Ambrosius Aurelianus

Ambrosius Aurelianus was a late antique Roman- British leader in the 5th century. Under his leadership, the Romano-British should have won the battle of Mons Badonicus against the Anglo-Saxons.

Life

About the life of Ambrosius Aurelianus, little is known. He is only mentioned in a few sources, the later tradition is generally regarded as unreliable and the source location for Britain in the period between 400 and 600 is very bad. In the 6th century evidently still living descendants of Ambrose, who is regarded in the research as a historical person.

Ambrosius Aurelianus is one of the few people who mentioned the historian Gildas in the 6th century by name. The Roman administration order in Britain was largely collapsed in the early 5th century, after the Rhine crossing of the 406 most regular Roman troops had left the country. Subsequently, the Romano-British are under a " haughty tyrants " ( superbus tyrannus ) have launched the Saxons as mercenaries into the country. This tyrant is probably to be equated with Vortigern (probably more of a title than a personal name ). Vortigern however, is not mentioned by name in Gildas, but only of the Venerable Bede; this tells how Vortigern called the Saxons to Britain. However, the Saxons rebelled ( by 440, such as the contemporary Gallic Chronicle reports ) and tore control of parts of the island itself. Then the surviving Romanized inhabitants of the island under the leadership should have collected from Ambrose. Gildas writes that Ambrose:

According to Gildas so it was Ambrose who organized the resistance and won a great military victory over the Saxon invaders. The following report, according to Gildas it was therefore at the siege of Mons Badonicus. Where and when this battle took place, Gildas not mentioned; but he complained that subsequently occurred no match leader. The victory at Mons Badonicus was obviously important considering that then the Saxons were forced to a temporary settlement freeze before they were militarily active in the later 6th century again.

This ends the relatively secure reports regarding Ambrosius Aurelianus. In the description of Gildas several points are problematic; so are actually called no precise dating and often striped events. In connection with the report on Ambrose arises inter alia, the question of what the statement means Ambrosius ' parents had worn purple. Probably should therefore descent from a Roman emperor or a usurper like Constantine III. († 411) are indicated. Maybe the wording should also reference only one senatorial origin. Whether this is true or not, for Gildas Ambrosius Aurelianus was certainly an important Romano- British military leader.

In later stories Ambrosius Aurelianus is also mentioned (see below), but all these have no relevant historical value. Ultimately, the only reliable information useful the few statements in Gildas.

Later tales and legends

The significantly later Historia Brittonum preserved some details of the tradition to Ambrose, but they are legendary marked and therefore not historically reliable. The most important among them is the story of Ambrosius, Vortigern and the two Dragons of Dinas Emrys (Welsh for " fortress of Ambrose " ) in chapters 40 to 42 This story was later told by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae again, where the person Ambrose is linked with the Welsh legend of the wizard Merlin, who was known for alleged prophecies about future victories of the celtic-Roman inhabitants of Britain over the Saxons and Normans.

There are also some short sections in the Historia Brittonum that deal with Ambrose: In Chapter 31 it is reported that Vortigern had ruled by fear of Ambrosius; later, in Chapter 66, various events of the Battle of Guoloph between Ambrose and Vitolinus be associated; last, in Chapter 48, it is said that Pascent, the son of Vortigern, the rule has been awarded over the kingdoms Buellt and Gwrtheyrion. It is not clear how these different parts belong to each other, but it is not to be forgotten that they all come from the same source.

In addition, still there are several other legendary tales and modern - popular word processing of the material.