Several auxiliary units are listed as being 'Civium Romanorum' - composed of Roman citizens (e.g Cohors Primae Fida Vardullorum Civium Romanorum Equitata Milliaria, from the British garrison). I'd assumed this was due to some heroic exploit in the past, for which the whole cohort had been given citizenship. But... How would new recruits have been mustered? Surely a Roman citizen would be more likely to join a regular legion that an auxiliary unit posted on the far frontier? I can think of the following options:<br>
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1. Recruits were given citizenship on enlistment - which would make these Civ Rom cohorts something pretty special, I suppose.<br>
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2. The grant of citizenship was solely for those actually in the cohort at the time of said exploit - the title therefore lapsing <em>at some point</em>, or becoming purely honorific.<br>
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3. The cohort was recruited from a very particular group - the Vardulli tribe, for example - who had <em>all been given citizenship</em> at some point, on the proviso that they provide recruits for their 'own' cohort.<br>
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Can anybody clear this up, or suggest an alternative option? <p></p><i></i>
Actually CR cohortes existed from the very early empire on. It was usually thought that they'd originally been raised after either the Pannonian Revolt of 6 AD or the Varian disaster. Speidel has however shown that this was not the case, some CR cohortes already existed at that time. Early examples are the Cohortes Classicae, the Cohors Apula and the Cohors Campana for a total in the Augustan period of up to 46 units. It is probable that there were some privileges to being in a CR unit and that a distinction between these and other cohortes was made, as is shown for instance by the fact that they often (but not always) have tribunes instead of prefects as commanding officers.<br>
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See: MP Speidel, 'Citizen Cohorts in the Roman Imperial Army. New Data on the Cohorts Apula, Campana, and III Campestris', RAS I 91-100. <p>Greets<br>
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Jasper</p><i></i>
Nathan,<br>
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Service guarantees Citizenship...<br>
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I don't think they would have handed it out so freely when you normally had to serve 25 years in order to "earn" citizenship.<br>
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Dave <p>[url=http://www.freewebs.com/davekufner" target="top]www.freewebs.com/davekufner[/url]</p><i></i>
Actually, the Romans did hand out citizenship easily on occasion, in 68/69 AD, where the non-citizen troops of the fleets were made citizens and enrolled in two new legions. Some of the CR units did get unit-wide citizenship for valor or otherwise distinguished service. <p>Greets<br>
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Jasper</p><i></i>
Quote:</em></strong><hr>Early examples are the Cohortes Classicae, the Cohors Apula and the Cohors Campana<hr><br>
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The last two would presumably have been recruited in Apulia and Campania respectively, and therefore from a citizen population - the same being the case, I suppose, for the 'Italic Cohort' mentioned in the N.T. The Vardulli I mentioned above, however, would surely be different - epigraphic evidence records them using the 'Civium Romanorum' tag from 98AD into the mid third century. By the later date, the whole empire had been awarded citzenship by Caracalla anyway, but at the earlier date it would surely have been unusual to find a whole ethnic group in northern Spain (the Vardulli) claiming Roman citizenship. So how was this cohort recruited? Ther neighbours, the Vascones, also had a CR cohort mentioned in the lists for Britain. <p></p><i></i>
True. Some units did get the CR epithet for some feat and the then-serving soldiers got the citizenship. I'm not sure there's evidence for those units continuing to recruit citizens only. Certainly possible though.<br>
You certainly should lose the idea that regional auxiliary units continued to recruit from their original recruitment areas. They did, partially, but also always incorporated local recruits, who could've been sons of time-served (thus citizens) auxiliary soldiers of the same unit. <p>Greets<br>
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Jasper</p><i></i>
Quote:</em></strong><hr>They did, partially, but also always incorporated local recruits, who could've been sons of time-served (thus citizens) auxiliary soldiers of the same unit<hr><br>
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Aha! Yes, indeed I was aware that most auxiliary cohorts didn't recruit solely, or even usually, in their 'ethnic' areas - not after the earlier 1st century, anyway - but I was considering that perhaps these CR cohorts <em>did</em>, for precisely this reason: where else would a ready supply of citizen recruits come from? The 'sons of veterans' would, of course, explain this in part - assuming these sons didn't take advantage of being born citizens and take themselves off to the nearest legion base. <p></p><i></i>
I Have a bit of confusion on this and I would love to here some thoughts on this.
Why would a citizen auxiliary cohort be recruited as opposed to just placing them in a legionary cohort, or making them replacements.
I can only speculate for a couple reasons, yet I have nothing to base this off of.
1. The CR Cohort had a specific role different than standard legionary cohort, whether it be a border type security mission, different weapons employed, etc...
2. It was a legal way to raise more citizen recruit formations with out going over the 28 legion force cap.
3. It was made up of recently new citizens whether they were freedmen, immigrants having earned their citizenship somehow, or recruits that just did not meet basic legionary recruitment standards.
Thoughts? Like I said I am only speculating, and I can not find a lot of information on the topic. so I look forward to any and all thoughts.
Cheers,
Mike
There is also the problem of Roman non-citizens, who were freedmen, sons of freedmen, and other non-citizens who were living in Italy and Roman colonies. They were not citizens, but perhaps as an incentive to enlist in time of emergency, they might be granted citizenship en mass. but armed and armored and used as auxiliaries, where a complete Legion was not needed, but the unit would be in place longer than would be acceptable for a Legion detachment.
Another thought is that, like many other unit names, the CR was kept as a reminder of singular honors granted, but not necessarily meaning that all new members of the unit were granted citizenship.
There is so much that we still don't know, and there is no One True Book of all History where we can find all the answers.
One should keep in mind that there's a difference between 'normal' auxiliary units that received the title CR as an award for extraordinary service and units raised from Roman citizens (i.e. the earliest cohortes Classicae, the cohortes civium romanorum voluntariorum, etc).
As Caius said, the former kept that name as a reminder of the honor. They may have recruited citizens from then on, but I'm not sure there's sufficient evidence to prove that. On the other hand, throughout the second century, there would've been more and more citizens in auxiliary units (sons of former auxiliary soldiers), simply because the system produced such potential recruits.
Of the original cohorts of Roman citizens some date, I believe, from the later Augustan era, around the Pannonian revolt of 6 AD. It is indeed possible that Augustus did not want to raise another - permanent - legion for a crisis situation. That would not only require even more highly paid citizen troops (cost of soldiers was very much a factor in his politics!), but it was also another potential security risk for which a dependable senator needed to be found.
I can't think of any evidence to suggest that auxiliary units that are awarded citizenship for their actions then recruited only citizens. The c.R. remains in the unit's title as part of its battle honours, but it surely just carried on recruiting as normal*. So gradually the number of citizens in the unit's ranks would decline. It would be so much of a faff to try to direct citizen recruits to auxiliary units, especially if they're recruiting locally, and I personally don't see the Roman army working like that.
As for raising citizen cohorts instead of a new legion - as Jasper says, legions are very expensive; a couple of citizen cohorts would be cheaper, but they also provide greater tactical flexibility and could be raised much more quickly than a whole legion, so particularly useful in an emergency situation.
*What happens with unit citations in the US military? Do all members of the unit wear the citation for ever after, or is it just those service-people who were a member of the unit when the citation was awarded? Entirely off the point, but just interested...
Kate
Quote:They may have recruited citizens from then on, but I'm not sure there's sufficient evidence to prove that.
I think the balance of probability is against it, Jasper.
cf. RMD (IV) 276, issued to a trooper of ala I Britannica c.R. If the recruits were all citizens, this man wouldn't need a diploma.
(... although the case is not air-tight, as diplomas were still being issued after
everyone had been given citizenship!)
Quote:I think the balance of probability is against it, Jasper.
I guess I should've expressed my doubt stronger then!
Quote:cf. RMD (IV) 276, issued to a trooper of ala I Britannica c.R. If the recruits were all citizens, this man wouldn't need a diploma.
(... although the case is not air-tight, as diplomas were still being issued after everyone had been given citizenship!)
Are there still auxiliary diplomas among them? I just don't know off the top of my head. But you are right. The fleet diplomas post 212 still have the civitatem dederunt formula in them.
Just another thought: even if our man was already a citizen, he would still require the grant of conubium.
So my diploma-based theory is looking even less airtight! :oops:
If he was already a citizen would he worry about needing documentation as proof of his right of conubium though?