The Origins of the Limitanei

[Robert Vermaat]

Now, Paulinus is mentioned as Comes Paulinus, and the only Comes command in that region on the Loire is the Comes Tractus Aremoriciani, hence why I picked that one specifically. You are right that Aegidius did not control much of Belgica Secunda, the region hadn't been secure since Aetius died, and much of it had been acquired by Childeric. Dr. Kim theorizes that Aegidius and Syagrius were in fact essentially vassals of Childeric. However... he can be a bit overzealous in his work. While I'd say Syagirus possibly was under the control of Childeric/Clovis, Aegidius seems to have been independent of their influence.

Evan, I would not hold on to the Notitia this stricktly. After all, the ND was written about 70 years(!) before these events and we have no information about several parts of the commands mentioned in there. The Tractus may have been dissolved for all we know - after all, when Britannia was lost in the decades after the ND was written, a coastal command made less sense. After that, we know that a lot of coastal forts were abandoned - i would say that the Tractus was by no means the candidate you are looking for in the case of Paulus.

My idea? Paulus commanded a field army. One can doubt wheter limitanei still existed under Aegidius, or that they had been fully replaced by federate Franks. Aegidius and Syagrius were perhaps not vassals, but at best equal partners? But Paulus, whether independent or a commander of Aegidius, is not likely to have been a commander in the regular Roman defence of Gaul, under the regular Magister Militum per Gallias. I think we are way past that.