The Shieldmaiden’s Pride – Map Reveal

“The Shieldmaiden’s Pride” – Book One of the new trilogy, The Song of Madron – is now in the final editing and proofreading stages, with the release scheduled for July 1st – but I can’t wait to show off the maps that will be in the book. Keen-eyed readers will recognise I used one of the earliest maps from Saxon Might as base for this one, but with added detail and some changes in political geography in the 25 years since the period of that book.

BARBARIAN SETTLEMENT IN BRITANNIA, 475 AD

The Crown of the Iutes – Map Reveal

In 10 days, on Christmas Eve, “The Crown of Iutes” will be released on Kindle. It is time to reveal the main map for the book: Northern Gaul, comprising of the Domain of Gauls, under Syagrius, and the lands of its neighbours – the Franks, the Armoricans and the Goths of Tolosa.

The Crown of the Iutes – locations

Yes, it’s that time of the pre-publishing cycle when I write a post about all the locations used in the upcoming book, The Crown of the Iutes.

A large part of the Crown takes place in the already familiar corner of Britannia – Londin, Cantiaca, the land of the Regins. But the central story takes our heroes, and the reader, back to Gaul – and to the new, to them, lands beyond the River Liger (Loire).

AURELIANUM – Cenabum, Orléans

Having started as a major river port and crossing point over Loire for the Gallic tribes, Cenabum was razed and massacred by Julius Caesar and left in ruin for centuries, until Emperor Aurelian rebuilt it into a heavily fortified hub of trade and industry, and gave the city his own name – Urbs Aurelianorum – which would later transform into “Orléans”.

PICTAWIS – Limonum, Poitiers

Another ancient Gallic oppidum transformed into a Roman town, Limonum, later renamed Pictavium or Pictavis, was a large and prosperous city, with a large amphitheatre and several bath houses, before reducing in size behind the new walls in 4th century. Taifals, a mysterious tribe of barbarian riders, were stationed around Pictavis at the end of the Imperial presence, their traces remaining to this day in the names of local villages.

CAINO – Cainon, Chinon

Nothing remains of the Roman castrum built on the shores of the Vienne, where now a medieval castle rises upon the grey cliffs. In 5th century, Mexme, a disciple of St Martin’s, established a hermitage here, which soon expanded into a monastery around which the new town grew.

ANDECAWA – Iuliomagus, Angers

Before it became famous as the seat of the powerful Counts of Anjou – the progenitors of the Plantagenet Dynasty which would rule both France and England – ancient Angers was another walled-in river city, like Pictawis sporting an amphitheatre, baths and a mithraeum. When the rivers of Gaul turned into borders, Angers turned into a border fortress between Armorica and Frankia.

NAMNETES – Condevincum, Nantes

The last – or first, depending which way you’re going – harbour and crossing on the Mouth of Loire, Condevincum was at first growing in the shadow of its larger neighbour on the left bank of the river, Ratiates (Rezé). In its heyday, it was one of the ports of the Roman Navy, before it was handed over to a Breton garrison that would keep it safe from the Saxon pirates.

ALET – Aletum, St. Malo

St Malo started out as a small Saxon Shore fort on the Armorican side of the English Channel. By the 5th century, the fort, having to defend itself from both the sea raiders and Bacaud bandits, was abandoned, and the settlement moved south, to where a Welsh Saint, Maclovius, later established a monastery.

DOL – Deols, Chateauroux

An ancient ford, with a small village and a temple attached, would have likely remained anonymous until the establishment of the medieval abbey if it wasn’t for the battle fought between Euric’s Goths and Riothamus’s “Britons”, part of the tumultuous events of 470-472, the final Roman attempt of securing Gaul.

BREDANNA – La Brenne Marsh

The immense marshes of Brenne, between Chateauroux and Chatellerault, remained untamed for centuries, until medieval monks created strings of ponds for fishing and milling.

The Blood of the Iutes – Map Reveal

It’s that time again – the premiere of the new volume is fast approaching, and the first marker of the book being ready for release is the map is now done.

There’s only one map this time – but one that shows more of the ancient world than any of the maps before – all of late Roman Gaul and Germania north of Augusta Treverorum.

This should tell you how much greater the scope of the story has become – the interests of Iutes are no longer confined to Britannia, they now enter into the power plays of the late Empire