Month: September 2014

Nine Roman legions in historical novels and children’s literature of Rosemary Sutcliff

Anthony LawtonLeave a comment

Several legions feature or are referred to in Rosemary Sutcliff’s historical novels. A legion (legio) is identified by a number, but the number may not be unique – in Britain for there were, for a time, two II Legions.

The Roman Army had two main parts: the legions and the auxiliary units (auxilia). About thirty legions were spread over time around the provinces of the Roman Empire. Some legions were lost, others disbanded. They were created as needed, recruited from Roman citizens across the Empire. The legions were regular heavy infantry units, with a contingent of 120 horsemen who worked as messengers and scouts. Auxilias involved non-citizens, and were both infantry and cavalry.

II (2) Legion:  Eagle’s Egg, Frontier Wolf, Outcast, Song for a Dark Queen, Sword at Sunset, The Eagle of the Ninth, The Silver Branch

VI (6) Legion: A Circlet of Oak Leaves, Frontier Wolf, Sword at Sunset, The Eagle of the Ninth

VII (7) Legion: The Silver Branch

IX (9) Legion: Eagle’s Egg, Song for a Dark Queen, Sword at Sunset, The Eagle of the Ninth, The Silver Branch

X (10) Legion: The Silver Branch

XIV (14) Legion: Eagle’s Egg, Song for a Dark Queen

XX (20) Legion: Eagle’s Egg, Frontier Wolf, Outcast, Song for a Dark Queen, Sword at Sunset

XXII (22) Legion: Outcast

XXX (30) Legion: The Silver Branch

Relative named after Rosemary Sutcliff raising money to help tackle bowel cancer

Anthony LawtonLeave a comment

If any who read this blog share a concern from family experience about tackling bowel cancer, and are moved to make a donation, I note that my daughter Rowan Rosemary Lawton, named in honour of Rosemary Sutcliff, is running to raise funds for the UK Charity Beating Bowel Cancer. See here.

Screenshot 2014-09-02 16.01.17

 

Rosemary Sutcliff’s books are a magic carpet to the past

Anthony LawtonLeave a comment

Historian, writer and journalist  Christina Hardyment judged Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff to be  an ‘odd one out’.

Rosemary Sutcliff is most famed for The Eagle of the Ninth, but there was much more to her than that. In the 1950s, historically-minded children found her books a magic carpet into the past. I began with Brother Dusty-feet (1952) and The Armourer’s House (1951), and never looked back and an insatiable interest in history has remained the backbone of my life.

In 1954, The Eagle of the Ninth introduced Marcus Flavius Aquila, a young Roman who chooses to stay in Britain after the legions leave. Seven subsequent books follow his family’s fate, usually directly. The odd book out is the fifth, Sword at Sunset, now published in a new edition to celebrate its 50th birthday. In 1963, it was firmly announced to be for adults, and given the (for their time) graphic and violent scenes of sex and slaughter, it deserved to be.

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