Six Numeri for Honorius

[Robert Vermaat]

Yes. I wonder if the various 'numeri' that appear as garrison troops in Gaul and occasionally in Britain might in fact be the residue of former comitatensis units of the field army? There doesn't seem to have been much of a field army left in Gaul after c.400, but presumably Constantius III might have re-mobilised some of the static limitanei units? (I know all this has been debated ad nauseum, by the way - but much of the scholarship is in German!)

Indeed, all those 'new' units named after town (Divitenses, etc.) enter the field armies after the recovery of Gaul between Julian and Valentinian I think? That's an interesting discussion. were all the limitanei units indeed defeated and wiped away during the disastrous period on 352-355, and were new units afterwards created from scratch, from town guards, or perhaps from dispersed remnants?
In my current study of Mr Lepontius I came across the same problem - was Legio VIII in Strasbourg wiped out and were the Octavani a new unit based on their heritage? Or were they the remnants of the old legion, perhaps split up in detachments long before? The Vesontes (Besancon) have the same shield design as the Octavani and could be a detachment, later named after the town they defended and ultimately ending up in the field army.

Which is why, at the moment, I'm leaning towards detachments of former legions, defending towns in inner Gaul after the enemy broke through the limes at some points.