410-483

In 410 AD, your grandfathers were born, in the final year of the Roman presence in Britain. Beset by threats both internal and external, the Emperor Honorius withdrew his forces from the rainy island, leaving the British to fend for themselves. Irish, Picts and Saxons raided the country mercilessly. The Supreme Collegium, the high council of British nobility, selected Constantin to become the King of the British. Then they scoured the land, and amongst every thousand men, they found the best one: the strongest, the wisest, the hardiest, the fastest, the most skilled. This man, they dubbed a knight. Your great-grandfathers were selected amongst the first knights, with Sir Aubert an example to all, and so your grandfathers were raised as knights. Around 431, they were knighted...

439 AD: The Saxon raiders landed again upon the coast of Britain. In this year, your fathers were born. Sir Rhodic, Sir Tyther and Sir Gabriel went forth to fight against Irish invaders who were ravaging the countryside near Carlion, and while the British knights won the battle, both were amongst the fallen.

440 AD: Sir Lorrin and Sir Gerald served garrison duty, guarding their lord's lands from the Pictish raiders, but alas Sir Gerald fell in his lord's service. One of King Constantin's bodyguard had murdered the King!

441 AD: The Supreme Collegium, swayed by the honeyed tongue of Duke Vortigern, chose to make Constantine's young son Constans the new King. Constans had lived in a monastery, and had little experience of the world, and so he relied upon Duke Vortigern's guidance.

442 AD: In this year, Duke Vortigern hired Pictish mercenaries to serve as King Constans' bodyguard. Sir Lorrin and Sir Rhodic guarded their family holdings from raiders, and Sir Rhodic paid the ultimate price.

443 AD: In this year, the Pictish bodyguard proved to be treacherous and murdered the King. Duke Vortigern put them to death, and then became king himself. Alarmed by this, loyalists smuggled Constans' young brothers, Aurelius Ambrosius and Uther, to Brittany. Sir Lorrin had stayed at home to guard his lord's lands in his absence, but before the year was over his funeral was held in Salisbury

444 AD: The Picts launched a massive invasion from the north, and drove back all who stand in their way.

445 AD: The armies of the Picts reached the heartland of Britain, and so King Vortigern ordered the British armies to entrench themselves and garrison their homes.

446 AD: King Vortigern realised that he needed help to defeat the Picts, and so hired the Saxons kings Hengest and Horsa. The two led an army of Saxons against the Picts in the Battle of Lincoln, and the Picts were defeated.

447-449 AD: The Saxons continued to drive the Picts forth from Britain. More and more Saxons arrived in Britain, where they were welcomed with all honour by the King.

450 AD: In this year, King Vortigern took a bride - the beautiful Rowena, daughter of the Saxon king Hengest.

451-453 AD: News came to Britain that a new group of barbarians, known as the Huns, were ravaging the Roman Empire. According to rumour, Rome itself, the Eternal City, came under attack by their ravening hordes. Britain itself was peaceful, although many complained about the favours that King Vortigern lavishly bestowed upon the Saxons.

454 AD: In this year, the Hun army marched north into Gaul, where they fought the Romans at the Battle of Chalons. The power of Attila was broken, and the Huns defeated. Many British knights and lords who disapproved with Vortigern's treatment of the Saxons were sent to the battle.

455-6 AD: The flames of war spread further across the world. Rome itself, recently attacked by the Huns, was besieged by the Germanic barbarians and sacked. The great Western Empire which has dominated the world for a thousand years has fallen. Rumour spreads that the end is surely nigh.

457 AD: In this year, many of the British rebelled against King Vortigern. The King led the Saxons against his own people and devastated them, before giving the lands of Kent to the Saxons.

458-459 AD: Many of the British began to leave, dissatisfied with Vortigern's policies. However, in Salisbury, your fathers were nearing the cusp of adulthood...

460 AD: In this year your fathers won their spurs, and were knighted with due ceremony in Salisbury.

461-462 AD: Dissatisfied with King Vortigern's rule, many nobles began an open rebellion against him and his Saxon allies, led by Vortigern's oldest son (by his first marriage), Vortimer. The Earl of Salisbury led his vassal knights to war, but your fathers were left behind to defend Salisbury in his absence. The rebels fought against Vortigern's army in the Battle of Cambridge, and many brave men lost their lives.

463 AD: Vortigern and Hengest, who most believe now to be the true ruler as Vortigern before him had been during King Constans' reign, called for reconciliation and held a great feast on Salisbury Plain. However, the Saxons proved themselves worthy of the suspicion and mistrust that they had received, and more: for Hengest's Saxons murdered the assembled nobles. The Earl of Salisbury was amongst the slain!

464 AD: By this year, all of the young knights of Salisbury had become married. Many of them were able to marry widows, due to the carnage of the Night of Long Knives, and so they gained their first manorial estates. Sir Herawd married a rich young widow from a family that can trace its lineage back to the Roman aristocracy, while Sir Wynn and Sir Harry both married for love.

465 AD: Vortigern, with his Saxons, marches back and forth across Britain, extracting tribute and plunder. Many more Britons flee the land. Your fathers, as young knights, remain in their lands, tend to their manor, and wait with their lord.

Vortigern escapes from the Saxons and takes refuge in Gomeret, attempting to build a fortress. The youthful Merlin makes his appearance and begins his career here. In Salisbury, five children were born...

466 AD: Many years earlier, King Constans' infant brothers had been smuggled away to Brittany for their own safety. Aurelius Ambrosius returned to Britain, leading an army of expatriates determined to defeat Vortigern and his Saxons. Vortigern's allies abandoned him, and a sizeable portion of his army was caught and besieged in Carlion. Sir Gareth, Sir Tymig and Sir Harry were present at the Siege of Carlion.

Sir Herawd was sent to battle with raiders from Silchester where he aquitted himself honorably, but fell from a horrible wound. He was buried in Salisbury with full honors.

467 AD: Vortigern himself fled north and created a new castle to hide in. Nobody knows exactly what happened next, but whispers say that the son of the Devil himself came to Vortigern there and showed him a mighty portent, of two dragons that slept in a lake underneath the castle, and thrashed about, destroying the fortifications. The boy woke the dragons, which fought each other and destroyed the castle, before he vanished. Vortigern himself retreated north to Mount Snowdon.

The boy's name was Merlin.

468 AD: The armies of Aurelius Ambrosius reached Mount Snowdon and attacked Vortigern, slaying him and his followers. Sir Tymig and Sir Wynn fought fought in this battle as well, with Sir Wynn doing great deeds of courage. Upon their return from the Battle of Snowdon, Aurelius Ambrosius summoned the Supreme Collegium, which unanimously elected him the next High King. He adopted a new title: Pendragon, the 'head dragon', derived from the emblem on his battle standard.

469 AD - 472 AD: Many more Saxons came to settle in Kent with Hengest. Hengest himself was captured and slain, and his son and nephew, Octa and Eosa, swore fealty to the King. High King Aurelius Ambrosius Pendragon maintained an unsteady peace with them, while his younger brother Uther established a reputation as a mighty warrior as he led the defence against raids from the Saxons, Irish and Picts. Sir Tymig in particular distinguished himself at Uther's side during this time.

473 AD: In this year, the Saxons marched into the heart of England, sweeping all opposition before them. High King Aurelius Ambrosius mustered an army, which fought the Saxons at Windsor, but even his forces could not stand against their might. Sir Harry and Sir Gareth fought at their king's side at Windsor and survived the carnage, with Sir Gareth displaying great valour that day.

474 AD - 476 AD: The Saxons raided throughout England and only fortified places were safe. Through its knights' valour, the city of Sarum was kept safe, but their manors were raided.

477 AD: A new Saxon king arrived in Britain: Aelle, who called himself 'Bretwalda' - high chief. Aurelius Ambrosius again mustered an army to face him, but Aelle was reinforced by Hengest and Ambrosius and his army barely managed to escape.

478 AD - 479 AD: Aurelius Ambrosius has been building a fleet of ships to take the fight to the Saxons. Sir Wynn and Sir Tymig sailed with the great fleet to attack the ships of the Saxons and destroyed them, then landed and won a great battle at Frisia. Sir Gareth fought the Saxon raiders at home, but was killed in the defence of him home and buried by Sir Harry.

480 AD: The Saxons invaded Salisbury in force, and were met by Aurelius Ambrosius and Uther at Menevia. Before the battle, the High King became deathly ill - his doctor was discovered to be in the employ of the Saxons, and had poisoned him. Despite this, Aurelius Ambrosius led his forces in battle personally, but perished in the battle. He was joined in the afterlife by Sir Wynn, who fell to a Saxon's great spear. However, due to the king's bravery, the Saxon army was wiped out. The High King was buried on Salisbury Plain, where the mysterious Merlin appeared and with his magic transported a ring of standing stones that had been constructed by giants from Ireland to serve as a grave monument: this ring is now called Stonehenge. Uther was unanimously chosen as the next Pendragon, although he did not become the High King at that time.

481 AD - 483 AD: In the wake of the Battle of Salisbury, the Saxons are quiet and the Kingdom of Logres is peaceful.