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Celtic Roots

by Thomas Brown

260 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #00-0251; ISBN 1-55212-585-8; US$25.50, C$28.00, EUR21.00, £14.50

Introduction to the early celts and their contribution to Western civilization.

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about the book      about the author      sample excerpt      catalogue info

About the Book Thomas Airlie Brown plunges the reader directly into the action and integrally weaves them into the book so tightly, it will not be easy for them to lay it down. The book is historical fiction leading up to a fairy tale, although it is so well leavened with helpings of historical and archeological facts, that all may end up to be factual after all. What he calls the Celtic Domain is traced from its first appearance in the Middle Europe, follows the migration trail across Western Europe into Britain and Ireland, then deals with the apparently unstoppable spread of the Roman Empire into Celtic territory and covers the major battles that resulted. Arthur and Camelot fill the final section with a new interpretation that intrigues as it develops, and ends with an Epilogue that highlights the reasons why the Celts, known-world conquerors before the Romans, could not compete with the political and military sophistication of the Roman Empire. The Appendix, with its numbered sections referred to in the text, contains tidbits of little-known information and history that add to the enjoyment of the read.

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About the Author Tom Brown, as he is known to almost everyone, is a retired medical specialist who, while on a three month trip in 1990, became intrigued by what he describes as the shadows of the early Celts. He was so intrigued that he decided he would delve into those shadows after he retired in an effort to find out more about their origins and contributions. After five years of research and more travel, THE CELTIC ROOTS OF CAMELOT is the result. Asked about himself he gave us this: Three women and eight children, five of them my own, have complicated my life along with three grandchildren and numerous dogs and cats. I still enjoy life and can summarize it this way: Survived two wives and two divorces; Lived in three countries, six cities and one small island; Owned 18 cars, eight houses and three boats, not all at the same time; Put six children into dental braces and the same six through university Became an amateur cook and a chorister; Had six careers, now attempting a seventh!

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Sample Excerpt

 

BOADICEA (BOADICCA) THE LAST CELTIC QUEEN

Since it was a dangerous undertaking to travel anywhere in Britain in those turbulent times, Boadicea had expected the Roman Procurator to come with a small cohort of legionnaries and a few cavalry for protection, and she felt puzzled and anxious when she heard that a full legion of 5,000 men with 500 cavalry and a large number of carts and pack horses were heading straight for them. She concluded they must be travelling through her territory to get to one of the northern camps used as a permanent base and that the Procurator was travelling with them for added protection.

Making a quick decision, Boadicea ordered 100 young warriors of the royal household to dress in full battle-array and stand as an honour guard outside the main gate of the Oppidum. From there they would command a broad view of the cleared land in front of the Oppidum, a meadow covered with much trampled, coarse grass, spreading over approximately 10 acres and stretching to the edge of the surrounding forest with small clusters of horses and cattle grazing peacefully under the lazy and somewhat indifferent eyes of an equal number of small boys.

On the meadow in front of the honour guard Boadicea had two small tables set close together, a tall-backed throne chair behind one and two smaller chairs for her daughters behind the other. The Royal Family took their places just as the first Roman cavalry cantered into sight on the old drovers' road which ran straight to the gates of the Oppidum. Cantu stood a few feet behind the girls.

Quite suddenly, the meadow was full of gleaming Roman soldiers, their standards glinting in the morning sunlight. As they emerged from the woods, the cavalry, followed by the front column of Legionnaries, split into two arms, and in an incredibly quick pincer-movement swept around the periphery of the meadow to the gates of the Oppidum. The back column of legionnaries marched around the halted carts and pack horses and formed three double-lines stretching across the meadow with 400 men in each line. Boadicea struggled to keep her composure. The sudden silence as the troops came to a halt seemed to jump out of the earlier noise of marching feet and cantering hooves. She leaned over to her daughters and whispered to them to stay calm and not to move. Slowly she rose from her chair, drew herself up to her full height and gazed haughtily at the approaching group, 20 legionnaires led by a small, insignificant-looking man who must be the Procurator, Catus Decianus.

Suddenly and unexpectedly, without a verbal order of any sort, three simultaneous and shocking actions occurred in comparative silence. They proved to be the spark that started a conflagration which would come close to destroying the Roman Empire's grip on Britain.

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Catalogue Information

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