Stilicho's Pictish War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Western Roman Empire | Picts Saxons Gaels | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Stilicho | Unknown |
Stilicho's Pictish War is a name given to a war between the forces of the Western Roman Empire led by Stilicho and the Picts in Britain around 398 AD. Little is known about the conflict. The only real source is the panegyric In Eutropium by Claudian which indicates that while Stilicho was dealing with the Gildonic revolt in Africa, Britain suffered from attacks by the Saxons, Picts and Scots, and ended with "the Saxon conquered, the Ocean calmed, the Pict broken, and Britain secure." Another poem by Claudian refers to a possible expedition to Britain by Stilicho in 396-398. [1]
It has been surmised that the Picts attacked the northern frontier of Britain but were defeated. In 400 Stilicho seems to have ordered repairs to Hadrian's Wall. [2]
The Picts were a group of peoples in what is now Scotland north of the Firth of Forth, in the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and details of their culture can be gleaned from early medieval texts and Pictish stones. The name Picti appears in written records as an exonym from the late third century AD. They are assumed to have been descendants of the Caledonii and other northern Iron Age tribes. Their territory is referred to as "Pictland" by modern historians. Initially made up of several chiefdoms, it came to be dominated by the Pictish kingdom of Fortriu from the seventh century. During this Verturian hegemony, Picti was adopted as an endonym. This lasted around 160 years until the Pictish kingdom merged with that of Dál Riata to form the Kingdom of Alba, ruled by the House of Alpin. The concept of "Pictish kingship" continued for a few decades until it was abandoned during the reign of Caustantín mac Áeda.
Year 398 (CCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar, the 395th Year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 398th year of the 1st millennium, the last 3 years of the 4th century, and the 9th and pre-final year of the 390s decade. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Eutychianus. The denomination 398 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
The 390s decade ran from January 1, 390 to December 31, 399
Stilicho was a military commander in the Roman army who, for a time, became the most powerful man in the Western Roman Empire. He was partly of Vandal origins and married to Serena, the niece of emperor Theodosius I. He became guardian for the underage Honorius. After nine years of struggle against barbarian and Roman enemies, political and military disasters finally allowed his enemies in the court of Honorius to remove him from power. His fall culminated in his arrest and execution in 408.
Constantine III was a common Roman soldier who was declared emperor in Roman Britain in 407 and established himself in Gaul. He was recognised as co-emperor of the Roman Empire from 409 until 411.
The Battle of Dun Nechtain or Battle of Nechtansmere was fought between the Picts, led by King Bridei Mac Bili, and the Northumbrians, led by King Ecgfrith, on 20 May 685.
Pictish is an extinct Brittonic Celtic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geographical and personal names found on monuments and early medieval records in the area controlled by the kingdoms of the Picts. Such evidence, however, shows the language to be an Insular Celtic language related to the Brittonic language then spoken in most of the rest of Britain.
The end of Roman rule in Britain was the transition from Roman Britain to post-Roman Britain. Roman rule ended in different parts of Britain at different times, and under different circumstances. In 383, the usurper Magnus Maximus withdrew troops from northern and western Britain, probably leaving local warlords in charge. In 407, usurper Constantine III took the remaining mobile Roman soldiers to Gaul in response to the crossing of the Rhine in late 406, leaving the island a victim of barbarian attacks. Around 410, the Romano-British expelled the Roman magistrates from Britain. Roman Emperor Honorius replied to a request for assistance with the Rescript of Honorius, telling the Roman cities to see to their own defence, a tacit acceptance of temporary British self-government. Honorius was fighting a large-scale war in Italy against the Visigoths under their leader Alaric, with Rome itself under siege. No forces could be spared to protect distant Britain. Though it is likely that Honorius expected to regain control over the provinces soon, by the mid-6th century Procopius recognised that Roman control of Britannia was entirely lost.
The Britons, also known as Celtic Britons or Ancient Britons, were an indigenous Celtic people who inhabited Great Britain from at least the British Iron Age until the High Middle Ages, at which point they diverged into the Welsh, Cornish, and Bretons. They spoke Common Brittonic, the ancestor of the modern Brittonic languages.
The Battle of Two Rivers was fought between the Picts and Northumbrians in the year 671. The exact battle site is unknown. It marked the end of the Pictish rebellion early in the reign of Ecgfrith, with a decisive victory for the Northumbrians. Attestation of the battle is limited to the account in Stephen of Ripon's Vita Sancti Wilfrithi.
Fortriu was a Pictish kingdom recorded between the 4th and 10th centuries. It was traditionally believed to be located in and around Strathearn in central Scotland, but is more likely to have been based in the north, in the Moray and Easter Ross area. Fortriu is a term used by historians as it is not known what name its people used to refer to their polity. Historians also sometimes use the name synonymously with Pictland in general.
Bridei son of Beli, died 692 was king of Fortriu and of the Picts from 671 until 692. His reign marks the start of the period known to historians as the Verturian hegemony, a turning point in the history of Scotland, when the uniting of Pictish provinces under the over-kingship of the kings of Fortriu saw the development of a strong Pictish state and identity encompassing most of the peoples north of the Forth.
The origins of the Kingdom of Alba pertain to the origins of the Kingdom of Alba, or the Gaelic Kingdom of Scotland, either as a mythological event or a historical process, during the Early Middle Ages.
Scotland was divided into a series of kingdoms in the early Middle Ages, i.e. between the end of Roman authority in southern and central Britain from around 400 AD and the rise of the kingdom of Alba in 900 AD. Of these, the four most important to emerge were the Picts, the Gaels of Dál Riata, the Britons of Alt Clut, and the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia. After the arrival of the Vikings in the late 8th century, Scandinavian rulers and colonies were established on the islands and along parts of the coasts. In the 9th century, the House of Alpin combined the lands of the Scots and Picts to form a single kingdom which constituted the basis of the Kingdom of Scotland.
Maria was the first Empress consort of Honorius, Western Roman Emperor. She was the daughter of the general Stilicho. Around 398 she married her first cousin, the Emperor Honorius. It is uncertain when she was born, but she was probably no older than fourteen at the time of her marriage. Maria had no children, and died in 407. After her death, Honorius married her sister, Thermantia.
Mascezel was briefly ruler of Roman North Africa after the defeat of his brother Gildo during the Gildonic war in 398 AD.
The Christianisation of Scotland was the process by which Christianity spread in what is now Scotland, which took place principally between the fifth and tenth centuries.
The frontier of the Roman Empire in Britain is sometimes styled Limes Britannicus by authors for the boundaries, including fortifications and defensive ramparts, that were built to protect Roman Britain. These defences existed from the 1st to the 5th centuries AD and ran through the territory of present-day England, Scotland and Wales.
Eucherius was the son of Stilicho, the magister militum of the Western Roman Empire, and Serena, a Roman noblewoman who was the niece of Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius I. He was born in c. 388 in Rome, Italy. Despite being the son of the magister militum, Eucherius did not rise farther than the modest rank of tribune of the notaries. Stilicho was accused by his political opponents of plotting to install Eucherius as a third emperor in Illyricum, and as a result of this Stilicho was arrested and executed on 22 August 408, and Eucherius soon after.