Foederati
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Foederati (/ˌfɛdəˈreɪtaɪ/, singular: foederatus /ˌfɛdəˈreɪtəs/) were peoples and cities bound by a treaty, known as foedus, with Rome. During the Roman Republic, the term identified the socii, but during the Roman Empire, it was used to describe foreign states, client kingdoms or barbarian tribes to which the empire provided benefits in exchange for military assistance. The term was also used, especially under the empire, for groups of barbarian mercenaries of various sizes who were typically allowed to settle within the empire.
Roman Republic
In the early
Roman Empire
The term foederati had its usage and meaning extended by the Romans' practice of subsidising entire barbarian tribes such as the Franks, Vandals, Alans, Huns and the Visigoths, the last being the best known, in exchange for providing warriors to fight in the Roman armies. Alaric I began his career leading a band of Gothic foederati.
At first, the Roman subsidy took the form of money or food, but as tax revenues dwindled in the 4th and the 5th centuries, the foederati were billeted on local landowners, which became identical to being allowed to settle on Roman territory. Large local landowners living in distant border provinces (see "
4th century
The first Roman treaty with the Goths was after the defeat of Ariaric in 332, but whether or not it was a foedus is unclear.[1]
The Franks became foederati in 358, when Emperor Julian let them keep the areas in northern Roman Gaul, which had been depopulated during the preceding century. Roman soldiers defended the Rhine and had major armies 100 miles (160 km) south and west of the Rhine. Frankish settlers were established in the areas north and east of the Romans and helped the Roman defence by providing intelligence and a buffer state. The breach of the Rhine borders in the frozen winter of 406 and 407 ended the Roman presence along the Rhine when both the Romans and the allied Franks were overrun by a massive tribal migration of Vandals and Alans.
In 376, some of the
The loyalty of the tribes and their chieftains was never reliable, and in 395, the Visigoths, now under the lead of Alaric, once again rose in rebellion. The father of one of the most powerful late Roman generals, Stilicho, rose from the ranks of the foederati.
5th century
At the Battle of Faesulae in 406 AD, Stilicho defeated the Gothic king Radagaisus and his combined Vandal and Gothic army only with the support of the Gothic chieftain Sarus and the Hunnic ruler Uldin.
In 423, the general
Around 418 (or 426), Attaces, the king of the Alans, fell in battle against the Visigoths, who were still allies of Rome in Hispania, and most of the surviving Alans appealed to Gunderic. Their request was accepted by Gunderic, who thus became King of the Vandals and Alans.
Late in Gunderic's reign, the Vandals themselves began to clash more and more with the Visigothic foederati and often got the worse of these battles because the Visigoths were so much more numerous. After Gunderic died early in 428, the Vandals elected his half-brother,
By the 5th century, lacking the wealth needed to pay and train a professional army, the Western Roman Empire's military strength was almost entirely reliant on foederati units. In 451,
After the collapse of the Hunnic Empire, the
6th century
Foederati (transliterated in Greek as Φοιδερᾶτοι or translated as Σύμμαχοι) were still present in the
In the east, foederati were formed out of several Arab tribes to protect against the Persian-allied Arab
See also
References
- ^ From Roman Provinces to Medieval Kingdoms. Thomas F. X. Noble. ed. 2006, p.245
- ISBN 978-0-8028-6931-9. Archivedfrom the original on 2016-12-26. Retrieved 2016-12-25.
- ISBN 978-1-61069-025-6. Retrieved 2018-10-17.
- S2CID 163532641– via Cambridge Journals Online.
- ^ McMahon, Lucas (2014). "The Foederati, the Phoideratoi, and the Symmachoi of the Late Antique East (ca. A.D. 400-650)". Ma Thesis - University of Ottawa: 9–44.
- ^ McMahon, Lucas (2014). "The Foederati, the Phoideratoi, and the Symmachoi of the Late Antique East (ca. A.D. 400-650)". Ma Thesis - University of Ottawa: 52–69.
- ^ McMahon, Lucas (2014). "The Foederati, the Phoideratoi, and the Symmachoi of the Late Antique East (ca. A.D. 400-650)". academia.edu. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
- ^ Haldon, John (1984). Byzantine Praetorians: An Administrative, Institutional, and Social Survey of the Opsikion and Tagmata, c. 580-900. Bonn: Rudolf Habelt. pp. 245–253.
Bibliography
- Maspero, Jean (1912). "Φοιδερᾶτοι et Στρατιῶται dans l'armée byzantine au VI siècle". Byzantinische Zeitschrift. 21 (1): 97–109. S2CID 192034477.
- McMahon, Lucas (2014). "The Foederati, the Phoideratoi, and the Symmachoi of the Late Antique East (ca. A.D. 400-650)". academia.edu. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
External links
- George Long, "Foederati civitates" (English). An essay by a 19th-century Roman law scholar.
- Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, 1898: Foederati