369-446: The Roman Withdrawal

After a half decade of brutal and co-ordinated raiding from overseas, Emperor Theodosius the Great restored order in Britain in 369. The next great crisis will shift us like a pendulum from external threat to internal rebellion once again. This time it is a revolt by the military commander Magnus Maximus in 383 after a victory in the previous year against the Picts. His revolt lasts only until 388 but involved an incursion into the heart of the Empire itself in a failed attempt to seize the Imperial throne (albeit that he had already been declared Western Emperor). His invasion of Italy was defeated by Theodosius at the Battle of the Save.

It is not long after this (401) that the Roman legions began to be withdrawn from Britain and defence transferred to local forces. Hillforts would eventually begin to be reoccupied, including Cadbury Castle in Somerset from around 470, later to become associated with the legend of Arthur as Camalet. It remained so occupied until the 580s. The legions proved necessary for the struggles for power within the Empire as it began to crumble under the barbarian invasions on the mainland. In 407 the local Roman usurper Emperor Constantine III (after a series of such usurpers had emerged and fallen in the Province) withdrew the legions entirely to support his own claims.

Given the general mayhem as Vandals, Burgundians, Alans and Sueves crossed the Rhine at Mainz in 406, it is no surprise to see Saxon raids start up again after Constantine's departure and, in 409, there is a native British revolt against his rule. This is the best marker date for the end of Roman rule since Emperor Honorius' assertion to the British that they are on their own and must organise their own defence (410) is simply, by that point, a statement of the obvious. In that year, Rome itself was sacked by the Goths under Alaric.

There is, of course, still a Roman administration and a Romano-British ruling class operating in Britain after the withdrawal of the military but it appears that, where possible, capital is being exported or buried and the administrative structures begin to weaken and collapse as resources disappear. The Christian Church feels the strain even though it sustains its relationship with the province for another 45 years or so. In 429, the well recorded visit of St. Germanus, a Gallo-Roman Bishop, was made to combat the growing influence of the Pelagian heresy which might be said to reflect what was later to become a very strong part of the British character - the importance of free will and self reliance in seeking salvation. It was Germanus who constructed the story of St. Alban the martyr, as a useful propaganda tool for stiffening Romano-British spines within the Christian tradition.  The famous debate held with the Pelagians at Verulamium seems to have had a class element to it. Germanus appeared to be able to appeal over the heads of the wavering Romano-British aristocracy and merchant class to the broader population assembled there. The Church's determination to hold on to Britain was matched by its equal determination to convert the rising barbarian powers and tribes,. In 431 Bishop Palladius was sent on missions to the Irish and the Scots by Pope Celestine.

The Romano-British did not give up hope of reintegration into the Roman Empire for quite some time, no doubt assisted by the Catholic Church. Perhaps we see another constant in British history appearing here, similar to that between Slavophiles and those who looked to the West in Russia, by which the Catholics looked to Europe, whether Roman or Gallic, and the Pelagians preferred national independence, a difference of outlook that is about to be played out once again in the struggles over which way the British will vote in the forthcoming European Referendum. There was a last appeal for the return of the Roman legions in 446 but Rome was embroiled in its conflict with the formidable Huns and could not or would not help.  It is at this point that the desperate Roman-British aristocracy, unable to build a sufficient fighting force of their own, made the fateful decision to appeal to the Angles (from what is now Southern Denmark) to take on what had been Rome's responsibility but as mercenaries.