Sub Roman World circa 500 ad

gold “ Picts” (Celts)
blue “Irish” (Celts)
lime green “Brythonic” (Celts)
green “Frankish Gaul” (Celts)
Brown: East Franks (mixed Celt/Nord)
dark green “Gaul in upheavel/Burgundians/Bavarians” (Celts)
red “Saxons” (territory administrated by nord)
light red “theoretical Saxons” (territory recorded to have been run by nords but with little or no evidence)
yellow “Anglia” (nords)
Purple “legendary groups/fake”
yellow: unsorted Nordic groups

>>>Warning<<< Self indulgently long history analysis to fallow!

For those of you who don’t know, (edit: 100 years ago) the English made it their prerogative to push the theory that “Celts” where genetically closer to Africans then themselves who allegedly stemmed from what they thought to be more “ pure” Saxon/Anglican/German blood. They made these statements to justify the imperialism they exhibited in their campaigns around the world. Even though their empire has long since vanished many armchair historians continue to push the idea that "Germans" ethnically cleansed Europe of any and all Celtic roots. Most of these theories where made before any serious archeological works where discovered, but the easily parrotable statements made over a century ago appear to have been the ones recorded in today’s textbooks.

Fortunately more and more archeological works have brought light to the “dark ages” (the last academic refuge of Germanic supremacy) and I’ve heavily altered a map of North Atlantic Europe to accurately reflect the post roman/Celtic sub kingdoms of Europe.

4th century prelude.

To clarify Rome lost control of the bulk of Spain France and Briton as early as 410. When the natives (often with Irish benefactors) took it upon themselves to kick out roman administrators. (recorded by Zosimus, east roman historian in his book “nova historia. ” ) Briton in particular hadn’t been receiving consistent currency from Rome since 370 AD (which means that Roman soldiers in Briton weren’t being paid, they did not take this sitting down and on two occasions started popular revolutions in Briton and northern Gaul in an attempt to gain control of the Roman Empire, after the second attempt Rome simply didn't appoint a new official to govern over the Roman forces in Briton and the remaining soldiers may have simply dissipated into the rising Brythonic kingdoms.)

Also of note is that the Celts of Amorica had attained a technical independence recognized by the roman state as early as 370 AD (after slaughtering all the roman officials who held office in the region every time they where installed) They participated on the Roman side at the battle of Chalons as the Huns were seen as the enemy of all man kind, rather then just the romans. Fallowing this they may have been conquered again by the resurgent Celts in Dumbnonee (cornwall)


Gaul

When the Huns invaded Gaul, It was Flavious Aetius who managed to muster an army in the dieing republic, The native Italians no longer fought their own battles, but Aetius the son of Scythians had the diplomatic ability to forge a cohesive army out of the tribes indebted to Rome. Most history books only mention that the (German Goths) aided him however there were also the resurgent Celts of France, in a rare recorded moment (recorded by another east roman historian Iordanis) the Celts of Gaul aided the Romans in the battle of Chalons, specifically the Bastarnae the Bructeri the Geloni the Neuri and the Amoricani (tribes formerly dispersed by the Romans but used by this historian to document the specific regions that these Gallic soldiers arrived from) and defeated the Huns. Aetius was assassinated, essentially leaving Rome without an army at all and 20 years later the west roman empire fell to pieces.

50 years later at 500 AD it was the West Franks who had been settled in Galic lands for over 240 years that managed to unify all of Gaul (minus Amorica) into one kingdom. Falsely attributed to be Germanic, they themselves sign a peace treaty with Amorica stating, “We are all Celts.” The east franks had remained on the opposite side of the Rhine and where conquered shortly later after falling into chaos. Burgundy was a pro roman state and fallowing Rome’s collapse they and the remaining roman territory in Gaul (the southern strip along the meditaranian to Switzerland) fell into chaos. It should be noted that all the people within these territories where Gallo Roman (or even just Gallic) with the exception of an extreme minority of ethnic Burgundians who where themselves absorbed. The Gaullic language continued to be spoken into the 7th century AD (according to Gregory of Tours) and fed seamlessly into the creation of modern French.

Briton

was not as simple, after the roman soldiers left their administrators where forcibly expelled in 409 (see Zosimus) and in 410 a jerry-rigged senate/confederation made up east of British states defeat a Nordic army attacking in the north. Politically lowland Briton was divided into East and West (what eventually became the Welsh and English) The West British where against the expulsion of Romans and wished them to return with their legions of professional soldiers and despised the East British who’s nobles began to field personal armies of mercenaries (strictly prohibited by Roman law.) It wasn’t long before the West British began calling themselves the “Cymru” (a Latin distortion of the word “comrade) and made war with the east British. The states sympathizing with the Welsh, possibly with the aid of the Irish were slowly overwhelming the east British who found themselves increasingly reliant on mercenaries but the conflict was essentially a stalemate. The course of these battles continued for 20 years (until approximately 451) when east Briton was struck by severe famine which made it impossible to pay their Saxon mercenaries. The Saxons now in their second generation (they no longer spoke the same language as continental Saxons) where loyal to the bone but when lacking payment they immediately switched sides and joined the Welsh. Together the Welsh-Saxon forces dispersed the senate established by the East Brits, and territory was distributed. Granting the Saxons small kingdoms. (The "Groans of the Britons" where letters from the East British senate begging for roman assistance after the Saxons switched sides, they tried to pitch their story as "fighting Germanic invaders" in order to curry sympathy with the Romans still in France who where in similar straights. Unfortunately for them the Romans where fighting Attila.) During the chaos the Angles established a presence in Iceni or Anglia. The Welsh and East British where now permanently divided by this devastating war and the conflicts of reunification continued for over a thousand years. With Angles, Jutes, Franks, Picts, Nords and Gaels all joining or leaving the frey. genetic evidence point towards the whole of Briton being virtually unaffected by these wars, throwing the concept of ethnic cleansing out the window. The English culture emerges some 900-1000 years later.

I’m afraid the mythological accounts of 3 ships full of Saxons killing everybody on Briton with the aid of pagan gods are a work of fiction made centuries later.

Ireland/Alba

It had become a game by the Irish nobility since the early 300s to see who could establish the most influence on old Roman lands and to their credit they established Gaelicia in Spain, had “influences” on Gwynedd, Kernew and Mannin and eventually fully funded colonies in “ Pictland” soon to become “Scotland. They also invaded France in 380, helping to reestablish Amorica and certainly loosened Romes cultural grip on Gaul (great portions of which left rome a generation later in 410, zosimus), It was during these raids that Niall of the nine hostages captured Saint Patrick. After the 400s Ireland and the Gaels of Scotland acted as missionaries all over Europe, They can be accredited with turning the pagans of Europe Christian, The Catholics of Rome unsurprisingly where far less successful. The Picts where allegedly “ killed off” by the Irish, but this theory is highly unlikely, it's far more probable that the Picts and the Gaels had always been of similar language and culture and the two merged through a series of political marriages. Not entirely different then lowland Briton or Gaul.

Hope its been educational!