The Long War for Britannia

By Edwin Pace

Let’s be honest…the years between the fall of Roman Britain and the rise of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms are often written off as murky, muddled, or downright mythical. But in The Long War for Britannia: 367–664, Edwin Pace is having none of that!

Instead of sidestepping the early sources, he runs headfirst into them…Gildas, Bede, the Historia Brittonum…picking apart their timelines like a historical detective.

His argument is bold…the confusion isn’t in the events themselves, but in the dates.

Misread calendars, regnal years, and clumsy conversions between Roman and Christian dating systems have made the whole era look more mysterious than it really is. According to Pace, once you clean up the chronology, a clearer narrative of post-Roman Britain begins to emerge.

And that narrative?

It’s not a sudden Saxon conquest, but a long, grinding conflict…nearly 300 years of power struggles, shifting alliances, and resistance.

The so-called “barbarian invasion” becomes something more complex…war, yes, but also diplomacy, intermarriage, and cultural overlap.

Pace doesn’t shy away from the big names either.

Arthur? Not dismissed as legend, but recast as a powerful warlord…perhaps even the unnamed “proud tyrant” that Gildas rails against.

The book isn’t without its critics.

Some feel he leans too heavily on tribal identities, framing everything as Britons versus Saxons in a sort of early medieval western.

Others wish he’d dug more into the religious and cultural threads running through the period. But even those who disagree seem to agree on this…Pace has stirred the pot in all the right ways.

So if you’re tired of hearing “we just don’t know” about post-Roman Britain, Pace offers an alternative…we might know more than we think…if we look closely enough!

Thanks to Pen and Sword