In 1757, Charles Bertram published an ms ascribed to Richard of Westminster. He claimed that it was 'a copy of an old Manuscript Fragment,' although it was a forgery made by Bertram himself. However, while this manuscript was presented as medieval, and as providing new knowledge about Britrain, the new knowledge is actually concerned with Roman Britain. In this paper, I argue that Bertram uses the Middle Ages as a stepping stone to Roman Britain, and represents the Middle Ages as a depository of long-forgotten knowledge rather than as era of interest in itself.