recruiting pools for the Roman army. The Franks in particular were just as often allies as enemies: in the late fourth century a number of them rose to be commanders-in-chief of the Roman army and even consuls. But the defensive system in Gaul, set up after the serious inroads made by the Germans in the third century, still functioned well and most of Gaul, governed still from Trier, remained secure from attack. Even in Britain the Roman army and navy successfully repelled a number of attacks by Scotti (as Romans called the Irish), by Britons and Picts from north of Hadrian's Wall, and by sea-borne Germans. Each attack brought fresh refortification in its wake; in 399, Stilicho, the German general who commanded the Roman armies in the west, himself came to Britain to supervise operations.
The picture changed dramatically in a very few years. Various Germanic peoples, notably the Vandals, Burgundians, and Sueves, crossed the Rhine into Gaul in the winter of 406-7, possibly fleeing the Huns, Asiatic nomads who were extending their domination over much of the area north of the Danube at this time. A general called Constantine, appointed emperor by the Roman troops in Britain (just as Constantine the Great had been a century earlier), brought most of his army across the Channel to deal with the barbarians in Gaul. When Saxons attacked Britain in 408 there were hardly any Roman soldiers left to defend it. The Emperor Honorius was forced to concede British civilians the right to take up arms for selfdefence, no doubt thinking that Roman authority could be reasserted once the crisis had passed, as such crises always had done before. This crisis, however, was different; continuing political problems on the Continent made it impossible for the empire to concern itself again with Britain. There begins a period of nearly two centuries when historians can know very little about what was happening north of the Channel. The few sources are all ambiguous, difficult to interpret, and infuriatingly allusive. And the archaeological evidence, which exists in relative abundance, can only with great difficulty and caution be used to illustrate historical events. But certain facts, and many speculations, emerge. Roman Britain, before and after
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