Boudica's Daughter

F. Hutchins Sam

Description

'Sam Hutchins manages to turn the pivotal nightmare on which much of the drama is based into a kind of measure of the delicacy of emotions behind the central love story.' - Irina Hale, author.It's 60AD. Roman Britannia is a world of shifting alliances and imperial control. The death of the Iceni king divests the royal family of its power and its lands become imperial estates. The queen, Voada, and her two daughters feel the full weight of Roman greed and desire as their world changes dramatically around them.Seeking revenge, Voada is named the Boudica, the military leader of the resistance movement. She and her daughters, Caitlyn and Keara, hold together a mixed band of disenchanted Britons. Crossing the boundaries of their lands, burning, killing, destroying, they seek the formidable Roman enemy and its collaborators.On this journey through war Keara has to unmask the enemy and face some terrifying truths. The fall of the royal family might end Iceni rule but it might also bring down Roman Britannia.

Sujets

• Historical romance
• Historical fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Troubador Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 28 mai 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781838598501
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Copyright © 2020 Sam F. Hutchins

The moral right of the author has been asserted.


Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.


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ISBN 978 1838598 501

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Maps©Eric Frénée
Book cover design Chelsea Taylor


Matador is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd

For my mother





In memory of
Pam, Carol, Heather
Extent of the Roman Empire in 60 AD



Roman Britannia – 60 AD



Contents
Historical Note
Tribal characters
Roman characters

Prologue
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
X
XI
XII
XIII
XIV
XV
XVI
Historical Note
Truly there is nothing more obscure, more uncertain, or unknown than the affairs of the Brittons from the beginning; partly because the Chronicles, if there were any, were clean destroyed.
Polydore Vergil’s English History , 1534.
We have no British sources for Boudica’s revolt against Rome. Our information comes from two Roman writers, Tacitus and Dio Cassius, and from archaeological sources. We know that south-west Britain was conquered by the Roman Emperor, Claudius in AD 43, and that he established his provincial capital at Camulodonum (Colchester), land which had traditionally belonged to the Trinovante tribe. A number of tribes immediately entered into a treaty relationship with Rome in which their king, or queen, became a ‘client’ sovereign of the Roman emperor. This meant that they retained their own council without a Roman military presence. However, it also meant the end of their dynastic rule in as much as their tribal territories would be integrated into the Roman Empire when they died. The Iceni tribe in East Anglia became such a client kingdom of Rome.
In 47 AD the Roman governor of the province tightened control over Britannia by disarming all the tribes, including those friendly to Rome. Part of the Iceni tribe did revolt against such measures, and this was due, in part, to hatred of Britannia’s collaboration with an occupying force, but their king, Prasutagus retained control of the Iceni, and the client agreement with Rome remained in place. Two years after this, Camulodonum also became a colony for retired legionaries which led to a lot of land seizures. Many Trinovante tribesmen were turned out of their land and holdings. In 50 AD a Roman commercial town was established at Londinium (London) by merchants, financiers, tradesmen. Because of its estuary and deep tidal reach, it was also important to the Roman army as a military trading station and supply base.
Nero became Emperor of Rome in 54 AD. When Prasutagus died in 60 AD his wife, Boudica and daughters were brutally treated when their territory was taken over by Rome. At the same time, on the other side of Britannia, the Roman governor and his forces had invaded Ynis Môn (Anglesey) which was an island base for refugees and the Druid priesthood. There were a lot of discontented tribes who were ready to join Boudica in her uprising against the Roman occupation of their lands. Boudica’s rebellion against colonial occupation is famous now because it was led by a warrior queen, one of only a few women in British history to lead an army into battle. This achievement is celebrated by the English and the Welsh with a statue of her and her two daughters outside the Houses of Parliament in London and in the Civic Hall of Cardiff. Whilst the former ironically celebrates Britain’s replacement of the Roman Empire on the world stage, the latter testifies to a mother’s instinct to protect her daughters from the menaces of imperial occupation.
Due to a difference in spellings in the ancient texts, Boudica has had many names in the past, such as Boadicea in English, Buddug in Welsh and Boudain in Celtic; a word which signifies victory. She has also been known as Voadicea, Bonduca, Bunduca and Voada. I have chosen to call her Voada although Boudica has now been accepted as the correct naming of the woman who defied the power of Rome. Over the centuries, many writers have chosen to write of Boudica’s story, each claiming the veracity of their work. My story is a historical fiction; I claim nothing more. Having read all the known chronicles myself, I can only repeat Raphael Holinshed’s own apology for his work:

I have collected (the history) out of many and sundry authors, in whom what contrarieties, negligence, and rashness sometimes is found in their reports, I leave to the discretion of those that have perused their works: for my part, I have in things doubtful rather chosen to show the diversities of their writings, than by overruling them, and using a peremptory censure, to frame them to agree to my liking: leaving it nevertheless to each man’s judgement, to control them as he see cause.
Holinshed’s Chronicles , 1587

But long ere this Bunduca Britonnesse
Her mighty host against my bulwarks brought,
Bunduca, that victorious conqueress,
That lifting up her brave heroic thought
Above women’s weakness, with the Romans fought,
Fought, and in field against them thrice prevailed:
Yet was she foiled, when as she me assailed.
Edmund Spenser, The Ruines of Time , 1591, Lines 106-112
Tribal characters
Voada – Queen of the Iceni. Later called The Boudica, military leader of the tribes.
Prasutagus – King of the Iceni
Caitlyn – eldest daughter to Voada and Prasutagus
Keara – youngest daughter to Voada and Prasutagus
Galdus – cousin to Caitlyn and Keara, and heir to the Caledonian throne
Greer – head druid of the Iceni
Rory – Iceni military commander and bodyguard to the Iceni household
Corbreid – King of Caledonia and brother to Voada
Cartimandua – Queen of Brigantia
Vellocatus – Cartimandua’s husband
Venutius – King of the Carvetii, and Cartimandua’s first husband
Dubnov – leader of the Trinovantes
Blair – son of an Iceni saddle maker at Saham Toney
Diodorus – Greek tutor in the Iceni royal family
Rhonda – Iceni druidess
Sacrovar – Head druid on Ynys Môn
Taran – a bardic druid from Ynys Môn
Tremayn – a prince of the Dumnonii
Zethar – Tremayn’s brother
Cogidubnus – King of the Regni
Amena – Caitlyn’s serving woman
Roman characters
Suetonius – Governor of Britannia (58 – 62 AD), Commander-in-Chief of the Roman army in Britannia, and legate of legion XIV
Catus Decianus – Procurator of Britannia
Vettius – chief Roman law officer in Britannia
Crassus – older brother to Vettius, magistrate in Volubilis, Mauretania in North Africa
Marius – tribune, based in London. From a rich, senatorial family in Rome
Flavius – senior tribune of legion XIV
Cassius – prefect of legion XIV
Bolanus – legate of legion XX
Trajanus – senior tribune of legion XX
Mark Anthony – prefect of legion XX
Cerialis – legate of legion IX
Petro – prefect of legion IX
Gaius Marius – legate of legion II
Agricola – senior tribune of legion II
Poenius Postumus – prefect of legion II
Spurius – soldier based at Camulodonum, the Roman colony of veterans
Titus – decurion cavalry officer, a Baquates tribesman from Mauretania
Zia – Titus’s slave
Aelius – a cavalryman in Titus’s auxiliary
Junius – a businessman in Mauretania
Polyclitus – a freedman and one of the chief advisors to the Roman Emperor, Nero
Prologue
Venta Icenorum – 52 AD
The east wind swept across the fenlands, bending the reeds so harshly that it would break their music and drown them in the marshes. Overnight, the dull autumn weather had changed so that a granite sky now pressed heavily over the flat lands, and the cold, wet blasts of rain had driven the farm animals into their sheds and stables. The people were all indoors, and here and there wisps of smoke threaded themselves through the thatched roofs and were instantly sucked away by the hungry wind. Inside one roundhouse Keara was sitting cross-legged on a fleece of fur looking intently at the board game on the floor. A warm peat fire kept the damp air at bay, but not all the rain could be kept out. Her game player, a rugged old man, whose hut it was, had placed one or two pots on the floor to catch the dripping water.
‘You must bring all your stones into your corner of the board,’ the old man was telling her, ‘and then bear them off before I am able to remove my own counters. It is a game of both strategy and luck, but more strategy than luck.’
Keara threw the dice, but still could not move her counter. The old man’s counters occupied all the columns in his corner of the board so that Keara was blocked. Her dark jet stone sat on the bar in the middle of the board. Its polished surface flickered with tiny waves of light from the fire and drew them in. Greer frowned and pressed both his index fingers against his lips as though in thought. Howls of sound without and crackling flames within embraced images of Keara’s face on th