THK president's addeess. 361 



During the reign of Constantius Chlorus and of his son 

 Constantine, the Irish, Picts, and Saxons were kept in check ; 

 but in the reign of Constantius, son of Constantine, the rapacity 

 of the notary Paulus and the rebellion of Valentinus so weak- 

 ened the country as to render it an easy prey to these enemies 

 hovering round the borders, and Picts, Saxons, and Irish formed 

 an offensive alliance against Britain. The Irish and Picts 

 reached London and occupied it. The general commanding the 

 Romano-British troops, Pullofaudes, was slain. It required all 

 the skill and ability of Theodosius, the father of the Emperor 

 Valentinian to preserve the island from becoming entirely theirs. 

 He landed at Sandwich, and on his road to London defeated 

 several hordes of the combined invaders, in 368 ; he is said to 

 have defeated them so completely that the Orcades were drenched 

 in Saxon gore, Thule was warmed with the blood of the Picts, 

 and Ireland had to mourn over the heaps of her sons who had 

 been slain. Probably the Roman fleets pursued the Scots into 

 the Irish ports, but they effected no landing so as to fortify, and 

 to hold in check the stream of adventurers who used their settle- 

 ments on the British coasts as vantage grounds for pillaging 

 the Roman provinces. 



A noble Briton, or as some think a Spaniard, Maximus, the 

 Maxen Wledig of Welsh pedigrees, married to Ellen, daughter 

 of a Welsh prince, was proclaimed emperor by the army in 

 Britain. He drew away the troops quartered in the island, 

 together with the levies of the British, under the leadership 

 of Conan Meriadog, to assist him on the continent in his attempt 

 to establish his usurpation. He was taken and put to death in 

 387, and his levies never returned to Britain, but were 

 distributed in Armorica, where, as "Milites limitanei" or Laeti, 

 they may have given to Brittany that name of Llydaw or 

 Letavia, which it bore till it acquired the name Little Britain. 



Taking advantage of the weakness and exhaustion of 

 Britain, again Scots (Irish), Picts, and Saxons combined to pour 

 on all sides into Britain in 396 and 397. This invasion was 

 headed from Ireland by Niall of the Nine Hostages. Stilicho, 

 the Roman general, seems, however, to have obtained some 

 success over them, for Claudian speaks of Stilicho protecting the 

 island from her enemies when the Scot moved all lerne, and 

 the sea foamed with hostile oars. 



