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Revision as of 07:05, 16 October 2007 by 86.85.44.73 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Laeti, the plural form of Latin laetus, literally = "happy", but probably in this case meaning "friendly (native)", was a term used in the late Roman empire, from the 3rd century onwards, to denote communities of barbari (= foreigners, people from outside the empire) permitted to settle inside the empire on condition that they provide recruits for the Roman military. An alternative term used for laeti was gentiles (= "natives").
Status
Laeti were groups of migrants drawn from the warlike tribes that existed on the empire's borders, and which had fought the Romans intermittently for the entire duration of the empire since its foundation by Augustus in the first century. In the West, these tribes were primarily Germans, living beyond the Rhine, or Sarmatians, Iranic mounted nomads from the Eurasian steppe that had occupied the Hungarian plain facing the Roman province of Pannonia (E. Hungary) across the Danube. In the East, laeti were drawn from, among others, Caucasian Iberians from Georgia, Armenians, and Arabs.
Reproductively self-sufficient groups of laeti (i.e. including women and children) would be granted land to settle in the empire by the imperial government.. They would form distinct military cantons, under the supervision of a Roman praefectus laetorum, who would control either individual communities e.g. praefectus gentilium Sarmatarum Novariae = prefect of the Sarmatian community at Novara N Italy; or all communities of a particular tribe in a particular region e.g. praefectus gentilium Sarmatarum per Bruttios at Apuliam = prefect of Sarmatians in Abbruzzi and Apulia, regions in southern Italy.
In return for their privileges of admission to the empire and land grants, the laeti were under an obligation to supply recruits to the Roman auxiliary forces. The treaty granting a laeti community land might specify a fixed number of recruits required each year. Alternatively, all laeti males of military age (16 years and above) may have been liable to compulsory service in the military.
It appears that, in the 3rd or early 4th century at least, laeti were normally drafted into existing military units, and only rarely formed their own. However, the ala I Sarmatarum and numerus Hnaufridi attested in 3rd century Britain may have been units formed of laeti. In the later 4th century, the Notitia Dignitatum lists a large number of regiments with barbarian names. These appear to have been regular units, and not foederati (allied warbands of barbari), and therefore may have been recruited from laeti.
Notitia Dignitatum
Most of our information on laeti is contained in the Notitia Dignitatum, a document drawn up at the turn of the 3rd/4th centuries. The document is a list of official posts in the Roman empire, both civil and military. It must be treated with caution. Many sections are missing or contain lacunae, so the Notitia does not account for all posts and commands in existence at the time of compilation. Furthermore, the Notitia was compiled over a 25-year period (c395 - c420) and therefore not all posts mentioned necessarily were in existence at the same time.
The surviving Notitia only mentions laeti settlements in Italy and Gaul - and even these lists are incomplete. But we know from other evidence that laeti settlements existed in other provinces.
From the Notitia Dignitatum we know that around 400, in the Western empire, the following nations (gentiles 'people' is a generic term, also used for analogous Sarmatae in Italian provinces) had supplied units, which were garrisoned in places (followed by the province in the genitive) in the Gallic prefecture, each commanded by a Praefectus laetorum (prefect), under the overall command -along many regular units- of the Magister militum for the pedites praesentales' (imperial escort infantry):
- Batavi and Suevi: Baiocas and Constantia, Lugdunensis II
- Suevi: Ceromannos and another, unknown location in Lugdunensis III
- Francs: Redonas, Lugdunensis III
- Teutoniciani: Carnunta, Lugdunensis IV
- Suevi: Arumbernos, Aquitanica I
- Taifali: Poitiers, Aquitanica
- Lingonenses: dispersed over Belgica I
- Acti: Epuso, Belgica I
- Nervii: Fanomantis, Belgica II
- Batavi of Nemetacum, Belgica II
- Batavi Contraginnenses: Noviomagus, Belgica II
- unspecified gentiles: Remo and Silvamectum, Belgica II
- Lagenses: near the Tungri, Germania II
Notes
- A. Goldsworthy Roman Warfare (2000) 215
- Goldsworthy op cit 215
- Notitia Dignitatum West Title XLII
- Goldsworthy Complete Roman Army (2003) 208
- A. Goldsworthy Complete Roman Army 208
- www.roman-britain.org List of auxiliary units
- Notitia Dignitatum East Titles
External links
- Notitia dignitatum
- Pauly-Wissowa (not yet exploited)
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