The Emperor's Envoy: Part 1 by Howlett Ed

Author:Howlett, Ed
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-03-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter XIII

Spring AD 44

For the months that had past since Togodumnus had been welcomed as a guest of Plautius's, his brother, Caratacus not only believed that Togodumnus had been slaughtered during the battle at the River Medway and in the light of such, had then returned to the Trinovantes tribe strong hold at Camulodunum and having gathered his followers and subjects together, addressed them.

“It is with a heart so full of grief, that I must tell you all, that my brave, fearless sibling, Togodumnus, with whom I shared the responsibilities of kingship, has been slaughtered at the hands of the Romans,”

There was a gasp from those that could actually hear his words, for those that couldn't, his statement was repeated by those that understood.

“As sad as this eventually appeared, it now means that I am having to bear the weight of such a heavy crown by myself, but I firmly believe that I have both my late father's and now, my brother, Togodumnus's unyielding support for me, as your singular ruler, to defend you all against the Roman invaders.

They may take our lands and they may take our riches, but we will die on our feet, having taken up arms against the Emperor, rather than live on our knees without liberty or weapons!”

With his spies sent out to constantly monitor the Romans movements, and finding that he was going to need a lot more warriors to fight for him, Caratacus continued to harass the patrols with guerilla war tactics at the same time as negotiating other tribal Kings, ten in total, to gain their support by supplying men that were willing to join forces with him. By doing so, he would use less men than if the two sides met again in a pitched battle, and when that time eventually came, he would be in much better position having recruited Gaulish tribes that were willing to support him in ridding the country of the Romans. Also, he had managed to get the support from the other Kings in the region, from Presatagus in the East, across the country to the Dobunni tribe in the West.

When they did meet again, as armies across the field of battle, it was one parted by the river Thames, that was to be the bloodiest battle of Plautius's career so far.

In comparison to winters in Rome, the weather conditions on Brittania had ranged from cold bitter winds with driving rain to stronger winds with heavy snowfall, country wide.

In Italia, by comparison, the only snowfall that caused any issues, affected those that lived in mountainous areas. The peasant farmers and such like had to traverse the landscape to feed their flocks.

As Plautius was beginning to forget what the climate was like back at home. For now, he was bitterly cold, sat upon his horse, wrapped head to toe in a thick blanket and cursing every wind driven snowflake that stung his face as it hit him hard.

Togodumnus had been installed as Client King based at Durobrivae under the new title of King Cogidubnus.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.