Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The end of Roman Britain has long been a subject of intense debate, not least because it is an age of legend as much as one of hard-headed scholarship. Occasionally scholars have tried to bring the two together, approaching the period as an ‘Age of Arthur’ ( Morris 1973 ). Yet even leaving aside the arguments which have raged over the historical nature of otherwise of Arthur ( James 2001 : 101–2), interpretations have varied widely, depending on the extent to which archaeological or literary sources are emphasized, and indeed on the differing readings of those sources. Further, although recent years have seen a number of important archaeological excavations relevant to the period, the interpretation of those sites has not been lacking in controversy. Much of the difficulty can be associated with problems of chronology. Those written sources which ought to provide the basis for a narrative account of the period are largely lacking in dates: even the dates of composition of the major written texts are themselves open to question. Patrick's death, which is the chief determinant of the date at which he wrote his letters, has been placed in the 460s and the 490s: every decade from the 490s to the 540s has been claimed for the composition of the De Excidio Britanniae by Gildas. As a result, however much progress has been made on the interpretation of these texts, there remain questions ... log in or subscribe to read full text