Jim Storr, King Arthur’s Wars: The Anglo-Saxon Conquest of England

Abstract

Many books claim to present a ground-breaking development in our understanding of
a given historical event or period. These claims rarely withstand closer examination.
In the case of King Arthur’s Wars, however, Jim Storr might be justified in making such
a bold statement. Strangely little has been written about how Roman Britain became
Anglo-Saxon England. The impression often given is that the population had become
soft, easily swept aside by the vigorous newcomers once the last Roman military
units were withdrawn. The Welsh remained, but as they had never really been
Romanised, they were in a different category. History is written by the victors: the
English claim descent from the Anglo-Saxons, so it is perhaps no surprise that the
late Romano-British barely appear in our schoolbooks.