01-27-2009, 02:57 PM
Hi Robert & Mak
A good friend of mine Charles W. Evans-Gunther read your posts and thought you both might be interested in his view on the subject. He has asked me if I can post the following and would like to know what you think.
Graham.
On the Provinces of Britain by Charles W. Evans-Gunther
Having read J.C.Mann's article "The Administration of Roman Britain", (Antiquity Vol. XXXV, No.140, December 1961, pp. 316-320) I am sure that the positioning of the provinces of Britain is guesswork. The evidence for the positioning is based on information concerning the visit of Christian deleqates to the Council of Aries. The British section reads:
Eborius episcopus de civitate Eboracensi provincie Britannia. Restitutus episcopus de civitate Londiniensi provincia suprascripta ~ Adelphius episcopus de civitate colonia Londiniensium,
Exinde Sacerdos prespyter, Arminius diaconus.
Mann then connects these with the four provinces of Britain pointing out there must be a mistake in the third line. He links Eborius with York, Restitutius with London, suggests that "colonia Londiniensium" must be Lincoln (or possibly Colchester) and that it was likely Sacerdos and Arminius were representative of the absent bishop of Cirencester. The later city was the capital of Britannia Prima because of a monumental inscription found there. Mann goes on to suggest that London was the capital of Maxima Caesarensis because its governer has been made a consul, while other governers were praeses. He makes no mention of what is to follow and felt he was unable to locate Valentia.
The Rev. Arthur W. Wade-Evans divided Britian into the 5 Provinces known to have existed in the 4th century. These were Britanniae Prima, Britanniae Secunda, Flavia Caesarensis, Maxima Caesarensis and Valentia. Scholar base these on several lists but the positioning of them is unknown and today the present accepted Provinces come from the article by J.C. Mann, mentioned above. Wade-Evans, however, bases his positioning of these Provinces on evidence found in Liber de Jnvectionibus by Gerald of Wales (1205). Here is the quote which comes from a transcription from documents kept at the Vatican by William S. Davies for Y Cymmrodor, XXX, 1920, page 130:
Iuxta thomum einim Anacleti pape, sicut in pontificalibus Romanorum gestis et imperialibus conontinetur, directam Galliarum episcopis, iuxta statum gentilium ante Christo aduentum Britannia habuit prouincias numero v, Britanniam primam, Britannium secundam, Flauium, Maxiamiam, Ualentiam. Prima dicta est occidentalis pars insule, quies primum in ilia Britones, Bruto et Cornineo ducibus, applicuerunt, eaque primo a Cornineo et suis occupata est et inhabitata. Britannia secunda Cantia, quia secundo a Bruto et suis inhabitata fuerat. Tercia Flauia, loc est f/aua, que dicitur et Mercia, quasi mercibus habundans, cuius capud est Londonia. Quarta Maximia, id est, Eboraca, ab imperatore Maximo dicta. Quinta Ualentiana, ab tmperetore Ualente nuncupata, Albania sciJicat, que nunc abusiue Scotia dicitur ....
Prima was the western part of Britain, Secunda he places in the South-east of England - Kent, Flavia in the Midlands (Mercia) with its capital at London, Maxima had its capital at York, and Valentia beyond the latter in the area of modern day Scotland.
The reason why I think Maxima had a consul is because York had become an important military HQ in the later period. London, remember, still had the office of the vicarius.
I don't think Gerald or Wade-Evans should be ignored.
A good friend of mine Charles W. Evans-Gunther read your posts and thought you both might be interested in his view on the subject. He has asked me if I can post the following and would like to know what you think.
Graham.
On the Provinces of Britain by Charles W. Evans-Gunther
Having read J.C.Mann's article "The Administration of Roman Britain", (Antiquity Vol. XXXV, No.140, December 1961, pp. 316-320) I am sure that the positioning of the provinces of Britain is guesswork. The evidence for the positioning is based on information concerning the visit of Christian deleqates to the Council of Aries. The British section reads:
Eborius episcopus de civitate Eboracensi provincie Britannia. Restitutus episcopus de civitate Londiniensi provincia suprascripta ~ Adelphius episcopus de civitate colonia Londiniensium,
Exinde Sacerdos prespyter, Arminius diaconus.
Mann then connects these with the four provinces of Britain pointing out there must be a mistake in the third line. He links Eborius with York, Restitutius with London, suggests that "colonia Londiniensium" must be Lincoln (or possibly Colchester) and that it was likely Sacerdos and Arminius were representative of the absent bishop of Cirencester. The later city was the capital of Britannia Prima because of a monumental inscription found there. Mann goes on to suggest that London was the capital of Maxima Caesarensis because its governer has been made a consul, while other governers were praeses. He makes no mention of what is to follow and felt he was unable to locate Valentia.
The Rev. Arthur W. Wade-Evans divided Britian into the 5 Provinces known to have existed in the 4th century. These were Britanniae Prima, Britanniae Secunda, Flavia Caesarensis, Maxima Caesarensis and Valentia. Scholar base these on several lists but the positioning of them is unknown and today the present accepted Provinces come from the article by J.C. Mann, mentioned above. Wade-Evans, however, bases his positioning of these Provinces on evidence found in Liber de Jnvectionibus by Gerald of Wales (1205). Here is the quote which comes from a transcription from documents kept at the Vatican by William S. Davies for Y Cymmrodor, XXX, 1920, page 130:
Iuxta thomum einim Anacleti pape, sicut in pontificalibus Romanorum gestis et imperialibus conontinetur, directam Galliarum episcopis, iuxta statum gentilium ante Christo aduentum Britannia habuit prouincias numero v, Britanniam primam, Britannium secundam, Flauium, Maxiamiam, Ualentiam. Prima dicta est occidentalis pars insule, quies primum in ilia Britones, Bruto et Cornineo ducibus, applicuerunt, eaque primo a Cornineo et suis occupata est et inhabitata. Britannia secunda Cantia, quia secundo a Bruto et suis inhabitata fuerat. Tercia Flauia, loc est f/aua, que dicitur et Mercia, quasi mercibus habundans, cuius capud est Londonia. Quarta Maximia, id est, Eboraca, ab imperatore Maximo dicta. Quinta Ualentiana, ab tmperetore Ualente nuncupata, Albania sciJicat, que nunc abusiue Scotia dicitur ....
Prima was the western part of Britain, Secunda he places in the South-east of England - Kent, Flavia in the Midlands (Mercia) with its capital at London, Maxima had its capital at York, and Valentia beyond the latter in the area of modern day Scotland.
The reason why I think Maxima had a consul is because York had become an important military HQ in the later period. London, remember, still had the office of the vicarius.
I don't think Gerald or Wade-Evans should be ignored.
"Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream" Edgar Allan Poe.
"Every brush-stroke is torn from my body" The Rebel, Tony Hancock.
"..I sweated in that damn dirty armor....TWENTY YEARS!', Charlton Heston, The Warlord.
"Every brush-stroke is torn from my body" The Rebel, Tony Hancock.
"..I sweated in that damn dirty armor....TWENTY YEARS!', Charlton Heston, The Warlord.
