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Foederati (/ˌfɛdəˈreɪtaɪ/FED-ə-RAY-ty; singular:foederatus/ˌfɛdəˈreɪtəs/FED-ə-RAY-təs) were peoples and cities bound by atreaty, known asfoedus, with Rome. During theRoman Republic, the term identified thesocii, but during theRoman Empire, it was used to describe foreign states, client kingdoms or barbarian tribes to which the empire provided benefits in exchange for military assistance. The term was also used, especially under the empire, for groups ofbarbarian mercenaries of various sizes who were typically allowed to settle within the empire.
In the earlyRoman Republic,foederati were tribes that were bound by atreaty (foedus/ˈfiːdəs/) to come to the defence of Rome but were neitherRoman colonies nor beneficiaries ofRoman citizenship (civitas). Members of theLatini tribe were considered blood allies, but the rest were federates orsocii. The friction between the treaty obligations without the corresponding benefits of Romanity led to theSocial War between the Romans, with a few close allies, and the disaffectedsocii. Alaw of 90 BC (Lex Julia) offered Roman citizenship to the federate states that accepted the terms. Not all cities were prepared to be absorbed into the Romanres publica (Heraclea andNaples). Otherfoederati lay outsideRoman Italy such asGades (Cádiz) andMassilia (Marseille).[clarification needed]
The termfoederati had its usage and meaning extended by the Romans' practice of subsidising entirebarbarian tribes such as theFranks,Vandals,Alans,Huns and theVisigoths, the last being the best known, in exchange for providing warriors to fight in the Roman armies.Alaric I began his career leading a band of Gothicfoederati.
At first, the Roman subsidy took the form of money or food, but as tax revenues dwindled in the 4th and the 5th centuries, thefoederati were billeted on local landowners, which became identical to being allowed to settle on Roman territory. Large local landowners living in distant border provinces (see "marches") on extensive villas, which were largely self-sufficient, found their loyalties to the central authority, which were already conflicted by other developments, further compromised in such situations. As loyalties wavered and became more local, the empire then began to devolve into smaller territories and closer personalfealties.
The first Roman treaty with the Goths was after the defeat ofAriaric in 332, but whether or not it was afoedus is unclear.[1]
The Franks became foederati in 358, when EmperorJulian let them keep the areas in northernRoman Gaul, which had been depopulated during the preceding century. Roman soldiers defended theRhine and had major armies 100 miles (160 km) south and west of the Rhine. Frankish settlers were established in the areas north and east of the Romans and helped the Roman defence by providing intelligence and a buffer state. Thebreach of the Rhine borders in the frozen winter of 406 and 407 ended the Roman presence along the Rhine when both the Romans and the allied Franks were overrun by a massive tribal migration ofVandals andAlans.
In 376, some of theGoths asked EmperorValens to allow them to settle on the southern bank of theDanube River and were accepted into the empire asfoederati. The same Goths then revolted in retaliation for abuses and defeated the Romans in theBattle of Adrianople in 378. The critical loss of military manpower thereafter forced the Empire to rely much more onfoederati levies.
The loyalty of the tribes and their chieftains was never reliable, and in 395, the Visigoths, now under the lead ofAlaric, once again rose in rebellion. The father of one of the most powerful late Roman generals,Stilicho, rose from the ranks of thefoederati.
At theBattle of Faesulae in 406 AD, Stilicho defeated the Gothic kingRadagaisus and his combined Vandal and Gothic army only with the support of the Gothic chieftainSarus and the Hunnic rulerUldin.
In 423, the generalFlavius Aetius entered the service of the usurperJoannes ascura palatii and was sent by Joannes to ask theHuns for assistance. Joannes, a high-ranking officer, lacked a strong army and fortified himself in his capital,Ravenna, where he was killed in the summer of 425. Soon, Aetius returned to Italy with a large force of Huns to find that power in the west was now in the hands ofValentinian III and his mother,Galla Placidia. After fighting against Aspar's army, Aetius managed a compromise with Galla Placidia. He sent back his Hunnic army and in return obtained the rank ofcomes etmagister militum per Gallias, the commander-in-chief of the Roman Army in Gaul.
Around 418 (or 426),Attaces, the king of theAlans, fell in battle against theVisigoths, who were still allies of Rome in Hispania, and most of the surviving Alans appealed toGunderic. Their request was accepted by Gunderic, who thus became King of the Vandals and Alans.
Late in Gunderic's reign, the Vandals themselves began to clash more and more with the Visigothicfoederati and often got the worse of these battles because the Visigoths were so much more numerous. After Gunderic died early in 428, the Vandals elected his half-brother,Genseric, as the successor, and Genseric leftIberia to the Visigoths to invadeRoman Africa.
By the 5th century, lacking the wealth needed to pay and train a professional army, the Western Roman Empire's military strength was almost entirely reliant onfoederati units. In 451,Attila the Hun was defeated only with help of thefoederati, who included the Visigoths, Franks, Alans and Saxons. Thefoederati would deliver the fatal blow to the dying nominalWestern Roman Empire in 476, when theircommander,Odoacer, deposed the usurping Western EmperorRomulus Augustulus and sent the imperial insignia back toConstantinople with the Senate's request for the 81-year-old west–east subdivision of the empire to be abolished. Even before the eventualfall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, several kingdoms with the status offoederati had managed to gain a full independence that was formally recognised by theWestern Roman Empire, such as theVandals in the peace treaty concluded in 442 between their king,Genseric, andValentinian III[2] and the Visigoths through the peace treaty concluded in 475 between their kingEuric andJulius Nepos.[3]
After the collapse of the Hunnic Empire, theOstrogoths entered relations with theEastern Roman Empire and were settled inPannonia to becomefoederati of the Byzantines. During the latter half of the 5th century, the Ostrogoths' relationship with the Byzantines started to shift from friendship to enmity, just like the Visigoths before them, and Ostrogoth King,Theoderic the Great frequently led armies that ravaged the provinces of the Eastern Roman Empire and eventually threatened Constantinople itself. Eventually, Theoderic and EmperorZeno worked out an arrangement beneficial to both sides in which Theoderic invaded Odoacer's kingdom and eventually conquered Italy.[4]
Foederati (transliterated in Greek as Φοιδερᾶτοι or translated as Σύμμαχοι) were still present in theEast Roman army during the 6th century.Belisarius' andNarses' victorious armies included manyfoederati, but by this time the term in Greek refers to units that may once have included large numbers of non-Romans but have become professional, regular units in the Roman army that included Romans.[5] These armies also included non-Roman elements such as Hunnic archers and Herule mercenaries who were more akin to traditionalfoederati but who were now referred to as symmachoi.[6] At theBattle of Taginae, a large contingent of the Byzantine army was made up ofLombards,Gepids andBulgars.
In the east, foederati were formed out of several Arab tribes to protect against the Persian-allied ArabLakhmids and the tribes of the Arabian peninsula. Among these foederati were theTanukhids,Banu Judham,Banu Amela and theGhassanids. The term continues to be attested in the Eastern Roman armies until around the reign ofMaurice.[7] Although no longer as important as in the sixth century, a unit offoederati appear in the Byzantinethema of the Anatolikon in the ninth century.[8]
