Ambrosius Aurelianus

views updated May 18 2018

Ambrosius Aurelianus, ‘the last of the Romans’, was a British leader who emerged during the twilight years of Roman Britain to resist the onslaught of invading Saxons. Ever since the Saxons (under Hengist and Horsa?) had established themselves in Kent in ad 455, other areas of southern Britain had fallen under Saxon rule. The Britons fought back, and their greatest successes occurred in the late 5th cent. under Ambrosius Aurelianus. This resistance culminated in the battle of Mount Badon at which the Saxons were defeated; the Britons won a generation of peace.

Eleanor Scott

Ambrosius Aurelianus

views updated May 23 2018

Ambrosius Aurelianus in the account of Gildas, a 5th-century leader of Romano-British resistance to the Saxons; in the later chronicle of Geoffrey of Monmouth, he is said to have been the elder brother of Uther Pendragon and to have preceded him as king after defeating and killing Vortigern.