Continued... ( I may just put this in a new thread)
471 AD - Attila the Hun, Magnus Augustus, Beloved of God, Emperor of the West dies. His final two decrees are that the capital of the Empire be moved from Ravenna back to Rome, now greatly revitalized, and that his heir is his son Equitius.
Equitius is crowned IMPERATOR OCCIDENTALIS ET REGNVM HVNNORVM later that year.
The first wave of soldiers retiring to the lands set aside by Attila. This results in a great movement to the fertile lands in the Pannonian plain of Romanized peoples, bringing with them Roman ideas and Roman innovation. This begins the cultural flourishing of the area. New labor ideas emerge here, as the new farmers look to increase their yield. These however wouldn’t come to fruition until the next few decades.
472 AD - Immediately Equitius’ authority is challenged by one of the client states, that client state being the Gepid tribe. They were crushed and slaughtered to the last man. The rough lifestyle of the Huns which he spent much time living had impressed upon him the need to meet your enemies with utmost hatred, and your friends with utmost generosity. The Gepids weren’t just enemies, they were traitors.
474 AD - The Emperor Zeno’s envoy to the Vandals results in a peace agreement with the Vandal kingdom between them and the two Empires. The piracy ends, and trade in the Mediterranean flourishes, as routes from Europe to Africa open up once again.
Honoria, wife of Attila and mother of the emperor, dies.
475 - 479 AD - Equitius commits five legions to the destruction of the Saxons and Angles that occupied the eastern portion of Britannia. The legions end up killing king Hengest of the Saxon kingdom of Kent and retaking land from Dover to East Anglia. The Saxons are no more.
The Roman legions, however, after four years of fighting, hadn’t the power to destroy the Angles lodged in the far north. That would be left for another day, but Equitius would forever be remembered by the Britons as “the Good Emperor”.
475 AD - Equitius weds the daughter of an influential Hun. That same year they bear a son named Flavius, named after Flavius Aetius. He, like his father, sends him to spend much of his time among the Huns to ensure that he has a proper “Romano-Hunnic” upbringing.
476 AD - The Senate votes to erect a monument to Attila in the Forum. It is a statue of Attila on horseback with the traditional Hun reflex bow drawn while wearing the laurel wreath.
481 AD - Clovis I ascends the throne of the Franks. He is ambitious king, and Equitius does well to keep an eye on him, wondering if he sees the Roman failure to destroy the Angles as a sign of weakness.
482 AD - The retired soldiers in the Pannonian Plain, had for over a decade now adopted a sort of indentured servitude mode of labor for their newly-acquired farms. The movement of urban poor in Italy to Germany had been a long, twenty year process, and at this stage was still only about halfway through. It was popular at this time for the newly-landed soldiers to offer to urban poor in Italy an alternative: work my farm, I give you not only a share of my land but also protection from bandits and whatever the north brings. Thus began the development of a sort of manorial system in the Roman Empire.
486 AD - The fears of Clovis are well-grounded, when Clovis invades the Soissons region of the Roman Empire. He begins rapid expansion in northern France, however he soon finds resistance.
486 - 489 AD - The campaign against the Franks. The campaign was long and bloody, the Franks being at this point very “Romanized”, and not the disorganized barbarian horde it was in generations past.
But ultimately, Clovis is defeated, and he must flee the continent. Thousands of Franks flee with Clovis to Britain. Clovis ends up never being pursued, and sets up his new Frankish kingdom in the lands that just years before were occupied by Saxons and Angles, centered around Kent and later Londinium.
Clovis’ charismatic nature and his control of his own people leads him to establish a very strong kingdom in this region. For the rest of his career Equitius saw that as his greatest failing. While the campaign was successful, and while many new slaves and tons of riches were plundered, he felt it was a failing on his part to truly destroy his enemy. But the way he ultimately saw it, he was rid of Clovis and the Franks, and that territory could now be used to the benefit of the Huns and the Romans.
494 AD - Pope Gelasius delineates the relationship between Church and State, saying that while they are separate, they are to assist each other.
496 - 497 AD - The weakened Vandal kingdom is the target for a short yet profitable war for Equitius. By March of 497, the Vandal kingdom is destroyed, and the province of Africa is readmitted as a province.
Equitius is granted the cognomen “Vandalicus” for his defeat of the Vandals.
500 AD - The Britons score a major victory against the Angles at Mons Badonicus (Badon Hill), expelling them from the isle of Britain. The British isles are now divided between the Celts, the Romano-British, and the Franks.
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What do you all think? I'm torn. I won't have Britain divided forever. Do you all want to see a celtic Britain, Roman-successor-nation Britain, or... a Frankish Britain?!?!
