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+--- Thread: Laeti (/showthread.php?tid=5319)
Laeti - S SEVERUS - 04-07-2006
I 've started reading "Barbarians Within the Gates of Rome
Study of Roman Military Policy and the Barbarians, Ca.375-425 AD" and already in the first pages I read about Laeti. The author seems to indicate that those men where rather common by the time of the Valentinian and Valens on the Lower Rhine.
But I seem to remember from another source that not much is known about the status of the Laeti.
Someone can shed more light to this?
Re: Laeti - Robert Vermaat - 04-07-2006
You are correct. The word is known, as is a vague understanding that it's about Germanic settlers. But nothing more. were they defeated or invited? Were they tied to the land or not? Did they have to supply soldiers for the army or was their status too low for that?
Usually it is thought that they ranked below dedititii (who possibly 'surrendered' to Roman authority) and foederati (who signed a treaty on almost equal footing).
But there's no real evidence to get at the details.