chapter fourteen summary

Author: * Walensis Volcae - 25 Posts on this thread out of 64 Posts sitewide.
Date: Jun 4, 2004 - 10:07

* With Anglo-Saxon invaders in the South and East, Pictish invaders in the North, and Irish invaders in the West, the cetral position of Powys afforded the kingdom a unique position to gain control over a substantial area of free Britain. We have examined the capital city of Powys, Viroconium, to discover evidence that suggests it was the seat of Vortigern, and more importantly, Arthur.

1. During the Roman occupation of Britain the country was divided into provincial districts known as civitates, each founded on existing tribal areas and controlled from an administrative city or capital. The Cornovii tribe of the West Midlands and Central Wales was subject to the administration of Viroconium. After London, York and Lincoln, Viroconium became the fourth largest city in Roman Britain, and was without doubt the most important trading center in the Midlands.

2. By Vortigern's time, Viroconium had become the most important city in Britain. London was easy prey for Saxon raids via the Thames, York was continually sacked by the Picts, and Lincoln was constantly under threat from the Angles. From Viroconium, Vortigern could co-ordinate forces on three fronts. Here watling street, the most important road in Britain, made contact with the river Severn, one of the most significant waterways of the island. Additionally, the Roman road network linked Viroconium with other important fortifications in the area. Viroconium is therefore the most plausible site for the seat of Vortigern and the British administration at the end of Roman rule.

3. The circumstantial argument is persuasive, but there is further evidence that Vortigern and his successors ruled from Viroconium. In recent years, archaeology has unearthed support for this theory. In the late 1960s, an extensive archaeological excavation began on the site. The results have shown that during the first half of the fifth century the city was completely rebuilt in a remarkably sophisticated fashion. Nothing like it has been discovered anywhere else in the archaeology of Dark Age Britain.

4. This transformation and revitalisation of the city would have required considerable wealth, and could not have been achieved without powerful leadership. The time and place matches exactly with what we have learned of Vortigern. The discoveries at Viroconium have at last substantiated the writings of Gildas, Bede, Nennius and the Chronicle, all of which recorded a powerful leader of Britain in the post-Roman period; the leader called Vortigern.

5. Evidence that the Votadini ruled Viroconium by the end of the fifth century is supplied by a tombstone, dated at about 480, found at the excavation in 1967. The name on the stone was Cunorix, bearing the name affix 'Cun' of the Cunedda family.

6. The Viroconium excavation revealed that the city was not abandoned for a more defendable site until around 520, and certainly remained the capital of Powys until then. Therefore, it is safe to assume that if Arthur's stronghold had been Powys, then Viroconium would have been his capital.