We're having a rather interesting discussion at Britannia (the original 'sister site' of Angelcynn) about King Alfred, but from a Romano-British point of view. The question has always been - just how deeply did 'Romanization' sink into the British consciousness and society, so when the invasions of the Anglo-Saxons took over so much of the country, what images did they maintain about their nationality, their culture? Was it entirely Anglo-Saxon? Was it part Celtic and part-Roman? None or all of the above?

The reason it concerns Alfred, is that the evidence shows clearly that he traveled as a youth to Rome at least once (perhaps twice) and, while there, went through some kind of honor ceremony in which he was supposedly made a Roman magistrate (consul, if my memory serves). Certainly, scholars have speculated that he was inspired in many of his actions in England to go back to the CONCEPT of a Roman society, in which law, education, and more tied the new Britain to an older culture that had been largely subsumed under the Saxons.

From the Saxon point of view, I wonder what people think - Arthur as throw-back? And since Arthur was as Anglo-Saxon as he could be, what does that say about his attitude to his own culture at the time?