chapter eleven summary

Author: * Walensis Volcae - 25 Posts on this thread out of 64 Posts sitewide.
Date: Jun 1, 2004 - 08:16

By 460, a new and altogether different type of leader emerged; Ambrosius Aurelianus, who reorganised the country to fight back against the Anglo-Saxons. All we know about Ambrosius is contained in a few lines by Gildas, plus a legend recounted by Nennius. These tell us that he was the son of a high ranking Roman official.

1. From both Gildas and Bede we learn of Ambrosius' background, including the fact that his parents wore purple. Since purple was the colour of the Roman emperors, this statement implies that he came from a landed Roman family. Additionally, his parents died during the Saxon onslaught. Also, since Gildas affectionately refers to Ambrosius as a 'gentleman', he must have represented some alternative viewpoint to Vortigern, the 'proud tyrant'. Finally, Nennius names Ambrosius as Vortigerns main rival, but more importantly tells us he was the son of a Roman consul.

2. There is evidence that after the legions departed in 410, Emperor Honorius appointed a senior official to represent Roman interests in Britain. In the Notitia Dignitatum, the Roman register of imperial officers, there is reference to the Comes Britanniarum (count of the Britons) a new position created shortly after 410. This officer appears to have been the commander of an auxiliary field force despatched to Britain during the second decade of the fifth century. The Comes Britanniarum could well have been Ambrosius' father.

3. The Comes Britanniarum must have been removed in 418, for the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that in that year the Britons overthrew the last of the Romans. Thereafter, according to Gildas, the British established their own republic. Unfortunately, Britain soon fell into disorder, resulting in the rise of Vortigern by 425. From what we can ascertain from Nennius, at this time the consuls son, Ambrosius, found asylum in a sympathetic province.

4. After the Romans had departed two factions emerged, one standing for an independent Celtic Britain, the other wishing to continue as part of the empire: the nationalists and the imperialists. Such a division of interests is reflected in archaeological finds from the period. Although a large part of Britain reverted to pre-Roman tribalism, Roman civilisation persisted in some areas. There was also a major religious division: the Catholics supported by the imperialists and the Pelagianists supported by the nationalists.

5. Considering that Gildas was a Catholic monk, his admiration for Ambrosius, together with his statement that he was 'alone of the Romans', infers that Ambrosius stood for the imperialist faction. After the failures of the Vortigern family and the Saxon revolt in the mid-450s, the imperialists may have seized power and Ambrosius probably became the new British leader. It is likely that a pro-Roman revival occured in Britain during the time of Ambrosius, since a British contingent is recorded fighting for the Emperor Anthemius in 470.

6. Nennius says that Ambrosius first gained domination over the West of Britain, initially from the kingdom of Gwynedd in North Wales. This is precisely where archaeology has discovered that the most Romanised lifestyle continued through the first half of the fifth century. Additionally, an early Welsh legend sites Ambrosius' base camp at Dinas Emrys, and Iron age hill-fort in Gwynedd. Between 1954 and 1956, archaeological excavations showed that a rich and powerful British chief was in occupation in the late fifth century. This may have been Ambrosius himself.