Praetor of Tours Tribune The Roman Army

• Preferred Name: Praetor of Tours Tribune The Roman Army^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}
  
• Gender: M
  
• FSID: L1BQ-2F6
  
• Birth: ABT 270 in France
  
• Death: Y
  

1. of Saint Martin of Tours , b. ABT 303 in France     d. 377 in Roman Empire

1. Title: Wikiwand: Praetorian Guard
   Author: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
   Publication: Name: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Praetorian_Guard;
   Note: The Praetorian Guard (Latin: "cohortes praetoriae") was an elite unit of the Imperial Roman army whose members served as personal bodyguards and intelligence for the Roman emperors. During the era of the Roman Republic, the Praetorians served as a small escort force for high-ranking officials such as senators or provincial governors like procurators, and also serving as bodyguards for high ranking officers within the Roman legions. With the republic's transition into the Roman Empire, however, the first emperor, Augustus, founded the Guard as his personal security detail. Although they continued to serve in this capacity for roughly three centuries, the Guard became notable for its intrigue and interference in Roman politics, to the point of overthrowing emperors and proclaiming their successors. In 312, the Guard was disbanded by Constantine the Great. Under the Roman Republic The designation originated during the Roman Republic, for the guards of Roman generals as early as the rise to prominence of the Scipio family around 275 BC. There was no permanent guard charged with the protection of military general officers; however, certain military officers chose to surround themselves with guards to ensure their security. For example, during the Siege of Numantia, Scipio Aemilianus formed a troop of 500 men for his personal protection, as sorties were often quite dangerous for the upper ranks. This usage was then emulated and spread, as Roman generals occupied their positions for longer periods of time. Accordingly, this guard was referred to as Cohors Prætoria. In battle, these cohorts would intervene as a final reserve. The consuls, when with an army under non-battle conditions, were protected by the lictors, who would station themselves around the consuls' tents. At the end of the year 40 BC, Octavian (the future Augustus) and his rival Mark Antony both operated Praetorian units organized individually. According to Appian, amongst them were veterans forming cohorts. Antony commanded three cohorts in the Orient and in 32 BC, he issued coins in honor of his Praetorians. According to Paul Orose, Octavian commanded five cohorts at Actium. Following his victory at Actium, Octavian merged his forces with those of his adversary in a symbolic reunification of the Army of Julius Caesar. Under the empire The legionaries known as the Praetorian Guard were first hand-picked veterans of the Roman army who served as bodyguards to the emperor. First established by Augustus, members of the Guard accompanied him on active campaign and served as secret police protecting the civic administrations and rule of law imposed by the senate and the emperor. The Praetorian Guard was ultimately dissolved by Emperor Constantine I in the 4th century. They were distinct from the Imperial German Bodyguard which provided close personal protection for the early Western Roman emperors. They benefited from several advantages due their close proximity with the emperor: the Praetorians were the only ones admitted while bearing arms in the center of sacred Rome – the "Pomerium." Their mandatory service was shorter in duration, for instance : 12 years with the Praetorians instead of 16 years in the legions starting year 13 BC, then carried to, respectively, 16 to 20 years in year 5 BC according to Tacitus. Their pay was higher than that of a legionary. Under Nero, the pay of a Praetorian was three and a half times that of a legionary, augmented by prime additions of donativum, granted by each new emperor. This additional pay was the equivalent of several years of pay, and was often repeated at important events of the empire, or events that touched the imperial family: birthdays, births and marriages. Major monetary distributions or food subsidies renewed and compensated the fidelity of the Praetorians following each failed particular attempted plot (such as that of Messalina against Claudius in AD 48 or Piso against Nero in AD 65). The Praetorians received substantially higher pay than other Roman soldiers in any of the legions, on a system known as "sesquiplex stipendum," or by pay-and-a-half. So if the legionaries received 250 denarii, the guards received 375 per annum (year). Domitian and Septimius Severus increased the "stipendum" (payment) to 1,500 denarii per year, distributed in January, May and September. Feared and dreaded by the population and by the Roman Senate, the Praetorians received no sympathy from the Roman people. A famous poem by Juvenal recalls the nail left in his foot by the sandal of a Praetorian rushing by him. "Praetorian" has a pejorative sense in French, recalling the often troubling role of the "Praetorian" of antiquity. History In ancient Rome, "praetors" were either civic or military leaders. The "praetorianus" were initially elite guards for military praetors, under the Republic. As the Republic ended, the first emperor, Augustus, set up an elite guard of praetorianus to protect himself. The early Praetorian Guard differed greatly from that in later times, which came to be a vital force in the power politics of Rome. While Augustus understood the need to have a protector in the maelstrom of Rome, he was careful to uphold the Republican veneer of his regime. Thus, he allowed only nine cohorts to be formed, each originally consisting of 500 men. He then increased them to 1,000 men each, but allowed three units to be kept on duty at any given time in the capital. A small number of detached cavalry units ("turmae") of 30 men each were also organized. While they patrolled inconspicuously in the palace and major buildings, the others were stationed in the towns surrounding Rome. This system was not radically changed with the appointment by Augustus in 2 BC of two Praetorian prefects, Quintus Ostorius Scapula and Publius Salvius Aper, although organization and command were enhanced. Tacitus reports that the number of cohorts was increased to twelve from nine in AD 47. In AD 69 it was briefly increased to sixteen cohorts by Vitellius, but Vespasian quickly reduced it again to nine. Under the Julio-Claudian dynasty In Rome, their principal duty was to mount the Guard at the house of Augustus on the Palatine, where the centuries and the turmae of the cohort in service mounted the guard outside the emperor's palace (the interior guard of the palace was mounted by the Imperial German Bodyguard, often also referred to as "Batavi," and the "Statores" Augusti, a sort of military police which were found in the general staff headquarters of the Roman Army). Every afternoon, the serving tribune of the cohort would receive the password from the emperor personally. The command of this cohort was assumed directly by the emperor and not by the Praetorian prefect. After the construction of the Praetorian camp in 23 BC, there was another similar serving tribune placed in the Praetorian camp accordingly. Their functions included, among many, the escort of the emperor and the members of the imperial family, and if necessary to act as a sort of anti-riot police. Certain Empresses commanded exclusively their own Praetorian Guard. According to Tacitus, in the year 23 BC, there were nine Praetorian cohorts (4500 men, the equivalent of a legion) to maintain peace in Italy; three were stationed in Rome, and the others, nearby. Their mandatory service period was shorter than that of the legionaries: 12 years with the Praetorians instead of 16 years in the legions in 13 BC: these were increased respectively to 16 and 20 years in year 5 BC according to Tacitus, and their pay was higher than that of a legionaries. An inscription recently discovered suggests that, towards the end of the reign of Augustus, the number of cohorts increased to 12 during a brief period. This inscription referred to one man who was the tribune of two successive cohorts: the eleventh cohort, apparently at the end of the reign of Augustus, and the fourth at the beginning of the reign of Tiberius. According to Tacitus, there were only nine cohorts in 23 AD. The three urban cohorts, which were numbered consecutively after the Praetorian cohorts, were removed near the end of the reign of Augustus; it seemed probable that the last three Praetorian cohorts were simply renamed as Urban Cohorts. The first intervention of the Praetorians on a battlefield since the wars of the end of the Republic took place during the "mutinies of Pannonia" and the "mutinies of Germania." On the death of Augustus in AD 14, his successor Tiberius was confronted by mutinies in the two armies of the "Rhine" and "Pannonia," who were protesting about their conditions of service, in comparison with the Praetorians. The forces of Pannonia were dealt with by Drusus Julius Caesar, son of Tiberius (not to be confused with Nero Claudius Drusus, brother of Tiberus), accompanied by two Praetorian cohorts, the Praetorian Cavalry, and Imperial German Bodyguards. The mutiny in Germania was repressed by the nephew and designated heir of Tiberius, Germanicus, who later led legions and detachments of the Guard in a two-year campaign in Germania, and succeeded in recovering two of the three legionary eagles which had been lost at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. It was under Tiberius that Lucius Aelius Seianus (Sejanus) rose in power and was among the first prefects to exploit his position to pursue his own ambitions. He concentrated under his command all the Praetorian cohorts in the new camp. Sejanus held the title of prefect jointly with his father, under Augustus, but became sole prefect in AD 15. He used that position to render himself essential to the new emperor Tiberius, who was unable to persuade the Senate to share the responsibility of governing the Empire. Sejanus, however, alienated Drusus, son of Tiberius, and when the heir to the throne, Germanicus, died in AD 19, he was worried that Drusus would become the new emperor. Accordingly, he poisoned Drusus with the help of the latter's wife, a..
   
2. Title: Wikiwand: Praetorians Relief
   Author: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
   Publication: Name: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Praetorians_Relief;
   Note: The Praetorians Relief is a Roman marble relief dated to c. 51–52 AD and housed in the Louvre-Lens. It depicts three soldiers in high relief in the foreground, while two others in the background, accompanied by a standard bearer, are made in bas-relief. The standard-bearer holds an aquila standard, where the eagle grasps a thunderbolt in its talons. The soldiers have been identified as Praetorians due to the richness of the apparel, particularly the helmets, the ceremonial dress and oval shields. The figures are wearing calcei and not caligae, worn by ordinary soldiers. However, according to Boris Rankov, "the Attic-style helmets are almost certainly an artistic convention." Rankov suggests that "early in their history the Praetorians were still using the Montefortino-style helmet normal in the legions of the Republic and early Empire." The relief was previously dated to the early 2nd century AD. The lower half of the left-hand figure, portions of the middle two and the heads of all three foreground figures are modern restorations. In 2006 the relief underwent restoration by N. Imbert and A. Méthivier. Provenance The Praetorians Relief was once part of the Arch of Claudius, erected in 51 to commemorate the conquest of Britain. The relief is mentioned as early as the 16th century. The head of the standard-bearer is depicted in Album by Pierre Jacques de Reims, on the page dated to 1577. The relief was once in the possession of the Mattei family, in 1824 it was purchased by the French.
   
3. Title: Wikiwand: Military tribune
   Author: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
   Publication: Name: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Military_tribune;
   Note: A military tribune (Latin tribunus militum, "tribune of the soldiers," Greek "chiliarchos," "χιλίαρχος") was an officer of the Roman army who ranked below the legate and above the centurion. Young men of Equestrian rank often served as military tribune as a stepping stone to the Senate. The "tribunus militum" should not be confused with the elected political office of tribune of the people ("tribunus plebis") nor with that of "tribunus militum consulari potestate." Early Rome The word "tribunus" derives from "tribus," "tribe." In Rome's earliest history, each of the three tribes (Ramnes, Luceres, and Tities) sent one commander when an army was mustered, since there was no standing army. The tribunes were commanders of the original legion of 3,000. By the time of the Greek historian Polybius (d. 118 BC), the tribunes numbered six, and they were appointed by the consuls. However, the process by which tribunes were chosen and assigned is complex and varies at different times. Republican period In the Republican period, there were six appointed to each legion. Authority was given to two at a time, and command rotated among the six. Tribunes were men of Senatorial status appointed by the Senate. To attain the position of tribune, one only needed to be a member of the ruling class. By 311 BC the people acquired the right to elect sixteen tribunes of the soldiers, that is, four out of the six tribunes assigned to each of the four legions that formed the Roman Army. Previously these places had been for the most part in the gift of consuls or dictators. Additionally, in the early Republic, another type of military tribunes were sometimes chosen in place of the annually elected consuls to be the heads of the Roman State. These are known in Latin as "tribuni militum consulari potestate," "Military Tribunes with Consular Authority." At the time only Patricians could be chosen as Consuls, but both Patricians and Plebeians could be elected as tribunes with consular authority. Instead of the usual two consuls, between four and six military tribunes were elected for the year. The reasons for this choice are obscure, though Livy often cast the decision according to the class struggles he saw as endemic during this period, with patricians generally favoring consuls and plebs the military tribunes. The office of "consular tribune" eventually fell out of use after 366 BC. After the Marian reforms After the Marian reforms of 107 BC (subsequently further formalized by the emperor Claudius) created a professionalized military system, legions were commanded by a legionary legate ("legatus"). Six tribunes were still posted to a legion, but their duties and responsibilities had changed, becoming more a political position than a military rank. The second-in-command to the legate was the "tribunus laticlavius" or 'broad-stripe' tribune (named after the width of the stripe used to demarcate him on his tunic and toga), usually a young man of Senatorial rank. He was given this position to learn and watch the actions of the legate. They often found themselves leading their unit in the absence of a legate, and some legions were permanently commanded by a broad-stripe tribune, such as those stationed in Egypt, as an Augustan law required that no member of the Senatorial Order ever enter Egypt. In contrast to the broad-stripe tribune, the other five 'thin stripe' tribunes were lower in rank, and were called the "tribuni angusticlavii." These 'officer cadets' were men of equestrian rank who had military experience, and yet had no authority: they were allowed to sit on a court martial but they held no power in battle. Most thin-stripe tribunes served the legionary legate, yet a lucky few (such as Agricola) were selected to serve on the staff of the provincial governor. According to Tacitus, they did not always take their appointment as seriously as they might, contrasting Agricola's tribuneship to his peers by saying "[Agricola did not], like many young men who convert military service into wanton pastime, avail himself licentiously or slothfully of his tribunitial title, or use his inexperience to spend his time in pleasures and absences from duty." Principate Further information: Tres militiae Under Augustus, the five equestrian tribunes were sometimes promoted from the rank of centurion, and might advance to a command in the auxiliary cavalry or Praetorian Guard.
   
4. Title: Wikiwand: Martin of Tours
   Author: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
   Publication: Name: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Martin_of_Tours;
   Note: Saint Martin of Tours (Latin: "Sanctus Martinus Turonensis"; 316 or 336 – 8 November 397) was the third bishop of Tours. He has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints in Western tradition. A native of Pannonia, he converted to Christianity at a young age. He served in the Roman cavalry in Gaul, but left military service at some point prior to 361, when he became a disciple of Hilary of Poitiers, establishing the monastery at Ligugé. He was consecrated as Bishop of Caesarodunum (Tours) in 371. As bishop, he was active in the suppression of the remnants of Gallo-Roman religion, but he opposed the violent persecution of the Priscillianist sect of ascetics. His life was recorded by a contemporary hagiographer, Sulpicius Severus. Some of the accounts of his travels may have been interpolated into his vita to validate early sites of his cult. He is best known for the account of his using his military sword to cut his cloak in two, to give half to a beggar clad only in rags in the depth of winter. His shrine in Tours became a famous stopping-point for pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. His cult was revived in French nationalism during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/1, and as a consequence he was seen as a patron saint of France during the French Third Republic. Life Soldier Martin was born in AD 316 or 336 in Savaria in the Diocese of Pannonia (now Szombathely, Hungary). His father was a senior officer (tribune) in the Roman army. A few years after Martin's birth his father was given veteran status and was allocated land on which to retire at Ticinum (now Pavia), in northern Italy, where Martin grew up. At the age of ten he attended the Christian church against the wishes of his parents and became a catechumen. Christianity had been made a legal religion (in 313) in the Roman Empire. It had many more adherents in the Eastern Empire, whence it had sprung, and was concentrated in cities, brought along the trade routes by converted Jews and Greeks (the term 'pagan' literally means 'country-dweller'). Christianity was far from accepted among the higher echelons of society; among members of the army the worship of Mithras would have been stronger. Although the conversion of the Emperor Constantine and the subsequent program of church-building gave a greater impetus to the spread of the religion, it was still a minority faith. As the son of a veteran officer, Martin at fifteen was required to join a cavalry "ala." At the age of 18 around 334 or 354, he was stationed at "Ambianensium civitas" or Samarobriva in Gaul (now Amiens, France). It is likely that he joined the "Equites catafractarii Ambianenses," a heavy cavalry unit listed in the "Notitia Dignitatum. As the unit was stationed at Milan and is also recorded at Trier, it is likely to have been part of the elite cavalry bodyguard of the Emperor, which accompanied him on his travels around the Empire. According to his biographer, Sulpicius Severus, he served in the military for only another two years, though it has been argued that these two years, "are in fact not nearly enough to bring the account to the time when he would leave, that is, during his encounter with Caesar Julian (the one who has gone down in history as Julian the Apostate) Martin would have been 45 years old when Julian acceded to the throne, and at the usual end of a military contract. Jacques Fontaine[year needed] thinks that the biographer was somewhat embarrassed about referring to [Martin's] long stint in the army, [because of the perennially tenuous relation between the Christian conscience and war]." Richard A. Fletcher says that Martin served for five years before obtaining a discharge, two of them after his baptism in 354. Regardless of whether or not he remained in the army, Sulpicius Severus reports that just before a battle in the Gallic provinces at Borbetomagus (now Worms, Germany), Martin determined that his switch of allegiance to a new commanding officer (away from antichristian Julian and unto Christ), along with reluctance to receive Julian's pay just as Martin was retiring, prohibited his taking the money and continuing to submit to the authority of the former now, telling him, "I am the soldier of Christ: it is not lawful for me to fight." He was charged with cowardice and jailed, but in response to the charge, he volunteered to go unarmed to the front of the troops. His superiors planned to take him up on the offer, but before they could, the invaders sued for peace, the battle never occurred, and Martin was released from military service. Monk and hermit Martin declared his vocation, and made his way to the city of Caesarodunum (now Tours), where he became a disciple of Hilary of Poitiers Christian orthodoxy. He opposed the Arianism of the Imperial Court. When Hilary was forced into exile from Pictavium (now Poitiers), Martin returned to Italy. According to Sulpicius Severus, he converted an Alpine brigand on the way, and confronted the Devil himself. Having heard in a dream a summons to revisit his home, Martin crossed the Alps, and from Milan went over to Pannonia. There he converted his mother and some other persons; his father he could not win. While in Illyricum he took sides against the Arians with so much zeal that he was publicly scourged and forced to leave. Returning from Illyria, he was confronted by the Arian archbishop of Milan Auxentius, who expelled him from the city. According to the early sources, Martin decided to seek shelter on the island then called Gallinaria, now Isola d'Albenga, in the Ligurian Sea, where he lived the solitary life of a hermit. Not entirely alone, since the chronicles indicate that he would have been in the company of a "priest, a man of great virtues," and for a period with Hilary of Poitiers; on this island, where the wild hens lived, he ate hellebore, a plant that he did not know was poisonous. A legend tells that being on the verge of death for having eaten this herb, he prayed and was miraculously cured. With the return of Hilary to his see in 361, Martin joined him and established a hermitage nearby, which soon attracted converts and followers. The crypt under the parish church (not the current Abbey Chapel) reveals traces of a Roman villa, probably part of the bath complex, which had been abandoned before Martin established himself there. This site was developed into the Benedictine Ligugé Abbey, the oldest monastery known in Europe. It became a center for the evangelization of the country districts. He traveled and preached through western Gaul: "The memory of these apostolic journeyings survives to our day in the numerous local legends of which Martin is the hero and which indicate roughly the routes that he followed." Bishop In AD 371 Martin was acclaimed bishop of Tours, where he impressed the city with his demeanor. He had been drawn to Tours by a ruse — he was urged to come to minister to someone sick — and was brought to the church, where he reluctantly allowed himself to be consecrated bishop. According to one version, he was so unwilling to be made bishop that he hid in a barn full of geese, but their cackling at his intrusion gave him away to the crowd; that may account for complaints by a few that his appearance was too disheveled to be commensurate with a bishopric, but the critics were hugely outnumbered. As bishop, Martin set to enthusiastically ordering the destruction of pagan temples, altars and sculptures: "[W]hen in a certain village he had demolished a very ancient temple, and had set about cutting down a pine-tree, which stood close to the temple, the chief priest of that place, and a crowd of other heathens began to oppose him; and these people, though, under the influence of the Lord, they had been quiet while the temple was being overthrown, could not patiently allow the tree to be cut down." Sulpicius affirms that Martin withdrew from the city to live in Marmoutier ("Majus Monasterium"), the monastery he founded, which faces Tours from the opposite shore of the Loire. Recent excavations under the abbey church have revealed the traces of a Roman posting station, beside the main Roman road along the north bank of the Loire, which seems to have been the original dwelling for the community; the "caves" on the site are post-Roman and are probably the result of quarrying the coteau for the Romanesque abbey buildings. "Here Martin and some of the monks who followed him built cells of wood; others lived in caves dug out of the rock" (Sulpicius Severus). Martin introduced a rudimentary parish system. Once a year the bishop visited each of his parishes, traveling on foot, or by donkey or boat. He continued to set up monastic communities, and extended the bounds of his episcopate from Touraine to such distant points as Chartres, Paris, Autun, and Vienne. In one instance, the pagans agreed to fell their sacred fir tree, if Martin would stand directly in its path. He did so, and it miraculously missed him. Sulpicius, a classically educated aristocrat, related this anecdote with dramatic details, as a set piece. Sulpicius could not have failed to know the incident the Roman poet Horace recalls in several Odes, of his narrow escape from a falling tree. Martin was so dedicated to the freeing of prisoners that when authorities, even emperors, heard he was coming, they refused to see him because they knew he would request mercy for someone and they would be unable to refuse. On behalf of the Priscillianists The churches of other parts of Gaul and in Spain were being disturbed by the Priscillianists, an ascetic sect, named after its leader, Priscillian. The First Council of Saragossa had forbidden several of Priscillian's practices (albeit without mentioning Priscillian by name), but Priscillian was elected bishop of Avila shortly thereafter. Ithacius of Ossonoba appealed to the emperor Gratian, who issued a rescript against Priscillian and his followers. A..