the Saxons

The end of Roman Britain.

A strong thread in the historiography of the end of Roman Britain is an attempt to place a firm date on it. Various dates have been advanced, from the end of coinage in 402, to Constantine III's rebellion in 407, to the rebellion mentioned by Zosimus in 409, and the Rescript of Honorius in 410.[18] Though much ink has been spilt over trying to place a date on when the flag went down and the troops went home, it is perhaps better not to think of this in terms of modern decolonisation. Though the secular Empire had let go, sparse records from Gaul suggest that the Church continued some hold: "Mansuetus, bishop of the Britains" signed in at the Council of Tours (461) and Fastidius Britannorum episcopum was noted by Gennadius of Massilia.[19] The dating of the end of Roman Britain is complex, and the exact process of it is probably unknowable.

There is some controversy as to just why Roman rule ended in Britain. The view first advocated by Mommsen was that Rome left Britain.[20] This argument was substantiated over time, most recently by A.S. Esmonde-Cleary.[21] According to this argument, internal turmoil in the empire and the need to withdraw troops to fight off barbarian armies led Rome to abandon Britain. It was the collapse of the imperial system that led to the end of imperial rule in Britain. However, Michael Jones has advanced an alternative thesis that argues that Rome did not leave Britain, but that Britain left Rome.[22] He highlights the numerous usurpers who came from Britain in the late fourth and early fifth century, and that a supply of coinage to Britain had dried up by the early fifth century, meaning administrators and troops were not getting paid. All of this, he argues, led the British people to rebel against Rome. Both of these arguments are open to criticism, though as yet no further developments have been made in understanding why the end of Roman Britain occurred.