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To: sinanju

Not exactly, Geoffrey of Monmouth (From whom the Arthurian legend is believed to orginated from) created a legend around him which suggested he was British-Born (he was in fact a Gaul, but Gaul and Britain were so similar at this point that the difference is hardly relevant) and that he seized control of Britain from Bassianus (Caracalla) who lived and died before Carausius was even born.
In fact Carausius was in charge of the Classis Britannica (a large Roman Fleet based in Britain) and rebelled against Diolcletian’s co-emperor Maximian in 286, he successfully resisted Rome’s attempts to to re-conquer Britain (which may explain Geoffrey of Monmouth’s attempt to build a pro-English/British legend around him juxtaposed with a legendarily evil Emperor like Caracalla) until he was assassinated by his own treasurer Allectus, who lost the Britain back to Rome in 293.
Still quite an interesting character though. He is responsible for the earliest coins minted in London, and I’ve had the privilege of handling many of them (not from this hoard though)...


26 posted on 07/08/2010 11:46:55 AM PDT by sinsofsolarempirefan
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To: sinsofsolarempirefan

I always wondered if Roman Britain ever had a chance to stand on it’s own?

The official line is that it was not economically self-sustaining and that the Britons were never really romanized.


27 posted on 07/08/2010 11:51:24 AM PDT by sinanju
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