This is the first genuine narrative history for fifth century Britain. The author demonstrates that the only real explanation for the extant evidence is that a powerful military ruler known as the Dux Bellorum dominated Post-Roman Britain for two decades. Known variously as “the Proud Tyrant,” Arthur and Riothamus, his reign had a decisive influence on all subsequent British History.

The author’s thesis is based on an exhaustive re-examination of the earliest sources. It shows that our earliest source, the sixth century writer Gildas, tells us precisely who the Arthur of legend really was. Moreover it demonstrates that such sources as the Historia Brittonum and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle—long considered unreliable by scholars—actually derive from an accurate chronology for fifth century Britain.  

At the book’s core is the argument that the most important issue for fifth century Britons was the sea-borne threat from several barbarian peoples.  It shows how ‘the Proud Tyrant’ was able to first bring security through alliances with Britain’s maritime foes, and then to launch powerful naval expeditions against Ireland, Scotland, and Gaul.  It was the failure of the last and greatest of these in 469 that would bring about the Saxon Revolt--the fall of Post-Roman Britain.  Most remarkably, the book proves that a report of the ‘Dux Bellorum’s’ death at the ‘Ford of Afael’ (near the Isle of Thanet in Kent) is really the historical version of Arthur’s legendary death near the Isle of Avalon.