As outlined above, by the official Roman break with Britannia in 410, most of Britain was already effectively independent of the empire. In Cumbria, the Roman presence had been almost entirely military rather than civil, and the withdrawal is unlikely to have caused much change. The power vacuum was probably filled by local warlords and their retainers who fought it out for control over various regions, one of which may have been Rheged. However, questions remain as to what post-Roman Cumbria looked like, in terms of its political and social life.