m to the imperial crown in Britain, took
with him the remaining Roman troops in his attempt to obtain recognition
on the continent. The ensuing struggles with the barbarians in Gaul
prevented the Romans from sending officials or troops across the channel,
and the Britons had to depend upon their own resources for their defense.

The task proved beyond their strength and it is probable that by the
middle of the fifth century the Germanic tribes of Saxons, Angles and
Jutes were firmly established in the eastern part of Britain. Because of
the uncivilized character of these peoples, of the fact that Roman culture
was not very deeply rooted among the native population, and of the
desperate resistance offered by the latter to the invaders, the subsequent
struggle for the possession of the island resulted in the obliteration of
the Latin language and the disappearance of that material civilization
which had developed under four centuries of Roman rule.

V. THE FALL OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE

*Honorius, 395-432 A. D.* After the murder of Stilicho in 408 A. D.,
Honorius was faced with the problem of restoring his authority in Gaul,
where for a time he had been forced to acknowledge the rule of a rival
emperor Constantine who had donned the purple in Britain in 406 A. D.
Constantius, a Roman noble who had succeeded Stilicho as master of the
soldiers, was despatched to Gaul in 411 and soon overthrew the usurper.
Two years later another rival, Jovinus, was crushed with the help of the
Visigoths.

Constantius, the leader of the anti-barbarian faction of the court, was
now the mainstay of the power of Honorius and used his influence to
further his own ambitions. After the surrender of the princess Placidia by
the Visigoths he induced the emperor to grant him her hand in marriage
(417 A. D.). In 421 A. D. Honorius appointed him co-emperor, but he was
not recognized as an Augustus at Constantinople and died in the same year.
His death was followed by a quarrel between the emperor and his sister, as
a result of which Placidia and her son took refuge under the protection of
the eastern emperor, Theodosius II.

*Valentinian III, 425-455 A. D.* Honorius died in 423 A. D., leaving no
children, and Castinus, the new master of the soldiers, secured the
nomination of John, a high officer of the court, as his successor.
However, Theodosius refused him recognition and his authority was defied
by Bonifacius, an influent