartimandua. Here is her story.
You are certain to have heard of Queen Boudicca. She was the queen of the Iceni who raised a revolt against the Romans. She almost won, too. I don’t suppose so many of you have heard of Queen Cartimandua, though. She is the queen of the Brigantes, the biggest tribe in Brittania Her story is very different from that of Boudicca.
She inherited her throne at around the same time as the Romans came to Brittania. She was married to a man called Venutius, and when the Romans came north, they made a treaty with them in order to retain their power. Of course, this was only nominal. The Romans really held the power. Still, she kept something, which was more than Boudicca did, in the end.
Then the people in the west, the Catuvellauni, rose up under the leadership of a man called Caratacus. They led a hit and run kind of resistance against the Romans and were quite successful for a time. Of course, the inevitable happened and they were defeated. By a man called Osotorius Scapula, I believe. Caratacus managed to escape and came to Cartimandua for refuge.
Of course, our queen was none too pleased. This might affect her relationship with Rome, and thus her position on the throne. What did she do to this man asking for her help? She put him in chains and took him to the Romans in Eberacum. The Romans were delighted and heaped great wealth on her, but her husband was not so pleased, nor were the people.
What will happen to Cartimandua? Will her people revolt and will the Romans protect her?
If you enjoyed this and other tales of Ancient Britain, please leave a comment, and sign up for notification of further book releases and blog posts.
If you like to read about this period, here is a link to my novel, Vengeance of a Slave. http://mybook.to/vengeanceofaslave/
Here is a little more about Cartimandua, Qyeen of the Brigantes.
Cartimandua and her husband fell out over this, of course. But it was not the only bone of contention. For a while, it seems, Cartimandua had been having an affair with Venutius’s armour bearer. After the betrayal of Caratacus, she decided to divorce Venutius and marry her lover, whose name is Vellocatus.
It wasn’t long before Venutius led a rebellion. Only to be expected. He was much more popular than Cartimandua, especially after the betrayal of Caratacus and his divorce. He started to make alliances with other of our tribes, and was all ready to invade Brigantia.
Cartimandua went to the Romans then, andthey sent troops to defend her. A battle was fought, and both sides seemed to be evenly matched until the arrival of the IX legion Hispanica from Eberacum.
This was a lucky break for Cartimandua. She very narrowly escaped being captured by the rebels, but the rebels were defeated and Venutius once more had to leave Brigantia.
It seems he hadn’t given up his rebellious ideas, though. He bided his time until Emperor Nero died in Rome. At his death, the Roman Empire fell into chaos. There were several emperors in quick succession, and many of the Roman troops had to go back to defend Rome and the empire. Other groups of people took advantage of this, and so did Venutius.
He attacked Brigantia once again, and this time, the Romans could only send auxilliary troops to defend Cartimandua.
She was forced to flee to Deva and abandoned the Brigantes to Ventuvius. No-one heard any more of her after this.
In spite of his success, once the Romans had settled their problems they attacked him and ousted him form the kingship, thus Brigantia became completely under Roman rule.
That is the end of the tale of Cartimandua and the Brigantes.
This story is not integral to Vengeance of a Slave, but is briefly mentioned, just as Boudicca’s rebellion is mentioned.
If you are interested in reading historical novels, and like this period of history, you can get a copy of Vengeance of a Slave from Amazon, as an ebook, or as a real book made of paper!.
Follow this link: Vengeance of a Slave
A Roman Legion A Poem
Some time ago I posted a poem based on a challenge. Take the seventh book on your bookshelf, find the seventh page, count down to the seventh line and write a seven line poem. In writing that poem, I forgot that it was suuposed to be seven lines. I wrote several verses. Then, realising my mistake, I wrote another that is acthally seven lines long. I posted the longer one some time ago, but I think I should give the ‘correct’ one an airing.
Let me know what you think. The line was the first line of this poem.
A Roman Legion also had other skills:
Engineers, builders, tailors too.
They built the roads so straight and true.
They built a wall across the hills,
Built bridges over foaming rills.
They made their clothes and built a fort
And fought the foe without a thought.
It wasn’t an easy challenge. Perhaps you’d like to have a go. I’d be interested to see your results.
Special offer 2 days only
Today and tomorrow you can get The Stones of Earth and Air, Book 1 in Elemental Worlds, for only 0.99 (£or$)
Hurry and get your compy before it’s too late. Follow this link.
Blurb
After the Crown Prince of Ponderia starts behaving strangely, his best friend Pettic discovers that the prince has been replaced by a doppelganger, and the real prince kidnapped.
Unable to accept the loss of his friend, Prince Torren, nor the cruel impostor to become the new king, Pettic sets on a quest to rescue his friend. After he sees the fake prince meet a mysterious man, Pettic discovers that the prince has been imprisoned in another plane of existence.
With the help of Blundo, the court magician, Pettic finds out that the only way to enter this another world are four keys, each of them associated with a different element. As Pettic sets on his seemingly impossible quest, he discovers that the four lands that hold the keys are all vastly different… and more dangerous than he could have ever imagined.
An interesting post about book promotion.
Don’t Miss This Offer
On March 5th and 6th The Wolf Pack will be available on Amazon.
Hurry. don’t miss this opportunity to get Book 1 of The Wolves of Vimar Series for only $0.99, £0.99.
Two days only.
You can get it by clicking on this link. It will take you to the book’s page on Amazon in your country, or you can click the book image in the sidebar,
http://mybook.to/The WolfPack
About the book.
When Carthinal leaves Bluehaven to go to take the tests that would end his apprenticeship and make him a full mage, little does he realize the changes that are about to take place in his life. Strange prophecies dog his footsteps and he meets new friends. They are sent on a quest to discover a long lost artifact. On their journey they meet with sorrow and pleasure as well as many dangers. Help is found in the most unexpected places, they face their innermost fears and have great surprises. None of them returns unchanged.
Dragons Rule OK. V.M.Sang (author) 