This page last modified: 30 December 2014 (Frontpiece pictures added)
![]() Above: Frontpiece from the Parisian manuscript (P). The stations depicted are: Talalatensis, Thentettani, Buzerentane, Tillibarensis, Madensis, Maccomadensis Tintiberitani, Bubensis, Mamucensis, Basensis Varensis, Leptitanis, Madensis, Sarcitani. |
The following commanders and their stations are listed as being under the command of the Duke of the Province of Tripolitania (the numbers beside the names refer to Ingo Maier's numbering scheme):
139.2 Praepositus limitis TalalatensisExcept for the two units of Milites ("milites" simply means "soldiers"), no names are given to these detachments, only their locations. Being limitanei units, no shield patterns are given either. |
The Milites Fortenses would appear to be a detachment of the Fortenses listed (98/9.129) as the last of the legiones comitatenses in the Magister Peditum's infantry roster and assigned to the command of the Comes Africae. Munifices simply means "privates" - soldiers that were not specifically exempted from ordinary fatigues, and the Milites Munifices probably represents another detachment of the same legion (it is possible that since no commanders are given for these detachments, they might have been under the command of the officer list immediately above them, the Praepositus limitis Varensis). Note that "Praepositus" was a position in the Roman army - a commander of a (detachment of a) unit, and not a substantive rank like "Praefectus" or "Tribunus", in much the same way any commander of a modern naval ship may be called "captain", while very few such captains hold the rank of "captain". The men under the Praepositus limitis Fortensis under the Dux et praeses provinciae Mauritaniae et Caesariensis might well be another detachment of the same legion. The shield pattern of the Fortenses under the Comes Africae as shown in various manuscripts is as below:
Whether this pattern was borne by the various limitanei detachments listed in the African provinces might depend on whether the detachments were detached from the unit in the field army, or the field army unit joined the field army from a garrison position: there is plenty of evidence in the Notitia to suggest that units were given new shield patterns when they joined a field army.
Note that in addition to the above mentioned units, various other units named Fortenses appear in the Notitia:
9.20 Fortenses, a legio palatina under the Magister Militum Praesentalis I,In addition, there is the 143.27 Fortensia, a unit of auxilia under the Dux Provinciae Valeriae ripensis. It is the relative positioning of the two legiones comitatenses Fortenses units within their provincial lists that indicates which one is which: the Spanish unit is the first of the legions listed in the Spanish list, and thus should correspond to the more highly-positioned unit in the Magister Peditum's infantry roster; while the African unit is the last in the African list, and thus should correspond to the more lowly-positioned unit in the Magister Peditum's infantry roster.
15.28 Fortenses auxiliarii, a pseudocomitatenses unit under the Magister Militum per Orientem,
80.2 Dalmatae Fortenses, a cuneus of equites under the Dux Daciae ripensis,
98/9.99 Fortenses, a legio comitatenses unit under the "Comes" Hispenias,
132.2 Fortenses, a numerus under the Comes litoris Saxonici per Britanniam, and
143.6 Fortenses, a cuneus of equites under the Dux Provinciae Valeriae ripensis.
Below are the frontpieces from the second half of the Munich manuscript (W) and the Froben edition (B).
Both of these sets of pictures show the hexagonal style of fort illustrations that is believed to have been present in the lost Codex Spirensis from which all the extent manuscript copies are ultimately derived. Those of B show clear 16th-century renaissance embellishments to the styling, while those of W are clear of such anachronisms. Below are the corresponding frontpieces from the first half of the Munich manuscript (M) and the Bodleian manuscript (O).
Return to the Notitia index page.