Note 136
From Chapter 38 of the Decline & Fall

The establishment of the Britons in Gaul is proved in the sixth century by Procopius [Bell. Goth. iv. 20], Gregory of Tours, the second council of Tours (A.D. 567), and the least suspicious of their chronicles and lives of saints. The subscription of a bishop of the Britons to the first council of Tours (A.D. 461, or rather 481), the army of Riothamus, and the loose declamation of Gildas (alii transmarinas petebant regiones , c. 25, p. 8), may countenance an emigration as early as the middle of the fifth century. Beyond that era the Britons of Armorica can be found only in romance; and I am surprised that Mr. Whitaker (Genuine History of the Britons , p. 214-221) should so faithfully transcribe the gross ignorance of Carte, whose venial errors he has so rigorously chastised.

« LAST » Note « NEXT »