08-01-2009, 10:42 AM
Exactly my thinking, Alanus.
Earlier in his Jeremiad, Gildas refers to the Romans sending "forward, like eagles in their flight, their unexpected bands of cavalry" against invading Socts and Picts. (Assumed to refer to Stilicho's second rescue, circa 418.) That places effective mounted Roman soldiers in Britannia in the corporate memory of Britons of the fifth and sixth century. (Gildas wrote circa 545.) Such a memory may have influenced the rub-Roman Britons to try to emulate the Roman practice.
Gildas is also who we have to thank for our earliest "Arthur" reference, that of the Briton victory at "the seige of Bath hill". Despite Gildas having named many other names which have appeared in this thread, he neglected to tell us who led the Britons in that victory which brought Britannia a generation of peace--perhaps their last before the Saxons gradually pushed the Briton remnant into Cornwall and Wales.
Except Gildas reports, "our foreign wars having ceased, but our civil troubles still remaining, the Britons fell to fighting among themselves."
It is not hard to see why later Britons might look back on that time, that unity, victory and unnamed leader with nostalgia, and maybe even exaggerated both the victory and the leader.
Earlier in his Jeremiad, Gildas refers to the Romans sending "forward, like eagles in their flight, their unexpected bands of cavalry" against invading Socts and Picts. (Assumed to refer to Stilicho's second rescue, circa 418.) That places effective mounted Roman soldiers in Britannia in the corporate memory of Britons of the fifth and sixth century. (Gildas wrote circa 545.) Such a memory may have influenced the rub-Roman Britons to try to emulate the Roman practice.
Gildas is also who we have to thank for our earliest "Arthur" reference, that of the Briton victory at "the seige of Bath hill". Despite Gildas having named many other names which have appeared in this thread, he neglected to tell us who led the Britons in that victory which brought Britannia a generation of peace--perhaps their last before the Saxons gradually pushed the Briton remnant into Cornwall and Wales.
Except Gildas reports, "our foreign wars having ceased, but our civil troubles still remaining, the Britons fell to fighting among themselves."
It is not hard to see why later Britons might look back on that time, that unity, victory and unnamed leader with nostalgia, and maybe even exaggerated both the victory and the leader.
"Fugit irreparabile tempus" (Irrecoverable time glides away) Virgil
Ron Andrea
Ron Andrea
