A forgotten Remnant of the Roman Empire?

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#Maiorianus

[trazyianajones]

Didn't expect that one welsh kingdom in vinland saga to be historically acurate

[davidmcgarry]

This might explain why in the late 12th century, Owain Gwynedd, declared himself Princeps Cambriae after defeating England's Henry II in battle. The title princeps was first used by Augustus, and subsequent Roman emperors also used that title.

[precariousworlds]

You should also do videos on the similar rump states of the Eastern Roman Empire, like the Principality of Theodoro and the Despotate of the Morea

[loopernoodling]

Having gone on plenty of day trips to North Wales when I was a child, all I can say is that you would be looking at Rhyl for a very long time before you were reminded of the splendour that was Rome!

[lymeregis]

The Roman way of life required a large trade network. The building materials found in archaeological sites, for example, had often travelled a long way before reaching their final destination. With the chaos leading to the demise of the western Roman empire many trade routes were disrupted and people returned to a simpler lifestyle. All that remained was memory, a claim to fame for local chieftains, who could trace their lineage back to Roman or romanised nobility.

[brightlights]

This Roman dynamic was represented in the manga Vinland Saga, set during the Viking invasions of Britain. Interesting stuff!

[jamesgrey]

The story of Macsen Wledig (Magnus Maximus) is undergoing a resurgence in Cymru(Wales) via the Dafydd Iwan song, Yma o Hyd (still here). It's often sang at Cymru international football matches, . It mentions him and the year 383. Thanks for focusing on my country. You've made my day!

[nunyabiznez]

I have been a genealogist since 1976. I have been studying my own genealogy that long and I traced my ancestry back in my male line to around 1500 A.D. in Wiltshire. So a couple of years ago I had my DNA tested by three different companies. It showed as expected that I am part English, part Scottish and part Irish with trace amounts of Danish, Norwegian and Spanish and all that lines up perfectly with my research over the years. But here is the surprising part. While I had run into a dead end with my male line at 1500 A.D. in Wiltshire, I was able to be tested to see what my male line haplogroup is. There was no indication in my documented research that I would find it to be anything other than English or Anglo Saxon though I would not have been shocked to discover it to be French via the Normans. But imagine my surprise to learn my haplogroup puts me smack dab in the middle of ancient Rome. According to the data supplied in my haplogroup report, my male line was in Britain starting somewhere between 200 AD and 400 AD and it was in Rome Sometime between 100 AD and 300 AD giving me a pretty good overlap indicating that I had a male line ancestor who left Rome and Came to Britain sometime between 200 AD and 300 AD. Moreover it shows that prior to this period the male line had been in or around the city of Rome starting somewhere between 700 BC until it left for Britain as above stated. An earlier dna test showed my haplogroup as only speculative suspected as having originated in Norway around 600 AD so I had previously believed the origin to be Norman preceded by Vikings. But the Roman result was a more recent and more definite report and actually makes pretty good sense. So my first American ancestor in that line who came to Massachusetts around 1630 was friends with and related by marriage to a large number of other people from Wiltshire and guess what? After contacting a number of their living descendants I discovered that 9 of those Wiltshire friends and family who also came to that town in Massachusetts all have their male line haplogroup report showing Roman origin for the male line dating variously between 100 AD and 300 AD as the approximate times of when they left Rome and arrived in Britain. This is from DNA analysis and this all matches up perfectly with historic records of the Roman occupation. Probably explains why I make a pasta sauce to die for.

[InAeternumRomaMater]

Also just as Britannia, Dacia Traiana was also abandoned. But what some people don't know is that it was partial reconquered by the time of Constantine the Great in the IVth Century A.D

[viatorinterra]

Reminds me of the Welsh Legatus from Vinland Saga. The author did clarify that they were Welsh emulating Roman institutions instead of a Roman remnant per se, but still interesting.

[kesorangutan]

ToldInStone actually gives another perspective which having Odoacer as the king of Italy meant nothing very different for the average roman citizen in Italy and to them, empire still existed. Not to mention how Odoacer was a "vassal" of eastern empire. Not to mention roman traditions and stuff continued after that.

Morale of the story: history is a very fluid thing. You can't really say a big empire like Rome ended in a certain date.

[doxasticdraco]

As far as I'm aware, roman settlements in Cymru were mainly concentrated in the southeast (in the lands of the silures). The west and north were occupied by forts and roads, but left largely autonomous. The occupation of hillforts was banned in the southeast, but tolerated in the north and west, where the elites partially adopted imported roman technology and goods. There was heavy irish settlement of the southwest (Dyfed and Ceredigion) and the northwest (Gwynedd), which Magnus Maximus may have legitimated while stripping the garrisons of Britannia Prima (Cymru) and Britannia Secunda (now northern England) for his imperial bid. Cunedda is reputed to have overthrown the local irish rulers of what becomes Gwynedd when founding his dynasty at Aberffraw.

One legend recalls Romano-British soldiers carrying the red dragon (Draco) to Rome under Constantine or Magnus Maximus. Welsh kings were citing Macsen Wledig (their name for Magnus Maximus) as the basis of their inherited political legitimacy in the early 5th century. Around the 7th century the draco became known as the Red Dragon of Cadwaladr, king of Gwynedd from 655 to 682. Although Owain Glyndwr raised the dragon standard in 1400 as a symbol of revolt against the English Crown, the dragon was later adopted by the House of Tudor.

The green and white stripes of the current welsh flag were additions of Pembroke-born Henry VII, the first Tudor king, representing the colours of his standard. During Henry VIII’s reign, the red dragon on a green and white background became a favourite emblem on Royal Navy ships, along with the Tudor Rose. It was replaced as a naval flag by the original Union Jack in 1606, after the Scottish monarch James Stuart became king of England, but the Union Jack didn't become a national flag until the 1707 Acts Of Union.

[MegaTang]

I guess Magnus Maximus truly was "Great, The Greatest".

[lerneanlion]

If only Magister Syagrius and King Cadwallon I of Gwynedd collaborated with each other, at least the Roman institutions may still continued to be practice in Gwynedd and the unification of Wales and the expansion into England under the new Western Roman banner might become a reality.

[DeanStephen]

My great grandfather was from Wales, born in a town called Aberystwyth, quite a bit south of Gwynedd. The curious thing is, he was a Latin nut, spoke it, taught it to his children, and even gave my grandmother a Latin name that partially got passed on to my mother. My grandmother subsequently taught Latin in a Colorado HS for many years, and I remember her trying to teach me before she passed at a far too early age. My point her is to suggest that if a poor Protestant Welsh family in the 19th century was teaching their (over a dozen) children Latin, far more of the Roman culture in Wales may have survived over a wider area for far longer than you surmise.

[John_Pace]

We could say there is one tiny remnant left today in the Republic of San Marino. Which was reputed to have been founded by Saint Marinus in 301. There is also the Republic of Venice, founded by refugees seeking refuge from the Huns in the Venetian Lagoons, which lasted until Napoleon in 1899. So the story is

[vitorpereira]

I would consider venice a remnant of Rome. It was founded by Roman refugees including patricians, it goverment was a republic and was never invaded. My question, however, is what language did the inhabitants of Venice speak in the first centuries? Did they speak Latin or another language derived from Vulgar Latin?

[Tohma_Ed]

I really love your videos no one really talks about the late Roman Empire so thank you and keep up the good work!

[napoleonfeanor]

Rome never fully fell. It changed over time, states were overthrown but memory, cultural traditions, Latin language, roman ideas of law etc. continued. Charlemagne was a huge Rome fan, like pretty much all Germanic conquerors (I mean those who actually stayed in the territory, not those who just looted) .

[fredhercmaricaubang]

Ave, Frater Sebastianus! Since you brought up post-Roman Britain, would you say that the legend of King Arthur would've emanated from this period? If so, I would appreciate it if you could cover this particular topic. Gratias tibianus, mi amici et Frater!