Agrace
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Agrace is one of the Raven King's three kingdoms. It is believed to be a country on the far side of Hell [54]; according to the Raven King's enemies, he leased Agrace from Lucifer [23]. This country is also known as the "Bitter Lands", though why is not clear [23]. It may, of course, be the mysterious, unhappy and desolate land which both Arabella Strange and Childermass see as in a vision [27, 46]. Three magical rivers flow through Agrace and these, according to the great Aureate magician Stokesey, somehow influence events in England [54].
Agrace is believed to be the site of a mysterious black tower built in 1345. For thirty nights in May and June of that year, every man, woman and child in Northern England dreamed that they were labouring to build a tall black tower on "a dark red plain beneath a pale golden sky". Some scholars contend that this tower was raised to enable the Raven King to make war upon some of his enemies in Hell. Martin Pale, however, thought that the tower was constructed to serve as some form of defense against the Black Death, which ravaged England three years later; perhaps significantly, Northern England suffered much less from the plague than did the south [38].
Agrace is believed to be the site of a mysterious black tower built in 1345. For thirty nights in May and June of that year, every man, woman and child in Northern England dreamed that they were labouring to build a tall black tower on "a dark red plain beneath a pale golden sky". Some scholars contend that this tower was raised to enable the Raven King to make war upon some of his enemies in Hell. Martin Pale, however, thought that the tower was constructed to serve as some form of defense against the Black Death, which ravaged England three years later; perhaps significantly, Northern England suffered much less from the plague than did the south [38].