12-08-2020, 12:03 PM
Here is something that has been puzzling me for a while. Most discussions about the Seniores-Iuniores issue, whether here or in the scholarly papers of the likes of Hoffmann, start off with the basic assumptions that there are more Iuniores units in the East than in the West and that some big event, a sort of Big Bang of the 4th century army, is the origin of this division.
Now, it had never struck me as obvious that the Eastern lists of the Notitia contain more Iuniores than the Western so I did a bit of adding up.
In the East there are 23 regiments identified as Seniores, 25 as Iuniores and 109 as neither.
In the West, these figures are, very neatly, 42 Seniores, 42 Iuniores and 84 neither.
The key points here are that there are fewer Iuniores in the East than in the West, and that in the East the numbers of Seniores and Iuniores are almost the same.
Looking at the 25 regiments of Eastern Iuniores I found that 13 have a corresponding Seniores in the East, 4 don't seem to have any Seniores equivalent at all and 8 (eight) have a Seniores in the West. In other words all these debates about why the split between Seniores in the West and Iuniores in the East seems to be founded on eight examples out of over 300 units in the field armies!
These eight examples can be further divided into five where there is simply a Western Seniores and an Eastern Iuniores, and three where there is also a Iuniores in the West. The five regiments in the first category are the famous Legiones Palatinae of the Ioviani and Herculiani, the Auxilia Palatina of the Petulantes and the Invicti and the case of the Pannoniciani where there is an Eastern Legio Comitatenses with the Iuniores suffix as well as the Western Legio Palatina. The three in the second category are two cavalry units, the Equites Brachiati and Batavi, and one Auxilia Palatina, the Brachiati.
The first thing that springs to mind on seeing these names is that most of these regiments are very senior. The Ioviani-Herculiani in their Seniores iteration are the two most senior Palatine legions in the West and the Iuniores versions rank behind only the Lanciari-Mattiari in the East. Similarly the Brachiati and Petulantes are ranked second and third of the 64 Auxilia Palatina in the West and the two Equites units are equally prestigious. A second point is that some of these units seem to have lost their "twins", so there is no Celtae Iuniores to accompany the Petulantes, no Cornuti Iuniores to accompany the Brachiati and no Felices for the Invicti.
There are perhaps a few other examples of Eastern units which may in some way be "off-shoots" of Western ones despite not having the Iuniores suffix and which could then be added to this small list. The Salii-Tubantes pair appear in both West and East without any further precision. As they are named after Frankish tribes it could be assumed that the Western pair are senior, though it is also possible that the first-raised pair were sent East and replaced in the Western army by a second draft. As mentioned above there is no Cornuti Iuniores in the East (there is one in the West though) but there is a Cornuti without the Iuniores name and it is, as one would expect, paired with the Brachiati Iuniores in the Eastern praesental army. Possibly this Cornuti was not given the Iuniores suffix because it already had an additional name to distinguish it from its Western counterparts; the "Iovi" Cornuti as found in the 356 inscription.
As far as dating goes, it has already been discussed in an earlier thread here that the Iovi Cornuti Iuniores inscription proves Hoffmann wrong in his suggestion that the existence of Iuniores regiments dates from Naissus 364. However the Notitia itself also provides evidence that the first Iuniores date from much earlier. In the Eastern praesental army lists the Ioviani Iuniores are ranked above all the other Legiones Palatinae except the Lanciarii-Mattiari Seniores. Assuming that Legions were given Palatine status when they were incorporated into this army, this suggests that the Iovani Iuniores were part of the praesental army from the time it was created. When this was is of course open to debate but it must date at the latest to the division of power after the death of Constantine I in 337 when his three sons divided up the Empire and, presumably, the army between them. The Auxilia Palatina section of the same army list gives further confirmation that Iuniores regiments existed already around 337-40. In fourth place in the two Praesental lists we find a pair of Auxilia called the Constantiani and the Constantiniani. I would suggest that these two were raised by Constantius and were named after his two brothers, and fellow Augustae, Constans and Constantine II. As Constantine II only reigned from 337-40 this would imply that these two units were raised in this short timeframe and that any units preceding them in the army lists were already in existence at this time, including the Brachiati Iuniores.
In summary, the evidence from the Notitia suggests that the idea of an East-West Seniores-Iuniores split is based on a very small number of "high profile" cases which are better examined individually and that the existence of Iuniores regiments goes back at least as far as the joint reigns of the three sons of Constantine I.
I will post later my thoughts on what may have happened at Naissus in 364. In the meantime fire away!
Now, it had never struck me as obvious that the Eastern lists of the Notitia contain more Iuniores than the Western so I did a bit of adding up.
In the East there are 23 regiments identified as Seniores, 25 as Iuniores and 109 as neither.
In the West, these figures are, very neatly, 42 Seniores, 42 Iuniores and 84 neither.
The key points here are that there are fewer Iuniores in the East than in the West, and that in the East the numbers of Seniores and Iuniores are almost the same.
Looking at the 25 regiments of Eastern Iuniores I found that 13 have a corresponding Seniores in the East, 4 don't seem to have any Seniores equivalent at all and 8 (eight) have a Seniores in the West. In other words all these debates about why the split between Seniores in the West and Iuniores in the East seems to be founded on eight examples out of over 300 units in the field armies!
These eight examples can be further divided into five where there is simply a Western Seniores and an Eastern Iuniores, and three where there is also a Iuniores in the West. The five regiments in the first category are the famous Legiones Palatinae of the Ioviani and Herculiani, the Auxilia Palatina of the Petulantes and the Invicti and the case of the Pannoniciani where there is an Eastern Legio Comitatenses with the Iuniores suffix as well as the Western Legio Palatina. The three in the second category are two cavalry units, the Equites Brachiati and Batavi, and one Auxilia Palatina, the Brachiati.
The first thing that springs to mind on seeing these names is that most of these regiments are very senior. The Ioviani-Herculiani in their Seniores iteration are the two most senior Palatine legions in the West and the Iuniores versions rank behind only the Lanciari-Mattiari in the East. Similarly the Brachiati and Petulantes are ranked second and third of the 64 Auxilia Palatina in the West and the two Equites units are equally prestigious. A second point is that some of these units seem to have lost their "twins", so there is no Celtae Iuniores to accompany the Petulantes, no Cornuti Iuniores to accompany the Brachiati and no Felices for the Invicti.
There are perhaps a few other examples of Eastern units which may in some way be "off-shoots" of Western ones despite not having the Iuniores suffix and which could then be added to this small list. The Salii-Tubantes pair appear in both West and East without any further precision. As they are named after Frankish tribes it could be assumed that the Western pair are senior, though it is also possible that the first-raised pair were sent East and replaced in the Western army by a second draft. As mentioned above there is no Cornuti Iuniores in the East (there is one in the West though) but there is a Cornuti without the Iuniores name and it is, as one would expect, paired with the Brachiati Iuniores in the Eastern praesental army. Possibly this Cornuti was not given the Iuniores suffix because it already had an additional name to distinguish it from its Western counterparts; the "Iovi" Cornuti as found in the 356 inscription.
As far as dating goes, it has already been discussed in an earlier thread here that the Iovi Cornuti Iuniores inscription proves Hoffmann wrong in his suggestion that the existence of Iuniores regiments dates from Naissus 364. However the Notitia itself also provides evidence that the first Iuniores date from much earlier. In the Eastern praesental army lists the Ioviani Iuniores are ranked above all the other Legiones Palatinae except the Lanciarii-Mattiari Seniores. Assuming that Legions were given Palatine status when they were incorporated into this army, this suggests that the Iovani Iuniores were part of the praesental army from the time it was created. When this was is of course open to debate but it must date at the latest to the division of power after the death of Constantine I in 337 when his three sons divided up the Empire and, presumably, the army between them. The Auxilia Palatina section of the same army list gives further confirmation that Iuniores regiments existed already around 337-40. In fourth place in the two Praesental lists we find a pair of Auxilia called the Constantiani and the Constantiniani. I would suggest that these two were raised by Constantius and were named after his two brothers, and fellow Augustae, Constans and Constantine II. As Constantine II only reigned from 337-40 this would imply that these two units were raised in this short timeframe and that any units preceding them in the army lists were already in existence at this time, including the Brachiati Iuniores.
In summary, the evidence from the Notitia suggests that the idea of an East-West Seniores-Iuniores split is based on a very small number of "high profile" cases which are better examined individually and that the existence of Iuniores regiments goes back at least as far as the joint reigns of the three sons of Constantine I.
I will post later my thoughts on what may have happened at Naissus in 364. In the meantime fire away!
