07-23-2010, 05:30 PM
A layman's view of sub-Roman Briton history would be that Roman and a native parties--not necessarily one of each--originally competed to lead the island after withdrawal of the legions. Soon the Roman party died out or dissolved (leaving the heritage of Ambrosius and He Who Shall Not Be Named) while the native parties had varying degrees of success leading relatively small chunks of the island, perhaps roughly contiguous to Roman administrative districts, which after all grew out of the tribal areas before the Roman conquest. They left behind the heritage of Vortigern--who may or may not have been maligned by history--and, yes, He Who Shall Not Be Named.
As the Germans--eventually called the English--pushed farther west, they conquered, absorbed or maybe even made an accommodation with the Britons. It took four hundred years. A lot can happen. By the time the Danes began pushing on the "English" the Britons had been pushed into enclaves in Cornwall and Wales with some remnants in the northwest.
Of interest here is the apparent pause in the westward Germanic push caused by Ambrosius or He Who Shall Not Be Named or both, when perhaps a generation of Britons lived in relative peace. (Of course, at any given time the westward peoples were not so pressed by the Germans as whoever was on the front line, but even residents of Tintagel or Angelsey must have suffered disquiet and the constant westward pressure.)
Eventually the English assimilated, not only the land and people but some of the culture, including the legends of You Know Who. The trick is teasing the real history out of the skein of tangled yarn that is the history, legend and lies that survive to this day.
As the Germans--eventually called the English--pushed farther west, they conquered, absorbed or maybe even made an accommodation with the Britons. It took four hundred years. A lot can happen. By the time the Danes began pushing on the "English" the Britons had been pushed into enclaves in Cornwall and Wales with some remnants in the northwest.
Of interest here is the apparent pause in the westward Germanic push caused by Ambrosius or He Who Shall Not Be Named or both, when perhaps a generation of Britons lived in relative peace. (Of course, at any given time the westward peoples were not so pressed by the Germans as whoever was on the front line, but even residents of Tintagel or Angelsey must have suffered disquiet and the constant westward pressure.)
Eventually the English assimilated, not only the land and people but some of the culture, including the legends of You Know Who. The trick is teasing the real history out of the skein of tangled yarn that is the history, legend and lies that survive to this day.
"Fugit irreparabile tempus" (Irrecoverable time glides away) Virgil
Ron Andrea
Ron Andrea
