The emperor Probus (276-82) is recorded in the Historia Augusta (14.7) as having taken German recruits, 16,000 in all, “whom he scattered through the various provinces, incorporating bodies of 50 or 60 in the detachments or among the soldiers along the frontier, for he said that the aid the Romans received from barbarian auxiliaries must be felt but not seen’. These German recruits were different from the first - and second-century auxiliaries since they did not come from conquered territories within the Empire, but were no
Drawn from the regions beyond the frontiers. Recruiting contingents of troops from nonRoman, and often repeatedly hostile, peoples increased in the fourth century, particularly under Valentinian I (364-75) and Gratian (367-83). At that time the western Empire was continually under pressure from Germanic peoples such as the Alamanni, Franks and Saxons, and the frontiers were heavily fortified and manned, a development which required increased numbers of soldiers (see chapter 9). Numbers were swelled by settling conquered peoples within the Empire and pressing them into military service in return for land. Not only large groups of such ‘prisoners’, but also tribal units under the command of their own elite leaders, were integrated into the army. In the fourth century many Germanic names appear in the written sources recording non-Roman men who were given command posts, for example Balchobaudes who became a tribune in 365/6, Fullofaudes who was a general in 367/8 and Frigeridus, a general of Gratian in 377. Mallobaudes was a commander of Frankish troops and, at the same time, a Frankish king in 378. Fraomarius was king of the Bucinobantes, a subtribe of the Alamanni, who served as a tribune in 372 and participated in the defence of Britain. Other Alamannic chiefs, such as Bitheridus and Hortarius, also held commands over Roman troops. Nobles such as the Frank Arbogast (388-92) and the Vandal Stilicho (395-408) moreover could rise in rank and power to become supreme commander of the army (magister tnilitum) in all of Gaul.
The attraction for non-Roman recruits from beyond the frontier, particularly for the Germanic nobles, was the immediate integration into Roman society and the possibility of achieving positions of power and wealth within the military in a very short period of time. The benefits of acquiring land and possessions on Roman soil was a further enticement. The heavy recruitment of Germanic peoples in the late Roman army meant an increased Germanic clement in the military forces, and since they often brought their families with them to their postings new Germanic population groups were introduced to Roman settlements, slowly changing the fabric of Roman society. Those holding Roman land and defending Rome’s north-west frontiers acted as protection against other external Germanic and non-Germanic peoples seeking their fortunes within the Empire.
Clearly, the Roman army was a melting pot for men and their families from all parts of the Empire. The civilian population also comprised many people with diverse origins. Such a constellation will have meant that people with different identities came into contact with each other, identities which were multiple and often negotiable. The next chapter examines these ethnic and cultural identities.
World History
