Sub-Roman Britain (Cavalry etc)

[Alanus]

It does seem that Gildas overstated the ruin of Britain... a fact not having yet occurred. But I also agree that the southern Britains had become soft, not the warrior society we oft think they were. The simple outrage of Gildas might be typical-- aghast at the idea that pagan Saxons were stripping land from good Romanized Christians. :wink:

We tend to forget how cosmopolitan the southerners had become. When we look at the Saint Cadoc Records and the Liber Landavensis, we find frequent mention of villas in relation to food stipens parceled off to the Church. In the short distance between Venta Silurium and Llanwit Major, archaeologists have found three major villas... and they weren't really digging for them. Like Domnonia, Siluria was a rich area in terms of real wealth. It held the most powerful dynasty in post-Roman southern Britain, according to Snyder. Here, in Siluria (which had a tremendous early resistance to Roman rule) life was exceptionally Romanized, as it was in Cornwall and Somerset, perhaps even Demetia. It was also highly Christianized, giving us major saints-- David, Cadoc, Dubricius, and Illtyd (the prototype Lancelot).

Yet I also agree that during a period between the fall of the Roman administration and the hand-wrenching of Gildas (the son of a barbarian who was educated by Saint Illtyd), the noble families of southern Britain were able to field and support a cavalry of 300. In fact, if we believe songs that came down from the north, that cavalry may have been three separate alae of 300. "Nine hundred would listen to him," comes to mind, as does the "steel alae."

Britain was certainly fragmented during the 5th century, but it was not bankrupt. Coinage dropped, yet trade was maintained and agriculture actually increased. Perhaps in that short period between the Roman abandonment and Robert's date of c. 495-500, something significant had occurred that may never have been accomplished again. In the beginning, a faction which had moola and power, made up of Dumnonni and the nontypical Silures (who may have been originally Iberians hock: ), rose to some kind of "Arthurian" level and kept the Saxons at bay for a rumored 30 years. :roll: