This confrontation is part of a war that begins in the year 376, when the rebellion of a group of Goth "refugees" took place against the mistreatment suffered at the hands of the imperial officials, and that ends in the year 382, after the death of Valens in Adrianople and the signing of the peace by his successor Theodosius I. Under this brief (and simplified) description, comparisons with contemporary events have become inevitable, and for a long time it has remained for historiography as the beginning of a world where the Germanic would predominate over the Roman.
Despite all this, the element called "barbarian", in essence any individual who did not have a Greco-Roman culture, was already very present in the Roman Empire before, during and after the battle in the Roman world in general, and in the army in particular. What we present here are several short stories that surround the conflict and that, although they do not change the political and military consequences of the confrontation, can provide a different assessment and more nuanced of the barbarian-Roman duality.
Let's start with one of the cases we know best:Victor, who Ammianus Marcellinus tells us was a Sarmatian who commanded the Roman cavalry during the Battle of Adrianople. His military career, however, began in 362 as comes rei militaries of Emperor Constantius II, a rank that identified him as vir spectabilis , that is to say a senator, and commander of various military units on the border. He also participated in Julian's expedition against Persia [1] (see Julian's campaign in Persia (363 AD):a critical analysis in Ancient and Medieval No. 29:Julian the Apostate); and during Valente's government he was appointed magister equitum , that is, commander of the cavalry, and consul in the year 369[2]. He additionally served as an emissary to the Goths and Persians on several occasions. During the battle of Adrianople he commanded the Roman cavalry from the right flank and when he saw the emperor surrounded he tried to come to the rescue, but finding no troops to help him, he ended up retreating [3]. Additionally we know that he married the daughter of a Christian Saracen queen, that he was a fervent Christian and that he ended up in retirement at his home in Constantinople around the year 383. [4]
Another of these barbarian characters on the Roman side of the conflict was Frigerido, who during the year 377 commanded the troops of Pannonia and the Illyricum, where he defeated during the War Gothic to the Gothic chieftain Farnobius [5], establishing the survivors of his army in various cities of Italy. Illness prevented him from being present at the Battle of Adrianople, though he did send his troops alongside our next protagonist to fight the battle.[6]
Richomeres was a Frankish, pagan, and commander of the Western Emperor Gratian's personal guard, coming to Adrianople from Gaul with Frigerido's Pannonian and Illyrian troops. During pre-battle talks, when the Goths requested hostages to show the good will of the Romans, Richomeres was one of the first to volunteer, thinking that he was something of a brave man [7]. He managed to survive the battle to later be named magister militum per Orientem , general in the eastern army, in the year 383; consul in the year 384; and comes et magister ultriusque militae , general of all the armies of the Eastern Roman Empire , between the year 388 and 393. On this date he appears again in combat, commanding the cavalry of Emperor Theodosius I against the usurper Eugenius.[8]
Flavio Fravitta was another of these interesting characters that surround the history of the Gothic War of 376-382. Of Gothic origin, we know that he must have participated in the battle of Adrianople on the side of the barbarians, because during the reign of Theodosius I (379-395) he appears as the leader of the pro-Roman Gothic faction . His obstinacy in keeping the peace and the agreements made with the Romans led him to a strong confrontation with other barbarian leaders, which ended with the assassination of the leader of the faction opposed to maintaining these pacts after a dinner in the imperial palace. After the death of Theodosius I, Fravitta held several important positions within the Roman army:he held the position of magister militum per Orientem between 395 and 400; and in the year 400 he was appointed magister militum praesentalis , that is, commander of the army that accompanied the emperor, to suppress the revolt of Gainas, also a Goth, who had tried to storm the imperial palace. In Constantinople he was part of a court faction favorable to understanding with the barbarians, which earned him appointment as consul in 401, although he was executed shortly after by order of the rival faction.[9]
Going into characters about whom we have less information, we must mention Modares, of whom Zósimo tells us that he belonged by lineage to the royal family of the Goths and that, after deserting not long ago with the Romans, he had received, thanks to his loyalty, a military command. Specifically, it seems that after the battle of Adrianople the barbarian army spread out in order to get supplies more easily, which led to the Roman commanders leading the few troops that remained in the area in a series of small skirmishes , among which our protagonist stood out for several years[10]. A similar fate befell Munderic, a man who had held an important role as commander of the Gothic cavalry during the years preceding the war, who later refused to follow Fritigernus, and who ended his days as doge.> , meaning commander, of the Roman troops in Arabia, on the border with Persia[11].
These six short stories, these six lives, do not serve to change the general outcome of the conflict, but they allow us to get closer to a reality that is often hidden from us in the nuances. The life of all the barbarians who lived within the Roman Empire would occupy hundreds of pages, only with those that we know individually; but even taking only these few cases we can see that they served loyally and did their duty , even those like Fravitta or Munderico who entered only after a bloody conflict. For all this, perhaps it is necessary to begin to reconsider many historical accounts and the vision we have of them as something much more complex.
Bibliography
- Amiano Marcelino, Res Gestae , ed. Maria Luisa Harto Trujillo. Madrid:Akal, 2002.
- Zósimo, New Story , ed. Jose Maria Candau Moron. Madrid:Editorial Gredos, 1992
- Martindale, J.R., Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire . Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1971.
Notes
[1] Ammiano Marcellinus, Res Gestae , 24.1.2.
[2] Ibid , 26.5.2.
[3] Ibid , 31.13.8 – 31.13.9.
[4] PLRE I, p. 957 – 958.
[5] Ammiano Marcellinus, Res Gestae , 31.9.3.
[6] PLRE I, p. 373.
[7] Ammiano Marcellinus, Res Gestae , 12.31.15.
[8] PLRE I, p. 765 – 766.
[9] PLRE I, p. 372 – 373.
[10] Zosimo, New Story , IV.25. and PLRE I, p. 605.
[11] Ammiano Marcellinus, Res Gestae , 31.3.5 and PLRE I, p. 610.