A...is all down to… Agricola

It's A for AGRICOLA

It's also for Arlee Bird, the founder of this blog hop, without whom I wouldn't be starting this fantastic challenge. Thank you so much ARlee/Lee for making this possible.

My A-Z Challenge has a particular theme which you may have guessed from today’s blog title. I'm currently writing a novel set in Celtic/Roman Britain AD 71-84 so it seems natural to me to centre my blog posts for this exciting challenge around the research I've been doing on that period.

Though my title doesn’t indicate it there's a sub-challenge of History versus Archaeology. What has been the best for me to use? Facts gleaned from historical sources? Or facts as are deduced from archaeological evidence recently uncovered? Both have disputable elements, and both have provided me with interesting information. I hope that you enjoy some of the research I'm sharing with you in the April posts.

www.123rf.com

I'm no expert so, please bear with the fact that information I include here is my interpretation of it as a writer!

In my current novel in progress Gnaeus Julius Agricola plays no starring role, but what happens to my characters is very dependent on Agricola’s movements during the period of approximately AD 71-84 in what the Romans termed the island of Britannia.  

The knowledge of Agricola’s involvement comes from conjectural sources since there are few surviving references to him, and those that do exist - like the works of Tacitus - are somewhat biased in his favour. From those references, it appears that Agricola spent quite some time during his military career in Britannia, employed in varying roles.

           

Around AD 58, approximately aged 18, he served as a tribune on the staff of the current Governor of Britannia – Gaius Suetonius Paulinus. It’s likely he sharpened his military teeth to fine points during the uprisings of the famous Celtic Queen Bouddica, and no doubt learned a good deal about the Celtic tribes of southern Britain during the years AD 58-62.

 

Having distinguished himself elsewhere in Rome, and in the Empire, during the years following AD 62, Agricola was awarded the post of Legate, in command of the XX Valeria Victrix Legion based in Britannia, by the Emperor Vespasian in AD 69. By AD 71 the governorship of Britannia was changed, Quintus Petilius Cerialis having replaced the weaker Marcus Vettius Bolanus. This change of governor seems to have given Agricola leave to be even more aggressive as Legion commander.  

I’m writing a novel therefore it’s my interpretation of the events of the time. I like the idea that my Celtic characters are battling against a leader, Agricola, who’s not only charismatic but tactically powerful. Agricola was instrumental in destroying the Celtic tribes of the west during his time as Legate of the XX which lasted till AD 74; a man feared by many.

My characters, Brigantes of northern Britain, breathe a small sigh of relief when Agricola is recalled to Rome in AD 74 - only to find he returns again in AD 77/78 as the newly appointed Governor of Britannia in full charge of the destiny of thousands of Celtic men, women and children. His relentless subjugation from AD 78 through to AD 84, as he strides his way to the Moray Coast of Scotland, puts fear into the very core of my characters.  

(Image from:http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roman_baths_julius_agricola_01.JPG?uselang=en-gb)

My research has been extensive, and I like to make my settings as believable and as realistic as possible, but the dates appropriated from historical sources don’t quite seem to match the most recent archaeological evidence that’s now uncovered on an almost daily basis. Till very recently, the advance of the Roman Army into northern England, and then over the border hills into Scotland was mostly attributed to the campaigns of Agricola during AD 78-84. Yet, as a novelist, it suits me to accept the very recent archaeological theories that many of the marching camps and small auxiliary forts in the lands of the Brigantes were established some years earlier, perhaps by Cerialis.

During this month of the A-Z challenge I hope to enlighten you a little more about Roman Britain during the period AD 71-84- but what you will get will be my interpretation of history versus archaeology!

Slainthe! 

Link for list of participants in A-Z

.