In 286, a former helmsman/pilot, Carausius (fl.286-293), was appointed to command the Classis Britannica, a fleet based in the English Channel, with the responsibility of eliminating Frankish and Saxon pirates who had been raiding the coasts of Britain and Gaul.
Carausius crushed the pirates but then used his naval power to occupy Britain and declare himself emperor in Britain and northern Gaul (Imperium Britanniarum). For the time being Maximian (c.60; r.286-305) (W) accepted the situation as he was dealing with invasions by the Alamanni and Burgundians.
In 293 caesar Constantius-I Chlorus (West; 56; r.305-306) blockaded Gesoriacum/Boulogne-sur-Mer in France and built a giant mole to block the harbour. Carausius failed to relieve the city and retreated back to Britain. The port surrendered and Carausius, with his position weakened, was assassinated by his treasurer Allectus (fl.293-296). Constantius spent the next three years assembling a fleet and campaigning against Allectus’ Frankish allies near the mouth of the Rhine.
In September 296, he launched an invasion to recover Britain. One arm of his force, led by the praetorian prefect Julius (43) Asclepiodotus (fl.292-296), sailed up the Solent Strait and landed near Clausentum/Southampton, Hampshire.
Allectus advanced to meet Asclepiodotus and in a decisive battle, fought somewhere near Calleva Atrebatum/Silchester, Hampshire. Allectus was defeated and killed. During this time, Constantius-I leading a second army had crossed the Channel and arrived at London just in time to intercept and kill the remnants of Allectus’ troops fleeing from the battle.
The Christian faith was probably introduced into England and Scotland by trade and military contacts between Britain and Gaul. Irenaeus (c.130-c.202) in a list of Christian lands that included the regions of the Celts does not mention Britain, but two important early theologians, Tertullian (c.155-c.220) and Origen (c.185-c.253), included Britain among the countries in which Christianity had been preached. It is therefore possible that Christianity reached Britain somewhere between the end of the second century and the beginning of the third century.
Britain had its early martyrs, most of whom were probably victims of the emperor Diocletian’s persecution of Christians that began in 303. Gildas (c.450/500-c.570), a British monk, names only Alban of Verulamium, together with Aaron and Julius of Caerleon, although these last two may have been victims of an earlier round of persecutions.
Since the fall of the Severan dynasty in 235, rivals for the imperial throne had bid for support by either favouring or persecuting Christians. In 306 caesar Constantius-I (W) died and his army proclaimed his son augustus Constantine-I (West; c.65; r.306-37) at Eboracum/York. In February 313 Constantine and augustus Licinius (East; r.313-324; d.325) agreed to change policies towards Christians. In 313 the Edict of Milan proclaimed that Christians were to be treated benevolently. In 314, bishops from Eboracum/York, Lindum/ Lincoln and Londinium/London attended the Council of Arles, called by Constantine against Donatist schism. Britain also produced a Christian heretic, the learned Pelagius (c.354-418), who taught that man was born free of sin, possessed free will, and had the power to choose between good and evil.
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