I'm also gearing up for my Betrayed blog tour next month, so stay tuned as I have free copies to giveaway!!!
I wrote this post for the Historical Romance Junkies blog in September 2010. It gives a brief overview of the world of my hot warriors and their magical Druid heroines :-)
So what exactly is an ancient historical
romance? Well, ancient history is the period known as Classical Antiquity, the
beginning of recorded Greek history in about 776 BC. It also roughly coincides
with the traditional founding of Rome in 753 BC. Western scholars use the fall of the Roman Empire in AD 476 as the
end of ancient European history and the start of the Middle Ages.
Forbidden is set in AD 50 in Cymru (ancient Wales).
The Romans invaded Britain in AD 43 and it took them seven years before they invaded the
western peninsula, where they faced fierce resistance from the local tribes.
But Rome wanted the gold and other precious minerals Cymru had to offer –
and Rome wasn’t going to let a primitive province of the Empire get away
with rebellion.
My hero, Maximus, is a Roman Centurion, a
patrician and loyal to his Emperor and Rome. When he
discovers his heroine, Carys, (who’s been spying on his bathing rituals for the
last three months!) he’s instantly captivated. Who is this woman and why hasn’t she been seen in any of the villages
the Legion has vanquished?
Carys is, in fact, a Druid princess and acolyte of the Goddess of Wisdom,
Cerridwen. She and the rest of her clan of Druids escaped into a magical
enclave before the Romans invaded, and are waiting for a sign from their gods
before they attack their enemy. But despite knowing this Roman would strike her
dead if he knew who – what – she is, Carys can’t stop
thinking about him.
Claudius, the Roman Emperor at the time,
hated Druids with a passion and wanted all trace of them wiped out across his
Empire. This couldn’t be better for the purposes of my plot! I now had
historical back up for my Romans’ determination to hunt down and eliminate any
Druid who had escaped them during the initial invasion.
But why was Claudius so determined to
eradicate the Druids?
Unfortunately, while there’s plenty of
written and archeological evidence when it comes to the Romans, there’s not so
much when it comes to the Druids. Caesar explains this lack of documentary
evidence when talking of the Gaulish Druids: “they consider it improper to
entrust their studies to writing.” And the contemporary written accounts we do
have of them are invariably from the Roman viewpoint – the victors – so there’s
likely to be some prejudice going on there!
But here’s what we do know about them. They
were widely respected as the priests of Celtic society, held responsibilities
for lawmaking, were the keepers of knowledge and wisdom and were known as
magicians. They were also, according to the Romans, the rallying force behind
the rebellious tribes that inhabited Cymru and the Druidic stronghold on the
Isle of Mon (now known as the Isle of Anglesey, off the west coast of Wales).
The Romans saw Druidism as a serious menace
against the might of their Empire, and Claudius was convinced that as long as
Druids remained in Britannia then rebellion and resistance would continue to
flourish among the tribes.
This period of history is so rich with
inherent conflict that as a romance writer I find it hard to resist! In Forbidden, Maximus has been charged by
his Emperor to eliminate all Druids. And Carys, the woman he falls in love
with, is one of Rome’s bitterest enemies.
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