The ''Regii'' or ''Reges'' was a Germanic ''

auxilia palatina ''Auxilia palatina'' (: ''auxilium palatinum'') were infantry units of the Late Roman army, first raised by Constantine the Great, Constantine I as part of the new field army he created in about 325 AD. Some of the senior and probably oldest of th ...

'' (light infantry) unit of the

Late Roman army In modern scholarship, the Later Roman Empire, "late" period of the Roman army begins with the accession of the Emperor Diocletian in AD 284, and ends in 480 with the death of Julius Nepos, being roughly coterminous with the Dominate. During th ...

, active between the 4th and the 5th century. There was also a '' legio comitatensis'' with the same name. The Regii had its main period of action in the mid-4th century when they were recruited to fight against the Alamannic incursions and invasions of the Roman Empire. Most likely the Regii themselves were composed of Alamannic or Suebi recruits, and were recruited for their extensive knowledge and familiarity with the Suebic Alamanni and their allies.

History

This unit was probably formed under

Constantius II Constantius II (; ; 7 August 317 – 3 November 361) was Roman emperor from 337 to 361. His reign saw constant warfare on the borders against the Sasanian Empire and Germanic peoples, while internally the Roman Empire went through repeated civ ...

Magnentius Magnus Magnentius ( 303 – 10 August 353) was a Roman general and usurper against Constantius II. Of Germanic descent, Magnentius served with distinction in Gaul, where the army chose him as a replacement for the unpopular emperor Constans. Ac ...

, even if another reconstruction suggests they originated during the Constantinian period and formed by the

Alamanni The Alemanni or Alamanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River during the first millennium. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Roman emperor Caracalla of 213 CE, the Alemanni c ...

c king Crocus. The ''Regii'' belonged to the army of the emperor Julian. They fought in the

Battle of Strasbourg The Battle of Strasbourg, also known as the Battle of Argentoratum, was fought in 357 between the Western Roman army under Julian and the Alamanni tribal confederation led by the joint paramount King Chnodomar. The battle took place near Str ...

(357): they were deployed on the second line and held, together with the '' Batavi'', the pressure of the Alamannic cavalry that had repulsed the

Roman cavalry Roman cavalry (Latin: ''equites Romani'') refers to the horse-mounted forces of the Roman army throughout the regal, republican, and imperial eras. In the regal era, the Roman cavalry was a group of 300 soldiers called ''celeres'', tasked wi ...

.Whitby, Michael, ''Rome at War Ad 293-696'', Osprey Publishing, 2002, , p. 42. In the ''

Notitia Dignitatum The (Latin for 'List of all dignities and administrations both civil and military') is a document of the Late Roman Empire that details the administrative organization of the Western and the Eastern Roman Empire. It is unique as one of very ...

'' (395–420 circa) the ''Regii'' are listed in the army of the ''

magister militum praesentalis (Latin for "master of soldiers"; : ) was a top-level military command used in the late Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, the e ...

'' of the East. This could mean that they also spend some years in Britain before period, because as the Regii, the Heruli were also listed as an eastern auxiliary group, and they were sent to Britain multiple times during the Reges’ most active period, as Germanic reinforcement send to fight off the many unwelcomed Saxon, Anglian, and

Jute Jute ( ) is a long, rough, shiny bast fibre that can be Spinning (textiles), spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from flowering plants in the genus ''Corchorus'', of the mallow family Malvaceae. The primary source of the fiber is ...

raiders.

Notes

References

* Maurizio Colombo, "Constantinus rerum nouator: dal comitatus dioclezianeo ai palatini di Valentiniano I", ''Klio'', 90, 2008, p. 124–161. Auxilia palatina {{AncientRome-stub