Departure of Rome from Britain

By E S Moxon

In the 4th Century the senior administration of Britain sat in Gaul. Military command had become regionalised with whoever sat over the Eastern Empire based in Constantinople and the Western Empire was ruled from Rome. Meanwhile the Christian church was gaining power and, depending on the religious leanings of who sat on the throne, persecutions were weighted against Pagans (including the old Roman pantheon of gods) or Christians.

The start of the demise of Roman rule in Britain isn’t easy to pinpoint, however it could have begun with the death of Constantine in AD337. For three months there was no rule in Britain while his 3 sons (Constantine II, Constans and Constantius II) squabbled over who would rule what and where. A military revolt arose in Constantinople refusing any successor but a son of Constantine and other members of the Imperial family were murdered to ensure this. For Britain, little changed as Constantine II emerged as Senior Augustus in control of Britain, Gaul and Spain.

Emperor Constantius II on Amethyst

This was not enough for Constantine II, who launched a failed attack on Constans’ domain in Italy during AD340. Then when Constans was killed by conspirators in AD350, a Germanic mercenary named Magnetius was proclaimed Augustus. Using frontier reinforcement troops in Britain (leaving these posts lacking in defence), Magnetius challenged Constantius II (Augustus of the East in Constantinople) and was victorious. Magnetius ruled for three years, allowing Pagan worship in Britain, until his defeat in Gaul at the hands of Constantius II.

This allowed Constantius to declare himself sole Augustus of the entire Roman Empire, ruling both eastern and western frontiers. He reintroduced the death penalty for Pagan worship or sacrifice. The religious barometer swung back to Christianity once more. Sympathisers of Magnetius were punished severely and many villas became abandoned as high officials fled. These sumptuous places became home to squatters or servants’ families left behind.

City of Constantinople 

The religious barometer swung back to Paganism around AD355 when Constantius gave his young cousin Julian rule of Britain and Gaul. The new Caesar was passionate about literature and the ancient Roman gods. There is no mention of Christians being persecuted during this time, so we must assume that both old and new faiths co-existed and were freely worshipped. It seems Julian was perhaps an idealist, attempting to embrace the past and the future.

Admired by his troops for being an extraordinary general, he quickly drew disfavour from Constantius who resented his younger cousin’s popularity. The family quarrel led to a military revolt against Constantius, who died before the cousins could meet in battle and the troops declared Julian sole Augustus. In response to this, possibly feeling brave, Julian came out as a devoted Pagan and restored Roman observances of the old pantheon.

Aberlemno Pictish Cross

By AD367 a quarter of the Roman army was Germanic in origin (and therefore most likely Pagan). Britain was now being harassed from all sides by the Picts, Saxons, Scotts and Attacotti. To compound things, troubles in the Eastern Empire meant garrisons from Britain were removed to assist. Once again this depleted the frontier defences of Britain during a period of intense attacks by several foes. These foes were opportunists and seized their moment. The Franks and Saxons invaded Gaul, while Picts, Scotts and Attacotti attacked Britain, causing Roman officials to abandon their posts.

Over the next twenty-five years Rome battled the mercenaries, attempting to regain control and restore Roman rule in its splintered Western Empire. Valentian ruled the Imperial family until his hanging in AD391, but lost control of Britain with the arrival of Magnus Maximus in AD383, who led a victory against the Picts and Scotts (something Rome had failed to do) and invaded Gaul, setting up a court at Trier where he was baptised Catholic. His defeat came at the hands of Theodosius in AD388 when they were defeated at Aquilea. Before his death in AD395 Theodosius ordered repairs along Hadrian’s Wall and the construction of watch-towers along the north-eastern coast. He also tried to help the Christian diocese to recover.

Hadrian's Wall

By now the Pennine and Welsh forts were abandoned. Britain must have been a bleak and savage place, with Germanic mercenaries billeted in towns and control being snatched repeatedly from the hands of the Imperial Roman family. In AD392 Eugenius, Arbogastes and Flavianus arrived on the scene. Theodosius battled Eugenius in AD394 and won, no doubt refusing to allow usurpers to undo all his hard work on frontier fortification. As a result of Eugenius’ defeat, Arbogastes and Flavianus committed suicide.

The descendants of Theodosius, Arcadius and Honorius, were both Augustus, with the latter ruling into the beginning of the 5th Century. What then of the fate of Britain? After such turmoil, could Rome hold onto her and rule successfully? It appeared so for a while at least. Following the demise of Theodosius in AD395, his sons took over. In AD398 they repelled a joint Pict/Scott invasion with their western troops, who were mostly Germanic mercenaries, those called ‘foederati’. These barbarian troops were at the forefront of guarding Britain, along Hadrian’s Wall and the east coast shore forts. However, despite their military successes, Fate frowned on Rome.

Stilicho negotiating with Goths

In AD401 the Goth, Alaric came over the Alps and had Rome securely in his sights. Stilicho, a ‘magister militum’ who had married a niece of Thoedosius, wintered in the Danube desperately trying to recruit additional barbarian troops. This was to no avail. With almost no financial assistance from Honorius it had been hard to raise men to the cause. The barbarian army revolted against Stilicho and crossed back over the Rhine.

Meanwhile in Britain, they had had revolts of their own. The army made a Romano-Briton named ‘Gratian’ their leader, who was swiftly disposed of and replaced with Constantine III who moved to Gaul before the barbarian Germanic army of Stilicho could cross the Channel. The barbarians turned south. By AD407 Constantine III had taken back Gaul with his son and took Britain in AD408, forcing Honorius to accept Britain as a prefecture under Gaul in AD409. But there was more upheaval to come.

Alaric and his Goth army sacked Rome in AD410. In a panic to raise troops, all garrisons from Britain were recalled. This caused a civil war to erupt as several sought the title of Augustus and were forced to raise their own armies to fend off barbarian attacks. They ejected Roman officials from their offices and by AD413 no attempts had been made by Rome to bring Britain back under the rule of Honorius. Rome had certainly fallen, at the very least, in Britain.


Bibliography:

“Roman Britain” by Martin Millett (English Heritage)

“Oxford Illustrated History of Roman Britain” by Peter Salway

“Britain AD” by Francis Pryor

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E S MOXON has had a lifelong passion for history and writing. A childhood filled with family visits to ancient burial sites and stone circles fuelled her imagination. Inspired by classic medieval tales and Norse sagas, Elaine imagined herself inhabiting these Dark Ages and exploring the landscapes in her mind and continues to do so through her novels.

Tales of the Wulfsuna

Dunnottar Castle - Majestic Ruin with Tales to Tell

By Annie Whitehead

Dunnottar Castle: if you’ve never visited, chances are you’ll still recognise it. It’s a ruin now, perched on a headland just south of Stonehaven, in the northeast of Scotland. What remains visible dates to mainly the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but there is evidence of habitation from a much earlier period.

There are two references to it in the Annals of Ulster, under the entries for 680 and 693, where it is named as Dùn Fhoithear, which means ‘fort on the shelving slope.’ The antiquarian, William Skene, commenting on Fordun’s Scotichronicon, called it Dunnottar in the Mearns, ‘Mearns’ being the old term for Kincardineshire.

It is said that Saint Ninnian, born around 360AD and known for his missionary work among the Picts, built a chapel at Dunnottar.

A dig carried out by the nearby University of Aberdeen found evidence of Pictish occupation on the sea stack of Dunnicaer to the north of the castle. It was, apparently, the oldest Pictish fort to have been found. It seems that the site remained in continuous use for some centuries.

No finds or structures earlier than the late twelfth century were discovered under the castle ruins, but the archaeologists knew from research that the site was one of the centres for trade bringing glass and pottery from Gaul into Britain and Ireland in the seventh and eighth centuries. Examining the symbols carved on the group of five Class 1 Pictish stones on the sea stack known as Dinnacair or Dunnicaer, they concluded that St Ninian’s missionary church was on Dunnottar Rock and that Dunnicaer might have been a ‘disert’, or place of retreat from Ninian’s missionary station.

In the seventh century Dunnottar came under attack from King Bridei III, king of the Picts from 672 until his death in 693. He launched his assault on Dunnottar in 680/1, before turning his attention to the Orcadian kingdom where, according to the Annals of Ulster, he ‘destroyed’ the Orkney Islands. Bridei was quite some warrior, fighting and defeating Ecgfrith of Northumbria at the battle of Nechtanesmere in 685.

Pictish Stone generally accepted to depict the
battle of Nechtanesmere - public domain image

In the late ninth century, Domnall mac Causantín, better known perhaps as Donald II of Scotland, had the misfortune to be ruler at a time of Danish raids in the area. According to the Chronicles of the Kings of Alba, Donald ruled between 889–900 and 'The Northmen wasted Pictland at this time. In his reign a battle occurred between Danes and Scots at Innisibsolian where the Scots had victory. He was killed at [Dunnottar].' The castle was then apparently destroyed. With his back literally to the sea, the fight must have been intense, and desperate. Looking out over the water, on a cloudy autumn day, I couldn’t help but think that it was a rather desolate end for him.

In 934, according to the chronicler Simeon of Durham, ‘King Athelstan, going towards Scotland with a great army ... subdued his enemies, [and] laid waste Scotland as far as Dunnottar and Wertermorum (unidentified). For context, it takes around six hours to drive in a modern car along mainly dual-carriageways and motorways from the current England/Scotland border to Dunnottar, and at least as long in the other direction to get to ‘Wessex’. Athelstan was a long, long, way from home. Sometimes we are grateful to have more than one source, for the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry (Ms C) for the same year tells us only that ‘King Athelstan went into Scotland with both a land force and a naval force, and ravaged much of it.'

In 1276 a new church was built on the site of St Ninian’s chapel, erected in stone in the Norman style and consecrated by William Wishart, who was the bishop of St Andrews until his death in 1279

Dunnottar was to see more action when in 1297 a force led by none other than William Wallace captured the castle. It is said that the English soldiers garrisoned there took refuge in the church and that Wallace burned the church with the soldiers inside it, but I have read sources which state that this might not be true.

Things seem to have calmed down a little in the fourteenth century when the Keith family took up residence. However, this was not a time of peace in Scotland. In 1314 Sir Robert Keith was in command of the Keith cavalry at the battle of Bannockburn.

His descendant, Sir William Keith oversaw the building of the keep, which has survived to the present day.

The Keep

The family remained in the ascendant and Sir William was appointed first Earl Marischal of Scotland by King James II in 1458. Mary Queen of Scots visited Dunnottar on more than one occasion, bringing with her, in 1562, her son, the future James VI of Scotland (and subsequently I of England). In 1580 he visited by himself and apparently stayed for several days’ hunting on the Keith family estates.

Towards the end of the sixteenth century, the fifth Earl Marischal, George, built on the site and founded Marischal College in nearby Aberdeen.

But the family fortunes were to take a downturn.

It’s strange to think of the English Civil War having an impact on this remote part of the world, but it did, for the people of Scotland were caught up in the wrangle too. In 1645, James Graham, earl of Montrose, (who’d been appointed Lord Lieutenant of Scotland) marched his army to Dunnottar and requested a treaty with the Earl Marischal, who declined to respond. Montrose set fire to nearby homes, farms and boats in the harbour below.

Nor was Dunnottar safe from Parliamentarian forces, for Cromwell’s army also besieged it in 1650 for a long and trying eight months. The castle surrendered, but the Honours of Scotland, which were in effect the Scottish Crown Jewels, had been smuggled out of the castle to Kinneff Church nearby.

1715 saw the first of the Jacobite risings and the incumbent of the castle at this point, George Keith, the tenth (and last) Earl Marischal, was convicted of treason for taking part in the doomed rebellion. Dunnottar, among his other holdings, was forfeited to the government. Two years later, it was sold to the York Mining Company and was stripped of all valuable materials. The floors and ceilings were taken and all the furniture was removed. After that, it was inevitable that the castle would fall to ruin.

What the visitor sees today is somewhat of a romantic ruin. It must have looked much more impressive in its heyday but as it stands, it sparks the imagination. Indeed, lovers of folklore will be pleased to know that Dunnottar features in the story of Fergus.**

The young man, Fergus, encounters the young lady Galiene whose uncle is the castellan of Liddel Castle (in Roxburghshire). She falls in love with him, but he says he will only return to her once he has completed his quest to vanquish the Black Knight. He does so, but when he returns to claim Galiene he discovers that she is not there. He searches for a year, eventually encountering a dwarf who tells him that his lost love will only come back to him if he takes a shield from a witch at Dunnottar. He travels all the way to Scotland, reaches Dunnottar, slays the witch and returns via Lothian, where he finds that Galiene is now Queen of Lothian, under siege from the neighbouring king of Roxburgh. Fergus then has to fight the avenging husband of the witch he killed at Dunnottar. The story goes on, although the rest is not linked to Dunnottar.

On the overcast, windy day when I visited, it was certainly easy to see how this place inspired such legends. But perhaps it's harder to believe, looking at it in its present state, how many true stories it holds.

* https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archive

** The Roman de Fergus - a 13th-century Arthurian romance written in Old French

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Annie Whitehead is an author and historian, and a member of the Royal Historical Society. She has written three award-winning novels set in Anglo-Saxon Mercia, including To Be A Queen, the story of the life of Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians. Her history of Mercia, from Penda the pagan king to the last brave stand of the earl of Mercia against the Conqueror, Mercia: The Rise and Fall of a Kingdom, is published by Amberley. Her new book, about Anglo-Saxon Women, will be published by Pen & Sword in 2020.

Connect with Annie: Website  Blog  Facebook  Twitter 

Drest I - A Pictish King

By Shaun Green

If I was to say this article refers to a formidable warrior king of the fifth century, Arthur would spring into most readers minds. Some argue his existence, others suggest several influential figures have been conflated into one mythical legend.

The many legends of mythical King Arthur are widely known

However, there is considerable evidence that many legendary warlords existed during this period that could equal the popularised mythical man. Recently whilst reading about the Saxons who first came to Ebbsfleet, their first settlement, I discovered a fable in British history I had not come across. The importance of one man stood out.

The Saxons had been invited by a Briton King, Vortigern, as mercenaries to help dispel an invading horde led by King Drest I of the Picts. He was possibly the first man to hold this title, and certainly the first noteworthy King of Pictland. This region is also recorded as Pictavia in some documented sources.

He was a man revered above all peers, a leader with no equal. A Chieftain who not only united all the clans of his people but had ambitions of dominating all of Britannia. The Pictish chronicles, a historic record of Scottish kings dated somewhere in the ninth century, states that he 'reigned for one hundred years and triumphed in one hundred battles.'

A surviving copy of the ninth century Pictish Chronicles

John of Fordun, a fourteenth-century priest, records Drest as having reigned for forty-five years. This is a much more believable period than the earlier suggestion. Yet this is still a lengthy rule during such a time of unrest after the Romans sudden and complete withdrawal.

Sovereignty may not have passed from father to son, with some sources stating the Picts exercised a matrilineal heritage. The eldest male of the leader's daughter would inherit command so grandsons would succeed their mother's father. This ensured the legitimacy of the bloodline when true paternity could never be known.

However, other sources suggest the most formidable warrior would assume command. The Picts may have co-existed in smaller clans, or kin, presiding over little pockets of land. The most formidable warrior led rather than a sovereign inheriting the position through royal lineage.

They would have fought between each other, quelling their abilities to expand or conquer. With this in mind, any man skilled in swordplay could have challenged Drest during his rule, which probably would have occurred as he conquered more territories, stretching his loyalties.

An image of the legendary barbarian-esque Pict Warriors

He took control over a vast part of Northern Britain, from the Scottish North West coast, to disputably, as far south as Lindum. (A Roman settlement of great authority during this period, now known as Lincoln.)

A map showing the extent of this fabled conquest

Various sources state that it was this conquest into Briton that forced King Vortigern, possible High King of Briton, to hire two exiled Saxon chieftains to help fight against the Picts. These Brothers, Hengest and Horsa, helped push the Picts back into Pictland. The Angles never went back across the Channel, thus starting the conquest which would, in four hundred years, create England.

His existence is supported by Christian records, which place him around the time of Saint Ninian, Palladius, and Saint Patrick. The Pictish chronicles state that Saint Patrick left Scotland for Ireland in the nineteenth year of Drest's reign, which places him somewhere in the middle of the fifth century. However, the Picts left no personal written records, although a few stone carvings have been attributed to them.

Example of Pictish stone carvings

Another formidable figure during this time was Drest's brother, Nechtan. He was banished to Ireland during Drest's reign but returned a few years after his death to become King of the Picts.

There is a little more information about Nechtan, but the most interesting fact may also be an explanation for this. He is recorded to be the King when Christianity was first introduced to Scotland, quite possibly a Christian himself, so more noteworthy for Christian recorders. Sources dispute the cause for Nechtan's banishment. His faith may have been enough for Drest to disown him, or a failed coup for the throne may have been led by Nechtan. The fact he later reigned, coupled with several Christian landmarks bearing Nechtan's name, suggests it could have been either or both.

The lack of specific detail makes it difficult to confidently, or accurately, suggest Drest's period of reign, or his achievements. The few surviving records were written centuries later, mainly by Christian chroniclers as a way to record and synchronise the success of missionary work. 

The boast of reigning for one hundred years is unlikely, but any lengthy rule could have meant he outlived most of his original followers, many of whom would have fallen in battle. Thus no one who lived after his death could remember just how long he had ruled. One hundred triumphs also sound like an exaggerated boast.

However, if he was the chieftain that united the various Pictish clans before turning his attention to other kingdoms, it becomes less of a stretch of the imagination. One thing the majority of conflicting sources agree on is his numerous victories over Scots, Britons and Angles and that he is a legendary and noteworthy King.

Despite all of the above, I struggled to find much about this man, except for confirmation of his existence and the banishment of Nechtan. This factor reputedly coincided with the Saxon mercenaries challenging the Picts which resulted in the invasion being quashed, with Drest dying a few short years after the forgotten conquest.

Drest I may not have 'reigned for one hundred years and triumphed in one hundred battles', but the truth is, we will never know... 

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Shaun Green was born in Peterborough. He studied at the University of Wolverhampton, gaining a BA (Hons) degree in criminal justice. He served in the Royal Navy for eight years as a submariner and then part of the commando helicopter force. He then pursued a lifelong ambition of being a prison officer.

Shaun has always loved to write and create. His imagination always took him to wondrous places with his wandering mind landing him in trouble on regular occasions, especially in childhood. Now he begins another ambition of putting his world into the realms of reality, for others to enjoy.

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