Page "Ælle of Sussex" Paragraph 5

By the early 5th century Britain had been Roman for over three hundred and fifty years.

The most troublesome enemies of Roman Britain were the Picts of central and northern Scotland, and the Gaels known as Scoti, who were raiders from Ireland.

Also vexatious were the Saxons, the name Roman writers gave to the peoples who lived in the northern part of what is now Germany and the southern part of the Jutland peninsula.

Saxon raids on the southern and eastern shores of England had been sufficiently alarming by the late 3rd century for the Romans to build the Saxon Shore forts, and subsequently to establish the role of the Count of the Saxon Shore to command the defence against these incursions.

Roman control of Britain finally ended in the early part of the 5th century ; the date usually given as marking the end of Roman Britain is 410, when the Emperor Honorius sent letters to the British, urging them to look to their own defence.

Britain had been repeatedly stripped of troops to support usurpers ' claims to the Roman empire, and after 410 the Roman armies never returned.