Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

local and central 483
or cities but on a provincial footing in the case of Champagne, contributed
significantly to military activity, whereas in the former there is no evidence
for locally-based forces (Fig. 17, p.442 above). This distinction is likely to
have originated in the different fates of these areas during the invasions and
migrations of the late fourth and early fifth century: nearer the Rhine frontier,
urban life was overwhelmed whereas, in the hinterland, communities
often had the time to organize themselves on a new military footing, which
was then preserved under Visigothic and Merovingian control.
The new ‘urban’ troops will have had diverse origins: in some cases the
local élite may have supplied the men, but at Bazas in 414 there is evidence
for a small group of Alans attaching itself to the town. 50 These urban levies
constituted an important part of royal military resources, and it was essential
for Merovingian kings to retain control of them through the local magnates
who commanded them. They appear to have operated on a seasonal
basis, with campaigns lasting a few weeks or months, and not to have been
deployed outside the kingdom – for example, on expeditions to Italy or
Spain – but for the defence of their locality and attacks on neighbouring
regions they were highly effective. Furthermore, these remilitarized Gallo-
Romans were no less enthusiastic than their Germanic contemporaries
about fighting when booty was in prospect. Numerous inhabitants of
Tours joined their levy’s expedition against Gundovald, though the men of
Poitiers ambushed them and dashed their hopes. 51
Toleration or encouragement of local military organization was bound
to challenge the operation of central power. If this development is one
aspect of imperial disintegration in the west in the fifth century, there are
signs that the east could have experienced the same fate. At Thessalonica
in 478/9 the inhabitants’ distrust of the emperor boiled over into a riot in
which they overthrew Zeno’s statues and threatened to dismember the
praetorian prefect and burn down his palace; the situation was calmed by
the local clergy, who helped the citizens to arrange the protection of their
own city, with custody of the keys being transferred from the prefect to the
archbishop. 52 A century later Thessalonica still had an efficient system for
mobilizing the urban population to man the walls. 53 The inhabitants of the
Balkans, like those of the west, had to cope with regular insecurity. As a
result, local society became more militarized, but if these local military men
were not in receipt of imperial salaries – and the interruption of salaries to
limitanei suggests that they were not – loyalties to the centre would be
eroded.
The infrequency of military action on the eastern frontier throughout
the fifth century ensured that cities there did not develop local military
50 Paulinus of Pella, Euch. 377–98. 51 Bachrach (1972) 65–8;Greg.Tur.Hist. vii.28.
52 Malchus fr. 20.5–19. 53 Miracula S. Dem. i.107.
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