Sub-Roman Britain (Cavalry etc)

[Conal]

So where do you place that (apparently hidden) wish to retain ceratin traditions from a dim past?

The Mabinogion Welsh legends, part of which may hark back to Iroan Age legends, survived in oral form, in a Celtic, through Roman, Saxon and Norman influence did they not?

While tribal chiefs (and the underlying social structure), as well as priests (and the underlying social structure) and warriors (and the underlying social structure) all completely disappeared

Did it "completely" disappear? Was He Who Must Not Be Mentioned suddenly rediscovered in the 11th century or was he remembered in song and verse in the interim ... as was another enigmatic character Robin of the Hood, real or not he is celebrated to this day along with other strange medieval practices ... have you ever met a Morris man?

why would any songs, practises etc. based on those vanished structures be preserved? Where would that wish originate? Does your family hang on to songs and practices about long-gone kings or people from 300 years ago?

Old king Cole was a merry old sole ... :roll:

There are still travelling story tellers in India who still celebrate Alexander the Greats trip over there.

Ethnic glue? :?: Why ethnic? You mean cultural surely?

Nope I mean ethnic in the sense:

"An ethnic group (or ethnicity) is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, consisting of a common language, a common culture (often including a shared religion) and a tradition of common ancestry (corresponding to a history of endogamy" i.e. in the minds of some Britains that they were not of Roman origin.