Ambrosius Aurelianus
Preserved but no longer current.
A semi-mythical cham- pion of the British race. The story is that he was a descendant of the Emperor Constantine, that he lived in the 5th century, and that he /ed the Romanized Britons against the Saxon invaders under Hengist. He is mentioned by Gildas as "the last of the Romans," and he may have been a Count of the Saxon Shore. Ambry (am' bn) (Old Fr. armarfe, from Lat. armaria, chest or cupboard, from arma, tools, gear).
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Ambrosius Aurelianus” mean?
A semi-mythical cham- pion of the British race. The story is that he was a descendant of the Emperor Constantine, that he lived in the 5th century, and that he /ed the Romanized Britons against the Saxon invaders under Hengist. He is mentioned by Gildas as "the last of the Romans," and he may have been a Count of the Saxon Shore. Ambry (am' bn) (Old Fr. armarfe, from Lat. armaria, chest or cupboard, from arma, tools, gear).
Is “Ambrosius Aurelianus” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.