Dux Belgicae secundae

Last updated
Dux Belgicae secundae
Litus Saxonicum.png
The Saxon Shore (Litus saxonicum) around the year 380.
Activeend of the fourth century to the fifth century
Country Roman Empire
Typecommander of a stretch of the Rhine limes and Litus Saxonicum (Saxon Shore)
Childeric in the equipment of a late Roman officer, 5th century, reconstruction attempt after discovered in the 17th century grave goods Childerich dux.png
Childeric in the equipment of a late Roman officer, 5th century, reconstruction attempt after discovered in the 17th century grave goods

The Dux Belgicae secundae ("commander of the second Belgic province") was a senior officer in the army of the Late Roman Empire who was the commander of the limitanei (frontier troops) and of a naval squadron on the so-called Saxon Shore in Gaul.

The limitanei or ripenses, meaning respectively "the soldiers in frontier districts" or "the soldiers on the riverbank", were an important part of the late Roman and early Byzantine army after the reorganizations of the late 3rd and early 4th centuries. The limitanei, unlike the comitatenses, palatini, and scolae, garrisoned fortifications along the borders of the Roman Empire and were not normally expected to fight far from their fortifications.

Saxon Shore

The Saxon Shore was a military command of the late Roman Empire, consisting of a series of fortifications on both sides of the English Channel. It was established in the late 3rd century and was led by the "Count of the Saxon Shore". In the late 4th century, his functions were limited to Britain, while the fortifications in Gaul were established as separate commands. Several Saxon Shore forts survive in east and south-east England.

Contents

The office is thought to have been established around 395 AD. At the imperial court, a dux was of the highest class of viri spectabiles . The Notitia Dignitatum lists for the Gallic part of the Litus Saxonicum ("the Coast of Saxony") two commanders, and their military units, who were charged with securing the coasts of Flanders (Belgica II), of Normandy (Lugdunensis II), and of Brittany (Lugdunensis III), these commanders being the Dux Belgicae secundae [1] and the neighboring Dux Armoricani et Nervicani. [2]

<i>Notitia Dignitatum</i> document detailing the administrative organisation of the Eastern and Western Roman Empires

The Notitia Dignitatum is a document of the late Roman Empire that details the administrative organization of the Eastern and Western Empires. It is unique as one of very few surviving documents of Roman government and describes several thousand offices from the imperial court to provincial governments, diplomatic missions, and army units. It is usually considered to be accurate for the Western Roman Empire in the AD 420s and for the Eastern or Byzantine Empire in the AD 390s. However, the text itself is not dated, and omissions complicate ascertaining its date from its content.

These two commanders were the successors to an official the Comes Maritimi Tractus (Commander of the Coastal Regions), who formerly commanded both the British and the Gallic part of the Saxon Shore. These two commanders maintained coastal defenses until the mid–5th Century. A well known commander was the Frankish king Childeric I (late 5th century).

"Comes", plural "comites", is the Latin word for "companion", either individually or as a member of a collective denominated a "comitatus", especially the suite of a magnate, being in some instances sufficiently large and/or formal to justify specific denomination, e. g. a "cohors amicorum". "Comes" derives from "com-" ("with") and "ire" ("go").

Childeric I Frankish king

Childeric I was a Frankish leader in the northern part of imperial Roman Gaul and a member of the Merovingian dynasty, described as a King, both on his Roman-style seal ring, which was buried with him, and in fragmentary later records of his life. He was father of Clovis I, who acquired lordship over all or most Frankish kingdoms, and a significant part of Roman Gaul.

History

In the course of the imperial reforms under Emperor Diocletian new military offices were introduced in Britain and Gaul. At that time the limes (border wall/marker) of the Saxon coast were established on both sides of the English Channel. The castles guarding the heavily exposed sections and estuaries were partially restored or modified from existing structures. Their garrisons had the task of repelling raiders and impeding the access of invaders to the interior. The main responsibility for securing both coasts was in the middle of the 4th century placed in a Comes Maritimi Tractus. In 367, an invasion of Britain by several barbarian peoples, almost completely wiping out units of the local provincial forces, killing the coastal commander Nectaridus. His area of responsibility must have been divided thereafter—by 395 at the latest—into three military districts. This most likely was also to prevent a military commander from having too many soldiers under his command, thus enabling him to start an uprising (such as the usurpation of the British fleet commander Carausius). For the Gallic part of the Saxon coast, two new ducal regions were created, which existed until the early 5th century. [3]

Diocletian Roman Emperor from 284 to 305 A.C.N.

Diocletian, born Diocles, was a Roman emperor from 284 to 305. Born to a family of low status in Dalmatia, Diocletian rose through the ranks of the military to become Roman cavalry commander to the Emperor Carus. After the deaths of Carus and his son Numerian on campaign in Persia, Diocletian was proclaimed emperor. The title was also claimed by Carus' surviving son, Carinus, but Diocletian defeated him in the Battle of the Margus.

In the final phase of Roman rule over Gaul, Childeric, as civilian administrator and commander of the warrior groups around the town of Tournai in the north of the province, acted as the commander of the Salian Franks. Tournai served as his residence and administrative headquarters. His power was based upon, among other things, the weapon forges here. In Childeric's grave, discovered in 1653, Eastern Roman gold coins, a gold-plated officer's coat (paludamentum), and a golden onion button brooch were found. The first was interpreted as renumeratio (payment) for services rendered, the last as an insignia of the late Roman army.

Tournai Municipality in French Community, Belgium

Tournai, known in Dutch as Doornik and historically as Dornick in English, is a Walloon municipality of Belgium, 85 kilometres southwest of Brussels on the river Scheldt. In the province of Hainaut, Tournai is part of Eurometropolis Lille–Kortrijk–Tournai, which had 2,155,161 residents in 2008.

Salian Franks

The Salian Franks, also called the Salians, were a northwestern subgroup of the earliest Franks who first appear in the historical records in the third century.

It is unclear whether Childeric acted as merely a Roman general or independently as a king (rex gloriosissimus); most likely, both offices had already merged. Childeric was probably still loyal to the late Roman military aristocracy of Gaul. In any case, it was not the formal powers that mattered, but the power based on commanding a military resources. This combining of civilian and military offices in his hands suggests that Childeric had a prominent position among barbarian army commanders. He had probably been directly confirmed in his office by the administration of Odoacer in Italy and also by the Eastern Roman imperial court. It is believed that he had precedence before the other federal commander in chief. As rex or princeps he would also have been entitled to bestow religious and secular offices and the associated titles—such as patricius, comes, and dux—to deserving Teutons or Romans in his domain (regnum). [4]

Odoacer 5th-century Germanic soldier and monarch

Flavius Odoacer, also known as Flavius Odovacer or Odovacar, was a barbarian statesman who deposed Romulus Augustus and became King of Italy (476–493). His reign is commonly seen as marking the end of the Western Roman Empire.

Byzantine Empire Roman Empire during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages

The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinople. It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural and military force in Europe."Byzantine Empire" is a term created after the end of the realm; its citizens continued to refer to their empire simply as the Roman Empire, or Romania (Ῥωμανία), and to themselves as "Romans".

Administrative staff

Dux Belgicae secundae from Notitia dignitatum: the forts on Litus Saxonicum ("the Saxon shore", symbolically represented as one fort), and the fortress cities Quartensis and Portuae Patiaci, all under the command of the Dux Belgicae secundae. Text: Dux Belgicae secundae. Sub dispositione viri spectabilis ducis Balgicae secundae : Equites Dalmatae, Marcis in litore Saxonico. Praefectus classis Sambricae, in loco Quartensi siue Hornensi. Tribunus militum Neruiorum, Portu Epatiaci. Officium autem habet idem uir spectabilis dux hoc modo : Principem ex eode corpore. Numerarium. Commentariensem. Adiutorem. Subadiuuam. Regrendarium. Exceptores. Singulares et reliquos officiales. Notitia Dignitatum - Dux Belgicae secundae.jpg
Dux Belgicae secundae from Notitia dignitatum: the forts on Litus Saxonicum ("the Saxon shore", symbolically represented as one fort), and the fortress cities Quartensis and Portuae Patiaci, all under the command of the Dux Belgicae secundae. Text:

Dux Belgicae secundae.

Sub dispositione viri spectabilis ducis Balgicae secundae :
      Equites Dalmatae, Marcis in litore Saxonico.
      Praefectus classis Sambricae, in loco Quartensi siue Hornensi.
      Tribunus militum Neruiorum, Portu Epatiaci.
Officium autem habet idem uir spectabilis dux hoc modo :
      Principem ex eode corpore.
      Numerarium.
      Commentariensem.
      Adiutorem.
      Subadiuuam.
      Regrendarium.
      Exceptores.
      Singulares et reliquos officiales.

The officium (administrative staff) of the dux included the following offices: [6]

Forts, officers, and units

In addition to the administrative staff ( officium ), eight tribunes or prefects and their units were available to the Dux (sub dispositione, "at discretion"):

Tribunus militum Nerviorum, a prefect for Sarmatian settlers (Praefectus Sarmatarum gentilium, inter Renos et Tambianos secundae provinciae Belgicae), and four prefects that commanded the contingents of Germanic Laeti :

Their shield emblems are not shown in the Notitia Dignitatum.

The Dux had originally more units under his command. Arnold Hugh Martin Jones identified the origin of some units as being from the Gallic army. They originated from Belgica II. Their names are the same as the well-known cities of this province:

Unlike the vexillarii of other duces, these units are not shown as being under the command of the Dux Belgicae II. It seems that this province had diminished influence after the destruction of the border units on the Rhine (Rhine crossing of 406 AD), at which many of their units were transferred to the field army.

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Limes</i> border defence or delimiting system of Ancient Rome

Limes is used here to here to mean frontier of the Roman Empire.

<i>Dux</i> dux could refer to anyone who commanded troops

Dux is Latin for "leader" and later for duke and its variant forms.

Count of the Saxon Shore

The Count of the Saxon Shore for Britain was the head of the Saxon Shore military command of the later Roman Empire.

Dux Britanniarum Commanding Leader in Roman Britain

Dux Britanniarum was a military post in Roman Britain, probably created by Diocletian or Constantine I during the late third or early fourth century. The Dux was a senior officer in the late Roman army of the West in Britain. It is listed in the Notitia Dignitatum as being one of the three commands in Britain, along with the Comes Britanniarum and Count of the Saxon Shore.

The comitatenses and later the palatini were the units of the field armies of the late Roman Empire.

Auxilia palatina were infantry units of the Late Roman army, first raised by Constantine I as part of the new field army he created in about 325 AD.

Laeti, the plural form of laetus, was a term used in the late Roman Empire to denote communities of barbari ("barbarians") i.e. foreigners, or people from outside the Empire, permitted to settle on, and granted land in, imperial territory on condition that they provide recruits for the Roman military. The term laetus is of uncertain origin. It means "lucky" or "happy" in Latin but may derive from a non-Latin word. It may derive from a Germanic word meaning "serf" or "half-free colonist". Other authorities suggest the term was of Celtic or Iranian origin.

Procurator Gynaecii is an official Roman title recorded in the document Notitia Dignitatum, a list of Imperial civil and military officials in the late 4th or early 5th century.

Anderitum 3rd century Roman fort in the province of Britannia

Anderitum was a Saxon Shore fort in the Roman province of Britannia. Its remains are located at grid reference TQ645047 in eastern Pevensey in the English county of East Sussex and the site was later converted into a medieval castle known as Pevensey Castle.

Diocese of Egypt Late Roman administrative unit encompassing Egypt and eastern Libya, ca. 381-536 AD

The Diocese of Egypt was a diocese of the later Roman Empire, incorporating the provinces of Egypt and Cyrenaica. Its capital was at Alexandria, and its governor had the unique title of praefectus augustalis instead of the ordinary vicarius. The diocese was initially part of the Diocese of the East, but in ca. 380, it became a separate entity, which lasted until its territories were finally overrun by the Muslim conquest of Egypt in the 640s.

Late Roman army

In modern scholarship, the "late" period of the Roman army begins with the accession of the Emperor Diocletian in AD 284, and ends in 476 with the deposition of Romulus Augustulus, being roughly coterminous with the Dominate. During the period 395–476, the army of the Roman Empire's western half progressively disintegrated, while its counterpart in the East, known as the East Roman army remained largely intact in size and structure until the reign of Justinian I.

The palatini were elite units of the Late Roman army mostly attached to the comitatus praesentales, or imperial escort armies. In the elaborate hierarchy of troop-grades, the palatini ranked below the scholares, but above the comitatenses and the limitanei.

Cohors IV Gallorum equitata Roman cohort

Cohors quarta Gallorum equitata was a Roman auxiliary cohort containing both infantry and cavalry contingents. It was probably raised in Gallia Lugdunensis at the time of the founder-emperor Augustus. It is first attested in Moesia in 75 AD and was still in Moesia Inferior in 105. It therefore probably took part in the emperor Trajan's Dacian Wars (99-106). After a brief stay in Thracia, it was transferred to Britannia not later than 122. Its last datable attestation is in 276-82, still at Vindolanda. But the Notitia Dignitatum, a late Roman official document, records a cohors IV Gallorum at Vindolanda under the dux Britanniarum, the commander of limitanei along Hadrian's Wall. The Western section of the Notitia was drawn up in the 420's but the British units must date to before 410, when the island was evacuated by the Roman army.

Cornuti

The Cornuti ("horned") was an auxilia palatina unit of the Late Roman army, active in the 4th and 5th century. It was probably related to the Cornuti seniores and the Cornuti iuniores.

The Legio IV Italica was a legion of the Imperial Roman army raised in AD 231 by emperor Alexander Severus. The legion remained in existence as late as AD 400.

Ala Gallorum Petriana ancient Roman military unit

Ala Gallorum Petriana was a Roman auxiliary unit. is attested by military diplomas and inscriptions. In one inscription it is referred to as Ala Augusta Petriana; in other inscriptions, Tacitus in his Histories, and in the Notitia dignitatum it is called Ala Petriana.

The Comes tractus Argentoratensis was in late antiquity commander of units of the mobile field army of the Western Roman empire, operating along the Rhine frontier in the Diocese of Gaul.

References

  1. ↑ Notitia Dignitatum Occ. XXXVIII
  2. ↑ Notitia Dignitatum Occ. XXXVII
  3. ↑ barbarica conspiratio, Ammianus 27,8,1–6, Peter Salway 2001, S. 281
  4. ↑ Eugen Ewig, 2006, S. 17, Stefanie Dick, 2015, S. 29–30, Dieter Geuenich, S. 97–98
  5. ↑ Notitia Dignitatum at droitromain.upmf-grenoble.fr
  6. ↑ Officium autem habet idem vir spectabilis dux hoc modo

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.