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How to Raise a Tribal Army in Pre-Roman Europe, Part II
This is the second part of our (planned) three part (I) look at how some ‘tribal’ or more correctly, non-state agrarian peoples raised armies to fight the Romans (and others) in the thi…
When I present students (and modernists) with this definition, they often balk at the idea that there existed any states prior to 1600 AD or so, but just because medieval Europe was a politically fragmented place with often very weak central governments doesn’t mean that everywhere was. So while in theory – from a state-oriented perspective – we might imagine the way the system is supposed to work is that first the principes(or at least some of them) decide on a course of action, which they then debate in the civitas senate, which then marshals the armed populace and puts the final decision to them in an up-or-down by-acclamation vote, in practice aristocrats can mobilize military force legitimately on their own. In 218, we’re told the Allobroges were seemingly on the verge of civil war, as Braneus, who led the senate and the principes was being pushed out of power by his younger brother, leading a large band of iuvenes, before Hannibal intervened in Baneus’ favor (Livy 21.31.6).
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