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Exeter would have been an important city at the time of
King Arthur.
Going back a couple of centuries before, it had been the capital of the
ancient Roman district of
Dumnonia. Dumnonia was named after a British
tribe of similar name.
The city was known as Isca Dumnoniorum or
Exeter of the
Dumnonians. The district included some of
Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and parts of Dorset.
In the capital, there was a senate
or government. While the Romans ruled and collected the taxes, the local
people had considerable prosperity and were of cultured learning.
By the awe and fear they inspired, the
Romans brought peace to the many warring tribal groups and factions,
which led to the spread of education and culture.
After
the Romans left Britain in around 410AD, the local civitates took
control, and this seems to have been a peaceful process. Soon the native
British Celts were being attacked by the invading
Saxons
descending from the east, and by the Irish coming into the area from
their settlements in south Wales. Without Roman military order and civic
control, the economy began a slow, but inexorable, collapse into chaos
and darkness. The Dark Ages had begun.
The scene was now set for
emergence of a person who could unite all these peoples together and
lead them through the changes in society that they were experiencing.
That person was to be King Arthur.
Today, the land of Dumnonia is only a memory in the minds of many who
live in the West Country today. And yet, when we are in Exeter, we are
indeed treading in the steps that King Arthur and his
Knights surely
once trod. |
Exeter
