Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

506 18. the north-western provinces
a long-standing Roman policy. It was also a policy which in the fifth century
brought with it considerable danger, as the Britons found to their cost
when the Saxons revolted. The decision of one group of Britons, under
the leadership of Ambrosius Aurelianus, to rely on its own military
strength, rather than on that of Rome or on federates, marks a move away
from the policy of reintegration into the imperial sphere, apparently
espoused by Vortigern and the council of the Britains, in their appeal to
Aetius. 47
By contrast with Britain, Spain seems to have seen no such emergence
of a native military tradition, outside the bagaudae and various brigand
troops, 48 despite the decision of two Spanish aristocrats loyal to the
emperor Honorius to arm their slaves in opposition to the forces of the
usurper Constantine III. 49 For the most part, military operations in the
north-western part of the peninsula, and probably further south, were conducted
by Roman generals, their barbarian federates or by independent barbarian
groups. Once, we hear of a crowd repelling a Herul raid against the
coast of Lugo, 50 but more often the Hispano-Romans appear as unarmed
civilians, suffering at the hands of barbarians. The population of Noricum
is also, for the most part, merely the butt of barbarian and brigand raids,
though we hear something from Eugippius of their use of Fluchtburgen
(refuge sites). 51 In Comagenis, at least in the earlier part of Severinus’ time
there, the civilian population were guarded by federates – and the federates
were none too popular: their panic, caused by an earthquake, and their
ensuing massacre of each other were regarded as a miraculous salvation. 52
Moreover, for as long as they were paid, there were other troops in
Noricum, but according to Eugippius they depended on the advice of
Severinus. 53 Only on one occasion do we hear of a force of locals attacking
an enemy. 54
For the most part, Gallaecia and Noricum appear to have followed the
pattern which can be found in Britain before 410 – they depended on
Roman troops or federates, and otherwise sought shelter as best they could.
Federates were also much in evidence in Gaul: famously in the settlement
of the Visigoths in Aquitaine, and later of the Burgundians in Sapaudia and
the Alans in Aremorica and Valence. 55 The most northerly of these settlements,
that in Aremorica, is remarkably well evidenced because it is not
only recorded in the Chronicle of 452, but also in the Vita Germani: the region
was deliberately handed over by the central government to the Alans
47 Gildas, De Excidio Britanniae 25. 48 Hydat. Chron. nn. 117, 120, 133.
49 Oros. Hist. Ad. Pag. vii.40.5–7, ed. C. Zangemeister, CSEL 5 (Vienna 1882); compare Zos. vi.4.
50 Hydat. Chron.n.164. 51 Eugippius, Vita Severini 25.3; 30.1.
52 Eugippius, Vita Severini 1.2; 2.1. 53 Eugippius, Vita Severini 4.2–5; 20.
54 Eugippus, Vita Severini 27.1–2.
55 Chronicle of 452 124, 127, 128, ed. T. Mommsen, MGH, AA 9 (Berlin 1892); see Thompson (1956).
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