Ambrosius Aurelianus was a war leader of the Romano-British who won an important battle against the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century, according to Gildas. He also appeared independently in the legends of the Britons, beginning with the 9th-century Historia Brittonum. Eventually he was transformed into the uncle of King Arthur, the brother of Arthur's father Uther Pendragon, as a ruler who precedes and predeceases them both. He also appears as a young prophet who meets the tyrant Vortigern; in this guise he was later transformed into the wizard Merlin.
Pope Eleutherius, also known as Eleutherus, was the Bishop of Rome of the Catholic Church from c. 174 to his death. According to the Liber Pontificalis, he was a Greek born in Nicopolis in Epirus, Greece. His contemporary Hegesippus wrote that he was a deacon of the Roman Church under Pope Anicetus, and remained so under Pope Soter, whom he succeeded around 174.
The Battle of Badon was a battle purportedly fought between Celtic Britons and Anglo-Saxons in Britain in the late 5th or early 6th century. It was credited as a major victory for the Britons, stopping the encroachment of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms for a period.
Constantius I, posthumously known after the sixth century as Constantius Chlorus, was a Roman Emperor. He ruled as Caesar from 293 to 305 and as Augustus from 305 to 306. He was the junior colleague of the Augustus Maximian under the Tetrarchy and succeeded him as senior co-emperor of the western part of the empire. Constantius ruled the West while Galerius was Augustus in the East. He was the father of Constantine the Great and founder of the Constantinian dynasty.
Beli Mawr was an ancestor figure in Middle Welsh literature and genealogies. He is the father of Cassivellaunus, Arianrhod, Lludd Llaw Eraint, Llefelys, and Afallach. In certain medieval genealogies he is listed as the husband of Anna, cousin of Mary, mother of Jesus. According to the Welsh Triads, Beli and Dôn were the parents of Arianrhod, but the mother of Beli's other children—and the father of Dôn's other children—is not mentioned in the medieval Welsh literature. Several royal lines in medieval Wales traced their ancestry to Beli. The Mabinogi names Penarddun as a daughter of Beli Mawr, but the genealogy is confused; it is possible she was meant to be his sister rather than daughter.
Albanactus, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, was the founding king of Albania or Albany. He is in effect Geoffrey's eponym for Scotland. His territory was that north of the River Humber. This myth was then taken up by Giraldus Cambrensis.
Cassivellaunus was a historical British tribal chief who led the defence against Julius Caesar's second expedition to Britain in 54 BC. He led an alliance of tribes against Roman forces, but eventually surrendered after his location was revealed to Julius Caesar by defeated Britons.
Leir was a legendary king of the Britons whose story was recounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his pseudohistorical 12th-century History of the Kings of Britain. According to Geoffrey's genealogy of the British dynasty, Leir's reign would have occurred around the 8th century BC, around the time of the founding of Rome. The story was modified and retold by William Shakespeare in his Jacobean tragedy King Lear.
Nennius is a mythical prince of Britain at the time of Julius Caesar's invasions of Britain. His story appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain (1136), a work whose contents are now considered largely fictional. In Middle Welsh versions of Geoffrey's Historia he was called Nynniaw.
Historia regum Britanniae, originally called De gestis Britonum, is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It chronicles the lives of the kings of the Britons over the course of two thousand years, beginning with the Trojans founding the British nation and continuing until the Anglo-Saxons assumed control of much of Britain around the 7th century. It is one of the central pieces of the Matter of Britain.
The Treachery of the Long Knives was a pseudohistorical massacre of British Celtic chieftains by Anglo-Saxon soldiers at a peace conference on Salisbury Plain in the 5th century. The story is not included in any contemporary accounts, but does feature centuries later in the semi-mythological histories of the Historia Brittonum and the Historia Regum Britanniae. Though a popular cautionary tale in medieval Europe, no historical evidence for The Treachery of the Long Knives exists, and the story has been widely debunked as a purely literary construction by historians.
The Turones were a Celtic tribe of pre-Roman Gaul. The Touraine is named after them, as is the capital of said ancient province, Tours.
Mandubracius or Mandubratius was a king of the Trinovantes of south-eastern Britain in the 1st century BC.
Quintus Laberius Durus was a Roman military tribune who died during Julius Caesar's second expedition to Britain. Caesar describes how soon after landing in Kent, the Romans were attacked whilst building a camp by the native Britons. Before re-inforcements could arrive, Laberius was killed. His burial site is traditionally the earthworks of Julliberrie's Grave near Chilham.
The Last Legion is a 2007 historical action adventure film directed by Doug Lefler and produced by Dino De Laurentiis. It is based on the 2002 novel of the same name by Valerio Massimo Manfredi. It stars Colin Firth, Ben Kingsley, Aishwarya Rai, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Peter Mullan, Kevin McKidd, John Hannah, and Iain Glen. It premiered in Abu Dhabi on 6 April 2007.
The River Malvam, also known as the Malva was a mythical river in ancient North Africa where the Roman province of Mauretania would be. Mentioned by the medieval mytho-historians Geoffrey of Monmouth and Nennius in their histories, they say Brutus of Troy stopped there because his ships had run out of supplies. Geoffrey adds that his army conquered all the Mauretanian coast to resupply. After this restocking, the ships set sail for the straits of Gibraltar.
Goffar, known as Goffar the Pict as an identifier, was a king of Aquitaine circa 1000BCE according to the pseudo-histories of Geoffrey of Monmouth. In the myths surrounding Brutus of Troy's occupation of Britain, he led the Poitevins to war against Brutus' fleet. Although he sent messengers under a certain Himbert first, they got in a fight with Corineus, Brutus' general, over royal property and all of the messengers were brutally killed. After a battle at the mouth of the Loire, the Trojans marched up the Loire through Goffar's dominions until they reached the territory of the Turones. There a battle was fought against troops given to Goffar by the 11 other kings of Gaul, and won, founding the city of Tours named in honor of Brutus' nephew Turnus, who died fighting. This idea probably comes from Nennius' confusing passage in his Historia Brittonum: "he was exiled on account of the death of Turnus, slain by Eneas. He then went among the Gauls and built a city of the Turones, called Turnis [Tours]". Nennius is correct that the city is named after the tribe, not the similarly named person.
The Battle of Guoloph took place in the 5th century. Various dates have been put forward: 440 AD by Alfred Anscombe, 437 AD according to John Morris, and 458 by Nikolai Tolstoy. It took place at what is now Nether Wallop, 15 kilometers southeast of Amesbury, in the district of Test Valley, northeastern Hampshire. The battle pitted a Britonnic alliance against invading Jutes and Saxons. The Britons were victorious.
Fuimus Troes is a verse drama attributed to Jasper Fisher about Julius Caesar's invasion of Britain in 55 BC. It was published in quarto in London, 1633. The drama is written in blank verse, interspersed with lyrics; Druids, poets, and a harper are introduced, and it ends with a masque and chorus.
