The Silver Empress, written and narrated by Ed McWatt
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Episode 0
An introduction & historical note
Episode 1
Julius – July 405 CE.
i – The Peace of Rome
In which we meet Quin – a boy struggling to get on with his sister – and his father, a man struggling to survive a hunt for a Saxon raiding party gone bad
Episode 2
Martius – March 409 CE. Four Years Later.
i – In the villa garden
Maius – May 409 CE. Day of Mercury – Wednesday
i – Unexpected visitors
In which Quin’s temper is harshly punished, and late night visitors foreshadow a coming change. Amid the family’s wealth, a client of his uncle’s begs Quin for a favour, before being interrupted by the boy’s grandmother, Juliana.
Episode 3
Day of Mercury – Wednesday
ii – Acquaintances and friends
iii – A troubled town
In which Quin & Faustinus journey to town to meet Silvi’s fiance, and meet trouble along the way. In Scole, Duke Galerius has to deal with a lynch-mob intent on getting to his prisoners. Quin strikes a deal with the Duke, to the horror of his uncle.
Episode 4
Day of Mercury – Wednesday
iv – Guests of the Villa Ursicinus
v – The gorgon-god
Day of Jupiter – Thursday
i – A death in the woods
In which Quin and Silvi spar and Faustinus vents his rage. Quin, driven to find some solitude, learns more about his father from an inscrutable Galerius. A boar hunt in the woods brings Quin face to face with death, and with questions about his new slave and the Duke.
Episode 5
Day of Jupiter – Thursday
ii – An evening in the triclinium
iii – The ancestors in the cellar
In which Quin questions his slave, but learns little. Roasted boar cannot prevent the evening ending badly, as a drunk and suspicious Galerius lets his mask slip. In the act of securing his slave in the cellar, Quin makes a discovery from his past.
Episode 6
Day of Venus – Friday
i – Distant fires
ii – A conference sadly borne
In which distant trouble edges closer to the villa, and Quin discovers treachery at their very gate.
Episode 7
Day of Venus – Friday
iii – An officer of Rome
In which Wulfgar admits a dark secret from his past and Quin tries to make his uncle aware of what he’s overheard, before it’s too late.
Episode 8
Day of Venus – Friday
iv – Premonition of love
In which, despite the gathering clouds, the marriage feast goes ahead at Silvi’s insistence. But it does not quite go the way she dreamed it might
Episode 9
Day of Saturn – Saturday
i – The price of safety
In which the family prepare to leave the villa, with – or without – their riches. The Duke assumes control and Felix returns with news.
Episode 10
Day of Saturn – Saturday
ii – Manumission
iii – Thieves in the night
In which a midnight escape becomes something far more ambitious, and dangerous, as Quin tries to take things into his own hands.
Episode 11
Day of the Sun – Sunday
i – Return of the prodigal nephew
ii – In loco parentis
In which a fire closer to home brings things to a violent head, and Faustinus finds his courage.
Episode 12
Day of the Sun – Sunday
iii – The prison barn
iv – A desperate plan
In which desperate actions are all that remain open to Quin, with Galerius willing to go to any extreme to find the hidden chest.
Episode 13
Day of the Sun – Sunday
v – Prayers asked and answered
Day of the Moon – Monday
i – Buried treasures
In which, with their world irreversibly altered, the survivors from the barn must decide on their path. But danger is not far behind them.
The guest episode I recorded for David Crowther’s excellent ‘The History of England’ podcast can be found on his website. The episode focusses on the end of Roman Britain and the evidence we have for how it must have felt for the people of the time. There are even a few jokes in there – it’s well worth 15 minutes of your life.
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