The Origins of the Limitanei

[Flavivs Aetivs]

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.

The Comes Tractus Aremoriciani was a command in Britanny, not Britain...

And Guy Halsall's research suggests the Romans didn't truly consider Britain abandoned until the 440's, and that in archaeological contexts there is a continuity between Roman dress in Southern Britain and styles in North Gaul as well until the 440's.

Furthermore, the need to control the Armorican rebels (which admittedly were don primarily by Alans) and to counter Frankish or possibly Saxon incursions into Gaul necessitated the continued existence of the command.

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.

I sincerely doubt he commanded a field army, the last recorded accounts of the existence of one were under Aetius. The existence of Limitanei is in fact more likely: Tours had a Garrison in 444/445, and of course we have Severinus' record of the collapse of Noricum.

Paulus is mentioned as being a commander of Aegidius, from Angers (Adecavus), which was in the Roman Province of Lugdunensis III also known as Aremorica. I can get you the original text, hold on.

EDIT: Okay Heather doesn't actually cite the passage, so I need to go to my primary sources and find it. This could take longer than expected.