The Ethnology of the British IslandsLatham, R. G. (Robert Gordon)
History
The Ethnology of the British Islands
Latham, R. G. (Robert Gordon)
Ethnology -- Great Britain
The _Alemanni_ of Britain are noticed by the same writer in a passage
which must be taken along with the notice of the Alemanni under Eroc.
"Valentinian placed Fraomarius as king over the Buccinobantes, a nation
of the Alemanni, near Mentz. Soon afterwards, however, an attack upon
his people devastated their country (_pa-_ _gum_, _gau_). He was then
translated to Britain, and placed over the Alemanni, _at that time
flourishing both in numbers and power_, as tribune."
We may now ask what foreign elements were introduced into Britain by the
Roman legions; since nothing is more certain than that the Roman armies
consisted, but in a small degree, of Romans. The Notitia[11] Utriusque
Imperii helps us here; indeed it may be that it supplies us with a
complete list of the imperial forces in all their ethnological
heterogeneousness. Some of the titles of the regiments and companies
(_alæ_, _numeri_, _cohortes_) are unexplained: several, however, are
taken from the country of the soldiers that composed them.
The list gives us settlers in Britain of Germanic, Gallic, Iberic,
Slavonic, Aramaic, and Berber extraction.
GERMANS.
_Tungricani._--Either soldiers who had distinguished themselves in
the parts about Tongres, or true Tungrian Germans, under a
Præpositus, and stationed at Dubris (_Dover_).
_Tungri._--True Tungrian Germans. At Borcovicum. A cohort.
_Turnacenses._--Either soldiers who had distinguished themselves in
the parts about Tournay, or true Tournay Germans, under a Præpositus,
and stationed at Lemanus (_Lymne_).
_Batavians._--A cohort stationed at Procolitia.
GAULS.
_Nervii._--A numerous cohort under a Prefect at Dictum.
_Nervii._--A cohort at Aliona.
_Nervii._--A cohort at Virosidum. How far these were Gauls, or, if
Gauls, of unmixed blood, is uncertain. During the wars of Cæsar, the
brave nation of the Nervians was said to have been exterminated.
Such was not the case. Portions of it remained. At the same time,
the reduction was so great, and the subsequent influx of Germans
from the Lower Rhine was so considerable, that the soldiers in
question were, probably, as much Roman and German as Gallic.
_Morini._--Gauls from the parts about Calais. A cohort, stationed at
Glannobanta.
_Galli._--A cohort at Vendolana.
IBERIANS.
_Hispani._--A cohort. Stationed at Axellodunum.
SLAVONIANS.
_Dalmatæ._--Cavalry. Stationed at Brannodunum.
_Dalmatæ._--A cohort, at Præsidum.
_Dalmatæ._--A cohort, at Magna.
_Daci._--A cohort, at Amboglanna.
_Thraces._--A cohort, at Gabrosentum.
_Thaifal(?)_--Cavalry. Perhaps German, but more probably Slavonians,
infamous for the turpitude of their habits.
ARAMÆANS.
_Syri._--Cavalry.
BERBERS.
_Mauri._--Under a Prefect, at Aballaba.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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