Read The Mammoth Book of King Arthur for Free Online Page B

Britain.
    Diocletian also issued a violent edict against Christianity. It was probably at this time that Britain saw its first martyr in Alban, who was executed at Verulamium (St Albans). Christianity had
a strong hold in Britain, and was a factor in how the provinces developed distinct from the rest of the Empire.
    Constantius undertook a series of campaigns in northern Britain against the Picts. Little is known about this, but it seems to have been successful as there was comparative peace for another
fifty years. For Constantius, alas, there was little time to appreciate his achievement. He was seriously ill, possibly with leukaemia (his nickname was Constantius the Pale), and he died in York
in July 306, aged 56.
    Under Diocletian’s reforms, Constantius should automatically have been succeeded as emperor by his nominated caesar, Flavius Valerius Severus. In fact, Constantius had not selected his
successor; it had been done for him by Galerius, his co-emperor in the east. Not everyone wanted Severus as emperor, least of all the British, and true to tradition the British troops promptly
nominated their own successor, Constantius’s son Constantine. Galerius begrudgingly made Constantine the successor to Severus, but it was a far from simple succession, and it would be
eighteen years before Constantine became sole emperor.
    Because Constantine became such a great emperor and, most significantly, made Christianity the official religion of Rome, and because his cause had been promoted by the
British, he was well remembered in Britain and entered popular folklore.
    Constantine’s mother Helena was a native of Bithynia (in present-day northern Turkey) and never, apparently, came to Britain. Later beatified, Helena became a devout Christian and
undertook a pilgrimage to Palestine in 326, founding several churches. She is supposed to have found the True Cross in Jerusalem, though dates conflict; she died in about 330 whilst the legend of
the discovery of the Cross dates from about 335, during the construction of Constantine’s basilica. At some stage the legend grew that Helen was British, the daughter of King Coel of
Colchester, whom we have already met in myth as the murderer of Asclepiodotus. This legend took a firm hold in Britain, because it made Constantine a Briton and the grandson of Coel. It is probable
that later chroniclers, especially Geoffrey of Monmouth, confused Helena with Elen, wife of a later British usurper-emperor, Magnus Maximus, who also had a son called Constantine. Elen was the
daughter of the British chieftain Eudaf (of whom more later).
    But the legend refuses to die. As we have seen, myths have a habit of ousting history, and we have to be on our guard.
    4. The End of Empire
    By good organisation, strength of character and sheer charisma, Constantine kept the Roman empire together, but thereafter the empire was on the decline. His successors fought
each other, crumbling the empire at its heart and weakening it at its frontiers, making it vulnerable to barbarian attack. This was as evident in Britain as elsewhere in the empire.
    One mystery related to Britain at this time is worth mentioning, as it may have later relevance. By the 340s the empire was split between Constantine’s two surviving sons: Constans, who
ruled the west, including Britain, and Constantius II who ruled the east. In 343 Constans made an impulsive visit to Britain. His visit remains a mystery, yet the fact that he risked crossing the
English Channel during the winter suggests that it was somethingserious. The contemporary chronicler Libanius, who recorded the visit (but seemed equally at a loss to explain
it), noted that “affairs in Britain were stable”, thereby ruling out the likelihood of a rebellion.
    So what prompted it? Was it a religious matter? We shall see later that Britain was one of the rebel nations when it came to Christianity, supporting pagan worship and later encouraging
dangerous