Scholae palatinae

The ''Scholae Palatinae'' (literally "Palatine Schools", in gr, Σχολαί, Scholai) were an elite military guard unit, usually ascribed to the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great as a replacement for the '' equites singulares Augusti'', the cavalry arm of the Praetorian Guard. The ''Scholae'' survived in Roman and later Byzantine service until they disappeared in the late 11th century, during the reign of Alexios I Komnenos.

4th–7th centuries: imperial guards

History and structure

During the early 4th century, '' Caesar'' Flavius Valerius Severus attempted to disband the remaining units of the Praetorian Guard on the orders of Galerius. In response, the Praetorians turned to Maxentius, the son of the retired emperor Maximian, and proclaimed him their emperor on 28 October 306. When Constantine the Great (), launching an invasion of Italy in 312, forced a final confrontation at the Milvian Bridge, the Praetorian cohorts made up the most prominent element of Maxentius' army. Later, in Rome, the victorious Constantine definitively disbanded the Praetorian Guard. Although there is no direct evidence that Constantine established the ''Scholae Palatinae'' at the same time, the lack of a bodyguard unit would have become immediately apparent, and he is commonly regarded as their founder. Nevertheless, some units, such as the ''schola gentilium'' ("school of tribesmen") are attested much earlier than 312, and may have their origins in the reign of Diocletian (r. 284–305).

The term "'' schola''" was commonly used in the early 4th century to refer to organized corps of the imperial retinue, both civil and military, and derives from the fact that they occupied specific rooms or chambers in the palace. Each ''schola'' was formed into an elite cavalry regiment of around 500 troops. Many scholarians (Latin: ''scholares'', Greek: σχολάριοι, ''scholarioi'') were recruited from among Germanic tribes.Haldon (1999), p. 68 In the West, these were Franks and Alamanni, while in the East, Goths were employed. In the East, under the impact of anti-Gothic policies, from the mid-5th century they were largely replaced with Armenians and Isaurians. However, evidence of the scholarians mentioned in primary sources indicates that the presence of native Romans in the ''scholae'' was not negligible. Of the recorded and named scholarians in the fourth century, ten are definitely Roman, forty one probably Roman; whilst only five are definitely barbarian and eleven probably barbarian.

Each ''schola'' was commanded by a ''tribunus'' who ranked as a '' comes'' of the first class, and who were discharged with a rank equal to that of a provincial '' dux''. The ''tribunus'' had a number of senior officers called '' domestici'' or ''protectores'' directly under him.Treadgold (1995), p. 92 Unlike the Praetorians, there was no overall military commander of the ''scholae'', and the Emperor retained direct control over them; however, for administrative purposes, the ''scholae'' were eventually placed under the direction of the ''magister officiorum''. In the ''Notitia Dignitatum'' of the late 4th century, seven ''scholae'' are listed for the Eastern Empire and five for the Western. In Justinian I's time (r. 527–565), but also possibly in earlier times, the ''scholae'' were billeted in the wider neighbourhood of Constantinople, in the towns of Bithynia and Thrace, serving in the palace by rotation.Haldon (1999), p. 68

As befitted their guards status, the scholarians received higher pay and enjoyed more privileges than the regular army: they received extra rations (''annonae civicae''), were exempt from the recruitment tax (''privilegiis scholarum'') and were often used by the Emperors on civilian missions inside the Empire. Gradually however, the ease of palace life and lack of actual campaigning, as the Emperors ceased to take the field themselves, lessened their combat abilities. In the East, they were eventually replaced as the main imperial bodyguard by the Excubitors, founded by Emperor Leo I the Thracian (r. 457–474), while in the West, they were permanently disbanded by the Ostrogoth ruler Theodoric the Great (ruler of Italy in 493–526). Under Emperor Zeno (r. 474–491), they degenerated to parade-ground display troops: as it became possible to buy an appointment into the ranks of the ''scholae'', and the social status and benefits this entailed, the units were increasingly filled with by the capital's well-connected young nobility. Emperor Justinian is said to have caused panic amongst their members by proposing that they be sent on an expedition. Justinian also raised four "supernumerary" ''scholae'' of 2,000 men purely in order to raise money from the sale of the appointments. It seems that this increase was reverted by the same emperor later.

Forty ''scholares'', named ''candidati'' for their bright white tunics, were selected to form the Emperor's personal bodyguard, and although by the 6th century they too fulfilled a purely ceremonial role, in the 4th century they accompanied the emperors on campaign, as for example Julian (r. 361–363) in Persia.

File:Notitia Dignitatum - Magister Officiorum West.jpg, The insignia of the Western ''scholae'', from the ''Notitia Dignitatum''.
File:Notitia Dignitatum - Magister Officiorum.jpg, The insignia of the Eastern ''scholae'', from the ''Notitia Dignitatum''.
File:Lipsanoteca di Brescia (coperchio).jpg, Palatine insignia on the shields of the soldiers in the Arrest of Christ on the Brescia Casket, late 4th century.

List of ''scholae'' from the ''Notitia Dignitatum''

In the Western Empire (the Western part of the ''Notitia'' refers to the 420s):
* ''Scola scutariorum prima''
* ''Scola scutariorum secunda''
* ''Scola armaturarum seniorum''
* ''Scola gentilium seniorum''
* ''Scola scutatorum tertia''

In the Eastern Empire (the Eastern part of the ''Notitia'' refers to the 390s):
* ''Scola scutariorum prima''
* ''Scola scutariorum secunda''
* ''Scola gentilium seniorum''
* ''Scola scutariorum sagittariorum'', a unit of horse archers.
* ''Scola scutariorum clibanariorum'', a unit of '' clibanarii''.
* ''Scola armaturarum iuniorum''
* ''Scola gentilium iuniorum''

Note: The suffixes "''seniorum''" and "''iuniorum''" refer to units of the same ancestry, now commonly held to have been created from the division of the Roman army in 364 between emperors Valens and Valentinian I. The ''seniores'' are the "senior" Western units, while ''iuniores'' their "junior" Eastern counterparts.

Notable scholarians

* Saints Sergius and Bacchus were officers in Emperor Maximian's ''schola gentilium''.
* Saint Martin of Tours, an officer in the ''scholae'' of Caesar Julian.
* Mallobaudes, a Frankish king, ''tribunus armaturarum'', later ''magister militum''.
* Claudius Silvanus, a Frankish tribune and later usurper.
* Bacurius, prince of Caucasian Iberia, ''tribunus sagittariorum'' at the Battle of Adrianople.Ammianus Marcellinus, ''Historiae'' XXXI.12.16
* Cassio, ''tribunus scutariorum'' (likely of the elite first ''schola'') at the Battle of Adrianople.
* Justinian I served as a ''candidatus'' in 518, at the time of the death of Emperor Anastasius and the accession of his uncle Justin I.

8th–11th centuries: the ''scholae'' as one of the ''tagmata''

The ''scholae'', along with the ''excubitores'', continued to exist in the 7th and early 8th centuries, although diminished in size, as purely ceremonial units. However, in ca. 743, after putting down a major rebellion of thematic troops, Emperor Constantine V (r. 741–775) reformed the old guard units of Constantinople into the new ''tagmata'' regiments, which were meant to provide the emperor with a core of professional and loyal troops. The ''tagmata'' were professional heavy cavalry units, garrisoned in and around Constantinople, forming the central reserve of the Byzantine military system and the core of the imperial expeditionary forces. In addition, like their Late Roman ancestors, they were an important stage in a military career for young aristocrats, which could lead to major field commands or state offices.

The exact size of the ''tagmata'' is a subject of debate. Estimates range from 1,000 to 4,000 men. The various ''tagmata'' had a uniform structure, differing only in the nomenclature used for certain titles, which reflected their different ancestries. The ''scholai'' were headed by the ''domestikos tōn scholōn'' (, "Domestic of the Schools"), first attested in 767. As the old office of the ''magister officiorum'' was transformed into the more or less ceremonial post of ''magistros'', the ''domestikos'' was established as the independent commander of the ''scholai''. In contemporary records, he holds the rank of ''patrikios'', and is considered one of the most senior generals in status, surpassed only by the ''strategos'' of the Anatolic Theme. By the 10th century, he had risen to be the senior officer of the entire army, thus a commander-in-chief under the Emperor in effect. In ca. 959, the post and the unit itself were divided into two separate commands, one for the East (''domestikos ōn scholōn tēsanatolēs'') and one for the West (''domestikos ōn scholōn tēsdyseōs'').

The ''domestikos tōn scholōn'' was assisted by two officers called '' topotērētēs'' (τοποτηρητής, lit. "placeholder", "lieutenant"), who each commanded half of the unit, a ''chartoularios'' (χαρτουλάριος, "secretary") and the ''proexēmos'' or ''proximos'' (head messenger). The ''tagma'' was further divided into smaller units (''banda'', sing. '' bandon'') commanded by a ''komēs'' (, "Count f the Schools). In the late 10th century, there were 30 such ''banda'', of unknown size. Each ''komēs'' commanded 5 junior ''domestikoi'', the equivalent of regular army ''kentarchoi'' ("centurions"). There were also 40 standard-bearers (''bandophoroi''), who were grouped in four different categories. In the ''scholai'', these were: ''protiktores'' (προτίκτορες, "protectors", deriving from the older '' protectores''), ''eutychophoroi'' (, "carriers of ''eutychia''"; here ''eutychia'' is a corruption of ''ptychia'', images of Fortune and Victory), ''skēptrophoroi'' ("bearers of sceptres", i.e. staves with images on top) and ''axiōmatikoi'' ("officers").Treadgold (1980), p. 276

The ''kandidatoi'' are still mentioned in the 10th-century work '' De Ceremoniis'', but the title had become nothing more than a palace dignity, fulfilling a purely ceremonial role and entirely separate from the ''tagma'' of the ''scholai''.

The regiment of the ''scholai'' is attested for the last time in 1068/9, under Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes (), in combat around Aleppo.

Footnotes

References

Bibliography

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*Haldon, John F.:
Strategies of Defence, Problems of Security: the Garrisons of Constantinople in the Middle Byzantine Period
', published in ''Constantinople and its Hinterland: Papers from the Twenty-Seventh Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Oxford, April 1993'', edited by Cyril Mango and Gilbert Dagron (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1995)
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*Treadgold, Warren T.: Notes on the Numbers and Organisation of the Ninth-Century Byzantine Army, published in ''Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies'' 21 (Oxford, 1980)
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Military units and formations established in the 4th century
Cavalry units and formations of ancient Rome
Late Roman military units
Royal guards
Guards units of the Byzantine Empire
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