Tea at Trianon: Disappearance of the Ninth Legion

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, March 31, 2023

Disappearance of the Ninth Legion

From Explorersweb:

One long-held theory is that the Celts annihilated the Ninth Legion. British author Rosemary Sutcliff played on this theory in her bestselling novel, The Eagle. In this book (and later movie), the Ninth fell victim to the wilderness and native hostility beyond Hadrian’s Wall. German historian Theodor Mommsen had already popularized that theory in the 1800s. He believed the Celts in northern England (particularly the Brigantes) caused the Ninth’s demise.

But despite frequent skirmishes between the Romans and Celts, no supporting physical evidence ever materialized. The only tenuous piece of evidence comes from a vague correspondence between an ancient historian named Fronto and emperor Marcus Aurelius. In their letters, they described the strength of the Celtic forces and how many Roman soldiers lost their lives. Mommsen estimated the Ninth’s destruction at around 118 AD.

In 1866, Reverend J. G Joyce found a 15cm high Roman bronze eagle in Silchester. It dates back to the 1st or 2nd century AD and might have been attached to a larger object like a statue, or carried in procession during campaigns or official activities. An important symbol of the Roman Empire, these eagles were called Aquila. Some researchers believe that this might be the lost eagle of the Ninth Legion. Some scholarship suggests the possibility that the Ninth’s demise led to the construction of Hadrian’s Wall in 122 AD. However, this is purely speculation. (Read more.)