The Origins of the Limitanei

[Flavivs Aetivs]

Based on?

Sidonius Apollinaris Carmen V mentions the defence of Tours against the Franks.

I know Evan. But the coastal commands rested on a naval coverage of the sea, which would have been long gone even by the mid-5th c. Also, if you have the archaeological picture in mind, you'd realise that the coastal forts had been long since in decline, and that the Tractus, as a coastal defense command, had long since lost its meaning to exist. hence my deduction that a coastal command mentioned in 394 would most logically have disappeared by 469. Including its limitanei and its commander. Frankish groups had moved into these areas for decades and I therefore doubt that both the Tractus or Belgica II still existed.

That's really the interesting part about all of this. The coastal command in Gaul isn't mentioned in the Notitia, the Comes Tractus Aremoriciani commanded Limitanei garrisons in cities (and probably a few forts), about half of which were transferred into the field army under Stilicho or Constantine III (probably at the same time the Comes Britanniarum was transferred into the Gallic Army which would suggest 405 AD). So either way, the decay of the coastal forts does hold up in the face of the existence of this command in 464 (Heather gets the dating wrong.)

Plus, those regions were firmly under Roman control until 451, when Attila sent Odovacar to ravage the North Gallic countryside. Barring Aremorica of course, which after 448 fell under the control of the Armoricans and Litaui permanently it seems.

EDIT: Pulled up his command.

Tribunus cohortis primae novae Armoricanae, at Grannona in litore Saxonio
Praefectus militum Carronentium, at Blabia
Praefectus militum Maurorum Benetorum, at Benetis
Praefectus militum Maurorum Osismiacorum, at Osismis
Praefectus militum superventorum, at Mannatias
Praefectus militum Martensium, at Aleto
Praefectus militum primae Flaviae, at Constantia
Praefectus militum Ursariensium, at Rotomago
Praefectus militum Dalmatarum, at Abrincatis
Praefectus militum Grannonensium, at Grannono

Therefore I think that a new command was added when the need to control Armorica arose.

Again, I sincerely doubt this. With no available field forces, how could a new command have arose? Aremorica, other than the uprising in 435 which was put down by Huns in 437, was really only a problem after the loss of Africa, which left Aetius with 23,000 Comitatenses/Palatina and 31,500 Limitanei based on troop counts in the Notitia Dignitatum. A chunk of Aetius' field army was destroyed under Vitus in 446, and it was also ravaged by the Battle on the Catalaunian Plain. Everything else deserted after his death, and there's no indications of anything but Foederati after that.

Now, it is possible that Paulus could have been appointed Aegidius' Comes Foederatorum, and given a command of Franks. That conflicts with the mention of him being the Roman commander though, and the obvious fact that Childeric had an army of Franks at the battle.

mentioning command last attested 60-70 years early does not prove this part of the ND survived that late, unaltered.

The final edit date of the Notitia Dignitatum is usually assumed to be 419. The Comes Tractus Aremoriciani entry was probably last edited some time around 405. So 59 years to be precise, or if you go by the Notitia's last update, 45 years.

but remember that Severin's limitanei and militia also did not make it to the period we're discussing now.

I thought it was generally agreed that the Garrison at Batavis held out until 476? The Book begins at Attila's death, I know that, and the entry on the revolt at Comagenis coincides with Aetius' death in 454.

That's fine, but it does not tell us much about what happenen 20 years later, does it? Magnus Maximus was a commander under the count Theodosius and he became emperor.

How does this tell us anything about 20 years later? I'm talking about the year 464. I fail to understand your point here.