It is with the greatest of pleasure that I welcome Historical
Fiction author, Brian Kitchen, onto the
blog today to talk about the inspirations behind his book…
Divided
Empire
Britain, 391 AD.
The geographical, political and social outlines of the
annexed nation are being constantly redefined, as the battling powers in Rome
attempt to seize control of the Empire.
Flavius Vitulasius and his trusted associate, Siward, are
journeying to receive a highly confidential mission, across the narrow sea,
from the Master of Offices in Gaul.
On their path, they stumble upon a seeming damsel in
distress, her carriage under attack from bandits. Using all their prowess and
experience, Flavius and Siward rescue the damsel from certain death.
Nevertheless, the beautiful young lady, Corellia Velva, is not as she seems.
When Corellia slips away the following night, Flavius thinks
nothing of it. He has orders passed down from the Emperor himself to attend to.
A document, the ‘Pagan Concord’, threatens to pull apart Britain at the seams,
creating the lurking fear of civil war between the Christians and Pagans.
If Flavius and Siward can recover the ‘Pagan Concord’, they
will be able to unmask the conspirators behind the unrest. With the help of an
ardent Christian, Lucius Aurelius, the trio commence their enquiries in a
clearly divided Britain.
However, their expedition takes an unexpected turn when they
visit the town of their first suspect. Once again, they come across Corellia.
She fervently denies any knowledge of Flavius and Siward, suggesting that it is
a case of mistaken identity, prompting suspicion from Flavius.
The disquiet among Pagans soon becomes clear, as ritualistic
sacrifices and mysterious disappearances soon become the norm, while Flavius
attempts to track down the ‘Pagan Concord’ and save the country of his origin.
It is not long before he has some unwelcome attention, as murderous villains
stalk his every move.
Can Flavius locate the document in time?
Is there more to Corellia than meets the eye?
Can he escape the clutches of his murderous pursuers, and
uncover a conspiracy that goes right to the top?
Divided
Empire is a compelling piece of historical fiction. The first in
the series, there is an unexpected twist around every action-packed corner.
***
The inspiration for the 'Divided Empire' series of novels
first came back in 1994 when I came across an article in our local newspaper,
the Burton Mail, written by a local historian, Dennis Bladon. Since childhood I have been interested in
history, but particularly the history of Roman Britain, even though my home
town, Burton upon Trent has little known Roman history. Apart from a Roman urn that
was found at Shobnall in the town and some Roman coins which were found at
Callingwood on the outskirts of the town, there is little evidence of Roman
occupation. Dennis Bladon to my surprise however, theorised that Burton upon
Trent was the lost Roman settlement of Ad Trivonam. An interpretation of the
name Ad Trivonam is 'the meeting of three roads, by the river'. Now at the time
of Dennis’ article only the routes of two Roman roads were known to run through
the town and so his theory wasn't given much credence. Four years later however,
a Roman road was discovered leading from Leicester in the direction of Burton,
which helped to support his theory and my imagination was fired.
Further inspiration for the 'Divided Empire' series came
from our local castle at Tutbury, near Burton upon Trent. Although the castle
is Norman, it is built within the site of an Iron Age Hill Fort, as is the
village itself. When the well in the castle was being cleaned out some years
ago, a number of small Roman artefacts were found, including a pair of tweezers
and some Samian pottery shards. When I visited the castle some years later, I
saw displayed in the tea room at the castle, two stone carvings (I visited
recently and they are still there). One of the stone carvings fascinated me, as
it looked very much like stone carvings that I'd seen of the Celtic God
Cernunnos, whilst the other stone carving looked like a Celtic fertility
goddess. The two stone carvings were apparently found during excavations of the
Castle moat, which explains their worn conditions.
The Celtic tribe which occupied the West Midlands was the
Cornovii and it is possible that their boundaries stretched as far as Burton
& Tutbury. The meaning of the tribes' name has long been a matter of
conjecture, but Anne Ross thought that the tribes name contained the element
meaning 'horn' (cornu) and could therefore possibly mean the tribe were
worshippers of a horned deity. Cernunnos is one such horned deity and in
'Divided Empire’ it is the one the Cornovii worship. Not far from both Burton
upon Trent and Tutbury is the village of Abbots Bromley, where each usually
each September, the Horn Dance takes place. Although the present Horn Dance
dates from the Middle Ages, there is some belief it has its roots in pagan
times. For my novel the boundaries of the Cornovii in the east stretch as far
as the River Dove and Ad Trivonam and Tutbury, which is known as the 'Lookout
fort on the Dufan' are both within the tribe’s territory.
Flavius Vitulasius’ home in ‘Divided Empire’ is in Ad
Trivonam in a villa overlooking the Trisantona Fluvius (the River Trent). In
Shobnall on the Sinai Hill is Sinai House, now in private hands, but in the
days of Burton Abbey it was the country house of the Abbots and later converted
to a sanatorium for use of the monks. Local legend has it that when some
repairs were being carried out in the 1800’s, a Roman mosaic was uncovered in
the cellar of the house. For the purposes of my novel Flavius’ home is a villa
on the site of Sinai house, though if the legend is true, then it is more
likely that a temple would have stood there.
As regards the historical background to my novels, they
start in 391AD; three years after the Emperor Theodosius had defeated Magnus
Maximus and restored Valentinian to the throne of the Western Roman Empire. I
have tried to keep the events that followed true to the known history of what
followed as regards Arbogastes eventual usurpation of the throne and his
placement of Eugenius as his puppet upon it. What the true events were in
Britain are not fully known however, as the history of that period is sketchy
at best. I’ve therefore based events in the novel on what could have happened,
using the known later events as a guide. ‘Divided Empire’ is after all a work
of fiction, but one that sets out to tell a good story. As regards what people
wore, eat, the way they lived and their daily lives, I’ve based as much as
possible on what is known of the period.
Links
for Purchase
About the author
I live in Burton upon Trent, England
and am married to Lynne and have a son, Mark and two tortoise shell cats, Tansy
& Zoe. I enjoy walking in the countryside, photography, reading, writing,
visiting museums and historic sites & buildings and supporting Burton
Albion.
I first became interested in the
history of Roman Britain as a child and loved the 'Eagle of the Ninth' trilogy
of novels by Rosemary Sutcliff. When I was older I read & studied all that
I could about the history of the period, visiting many museums and
archaeological sites to further improve my knowledge. I am a member of The
Association for Roman Archeology.
I've always had a passion for writing
and when I retired from Local Government Health & Social Services, I wrote
a guest column in our local newspaper for two years and also decided to write
novels set in late 4th Century CE Roman Britain. The first of the Flavius
Vitulasius Novels, 'Divided Empire' is my first published novel, but there are
many more to come and the second novel is nearing completion. I hope that you
enjoying reading the novels as much as I've enjoyed writing them.
Should you wish to know more about
Flavius & his friends, you can find me at:
Twitter: Brian John Kitchen
@Oldbrookender
Website: www.briankitchen.me.uk
Facebook: facebook.com/FlaviusVitulasius
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See you on your next coffee break!
Take Care,
Mary Anne xxx