Magnus Maximus: The Forgotten Roman Emperor and his British Legacy

The author provides an in-depth reassessment of the life of Magnus Maximus, Roman emperor ruling in the west from 383 to 388 using the Classical sources and archaeology, and of the quite different impression of his life as reflected in the post-Roman to Medieval British insular sources.

While most historians tend to dismiss Maximus as an ephemeral usurper, his time in the sun shows every sign of having been a success. He cast a long shadow in Britain, where he was originally proclaimed. Yet...