Severan Britain and the Caledonian Campaigns

Severan Britain covers the province from the civil wars that brought Septimius Severus to power in AD 193 through the end of the Severan dynasty in 235. Britain remained a heavily militarised province, and imperial politics affected the loyalties, deployment and command of the troops stationed there.

The defining British episode was the imperial campaign in Caledonia from 208 to 211. Septimius Severus travelled to Britain with the imperial court and army, campaigned north of Hadrian’s Wall and died at Eboracum, modern York. The campaigns placed frontier warfare, logistics, succession and imperial authority in the same setting.

This context is appropriate for novels set in Britain during the Severan dynasty, especially those concerning the northern army, York, Hadrian’s Wall or the Caledonian campaigns. The narrower existing context for the campaigns remains available for books specifically about the operations of 208–211.