Heretic Emperor: The
Lost History of King Arthur
Copyright © V M Pickin 2005
Synopsis
Book 4 - The War
Chapter
14 - Restitutor Orbis
Chapter 15 - The Battle for Gaul
Chapter 16 - The Fall of Arthur’s
Britain
Chapter 14 - Restitutor Orbis
Shows that Geoffrey is right, Rome did lose dominion over Gaul in the time of Emperor Leo. Opens with the theory that Arthur is identical to Riothamus, Rome’s British ally who was defeated on the Continent in 470, during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Leo. Shows that although Geoffrey clearly does draw his readers’ attention to Emperor Leo and the year 470, he cannot have intended them to identify Arthur with Riothamus. Traces the history of Leo’s crusade against the Goths, Arian heretics who then dominated most of the western Empire, and shows that its failure did reduce Rome’s western dominion to Italy, just as Geoffrey says. Concludes that Geoffrey clearly knows his history, and directs us to look for evidence for Arthur in Late Roman Gaul.