‘THE SCATTERED GARRISONS’? A FEW REMARKS ON THE AREAS OF GROUPING AND MOBILIZATION OF THE VANDAL ARMY AS COMPARED TO OTHER GERMAN MEDITERRANEAN ‘SUCCESSION KINGDOMS’ IN THE 5TH AND 6TH CENTURIES Cover Image

„GARNIZONY ROZPROSZONE”? KILKA UWAG O TERENACH GRUPOWANIA I MOBILIZACJI ARMII WANDALSKIEJ NA TLE POZOSTAŁYCH GERMAŃSKICH ŚRÓDZIEMNOMORSKICH „KRÓLESTW SUKCESYJNYCH” W V I VI WIEKU
‘THE SCATTERED GARRISONS’? A FEW REMARKS ON THE AREAS OF GROUPING AND MOBILIZATION OF THE VANDAL ARMY AS COMPARED TO OTHER GERMAN MEDITERRANEAN ‘SUCCESSION KINGDOMS’ IN THE 5TH AND 6TH CENTURIES

Author(s): Marek Wilczyński
Subject(s): Military history, Ancient World, 6th to 12th Centuries
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: Late Antiquity; barbarian settlement; ‘scattered garrisons’; military of the 5th and 6th centuries;

Summary/Abstract: Principles of the troops dislocation and providing for the upkeep of the armies of the barbarian kingdoms in the Roman West in the 5th and 6th centuries are still under discussion. In the mid-19th century E. T. Gaupp claimed that the basis of barbarian settlement was assigning them one third of the cultivated land in provinces they settled. More than a century later, W. Goff art and J. Durliat completely denied and modified Gaupp’s theory. In their opinion, the upkeep of the barbarian foederati was to be provided for from one-third of the provincial fiscal revenue allocated to the maintenance of the armed forces. However, a more thorough analysis of the source material proves it impossible to develop any universal pattern of settlement for all barbarian tribes. Military settlement of Vandals in Africa escapes the framework of the Gaupp model, but also that of the Goff art and Durliat model. King Gaiseric had completely seized the property of the Roman landowners in the vast area around Carthage and handed it over to his warriors, creating a strong garrison scattered over many square kilometers. The Vandal ‘scattered garrison’ maintained full mobilization efficiency and fulfilled all the functions of a garrison. The warriors were not paid wages, but granted the sustainable tax-free agricultural property. The article describes its functioning and compares it with solutions adopted in the other barbarian countries.

  • Issue Year: 145/2018
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 721-735
  • Page Count: 15
  • Language: Polish