Elafius

Elafius was a British figure of the fifth century AD.

During a visit to Britain by Germanus of Auxerre in c. AD 446-7 he met with Elafius and miraculously cured his crippled son. This act served to demonstrate to the Britons that Catholicism was the true faith rather than Pelagianism.

Elafius is mentioned as being "regionis illius primus"' or 'leader of that region' in chapters 26 and 27 of Constantius of Lyon's hagiography of Germanus and also in Chapter XXI of Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England. Both sources mention that "provincia tota" or 'the whole province' followed him to witness the cure. This description is taken to mean that Elafius was one of a number of local warlords rather than leader of all post-Roman Britain and provides a small insight into the political situation in the area at the time. By means of comparison, a Briton Germanus is recorded as having met seventeen years earlier, in 429, is described by Constantius as being of tribunician rank. This remnant Roman term and the Romanised society it represents may therefore have been abandoned by Elafius' time as he is accorded no such title.

Elafius' court may have been at Winchester, the former Roman city of "Venta Belgarum" or at St Albans, the former Roman city of "Verulamium", although this is speculation. If Elafius was a leader he may have played a role in the subsequent exile of the Pelagian preachers although this banishment is described as being decided through common consent rather than a warlord's orders or even a Roman legal process.

External links

* [http://www.vortigernstudies.org.uk/artsou/constex.htm Passages from Constantius including mention of Elafius]
* [http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_text_bede_i_xxi.htm Bede's text on Elafius, derived from Constantius]