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Marcus (usurper)
Marcus (died 406) was a Roman usurper who was proclaimed emperor in 406 in Roman Britain. He was killed later that same year in a subsequent mutiny. Career Marcus was a high ranking soldier in Roman Britain who was proclaimed Emperor by the army there some time in 406, possibly during the summer. Possibly one of the army commanders in Britain (''Comes Britanniarum'', ''Comes Litoris Saxonici'' or ''Dux Britanniarum''), he may have risen to power as a reaction to the increasing raids from abroad at a time when the Empire was withdrawing troops from its distant provinces such as Britain to protect its heartland. While the historian J. B. Bury conjectured that rebellion of the British legions in 406 was aimed principally at Stilicho, the emperor Honorius’s ''magister militum'', the ancient sources (Olympiodorus of Thebes, Zosimus and Orosius) generally link the rebellion to the barbarian incursions into Gaul and Italy, and specifically the Vandal and Alanic tribes that crossed t ...
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Roman Usurper
Roman usurpers were individuals or groups of individuals who obtained or tried to obtain power by force and without legitimate legal authority. Usurpation was endemic during the Roman imperial era, especially from the crisis of the third century onwards, when political instability became the rule. The first dynasty of the Roman Empire, the Julio-Claudians (27 BC – 68 AD), justified the imperial throne by familial ties, namely with the connection (although only through adoption) with Augustus, the first emperor. Eventually, conflicts within the Julio-Claudian family triggered a series of murders, which led to the demise of the line. Nero died with public enemy status, and following his suicide, a short civil war began, known as the Year of the Four Emperors. The Flavian dynasty started with Vespasian, only to end with the assassination of his second son, Domitian. The 2nd century was a period of relative peace that was marked by the rule of the so-called Five Good Emperors, but ...
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Crossing Of The Rhine
The crossing of the Rhine River by a mixed group of barbarians which included Vandals, Alans and Suebi is traditionally considered to have occurred on the last day of the year 406 (December 31, 406). The crossing transgressed one of the Roman Empire, Late Roman Empire's most secure ''Limes (Roman Empire), limites'' or boundaries and so it was a climactic moment in the decline of the Roman Empire, decline of the Empire. It initiated a wave of destruction of Roman cities and the collapse of Roman civic order in northern Gaul. That, in turn, occasioned the rise of three usurpers in succession in the province of Roman Britain, Britannia. Therefore, the crossing of the Rhine is a marker date in the Migration Period during which various Germanic peoples, Germanic tribes moved westward and southward from southern Scandinavia and northern Germania. Ancient sources Several written accounts document the crossing, supplemented by the time line of Prosper of Aquitaine, which gives a fir ...
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Arnold Hugh Martin Jones
Arnold Hugh Martin Jones FBA (9 March 1904 – 9 April 1970) (known as A. H. M. Jones or Hugo Jones) was a prominent 20th-century British historian of classical antiquity, particularly of the later Roman Empire. Biography Jones's best-known work, ''The Later Roman Empire, 284–602'' (1964), is sometimes considered the definitive narrative history of late Rome and early Byzantium, beginning with the reign of the Roman tetrarch Diocletian and ending with that of the Byzantine emperor Maurice. One of the most common modern criticisms of this work is its almost total reliance on literary and epigraphic primary sources, a methodology which mirrored Jones's own historiographical training. Archaeological study of the period was in its infancy when Jones wrote, which limited the amount of material culture he could include in his research. He published his first book, ''The Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces'', in 1937. In 1946, he was appointed to the chair of the Ancient History ...
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The Little Emperors
''The Little Emperors'' is a 1951 historical novel by the English author Alfred Duggan. The novel follows the speculative exploits of Caius Felix in the Roman-British province of Britannia Prima. Plot synopsis The story is set in Britain in 405–411 CE, telling of the decline of the Roman government in the diocese of Britannia. Caius Sempronius Felix is a career Imperial civil servant. Born in the port city of Tingis in the Roman province of Mauritania Tingitana, he has served in many major Roman centres and has, by dint of loyalty and hard work (and not a little absconding with treasury funds), been appointed ''praeses'' (provincial governor) of Britannia Prima. Based in Londinium, and nominally responsible to the ''vicarius'' of the diocese, he is effectively the ruler – treasurer, administrator and magistrate with wide powers. He is married for political reasons to Maria, a younger woman and nominal Christian. His father-in-law Gratianus is a rich and scheming financi ...
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Alfred Duggan
Alfred Duggan (born Alfredo León Duggan; 1903–1964) was an English historian and archaeologist, and a well-known historical novelist in the 1950s. His novels are known for meticulous historical research. Background Though brought up in Britain, he was born Alfredo León Duggan in Lomas de Zamora, Buenos Aires, Argentina, to a family of wealthy landowners of Irish descent. His family moved to Britain when he was two years old. His father, Alfredo Huberto Duggan, a first generation Irish Argentinian, was appointed in 1905 to the Argentine Legation in London, and died in 1915. In 1917, his mother, the Alabama-born Grace Curzon, Marchioness Curzon of Kedleston, Grace Elvira Hinds, daughter of the U.S. Consul General in Rio de Janeiro, became the second wife of Lord Curzon, the former Viceroy of India. Duggan and his brother, Hubert Duggan, Hubert (1904–1943), were brought up in Britain at Curzon's seats, and were educated first at Wixenford School, Wixenford and Eton College, ...
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Dionotus
Dionotus was a legendary king of Cornwall in Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Historia regum Britanniae'', an account of the rulers of Britain based on ancient Welsh sources and disputed by many historians. Dionotus succeeding his brother Caradocus, and was regent of Britain during the campaigns in Gaul of Emperor Magnus Maximus. The curious thing about this king is that the Welsh chronicles, which parallel most of Geoffrey of Monmouth's book, do not mention this king by name. However, Geoffrey uses Latin versions of Welsh names so he could be referring to Dynod, duke of Cornwall, or Anwn Dynod, Maximus's own son. Nothing is said of Dionotus until he became king under Maximus. He is first mentioned when Conan Meriadoc, king of Brittany sends a request to Britain for Briton women to help populate his country. Dionotus, being extremely noble and powerful, accepted the request and sent seventy-two thousand women to Gaul. The ships, however, became lost at sea and most of the women died or wer ...
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List Of Legendary Kings Of Britain
The following list of legendary kings of Britain derives predominantly from Geoffrey of Monmouth's circa 1136 work ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' ("the History of the Kings of Britain"). Geoffrey constructed a largely fictional history for the Britons (ancestors of the Welsh, the Cornish and the Bretons), partly based on the work of earlier medieval historians like Gildas, Nennius and Bede, partly from Welsh genealogies and saints' lives, partly from sources now lost and unidentifiable, and partly from his own imagination (see bibliography). Several of his kings are based on genuine historical figures, but appear in unhistorical narratives. A number of Middle Welsh versions of Geoffrey's ''Historia'' exist. All post-date Geoffrey's text, but may give us some insight into any native traditions Geoffrey may have drawn on. Geoffrey's narrative begins with the exiled Trojan prince Brutus, after whom Britain is supposedly named, a tradition previously recorded in less elaborate form ...
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Gracianus Municeps
Gracianus Municeps was a legendary King of the Britons, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Historia regum Britanniae'' (Latin: ''History of the Kings of Britain''), a largely fictional account of British history. After the death of Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus, Gracianus seized the throne of Britain upon receiving word of Maximus's demise, by whose orders he had been sent to defend the attacked island while Maximus was campaigning on the continent. Gracianus served under Maximus during his campaigns in Rome and Germany, and was sent to Britain to defeat Wanius and Melga, the kings of the Picts and Huns respectively. He defeated the armies of both kings immediately upon arrival, ejecting them to Ireland. Soon after, word came that Maximus had died at the hands of either a supporter of the late Roman Emperor Gratian or by one of Gracianus Municeps' own followers. Despite mention previously made by Geoffrey of Monmouth of Dionotus, regent in Maximus' absence and king of Cornwall, G ...
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Geoffrey Of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth ( la, Galfridus Monemutensis, Galfridus Arturus, cy, Gruffudd ap Arthur, Sieffre o Fynwy; 1095 – 1155) was a British cleric from Monmouth, Wales and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur. He is best known for his chronicle ''The History of the Kings of Britain'' ( la, De gestis Britonum or ') which was widely popular in its day, being translated into other languages from its original Latin. It was given historical credence well into the 16th century, but is now considered historically unreliable. Biography Geoffrey was born between about 1090 and 1100, in Wales or the Welsh Marches. He had reached the age of majority by 1129 when he is recorded as witnessing a charter. Geoffrey refers to himself in his ''Historia'' as ''Galfridus Monemutensis'' (Geoffrey of Monmouth), which indicates a significant connection to Monmouth, Wales, and may refer to his birthplace. His works atte ...
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Historia Regum Britanniae
''Historia regum Britanniae'' (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), originally called ''De gestis Britonum'' (''On the Deeds of the Britons''), is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It chronicles the lives of the kings of the Britons over the course of two thousand years, beginning with the Trojans founding the British nation and continuing until the Anglo-Saxons assumed control of much of Britain around the 7th century. It is one of the central pieces of the Matter of Britain. Although taken as historical well into the 16th century, it is now considered to have no value as history. When events described, such as Julius Caesar's invasions of Britain, can be corroborated from contemporary histories, Geoffrey's account can be seen to be wildly inaccurate. It remains, however, a valuable piece of medieval literature, which contains the earliest known version of the story of King Lear and his three daughters, and helped ...
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Constantine III (Western Roman Emperor)
Constantine III (Latin: ''Flavius Claudius Constantinus'', died shortly before 18 September 411), was a Roman general who declared himself Western Roman Emperor in Britannia in 407 and established himself in Gaul. He was co-emperor from 409 until 411. Constantine rose to power during a bloody struggle in Roman Britain and was acclaimed emperor by the local legions in 407. He promptly moved to Gaul, taking all of the mobile troops from Britain, to confront the various Germanic invaders who had crossed the Rhine the previous winter. Constantine gained the upper hand after several battles with the forces of the Western Roman Emperor Honorius. As a result, Honorius recognised Constantine as co-emperor in 409. The activities of the invading tribes, raids by Saxons on the near-defenseless Britain and desertions by some of his top commanders led to a collapse of support. After further military setbacks he abdicated in 411. He was captured and executed shortly afterwards. Life I ...
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Radagaisus
Radagaisus (died 23 August 406) was a Gothic king who led an invasion of Roman Italy in late 405 and the first half of 406.Peter Heather, ''The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians'', 2nd ed. 2006:194; A committed Pagan, Radagaisus evidently planned to sacrifice the Senators of the Christian Roman Empire to the gods, and to burn Rome to the ground. Radagaisus was executed after being defeated by the general Stilicho. 12,000 of his higher-status fighters were drafted into the Roman army and some of the remaining followers were dispersed, while so many of the others were sold into slavery that the slave market briefly collapsed. These Goths later joined Alaric I in his conquest of Rome in 410.Wolfram 1988:171 Invasion Radagaisus's force probably consisted of about 20,000 fighting men.Heather, p. 198 Many of the fighters were accompanied by their families and other noncombatants, meaning that the total size of Radagaisus's group may have approached 100 ...
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