Gallic Empire - Causes

Causes

Beyond a mere symptom of chaos in the third century crisis, the Gallic Empire can be interpreted as a measure of provincial identification competing with the traditional sense of romanitas, of the cohesive loyalties of individual legions, and of the power accumulated by entrenched Romanized aristocratic kinship networks whose local power bases ranged from the Rhine to Baetica, although the extent of "Gaulish" self-identification that nationalist historians have inferred is probably inflated. Postumus declared his sole intention was to protect Gaul – this was his larger Imperial task – and in 261 he repelled mixed groups of Franks and Alamanni to hold the Rhine limes secure, though lands beyond the upper Rhine and Danube had to be abandoned to the barbarians within a couple of years.

The usurpation of Britain and Northern Gaul under Carausius just twenty years later reflects this trend. Local loyalties from the landed aristocracy and deteriorating morale in the legions enabled him to seize power in Britain, in an attempt to carve out a "Britannic" Empire based on the Roman model in Britain and Northern Gaul. Similarly with the withdrawal of legions after 408, many Britons desired a localized Roman authority rather than nationalist revolt. The desire for Roman order and institutions was therefore entirely compatible with a degree of national separatism.