It is with the greatest of pleasures that I welcome historical fiction author, Nancy Jardine, on to the blog today. Nancy is going to tell us all about her inspirations behind her fabulous Celtic Fervour Series...
The Beltane Choice
(Celtic Fervour Series Book 1)
Can the Celtic Tribes
repel the Roman army?
AD 71—Banished from the nemeton, becoming a priestess is no
longer the future for Nara, a princess of the Selgovae tribe. Now charged with
choosing a suitable mate before Beltane, her plan is thwarted by Lorcan, an
enemy Brigante prince, who captures her and takes her to his hill fort. Despite
their tribes fighting each other, Nara feels drawn to her captor, but time runs
out for her secret quest.
As armies of the Roman Empire march relentlessly northwards,
Lorcan intends to use Nara as a marriage bargain, knowing all Celtic tribes
must unite to be strong enough to repel imminent Roman attack. Nara’s father,
Callan, agrees to a marriage alliance between Selgovae and Brigante, but has
impossible stipulations. Lorcan is torn between loyalty to his tribe and
growing love for Nara.
When danger and
death arrive in the form of the mighty Roman forces, will Nara be able to
choose her Beltane lover?
Author's Inspiration
10,000
Ancient Roman soldiers trampling all over my garden! My heart pumped double
time to the beat of their double pacing when I learned that. The progress of
those marching hob-nailed caligae (boots)
would have completely ruined my current lawns and shrub displays but to say that
I was jumping for joy is a massive understatement. My compulsion to write about
it began and hasn’t stopped.
I
imagined men toiling nearby, specialist soldiers in the vanguard of the long legionary
march whose job was to labour with dolabra
(pickaxe), or shovel that they carried on their back. I envisaged them digging
the ditches, creating the ramparts of the almost rectangular site that was
marked out by ground engineers using their gromas
(surveying equipment). The ting
on metal rang as the tools hit stones. The rippling tinkles of the lorica segmentata (breastplate armour) and
duller clunks of the lorica hamata (chain
mail) as the men bent and stretched to heave the excavated soil over to what
became the earthwork fortifications were heard close by. I could smell their
sweat: maybe more unpleasant body odours. Turf cutters and scythes were being
whacked around to clear the interior of obstructions so that pitching tents
would be on relatively flat ground.
There
was a noisy bunch gathering water supplies from the nearby River Don. Others were
felling trees, the wood necessary for their cooking fuel and fires to warm them
during the cool nights of early autumn. Far off screams and close-to-death
pleas were the result of troops ridding the area of local tribespeople: those
too old, too young, or too infirm to flee their roundhouses when the earthquake
rumble of thousands of Roman treads approached them.
Creating
Ancient Roman marching camps was a highly-skilled, slick operation completed in
a surprisingly short time—perhaps less than two hours depending on the
terrain—by men who had just trekked around twelve miles from the previous camp.
The
images continued… and I used them to inspire my 11-12 year old primary pupils
to write fantastic end-of-topic short stories for me. Their task: to take on
the mantle of an indigenous early teen (boy or girl) and fictionalise what
happened to them when the 10,000 strong Roman fighting machine descended on
their roundhouse village at Balbithan, near my village of Kintore in
Aberdeenshire, Scotland. (There really was a late iron age roundhouse
settlement there)
And
it’s completely true to say that their excellent stories of the Roman invasion
of Aberdeenshire, in turn, inspired me to write my own novels set in Roman
Britain.
Aberdeenshire,
Scotland, is littered with remnants of ancient history. Neolithic long barrows,
stone circles, and Pictish symbol stones are a-plenty. There are ruined and
lived-in castles but there are also archaeological gems that are much less
visible. The sites of Celtic hillforts and Ancient Roman temporary camps are
hardly discernible at all but it doesn’t mean they’re any less interesting. The
imagination just has to work a little harder.
Parts
of the ramparts and ditches of the Kintore Ancient Roman temporary camp were
recorded by amateur enthusiasts during the early Victorian era. However, in the
way of agricultural progress, the rampart evidence was mostly ploughed out over
the ensuing decades. Even worse from the historian’s point of view, a village primary
school was built on the south-eastern corner of the camp in 1875—that building
being right across from my house and garden.
Skip
forward to 2002. I was teaching 11-12 year olds in that Victorian school
building, which by then was too old and impractical. Archaeologists had been drafted
in to survey the field areas behind the school prior to new housing and a brand
new primary school being built.
By
2004, the archaeologists confirmed that the Kintore Roman camp had been used by
the legions of General Gnaeus Julius Agricola c. AD 84, during his northern
Britannia campaigns. They believed the same area was probably also used by Emperor
Severus c. AD 210—when he marched north to ‘teach the tribes of the north a
lesson’ (some experts believe genocide was his aim). A third occupation is also
possible, though by an unknown commander. When I discovered that the south-eastern
corner of that Kintore camp was about 30 paces from my house, I was utterly hooked
on researching Roman Britain and I’ve been enthralled ever since.
In
2004, my 11-12 year old pupils spent one term learning about the Roman invasions
of Aberdeenshire. I’d taught ‘Romans and Celts’ to younger classes and had a
good basic knowledge, but with older pupils my task was harder when it came to
researching information to slake their interest (and mine). Pre-history is
notoriously short on written sources.
The
main source is De vita et moribus Iulii
Agricolae’ (On The Life and Character of Julius Agricola) by Cornelius Tacitus, the son-in-law of Agricola.
Though Tacitus’ writing is thought by many to be biased and over political— and
all we have to go on are c.14th century copies of it and not the
original—it’s the only source of the Agricolan campaigns that’s available,
apart from a couple of small mentions by other ancient writers (Cassius Dio).
Armed with Tacitus, and the most recent invaluable archaeological evidence, my
class and I had great fun exploring the topic. When I couldn’t find a suitably
local ‘Roman/ Celt’ novel to share with my class, I vowed to write one myself,
someday. It didn’t happen immediately but in the fullness of time…
Book
1 of my Celtic Fervour Series was
published in 2012. The series begins in what is currently Yorkshire and Cumbria
in England, Brigante territory which Agricola had to subdue first before
marching northwards into what is now Scotland. By Book 3 of the series,
Agricola is confronting the local tribes in pitched battle at Beinn na Ciche in
‘Aberdeenshire’, in AD 84. I’m currently working on Book 4 where educated
guesswork, and a reliance on up-to-date archaeological evidence, has to spark
my imagination entirely because Tacitus wrote nothing of the longer term aftermath
of the battle which he called Mons
Graupius. Though my novels are largely written from the viewpoint of my
‘Celtic’ clan characters, there are secondary Roman ones from Book 2 onwards,
and in Book 4 Agricola plays a strong role.
The Taexali Game is a Time
Travel adventure for early teens, and anyone older who loves a rollicking
adventure story. In it, a trio of kids from Kintore whiz back to AD 210 when
the Ancient Roman Emperor Severus marched into Aberdeenshire with 30,000
troops. (Yes! A whole lot more than Agricola had) The Taexali Game was published
in 2015—four years after I stopped teaching but it is dedicated to those pupils
of 2004 who inspired me.
Though
my work is fiction, my aim has always been to create credible characters in the
most authentic possible settings and situations. I’m absolutely delighted to
read the Amazon reviews which highlight that aim.
I’m
still learning about the Ancient Roman Empire and don’t intend to stop!
Links for Purchase
About the author
Nancy Jardine’s writing spans the different genres of historical
romantic adventure and contemporary romantic mysteries which are set in
fabulous world-wide cities, Topaz Eyes being
a finalist in The People’s Book Prize 2014. The
Taexali Game, her early teen time-travel adventure, is set in third century
Roman Scotland. Regular grandchild-minding, gardening, reading, writing, social
media marketing and blogging take up her week—though not necessarily in that
order. Keeping abreast of Roman Scotland
archaeological developments is invaluable for the local presentations she gives
on her novels, and on Roman Scotland. Regular book signing & selling
sessions at Craft Fairs are great fun. Watching TV Drama and the news are luxuries,
as are social events with friends and family, though they’re creatively
squeezed in. An ex-primary teacher, she continues to learn something new every
day and recently completed a fantastic course on Hadrian’s Wall! She’s a member
of the Romantic Novelists Association and the Scottish Association of Writers.
You can find her at these places:
Website
http://nancyjardineauthor.com/
Facebook http://on.fb.me/XeQdkG
& http://on.fb.me/1Kaeh5G
Email
nan_jar@btinternet.com Twitter
@nansjar
Amazon Author page http://viewauthor.at/mybooksandnewspagehere
I'm delighted to be here, today, Mary Anne - thank you!
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure! Fascinating post!!
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