Defences of the western Roman empire in 5th century

[Robert Vermaat]

Hi Ben,

In the middle of the VIth century, Procopius speaks about roman soldiers in Gaul still keeping the banners and the customs of their ancestors, even the shoes, and states that those soldiers were allied to the Germans (ie the Franks) and to the Arborychi (very likely the Armoricans), at war with the Aryans (ie the Wisigoths).

Yes, even though Procopius must have received this information from a secondary source (at least) I have little reason to discard this information. We have similar reports of for instance Noricum that confirm that the 'Romani' became a culturally identifyable group next to the new groups. Although social mobility was possible everyone knew where they belonged to, and similar to the 19th-c. development of local ('traditional')fashion in Europe, such a group may have become traditional about their outward signs.

Btw, i suspect that if the 'Arborychi' are really the Armorici, then the 'Aryans' may be the Alans rather than the Goths, who had in fact been defeated by the Franks at Vouillé in 507, they weren't a player in Breton affairs by the mid-6th century anymore.

In the Life of St Dalmas of roughly the same period, there is a quote about a 'Legio Britannica' near Orleans. [..]
At least for me that statement of Procopius does involve those Britons (or should I say 'Bretons') still organised in "Legions" after the fall of the West. That's the background we have chosen (even if not backuped by firm evidence!) for our group Letavia.

I don't know about that. See Gildas, and the way how 'legion' had already by the end of the 4th c. (Notitia Dignitatum) become a generic word for 'unit'.
I don't remember the period of origin of the Life of St Dalmas, but it's likely that the use of the word there is archaic, too. It's unlikely to see the word by itself as enough proof for a survival of a Roman military structure. Of course I can't deny it either. :wink:

Something that is often disregard is that the last Roman rulers in the West, Aegidus, Paulus and Syagrius had strong allies in the Britons, which were theorically free of the roman rule since the late IVth/early Vth century but nonetheless retained a very romano-christian culture, and probably military organisation.

Well, we are told that the Roman army was incorporated into the Frankish army. That may tell us something about the Frankish army after that, but not of the Breton army, unfortunately.