The Groans of the Britons (Latin: gemitus Britannorum) is the name of the final appeal made by the Britons to the Roman military for assistance against barbarian invasion. The appeal is first referenced in Gildas' 6th-century De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae; Gildas' account was later repeated in Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum. According to Gildas, the message was addressed to the general Flavius Aetius and requested his aid in defending formerly Roman Britain from the Picts and Scots. The collapsing Western Roman Empire had few military resources to spare during the period referred to as the Decline of the Roman Empire and the record is ambiguous on what the response to the appeal was, if any. According to Gildas and various later medieval sources, the failure of the Roman armies to secure Britain led the Britons to invite Anglo-Saxon mercenaries to the island, precipitating the Anglo-Saxon invasion.
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