| abstract
| - As prescribed in the new Constitution the Emperor was to be elected by the Senate generally according with the dying wishes of the previous Emperor. The trade change and the ‘Mercantile Revolution’ of the previous years led to several innovations and inventions. many of these came from pressure of the Emperor Ignacius, elected in 967 (214 AD) after appointment by carolus in exchange for the several of his inventions and apparent understanding of the economy of Rome. {C}“Before Carolus died he looked at me and said that the conquests of the future would not be the result of great armies and great territories alone. A responsible government, a developed state, and a vibrant and connected economy in that State is how Rome shall persist after the millennium.” -from the ascension speech of the Emperor Ignacius to the Senate 967 (214 AD). This is the first mention of the new Latin word ‘state’, ‘statia’, as well as the stating of the approaching 1000th anniversary of the founding of the city of Rome. Prior to being Emperor, Ignacius was the head Financial Officer for the Emperor and prior still he led to the innovations of things like the horseshoe, greatly increasing the efficiency of the Roman cavalry, the compass, greatly increasing the speed of trade and naval movements, and the windmill, greatly increasing the amount of grain available throughout the Empire. Ignacius came to prominence after being elected mayor of the city that led the constitutionalist movement, Lutetia (Paris). He was then appointed Governor of Aquitannia and led to it becoming a center of trade, expanding to the Oceanus Britannicus (English Channel). The Schools of this rich land were a great source of attraction for immigrants over the Rhinus and Albis. These were called Franks and would come to dominate the merchant class in the region. The Forests that remained soon became sources for the creation of incredibly strong ships that would travel throughout the Mediterranean. Before the navy in Aquitannia could be established in earnest, there had been a series of raids that faced to rip apart the Empire. The Vikings from the lands of Scandinavia began to grow jealous of the trade and wealth of Rome. A sea-faring people from their beginning they sailed up many rivers and ravaged many towns. Rather than going over the border, which was heavily protected, the Vikings came over the relatively unprotected cities often on Rivers they could reach from the Oceanus Germanicus (North Sea) or the Atlanticus (Atlantic). Ignacius quickly saw that the Vikings were not intending to conquer but rather to plunder and so they could be driven off with a few defeats. The fast ships of Aquitania would inflict this upon them but the Province of Britannia would be almost completely lost to these raids. The Vikings abandoned Aquitannia and focus their force on Britannia. The Romans Legions who had fought them once they landed, and held them off until they began to be overwhelmed, sent warning to the southern part of the island and over to Aquitannia. Word of the atrocities that were being inflicted in the border province were what outraged both Carolus and Ignacius. The Aquitannian Naval ships carried a force over the Oceanus Britannicus and landed through the Thamus river (Thames). They began to assure the local population of the safety that the navy would bring and the reconquest the legions would bring once the Vikings reached that far South. That day came on the 17th of April, 950 (197 AD). Though Ignacius was not himself a military man, he studied under the records of the battles of Scipio, Marcus Aurelius, and especially Carolus. Ignacius left his most senior adviser, and closest friend Secundus Titus, as Governor pro tempore of Aquitannia while Ignacius led the navy to Britannia; a province with close economic ties with his. Most of the real fighting was done under the leadership of other Generals, though Ignacius had taught many of them to use the compass. Horatius Africanus and Lutatius Cimber were among the heads of the legions brought to regain the province which had proven very strategic to the Roman Military. On the 17th the onslaught occurred and the Military was surprised to find that the vikings had taken hold of the armories in Boreala Umbria (Northumberland), Cumbria, and Eboraccia (Yorkshire). Many of the vikings were not used to the workings of the ballista (standing crossbow), or the new ballista magna (great ballista, trebuchet). But once they became used to them the front of the legions had pushed the vikings back to the monument of Hadrian’s Wall, marking the end of the Province of Britannia and the start of the barbarian land of the Picts. The Vikings left but the treasuries and the armories had been all but totally raided. The campaign was very costly for the Romans but also for the Vikings who returned to Scandinavia. Horatius suggested bringing the ‘Hammer of Rome’ to the Vikings on the remaining ships, an idea he believed the troops would rally behind, but Ignacius ordered that the troops be stationed in the Province and the order lost in these raids restored. In the parts of the provinces that had been looted they found that many families and other businesses had not been as ravaged. The ‘glutenous, thieving Vikings’ was a caricature nor entirely true as the soldiers later found out. That being said, the gold and the protection of these areas was taken and the bodies of the soldiers and people killed were strewn about the streets. Ignacius established a new cemetery to those killed by the Vikings and protection was reinforced on the eastern shore of Britannia. Ignacius returned by kept the legions of Horatius, Lutatius, and others in the Province. ‘Saviour of Britannia’ was stated in the streets of Rome as an honor ceremony was held in Rome by the Emperor. Carolus instituted many reforms in Britannia which he felt was taken over because it was so neglected by the Continent. Markets, Towns, Rebuilding, Replanting, and Educating were financed by a Program Carolus that had not received as much demand from the populous as it had on the continent. The peoples around Hadrian’s Wall were scarcely around any signs of Roman Culture or Life as had been seen in the southern most provinces. Cities that the vikings had left from, and presumably where they arrived from, were the city of Eboracum (York), Catarium (Catterick), and Satatium (Saltburn). These became not only great military power-bases, should the vikings return, but also merchant capitals of Britannia. The Forests of the interior of the island became sources for the largest navy in the Empire, outside of Greece. Ignacius said at a speech next to the Emperor on his palace in Rome to a crowd below, “There shall come a time when the Vikings who have fled to the Great White North will return; today we embark on a mission to make sure we shall meet them with wrath that will shake gods from their clouds.”
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