Eboracum with the Colonia in the foreground and the fortress across the river.In my last two posts, I presented evidence that Roman York (Eboracum) was home to a large African community in the late 300s. This was due to the stationing of Nubian archers and other African legionnaires in this and other garrison towns of northern England.
Did many remain after the end of Roman rule c. 400? By then, the legions had been largely pulled out and redeployed elsewhere in the dying empire. So the African legionnaires were certainly fewer in number. But these pullouts did not affect the veterans, who were already settled on local estates with their families. Among these ‘Afro-British’ settlers, valued skills like archery would have been passed down from father to son, thus making their community a key player during increasingly troubled times...
What happened after the end of Roman rule? Did this community survive into sub-Roman times? This is the period that began with the last pullout of Roman troops c. 400 and ended with the collapse of Romano-British society in the late 500s.
The historical sources are not entirely mute on this question. These sources, however, have been corrupted by the passage of time. There is also the human temptation to embellish the facts and tell a good story. This is especially so for the sub-Roman period, when many written records were destroyed and when writing itself became almost a lost art. Historical accounts survived only in oral form before being later written down, often much later.
The source that most interests us is the Historia Regum Britanniae (c. 1136), purportedly a translation of an old Welsh chronicle. It is largely consistent with earlier works on British history, like the Historia Britonum (9th-century), the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (8th century), and the De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae (6th century). On the other hand, many of its passages seem too outlandish to be true.
One passage, for instance, reports that over a hundred thousand Africans took part in the struggles between the Romano-British and the Anglo-Saxons:
The Saxons, having had experience of his [the British ruler’s] shiftiness, went unto Gormund, King of the Africans, in Ireland, wherein, adventuring thither with a, vast fleet, he had conquered the folk of the country. Thereupon, by the treachery of the Saxons, he sailed across with a hundred and sixty-six thousand Africans into Britain, which in one province the Saxons by perjuring their oath of fealty, and in another the Britons by continually carrying on civil wars amongst themselves, were utterly laying waste.
Entering into covenant, therefore, with the Saxons, Gormund made war upon Careticus, and after many battles betwixt them, drove him fleeing from city unto city until he forced him into Cirencester and did there beleaguer him.
[…] When Gormund at last had taken and burnt the said city, he did battle with Careticus and drove him fleeing beyond the Severn into Wales. Then he desolated the fields, set fire to all the neighbouring cities, nor did he stint his fury until he had burnt up well-nigh the whole face of the country from sea to sea; in such sort that all the colonies were battered to the ground by rams, and all they that dwelt therein along with the priests of the churches delivered up to the flashing of their swords or the crackling of the flames.
[… after] the tyrant of evil omen had laid waste, as hath been said, well-nigh the whole island with his countless thousands of Africans, the more part thereof which was called Loegria did he make over unto the Saxons through whose treachery he had come into the land. The remnant of the Britons did therefore withdraw them into the western parts of the kingdom, Cornwall, to wit, and Wales […]
Historia Regum Britanniae 11:8-10
If we exclude the African subplot, this story is consistent with other historical accounts, i.e., the Romano-British state fell because of internal dissensions and because the Anglo-Saxons had renewed their war of conquest after a half-century of vassalage.
But did these warring factions recruit soldiers from an African state in Ireland? No such state is described in any other account. On the other hand, the chronicler may have confused Hibernia (Ireland) with Eboracum (York)—the old garrison town where many African legionnaires had once been stationed. The two place names are especially similar if we remember that Eboracum would have been shortened to Ebora in late Latin.
Initially, these Africans may have hired themselves out to opposing Romano-British factions. Then, with the renewal of the Anglo-Saxon invasion, it is possible that many of them defected to that side, having seen which way the wind was turning. Perhaps this mass defection was decisive. Or perhaps the Welsh chronicler needed a scapegoat.
Anyhow, there is no doubt about the final outcome: the Romano-British state collapsed under conditions probably as dramatic as those described above. And it is certainly plausible that some soldiers switched sides. These were chaotic times when people had to live by their wits. In this, the Afro-British were probably no worse than others.
Did their community last into Anglo-Saxon times? This is doubtful. Even without the carnage of war, their numbers would have steadily declined, partly because of the below-replacement fertility that prevailed throughout the Roman Empire and partly because of the 6th-century plagues that carried off one in three people. There was also assimilation: beyond a certain point, successive intermarriage would have led to many individuals passing into the broader Romano-British society.
And, of course, there was the carnage of war. As soldiers, the Afro-British would have suffered many casualties. As civilians, they would have been caught up in the widespread destruction of the late 500s.
If this community did survive into Anglo-Saxon times, there would surely have been some mention by the Venerable Bede [672-735], a prolific Christian writer who lived in Northumbria and often visited York. Yet he made no reference to them.
Or maybe he did. In his commentary on the book of Genesis, he comes down hard on Nimrod, who is often identified by Christian and Jewish commentators as a black African (because his father was Cush):
But did these warring factions recruit soldiers from an African state in Ireland? No such state is described in any other account. On the other hand, the chronicler may have confused Hibernia (Ireland) with Eboracum (York)—the old garrison town where many African legionnaires had once been stationed. The two place names are especially similar if we remember that Eboracum would have been shortened to Ebora in late Latin.
Initially, these Africans may have hired themselves out to opposing Romano-British factions. Then, with the renewal of the Anglo-Saxon invasion, it is possible that many of them defected to that side, having seen which way the wind was turning. Perhaps this mass defection was decisive. Or perhaps the Welsh chronicler needed a scapegoat.
Anyhow, there is no doubt about the final outcome: the Romano-British state collapsed under conditions probably as dramatic as those described above. And it is certainly plausible that some soldiers switched sides. These were chaotic times when people had to live by their wits. In this, the Afro-British were probably no worse than others.
Did their community last into Anglo-Saxon times? This is doubtful. Even without the carnage of war, their numbers would have steadily declined, partly because of the below-replacement fertility that prevailed throughout the Roman Empire and partly because of the 6th-century plagues that carried off one in three people. There was also assimilation: beyond a certain point, successive intermarriage would have led to many individuals passing into the broader Romano-British society.
And, of course, there was the carnage of war. As soldiers, the Afro-British would have suffered many casualties. As civilians, they would have been caught up in the widespread destruction of the late 500s.
If this community did survive into Anglo-Saxon times, there would surely have been some mention by the Venerable Bede [672-735], a prolific Christian writer who lived in Northumbria and often visited York. Yet he made no reference to them.
Or maybe he did. In his commentary on the book of Genesis, he comes down hard on Nimrod, who is often identified by Christian and Jewish commentators as a black African (because his father was Cush):
Genesis 10:8-9a Now Cush begot Nimrod. He began to be mighty on the earth, and he was a stout hunter before the Lord.
While the descendants of Shem and of Japheth remained in the innocence of a life of honesty, there arose from the cursed offspring of Ham one who corrupted the condition of the human way of life by a new kind of living. So long as he was puffed up by his remarkable power, he at first lived by hunting; then, having gathered an army, he strove to exert an unaccustomed tyranny upon the peoples. […]
10:9b From this came a proverb: Like Nimrod a stout hunter before the Lord.
It was turned into a proverb because unaccustomed deeds were done in his times. And the additional phrase, before the Lord, is for the sake of magnifying the outrage, namely that it was totally rash and arrogant that a man should dare to live in such a way on earth ‘before the Lord’.
But then why didn’t Bede mention these Afro-British in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People (Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum)? Perhaps there was a reason for not mentioning them. He had sent an earlier draft to Ceolwulf, king of Northumbria, and asked for the king’s approval. If there had been an alliance between the Anglo-Saxons and Eboracum, Ceolwulf’s family would have been directly involved...
We will never know the full story. (It’s not for nothing that this period is called the Dark Ages). It’s likely that when Roman rule ended c. 400, power fell into the hands of a number of regional entities, including one centered on Eboracum. These entities gradually consolidated to fight the Anglo-Saxon invasion, eventually becoming a single kingdom under a charismatic leader, the semi-mythical “King Arthur.” This leader reduced the Anglo-Saxons to vassalage c. 500, thus bringing about a half-century of peace. Then, after his death c. 550, the Romano-British kingdom split up into warring factions. The Anglo-Saxons seized the opportunity and allied themselves with one or more of the losing factions, including the Afro-British warlords based at Eboracum.
It was an alliance that the Anglo-Saxons lived to regret, apparently because of “unaccustomed deeds.” Perhaps the African soldiers plundered not only Romano-British civilians but also those Anglo-Saxons who had remained in vassalage. Who knows? All we really know, based on archeological evidence, is that Eboracum became uninhabited at some point in the late 500s. And so ends a strange story.
References
Geoffrey of Monmouth. (1904) Histories of the Kings of Britain (Historia Regum Britanniae), transl. by Sebastian Evans
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/gem/gem12.htmWe will never know the full story. (It’s not for nothing that this period is called the Dark Ages). It’s likely that when Roman rule ended c. 400, power fell into the hands of a number of regional entities, including one centered on Eboracum. These entities gradually consolidated to fight the Anglo-Saxon invasion, eventually becoming a single kingdom under a charismatic leader, the semi-mythical “King Arthur.” This leader reduced the Anglo-Saxons to vassalage c. 500, thus bringing about a half-century of peace. Then, after his death c. 550, the Romano-British kingdom split up into warring factions. The Anglo-Saxons seized the opportunity and allied themselves with one or more of the losing factions, including the Afro-British warlords based at Eboracum.
It was an alliance that the Anglo-Saxons lived to regret, apparently because of “unaccustomed deeds.” Perhaps the African soldiers plundered not only Romano-British civilians but also those Anglo-Saxons who had remained in vassalage. Who knows? All we really know, based on archeological evidence, is that Eboracum became uninhabited at some point in the late 500s. And so ends a strange story.
References
Geoffrey of Monmouth. (1904) Histories of the Kings of Britain (Historia Regum Britanniae), transl. by Sebastian Evans
Venerable Bede. (2008). On Genesis, transl. by C.B. Kendall, Liverpool University Press.