WI : Magnus Maximus accepted simply "Emperor of Britain"

My view on the overall Romano-British government:

Due to the rather bleak situation facing Britain, and lack of revenues, I believe the state would become militarized at the expense of the civilian and social sectors.

Regarding government offices, there is going to be an Emperor, of course. Under him would be a Prime Minister-equivalent position, with executive, legislative, and judiciary branches with its own heads under him. There is going to be a Senate of some kind. The five provinces of Britain would be divided into smaller administrative areas, possibly based on ecclesial dioceses. Some kind of supreme/imperial court in the capital, with lesser courts and circuit judges in provinces. But in general, many Late Roman offices would disappear, diminished into ceremonial positions, or take different responsibilities.

Regarding military command, I think even with quasi-feudalization of its troops, the British government would try to centralize the command. Military offices would remain strong, possibly taking several responsibilities from civilian offices. The Count of the Saxon Shore might take up the de facto role as a naval minister.

I don't know much about church & religion in Roman Britain, but I believe that, at worst, it was a hotbed of heresy (Pelagianism) and tradition distinctive from the Roman church (Celtic Christianity). So, religious schism is a go.
 
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My view on the overall Romano-British government:

Due to the rather bleak situation facing Britain, and lack of revenues, I believe the state would become militarized at the expense of the civilian and social sectors.

So, we're seeing civil offices being subservient to the local military offices, or a radical focus on military endeavors?

Regarding government offices, there is going to be an Emperor, of course. Under him would be a Prime Minister-equivalent position, with executive, legislative, and judiciary branches with its own heads under him. There is going to be a Senate of some kind. The five provinces of Britain would be divided into smaller administrative areas, possibly based on ecclesial dioceses. Some kind of supreme/imperial court in the capital, with lesser courts and circuit judges in provinces. But in general, many Late Roman offices would disappear, diminished into ceremonial positions, or take different responsibilities.

Regarding military command, I think even with quasi-feudalization of its troops, the British government would try to centralize the command. Military offices would remain strong, possibly taking several responsibilities from civilian offices. The Count of the Saxon Shore might take up the de facto role as a naval minister.

Could we see more patterns like this? For example the de facto head of the army on or north of Hadrians Wall/Effectively Valentia. I wonder if you'd see smaller roles, such as the Eastern, Southern, and Irish Sea Fleets, get similar treatment.

I don't know much about church & religion in Roman Britain, but I believe that, at worst, it was a hotbed of heresy (Pelagianism) and tradition distinctive from the Roman church (Celtic Christianity). So, religious schism is a go.

This could be interesting, especially if the heresies were welcomed. Suddenly, whichever heresy wins in Britain could attract fellow heretics from the Roman Empire to come join the British - which could provide a substantial boon.
 
So, we're seeing civil offices being subservient to the local military offices, or a radical focus on military endeavors?
Probably the former. With the exception of Gallia, the lands around Britain is not really that profitably conquerable.

Could we see more patterns like this? For example the de facto head of the army on or north of Hadrians Wall/Effectively Valentia. I wonder if you'd see smaller roles, such as the Eastern, Southern, and Irish Sea Fleets, get similar treatment.
Don't think so. The reason why I think the Count of the Saxon Shore would take up naval minister position is that his area of jurisdiction is close, and thus, easily monitorable to Londinium and very important in maintaining sea trade routes to the continent. The Duke of the Britons in Eboracum resides far away to the north, and central government would not be enthused with giving too much power to a distant general with uncertain loyalty. More likely, a separate Magister Militum who resides in Londinium or somewhere close would take up a mantle of war minister.

This could be interesting, especially if the heresies were welcomed. Suddenly, whichever heresy wins in Britain could attract fellow heretics from the Roman Empire to come join the British - which could provide a substantial boon.
And that will lead to an island full of fragmented cultists with angry and distrustful neighbors. Not a good combination.
 

Teejay

Gone Fishin'
Actually, I don't think neither Magnus Maximus nor the Romano-Britons would see it as the formation of independent Britain, just an extraordinary amount of autonomy (which, considering that this was near the end of the Roman presence on Britain, might just be de jure confirmation of de facto). It's not like Magnus is suddenly calling himself Macsen Wledig or something, and his authority is conferred by the Emperor of Rome.

Of course, whether Roman Britain has a resource and time to actually maintain the Roman institution is questionable...

An unified Romano-British state could have stopped the Anglo-Saxon takeover of huge areas of the former province of Britannia. Also they should be more than able to fend off the Irish and Picts. Plus this state is going to interfere in Gaul a fair bit. Even in OTL the British managed to conqueror and colonise what is now Britanny.

In OTL there were a whole bunch of Romano-Berber states which emerged in North Africa during the decline of the Western Empire. Therefore a Romano-British state over the whole of Britannia (probably limited to the areas the Romans had effective control over) would be totally possible.

Culturally it would be Romano-British with Latin as the language of administration and the clergy. However Brythonic would be the spoken language of the the populace as whole. The Eastern Brythonic dialect although would be more heavily influenced by Latin than the Northern and Western dialects (which led to Cumbric, Welsh and Cornish).
 
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Some more refined ideas:

The Emperor (Emperor in Britain), whether he is Magnus Maximus, Constantine, Coel Hen, or some other warlord, is the head of state and government, as well as the commander-in-chief of the British Army and Fleet. Due to the uncertainty of this era, as well as the nature of Magnus Maximus' taking of imperial purple, martial prowess would be emphasized over other aspects, and much of ruling Emperor's legitimacy would be from his ability to protect the people of Britain from barbarian depredation. He might appoint a Junior-Emperor (Caesar), either to his successor or possibly to one of Coelings in Eboracum in order to placate them. Although he is an undisputed ruler of Romano-Britons, he is technically a subordinate to the Emperor of the Romans in Rome or Constantinople, but that would not matter much once WRE falls (probably going to happen since the events in Britain didn't seem to have affected the events in the continent much, other than the foundation of Brittany, of course) and the reach of Emperor of Constantinople are limited to the Mediterranean region.

The British Court, I think, would mirror the Roman Courts in Rome and Constantinople, but much of its offices, intended for a much larger empire, would be rendered redundant in new British Government. Like its continental counterpart, a chief of court officials would be a Magister Officiorum, serving as a prime minister-equivalent of Emperor. He, however, probably won't have a command over Imperial Guard Corps, as I see them being replaced by feudal contingents of family members and retainers, distinctly subordinate to the imperial family rather than the state. I can see the Arrangement Bureau (Scrinium Dispositionum) and its role folded into military office, possibly headed by a Magister Militum as a head of the Imperial Army.

The Senate would be established. Despite it being mostly impotent by this point, the Senate was part of the Roman government for many years, and any proper 'Roman' government would keep them around. In Britain, the Senate might actually reclaim some powers with the inclusion of native chiefs in its rank, but I think the Emperor would bestow the senatorship to government officials and his relatives in order to ensure the loyalty of the Senate.

Of the Imperial Army:

The Army would be divided between the Levy, the Professionals, and the Allies (Foederati). The Levy would be largely of questionable utility, light cavalry at best, but those from smallholder and 'middle class' from the city, as well as frontier units (Limitanei) would be of better quality than others. Most of the levies would be deployed in mundane and relatively simple tasks like patrolling local areas, manning walls, and guard posts, and public matters like firefighting and police duties, while the semi-professional units of smallholders, city-dwellers, and Limitanei would be used for guarding important forts and roads, ranging the frontier areas, hunting down raiders, and adding to the size of army during military campaign. In coastal areas, they would serve as a part of the navy, with general levy serving as oarsmen and semi-professionals as marines. To ensure some qualities, the government would mandate the military training and maintenance of arms, with the small payment to help the latter.

The Professionals are landed soldiers who are given a right to claim a portion of taxes for their use, with the clause of military service. Unlike the levy, they are not bound to local areas and thus free to campaign even in foreign countries. With their quasi-feudal system of payment, they are also able to afford better arms and armors, and most importantly, good horses, making them valuable soldiers and the prime source of heavy cavalrymen. This class would also include small cadres of specialists, like engineers and artillerymen. If there is a separate central Imperial Fleet, these men would serve as marines and oarsmen.

The Allies would be from the Gaelic tribes (probably from the Isle of Man and Anglesey), the Briton tribes of Cumbria, Wales, Cornwall, and areas beyond the Hadrian's Wall, and Germanic settlers of east coasts. In terms of recruitment and organization, they would be similar to the Levy. In time, many of them would be either defeated or incorporated into the British Domain, and thus, into the Levy and the Professional system.
 
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Note on the size of the British Imperial Army: I believe that the combined number of landed professionals and semi-professional levies would be around at 55,000, approximately the maximum size of the Roman army in Britain. Probably the same proportion as well, with the semi-professional levy outnumbering landed professionals by 2.5 to 1.

The size of general levy and allies would be variable, although even with both levies, professionals, and allies combined, I don't think the total number would exceed 150,000, and armies on campaign would number no more than 20,000.
 
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