Dux tractus Armoricani et Nervicani
The Dux tractus Armoricani et Nervicani (literally: "Army commander of the Armorican and nervous region ") was a high officer in the late Roman army of the West and commander in chief of the Limitanei (possibly also of naval units ) of a section (roughly the coast between Boulogne and Gironde ) the so-called Saxon coast in Gaul .
Germanus von Auxerre may have held this office in the early 5th century .
The office is only in the Notitia Dignitatum mentioned and was probably in the late 3rd or early 4th century. Chr. Under the reign of Diocletian or I. Constantine established. At the imperial court, the Dux belonged to the highest class of viri spectabiles .
In the Notitia Dignitatum be of the Gallic part litus Saxonicum two high command units (ducat) and the corresponding units for securing the
- Aquitania I and II as well as the
- Lugdunensis II, III and IV / Senonia ( Normandy , Brittany , Aquitaine),
enumerated, the above commander and the neighboring Dux Belgicae secundae . Like the Comes litoris Saxonici per Britanniam , the Dux only commanded individual sections or the forts in these regions, but probably not all of the troops in the above provinces.
development
In the course of the imperial reform under Emperor Diocletian , new military offices were introduced in Britain and Gaul. At that time the Limes of the so-called Saxon coast was formed on both sides of the English Channel . Strongly exposed portions and estuaries were forts partially built or rebuilt already existing. Their occupations had the task of repelling looters and illegal settlers or at least making it difficult for them to access the interior of the country. The responsibility for securing both coasts was in the middle of the 4th century with a Comes Maritimi Tractus . In 367 several barbarian peoples invaded Britain, in the course of which the provincial forces there were split up and almost entirely wiped out. Their commanders-in-chief were also killed, including the "Count of the Coastal Regions", Nectaridus. His area of responsibility must then have been divided into three military districts - by 395 at the latest. The aim was to prevent a military leader from getting too many units under his command, and to prevent uprisings (such as the usurpation of the British naval commander Carausius ). Two new ducats were therefore created for the Gallic part of the Saxon coast. The Grannona fort probably served as the Dux's headquarters. He was able to maintain the coastal defense until the beginning of the 5th century.
The Limitanei stationed in the forts in Normandy and Brittany are likely to have been withdrawn completely after the collapse of the Rhine Limes, 406, or when the Bagauden uprisings, 408/409, broke out. The Dux is still specified in the Notitia as one of the twelve Dux limites of the Western Empire, but it is missing in the list of the Commander-in-Chief of the Western foot troops, the Magister peditum (the Dux provinciae Sequanicae no longer appears here either). Apparently the office no longer existed at the time of the last update of the Western Notitia (approx. 395–425). This could explain why Brittany slipped so quickly from Roman control. According to the historian Zosimus (6.5.3), the Provençals 409 expelled the Roman administrative officials and declared themselves independent. The ancient historians Arnold Hugh Martin Jones and John Robert Martindale took the view that perhaps the later Bishop of Auxerre, Germanus , also exercised this office, since the Lugdunensis IV also fell under the jurisdiction of the Dux. After studying law in Rome, Germanus was appointed advocatus of the prefect of Auxerre and later possibly also commander-in-chief. In the Vita Germani of Constantius von Lyon it is mentioned that u. a. the status of a " ducatus " was granted. It is therefore not excluded that he held the office of Dux before his entry into the clergy in 418 . At the latest between 450 and 460, when the north-west of Gaul was cut off from the Western Roman Empire by the increase in power of the Franks, the structures of the ducat are likely to have finally collapsed. Possibly the office lived on for a while in the Romanesque enclave of the Magister militum per Gallias Aegidius .
Administrative staff
The Officium (administrative staff) of the Dux comprised the following offices:
- Principem ex officiis magistrorum militum praesentalium alternis annis (head of the office, reappointed every two years by the army master)
- Numerarios duos, ex utrisque officiis praesentalibus singulos (two book guides )
- Commentariensem ex utrisque officiis alternis annis (legal scholar, appointed for two years)
- Adiutorem (assistant)
- Subadiuuam (assistant)
- Regrendarium (administrator)
- Exceptores (lawyers)
- Singulares et reliquos officiales (bodyguards and other officials)
troops
Ten tribunes and prefects and their units were available to the Dux . His troop list, however, probably no longer corresponded to reality than the section of the Gallic field army in the Notitia Occ. last updated. These units were without exception limitanei . Many of them are identical to the Pseudocomitatensis of the Gallic field army under the command of the Magister Equitum in Praesenti and the Magister Peditum in Praesenti . The Magister Equitum commanded pseudocomitatenses , which are also given in the list of the Magister Peditum . It seems that these troops came from the Limitanei des Dux Mogontiacensis and also from the Dux des Armorica.
Distributio Numerorum
According to the ND Occ. the following units were available to the Dux :
| Officers / units / forts | comment | Illustration |
|---|---|---|
| Limitanei | ||
| Tribunus cohortis primae novae Armoricanae, Granonna in litore saxonico | A coastal defense unit recruited from Aremoricans on the Gaulish Saxon coast , stationed in Fort Granonna . | |
| Praefectus militum superventorum, Mannatias | The exact meaning of "superventores" is unclear. Since this unit was commanded by a prefect, this probably means that it was detached from a legion. Ammianus Marcellinus mentions ( Res gestae 18.9.3) a Legio Superventores that was used during the siege of the city of Amida . However, it is not certain that it is the same as the troop listed in the Notitia. Milites superventures were otherwise still in the army of the Dux Scythiae (Eastern Empire), presumably they were members of the auxiliary forces . They had no connection with the superventures iuniores , and no superventores seniores appear in the Notitia . | |
| Praefectus militum Dalmatarum, Abrincatis | Probably the infantrymen of the Abrincateni - also appearing in the Magister Peditum - are the same as the unit commanded by Praefect in Abrincatis (today Avranches ). With one exception, all the other "Dalmatian" units listed in the Notitia were cavalrymen. The other infantry force, commanded by the Tribunus cohortis secundae Dalmatarum under the Dux Britanniarum , was in the Magnis fort on Hadrian's Wall . Since the commanding officer of the Abrincateni was a prefect, they may originally have been pulled out of a legion. However, which one is unknown. | |
| Praefectus militum primae Flaviae | The unit was stationed in the city of Constantia (now Coutances ). A troop called Prima Flavia Constantia , which was under the command of the Magister Militum per Orientem (Eastern Empire) and was probably recruited under Constantius Chlorus , is probably not related to this troop. " Prima Flavia " was often used to denote units in the 4th century. | |
| Praefectus militum Martensium, Aleto | Presumably identical to the Martenses . A unit of the pseudocomitatenses in the army of the Magister Peditum . One of her vexillations appears as Marienses in the army of the Magister Equitum per Gallias . | |
| Praefectus militum Ursariensium, Rotomago | Their name means "the bears" and they were probably once a part of the Rhaetian parent legion Legio III Italica . Although Limitanei , the Ursarienses are listed in the Gallic field army as members of the Comitatenses , rather than as Pseudocomitatenses as one would expect. This shows that after the collapse of the Limes in 406 they were one of the first units to be incorporated into the field army mentioned above and upgraded. A. H. M. Jones thinks that this prefect is identical to the Praefectus militum Ursariensium in the army of the Dux Raetiae , but the Limitanei Aremoricas seem to be the better candidates for the original force of this unit. | |
| Praefectus militum Grannonensium | The soldiers of the Garronenses , which are not mentioned anywhere else, were stationed in Grannono - not identical to the fortress of Grannona , as some scientists assume or a transcription error of the medieval copyists. | |
| Praefectus militum Carronensium | This unit, stationed in Blabia , should also originally come from Grannona (perhaps another copy error, a c instead of a g). The Praefect may only have commanded a vexillation of the Garronenses . | |
| Praefectus militum Maurorum Osismiacorum | The name means the soldiers of the Moors in Osismis . This officer had a vexillation of the Mauri Osismiaci under his command. This troop is entered as a closed unit in the lists of the Magister Peditum and the Magister Equitum . Despite the great similarity of the shield pattern with the Chinese Taoist Yin and Yang or Taijitu motif, it should be noted that it appears in Chinese sources for the first time around 700 years after the Notitia Dignitatum was compiled. Presumably the Roman shield pattern goes back to a Celtic symbol, known a. a. from the so-called Desborough Mirror, a bronze mirror from the years between 50 BC and 50 AD, found in 1908 in Northamptonshire, England. Such symbols are a common part of early Celtic art, especially in the British Isles. | |
| Praefectus militum Maurorum Benetorum | This officer also had a vexillation of the Mauri Osismiaci under his command in Benetis . |
literature
- AHM Jones : The Later Roman Empire, 284-602. A Social, Economic and Administrative Survey. 2 volumes. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 1986, ISBN 0-8018-3285-3 (paperback edition).
- Thomas S. Burns: Barbarians within the Gates of Rome. A Study of Roman Military Policy and the Barbarians, ca. 375-425 AD Indiana University Press, Bloomington IN 1994, ISBN 0-253-31288-4 .
- Robert Grosse : Roman military history from Gallienus to the beginning of the Byzantine thematic constitution. Weidmann, Berlin 1920 (Reprint Arno Press, New York NY 1975, ISBN 0-405-07083-7 ).
- Ralf Scharf: The Dux Mogontiacensis and the Notitia Dignitatum. A study of late antique border defense . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2005, ISBN 3-11-018835-X ( Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde . Supplementary volumes, Volume 48. Limited preview in the Google book search).
- Jürgen Oldenstein: Alzey Castle. Archaeological investigations in the late Roman camp and studies on border defense in the Mainz ducat . 2009 ( PDF, 14.9 MB - Habilitation thesis University Mainz 1992).
- Peter Salway: History of Roman Britain , Oxford History of England, Oxford Paperbacks 2001.
- Michael S. DuBois: Auxillae: A Compendium of Non-Legionary Units of the Roman Empire. Lulu Press 2015, ISBN 978-1-329-63758-0 .
- Michael Zerjadtke: The Dux office in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages: The ducatus in the field of tension between Roman influence and its own development. Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2018.
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ Occ. I 45 and XXXVII.
- ↑ Occ. XXXVIII.
- ↑ Ralf Scharf 2005, p. 71.
- ↑ Its location is still disputed today, either at the mouth of the Seine or at what is now Port-en-Bessin-Huppain .
- ↑ barbarica conspiratio , Ammianus 27, 8, 1-6; Peter Salway 2001, p. 281.
- ^ John Robert Martindale: Germanus 1. In: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (PLRE). Volume 2, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1980, ISBN 0-521-20159-4 , pp. 504-505. Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz: Germanus of Auxerre. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 2, Bautz, Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-032-8 , Sp. 225-226. Jürgen Oldenstein 2009, p. 295, Michael Zerjadtke 2018, section 7.2.2.
- ^ Officium autem habet idem vir spectabilis dux hoc modo
- ↑ sub dispositions
- ^ ND Occ. VI.
- ↑ sub dispositions
- ^ ND Occ. V., Jones 1964, pp. 365-366 (Vol. 3).
Comes Britanniarum | Comes litoris Saxonici per Britanniam | Dux Britanniarum | Dux Belgicae secundae | Dux tractus Armoricani et Nervicani | Comes tractus Argentoratensis | Dux Mogontiacensis | Dux Germaniae primae | Dux provinciae Sequanicae | Comes Italiae | Comes Illyrici | Dux Raetiae primae et secundae | Dux Pannoniae Primae et Norici Ripensis | Dux Valeriae ripensis | Dux Pannoniae secundae ripariensis et Saviae | Dux provinciae Tripolitanae | Comes Africae | Dux et praeses provinciae Mauritaniae et Caesariensis | Comes Tingitaniae | Comes Hispaniarum