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carmarthen August 8 2012, 03:20:49 UTC
129 The Eagle of the Ninth - cohort of Gaulish auxiliaries commanded by centurion M. Flavius Aquila garrisons Isca Dumnoniorum

This is the Fourth Cohort of Gauls, a real auxiliary unit (although probably not stationed at Isca). There's Lutorius's Dacian Horse, too, but I think they're part of the cohort (it was a part-mounted cohort in real life, and Lutorius doesn't seem to have an entire cavalry wing). I'd break it out as its own unit, personally.

Cassius in EOT9 also mentions "two centuries of the Third" who are also Gauls, and I'm assuming he means an auxiliary cohort (presumably a Third Cohort of Gauls, but there isn't much information about them in real life).

Incidentally, in real life, Pia Fidelis was a nickname of Legio II Adiutrix, which was also stationed in Britain at one point: I think Sutcliff must have conflated the two Second Legions and then run with it.

343 - Frontier Wolf - Alexios commands cohort "3rd Britannica" at Abusina

There was a real Cohors III Brittonum stationed at Abusina at the beginning of the fifth century. I bet Sutcliff used this (maybe her source had 'Brittonum' abbreviated. She has funky spellings for placenames sometimes, too.)

SORRY I CAN'T HELP GETTING REAL HISTORY INTO IT.

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hedgebird August 9 2012, 01:10:39 UTC
I'm always hilariously torn about whether real history counts as canon. DON'T SAY SORRY; PRODDING OTHER PEOPLE TO DO THE REAL WORK IS MY PLAN ALL ALONG

Damn Lutorius and his Horse! I'd forgotten him entirely./didn't actually reread any novels

The numbered cohorts infuriate me, because what's it the 3rd of? Legion X? Britons? IDs at that scale of unit should be unique, goddamnit, not dependent on a modifier. That's what numbers are fooooooooorrrrrrr. And oh Jesus, I vaguely remembered there was more than one of some of the legions, and I can't even deal with it. POOR SHOW, REALITY.

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carmarthen August 9 2012, 01:18:42 UTC
I think it counts as canon when it isn't contradicted by Sutcliff canon--I mean, I think Sutcliff generally tried to base stuff on reality where-ever she could, although she didn't always seem to have dates. For example, Claudius Hieronimianus: hers is in Britain a couple generations early, but I'd bet money she found a reference to him sans dates and plonked him in, rather than accidentally coming up with the same name bar a y/i swap.

The numbered cohorts infuriate me, because what's it the 3rd of? Legion X? Britons? IDs at that scale of unit should be unique, goddamnit, not dependent on a modifier.

Yeaaaaaah. I'm fairly sure that if the cohort is described by ethnicity (like the 3rd in EOT9), it's probably an auxiliary, since for the most part unless a legion was just levied, I wouldn't expect it to be unified by ethnicity.

And oh Jesus, I vaguely remembered there was more than one of some of the legions, and I can't even deal with it.

Apparently neither could Sutcliff, with the Second. That's what the cognomina are for, I guess.

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hedgebird August 9 2012, 01:35:47 UTC
Yeah, that's my attitude too, and yet my soul protests at "when in doubt, go with the anachronism." But that's fiction, I guess.

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carmarthen August 9 2012, 01:41:29 UTC
This is actually a big part of why I mostly write Eagle movie fic: there's less in the movie to contradict history, and I also feel less bad about going "screw canon, I'm going with reality" with a movie I enjoyed but do not think is objectively brilliant.

Obviously I'm starting to loosen up on that front, though. WRITE ALL THE SUTCLIFF FIC.

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hedgebird August 9 2012, 15:20:19 UTC
I read more fic in canons I'm not married to for similar reasons - screw canon, I'm going with fanon.

ALL OF IT.

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carmarthen August 10 2012, 01:08:52 UTC
Yeah, I tend to be more flexible about characterization in canons I'm not married to. And more likely to read cracky modern AUs.

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