410-483

**In 410 AD**, your grandfathers were born, in the final
year of the Roman presence in Britain. Beset by threats both internal and
external, the Emperor Honorius withdrew his forces from the rainy island,
leaving the British to fend for themselves. Irish, Picts and Saxons raided the
country mercilessly. The Supreme Collegium, the high council of British
nobility, selected Constantin to become the King of the British. Then they
scoured the land, and amongst every thousand men, they found the best one: the
strongest, the wisest, the hardiest, the fastest, the most skilled. This man,
they dubbed a knight. Your great-grandfathers were selected amongst the first
knights, with Sir Aubert an example to all, and so your grandfathers were
raised as knights. Around 431, they were knighted...

**439 AD**: The Saxon raiders landed again upon the coast
of Britain. In this year, your fathers were born. Sir Rhodic, Sir Tyther and
Sir Gabriel went forth to fight against Irish invaders who were ravaging the
countryside near Carlion, and while the British knights won the battle, both
were amongst the fallen.

**440 AD**: Sir Lorrin and Sir Gerald served garrison
duty, guarding their lord's lands from the Pictish raiders, but alas Sir Gerald
fell in his lord's service. One of King Constantin's bodyguard had murdered the
King!

**441 AD**: The Supreme Collegium, swayed by the honeyed
tongue of Duke Vortigern, chose to make Constantine's young son Constans the
new King. Constans had lived in a monastery, and had little experience of the
world, and so he relied upon Duke Vortigern's guidance.

**442 AD**: In this year, Duke Vortigern hired Pictish
mercenaries to serve as King Constans' bodyguard.  Sir Lorrin and Sir Rhodic guarded their
family holdings from raiders, and Sir Rhodic paid the ultimate price.

**443 AD**: In this year, the Pictish bodyguard proved to
be treacherous and murdered the King. Duke Vortigern put them to death, and
then became king himself. Alarmed by this, loyalists smuggled Constans' young
brothers, Aurelius Ambrosius and Uther, to Brittany. Sir Lorrin had stayed at
home to guard his lord's lands in his absence, but before the year was over his
funeral was held in Salisbury

**444 AD**: The Picts launched a massive invasion from
the north, and drove back all who stand in their way.

**445 AD**: The armies of the Picts reached the heartland
of Britain, and so King Vortigern ordered the British armies to entrench
themselves and garrison their homes.

**446 AD**: King Vortigern realised that he needed help
to defeat the Picts, and so hired the Saxons kings Hengest and Horsa. The two
led an army of Saxons against the Picts in the Battle of Lincoln, and the Picts
were defeated.

**447-449 AD**: The Saxons continued to drive the Picts forth
from Britain. More and more Saxons arrived in Britain, where they were welcomed
with all honour by the King.

**450 AD**: In this year, King Vortigern took a bride -
the beautiful Rowena, daughter of the Saxon king Hengest.

**451-453 AD**: News came to Britain that a new group of
barbarians, known as the Huns, were ravaging the Roman Empire. According to
rumour, Rome itself, the Eternal City, came under attack by their ravening
hordes. Britain itself was peaceful, although many complained about the favours
that King Vortigern lavishly bestowed upon the Saxons.

**454 AD**: In this year, the Hun army marched north into
Gaul, where they fought the Romans at the Battle of Chalons. The power of
Attila was broken, and the Huns defeated. Many British knights and lords who
disapproved with Vortigern's treatment of the Saxons were sent to the battle.

**455-6 AD**: The flames of war spread further across the
world. Rome itself, recently attacked by the Huns, was besieged by the Germanic
barbarians and sacked. The great Western Empire which has dominated the world
for a thousand years has fallen. Rumour spreads that the end is surely nigh.

**457 AD:** In this year, many of the British rebelled
against King Vortigern. The King led the Saxons against his own people and
devastated them, before giving the lands of Kent to the Saxons.

**458-459 AD:** Many of the British began to leave,
dissatisfied with Vortigern's policies. However, in Salisbury, your fathers
were nearing the cusp of adulthood...

**460 AD:** In this year your fathers won their spurs, and
were knighted with due ceremony in Salisbury.

**461-462 AD:** Dissatisfied with King Vortigern's rule, many
nobles began an open rebellion against him and his Saxon allies, led by
Vortigern's oldest son (by his first marriage), Vortimer. The Earl of Salisbury
led his vassal knights to war, but your fathers were left behind to defend
Salisbury in his absence. The rebels fought against Vortigern's army in the
Battle of Cambridge, and many brave men lost their lives.

**463 AD:** Vortigern and Hengest, who most believe now to
be the true ruler as Vortigern before him had been during King Constans' reign,
called for reconciliation and held a great feast on Salisbury Plain. However,
the Saxons proved themselves worthy of the suspicion and mistrust that they had
received, and more: for Hengest's Saxons murdered the assembled nobles. The
Earl of Salisbury was amongst the slain!

**464 AD:** By this year, all of the young knights of
Salisbury had become married. Many of them were able to marry widows, due to
the carnage of the Night of Long Knives, and so they gained their first manorial
estates. Sir Herawd married a rich young widow from a family that can trace its
lineage back to the Roman aristocracy, while Sir Wynn and Sir Harry both
married for love.

**465 AD:** Vortigern, with his Saxons, marches back and
forth across Britain, extracting tribute and plunder. Many more Britons flee
the land. Your fathers, as young knights, remain in their lands, tend to their
manor, and wait with their lord.

Vortigern escapes from
the Saxons and takes refuge in Gomeret, attempting to build a fortress. The
youthful Merlin makes his appearance and begins his career here. In Salisbury,
five children were born...

**466 AD:** Many years earlier, King Constans' infant
brothers had been smuggled away to Brittany for their own safety. Aurelius
Ambrosius returned to Britain, leading an army of expatriates determined to
defeat Vortigern and his Saxons. Vortigern's allies abandoned him, and a
sizeable portion of his army was caught and besieged in Carlion. Sir Gareth,
Sir Tymig and Sir Harry were present at the Siege of Carlion.

Sir Herawd was sent to
battle with raiders from Silchester where he aquitted himself honorably, but
fell from a horrible wound. He was buried in Salisbury with full honors.

**467 AD:** Vortigern himself fled north and created a new
castle to hide in. Nobody knows exactly what happened next, but whispers say
that the son of the Devil himself came to Vortigern there and showed him a
mighty portent, of two dragons that slept in a lake underneath the castle, and
thrashed about, destroying the fortifications. The boy woke the dragons, which
fought each other and destroyed the castle, before he vanished. Vortigern
himself retreated north to Mount Snowdon.

The boy's name was
Merlin.

**468 AD:** The armies of Aurelius Ambrosius reached Mount
Snowdon and attacked Vortigern, slaying him and his followers. Sir Tymig and
Sir Wynn fought fought in this battle as well, with Sir Wynn doing great deeds
of courage. Upon their return from the Battle of Snowdon, Aurelius Ambrosius
summoned the Supreme Collegium, which unanimously elected him the next High
King. He adopted a new title: Pendragon, the 'head dragon', derived from the
emblem on his battle standard.

**469 AD - 472 AD:** Many more Saxons came to settle in Kent with Hengest.
Hengest himself was captured and slain, and his son and nephew, Octa and Eosa,
swore fealty to the King. High King Aurelius Ambrosius Pendragon maintained an
unsteady peace with them, while his younger brother Uther established a
reputation as a mighty warrior as he led the defence against raids from the
Saxons, Irish and Picts. Sir Tymig in particular distinguished himself at
Uther's side during this time.

**473 AD:** In this year, the Saxons marched into the
heart of England, sweeping all opposition before them. High King Aurelius
Ambrosius mustered an army, which fought the Saxons at Windsor, but even his
forces could not stand against their might. Sir Harry and Sir Gareth fought at
their king's side at Windsor and survived the carnage, with Sir Gareth
displaying great valour that day.

4**74 AD - 476 AD:**
The Saxons raided throughout England and only fortified places were safe.
Through its knights' valour, the city of Sarum was kept safe, but their manors
were raided.

**477 AD:** A new Saxon king arrived in Britain: Aelle,
who called himself 'Bretwalda' - high chief. Aurelius Ambrosius again mustered
an army to face him, but Aelle was reinforced by Hengest and Ambrosius and his
army barely managed to escape.

**478 AD - 479 AD:** Aurelius Ambrosius has been building a fleet
of ships to take the fight to the Saxons. Sir Wynn and Sir Tymig sailed with
the great fleet to attack the ships of the Saxons and destroyed them, then
landed and won a great battle at Frisia. Sir Gareth fought the Saxon raiders at
home, but was killed in the defence of him home and buried by Sir Harry.

**480 AD:** The Saxons invaded Salisbury in force, and
were met by Aurelius Ambrosius and Uther at Menevia. Before the battle, the
High King became deathly ill - his doctor was discovered to be in the employ of
the Saxons, and had poisoned him. Despite this, Aurelius Ambrosius led his
forces in battle personally, but perished in the battle. He was joined in the
afterlife by Sir Wynn, who fell to a Saxon's great spear. However, due to the
king's bravery, the Saxon army was wiped out. The High King was buried on
Salisbury Plain, where the mysterious Merlin appeared and with his magic
transported a ring of standing stones that had been constructed by giants from
Ireland to serve as a grave monument: this ring is now called Stonehenge. Uther
was unanimously chosen as the next Pendragon, although he did not become the
High King at that time.

**481**
AD - 483 AD: **In**
the wake of the Battle of Salisbury, the Saxons are quiet and the Kingdom of
Logres is peaceful.