A Chronological History of Britain
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Ok, when we last left off, Augustine had become the Archbishop of England, had been given orders to make London the seat of the English Church, and had some Papal answers to some rather odd questions.
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So last week we ended with Augustine converting the people of Kent to Christianity and AEthelberht coming out as Christian… was he converted by Augustine or had he already been converted? We just don’t know.
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In the last several episodes we’ve been speaking about religion. We’ve spoken about the paganism that existed on the island, the christians that lived on the island, the reasons why individuals and rulers might want to convert, and of course we’ve spoken about what the church in Rome was up to and what their plans were.
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Ok, so lets leave Britain for this episode and head to Rome. I hear it’s nice this time of year.
Actually, I hear it’s really hot this time of year. But it seems like everywhere is right now… so Rome it is!
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As we go forward in this series, what I hope you’re beginning to get a sense of from both the WelshCast and all the other shows focusing on the so called Dark Ages, is how fragmented life in Britain was at this point in history.
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It has been nearly two hundred years since Rome withdrew from Britannia setting this small island at the edge of the world on a course that could not have been predicted.
Over the generations, a new culture has developed in the lands that will one day become England, and with that new culture came new gods. Gods with famous names like Thunor and Woden. Gods of war and death, to match the warrior society that now ruled over eastern Britannia.
But while the Anglo Saxons were finding a new path in this Brave New World… far to the East, in Rome, things were changing as well. Christianity had survived the fall of the Western Empire and has flourished thanks, in no small part, to an ingenious religious innovation… the concept of one true god, and an utter lack of tolerance for variations in dogma.
And now, after two centuries of separation, Rome will once more reach out and attempt to bring Britannia back under its dominion.
A ship will soon set sail, carrying within it a man who’s sole task is to bring the Anglo Saxons under the control of the church. But will the pagans listen? And what will they think of a god who is proclaimed as the prince of peace? And if they convert, how will they interpret the absolute demand for religious unity?
We have seen these people become increasingly more warlike… and one thing is certain with this new religion will come new reasons for bloodshed… as we enter BHP, Season Three… The Warriors of God.
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Alright, so we have two more kings of Wales before we leave Gildas and his spittle flecked rantings. And something that you might notice as we go forward is that we don’t haven’t been provided a Tyrant of Powys nor are any of the Eastern Kingdoms listed. Sure, we don’t know where Aurelias Conanus ruled, but there’s not affirmative statement of a king of Powys, Rheged, or other kingdom by Gildas. He was just an unknown ruler (or maybe just a failed usurper).
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Today, we’re going to talk about some of the people who were really pissing Gildas off. People that drove him so batty that he just couldn’t contain his rage. And since Gildas was Welsh, he was predictably focusing his ire upon the Welsh kings. Though, like I mentioned earlier, the term “Wales” isn’t something that would be used at this time. Right now, they’re British… and saw themselves as part of the various kingdoms that populated Wales but not of any singular political body that we’d recognize as “Wales.” But regardless, all the action takes place in the Celtic West. So needless to say, this fits right in with the WelshCast.
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As you probably remember from the main podcast, before we had the appearance of major Anglo Saxon kingdoms, there was an initial migration and invasion in the sub-Roman period, with famous Germanic leaders like Hengest, Horsa, and Aelle appearing in Kent and Sussex. But there was also a staunch British resistance to these incursions lead, in part, by a man by the name of Ambrosius Aurelianus (who might have also been known as Riothamus and might have even been the inspiration for Arthur… but only maybe, because Arthur is a bit of a mystery).
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We’re now at the point where Rome has withdrawn from Britannia (and more important to our story, from Wales), and today we’re going to talk about the impact that had upon the people.