Vortigern is absolutely right to emphasise the class structure in both Celtic and Roman society. This made it easier for the Romans to establish in Britannia what they preferred, decentralised local government. And during the latter part of the occupation, there was, as we have seen, an influx of upper-class immigrants from Gaul, escaping from the unrest and uncertainty engendered by the Germanic tribes.

I am less sure, however, that, "When the Roman left Britain and pulled out all of her troops, you had an almost complete abandonment of nobility in Britain." The troops were pulled out, yes. But what had the civilian nobility to go back to? Surely it was these people who continued to run the municipalities under various regional rulers (of whom Vortigern was one), and who complained to Aetius in 446 about the depredations of the Saxon mercenaries.

Whether Alfred's focus on Rome was Romanisation or re-Romanisation, I think it would have been impossible for any of the English kings who visited Rome for religious reasons to come away unaffected also by the Roman cultural tradition, and Alfred himself was in 853 invested by Pope Leo with an honorary Roman consulship. While Bishop Aldhelm (c. 639--709) apologised on one occasion to Bishop Haeddi of Winchester for being unable to come for Christmas, because he was detained in Canterbury by his study of Roman law.