Roman-Barbarian Marriages in the Late Empire R.C

ROMAN-BARBARIAN MARRIAGES IN THE LATE EMPIRE R.C. Blockley In 1964 Rosario Soraci published a study of conubia between Romans and Germans from the fourth to the sixth century A.D.1 Although the title of the work might suggest that its concern was to be with such marriages throughout the period, in fact its aim was much more restricted. Beginning with a law issued by Valentinian I in 370 or 373 to the magister equitum Theodosius (C.Th. 3.14.1), which banned on pain of death all marriages between Roman pro- vincials and barbarae or gentiles, Soraci, after assessing the context and intent of the law, proceeded to discuss its influence upon the practices of the Germanic kingdoms which succeeded the Roman Empire in the West. The text of the law reads: Nulli provineialium, cuiuscumque ordinis aut loci fuerit, cum barbara sit uxore coniugium, nec ulli gentilium provinciales femina copuletur. Quod si quae inter provinciales atque gentiles adfinitates ex huiusmodi nuptiis extiterit, quod in his suspectum vel noxium detegitur, capitaliter expietur. This was regarded by Soraci not as a general banning law but rather as a limited attempt, in the context of current hostilities with the Alamanni, to keep those barbarians serving the Empire (gentiles)isolated from the general Roman 2 populace. The German lawmakers, however, exemplified by Alaric in his 63 64 interpretatio,3 took it as a general banning law and applied it in this spir- it, so that it became the basis for the prohibition under the Germanic kingdoms of intermarriage between Romans and Germans. Although Soraci's aims were limited, being primarily legalistic, his study leaves a strong impression that throughout the period marriages between Romans and Germans were rare. This impression is reinforced by an appendix which offers a list of marriages between Romans and Germans from the mid-third to the mid-sixth century A.D. In it there are eleven marriages labelled "databili," thirteen "di data incerta" and seven "dubbie" — thirty-one exam- 4 pies in all, a small number for a period of over three centuries. The list (which Soraci admits to be incomplete) offers fifteen marriages between men with Roman names and women with German names and sixteen examples of the re- verse, most of the latter being probably from the period of the Germanic king- 5 doms. Soraci's procedure seems to have been to enter only those liaisons in which one of the partners probably did not have Roman citizenship and thus lacked the ius conubii. This is reasonable in the context of a limited study of the kind undertaken by Soraci, but it begs a number of questions important for the study of marriages between Romans and non-Romans during the late . 6 Empire. Soraci takes barbara as used by Valentinian to be a neutral term (as in Alaric's interpretatio), meaning roughly "foreigner" or "alien," and gentilis also to be neutral, indicating a soldier of foreign origin or, more specif- 7 ically, a barbarian border-soldier (limitaneus); and for his purpose both refer to Germans. In the first case he appears to be correct, though barbarus is not to be regarded as a legal term with a clearly understood meaning (as it could be under the Germanic kingdoms). In the case of gentilis, though he could be correct in limiting it to soldiers, more likely, as is suggested by the second sentence of the law, the word has a wider connotation, being the g equivalent of barbarus and used a variation for it. Discussion of the terminology of the law or of its intent (whether it was a general banning law or one of specific application) serves only to obscure a deeper difficulty. This lies in the use of the law by Soraci and other scholars as the starting point of their studies. For, although it seems that Valentinian's law was important as the basis for the laws of the Germanic kingdoms, it is far from clear that it was of any importance in respect of the marriage practices of the late Empire. Moreover, because its terminology is susceptible to different interpretations, it serves to confuse, rather than clarify, the situation. For these reasons, and for others remarked below, I 65 propose to set the law aside as a piece of special, and perhaps aberrant, legislation (there are no parallels) and to take another starting point. When Soraci discusses marriage and compiles his list, he omits all marriages between Roman women and those Germans who held high military office in the Empire. He does this presumably because he regards the latter as having acquired Roman citizenship and thus the ius conubii·, and he also seems to re- gard them as having ceased at this point to be barbari or gentiles or (if one takes his title seriously) even Germans. Long ago, however, Mommsen pointed out that there is no clear evidence that in the late Empire a barbarian received Roman citizenship upon entry into the legions or even upon acquiring veteran status; indeed, it is no more than possible that he received it when 9 he became a Roman officer. Nevertheless, Mommsen did appear to think it likely that citizenship was given to officers, an assumption in which both he and (apparently) Soraci are almost surely correct. Certainly, German and other foreign officers are found marrying Romans and owning property, which itself would suggest citizenship.10 Mommsen also pointed out, however, that at the period the acquisition of Roman citizenship was not regarded as conferring Roman nationality.11 Although the evidence which he quoted (primarily CIL III. 3576: Francus ego civis, Romanus miles in armis) is hardly compelling, the concept of dual citizenship and residual obligations towards one1 s original place of domicile was well es- tablished in the Roman world. It is hardly likely that the Frisians to whom Nero gave citizenship in A.D. 58 (Tacitus, Ann. 13. 54) regarded themselves, or were regarded by anyone, as having ceased to be Frisians;12 and in the fourth century the Frank Mallobaudes could hold at the same time the positions of comes domesticorum in the Roman forces and rex Francorum,13 When one looks at general opinion, the evidence increases and the situation becomes clearer. Stilicho, though thoroughly Romanized, is called semibarbarus by Jerome (Ep. 123.16 — perhaps an indication that he had a Roman mother); Nevitta, magister equitum and consul under Julian, is called barbarus by Ammianus (21.10.8; 12.25); and Victor, magister equitum in 378, is called Sarmata by the same writer (31.12.16). 14 The point at which these foreign officers, or their descendants, would have been considered to have ceased to be barbari is unclear and probably var- ied from case to case and period to period, although a generation or two of residence and service would have been usually necessary. The considerations, as they had long been, were probably primarily cultural.15 The unfortunate 66 Silvanus, magister peditum and short-lived usurper in 355, can stand as one example amongst many. He was born in Gaul of a Frankish father anda non- Roman mother (Victor, Caes. 42.15: barbaris parentibus) . Though he kept his Frankish connections and was called a "fellow countryman" (popularis, Ammianus 15.5.11) by the Frank Malarich, when he fell into danger from the suspicious Emperor Constantius II and considered flight to the Franks, he was informed that they would surrender him to the Romans (ibid. 16). Clearly, Silvanus, with his Latin name and Roman upbringing (Epit. de Caes. 42.11:· institutione Romana satis cultus et patiens) was on the way to assimilation, though not fully absorbed.16 Ammianus, who approves of Silvanus as a general, does not stress his "Frankishness," in contrast with his treatment of Nevitta, whose elevation to the consulship is condemned because he was a barbarus, with the specific complaint that he was inconsummatum et subagrestem et (quod minus erat ferendum) celsa in potestate crudelem (21.10.8). However, the point at which a non-Roman became a Roman is not important for the present paper. What is important is that there were a number of Germans and other foreigners (whom I have included) , who may or may not have been citizens, who would still commonly have been regarded as foreigners, yet who married Romans. The list of marriages set out below, which only occasion- ally overlaps with that of Soraci (a large portion of whose examples are drawn from the German kingdoms, which I ignore), is based upon the broader view, set out above, of what was a barbarian. While it does not exhibit the conceptual precision underlying Soraci's list, it does serve as a corrective in that it brings out not the isolationism and xenophobia at times manifested in late Roman legislation but the melding and mutual assimilation which was also an important characteristic of the late-Roman period.17 Third century: 1. Gallienus - Pipa (Pipara). He was Roman Emperor 253-63, she the daughter of a Marcoman chief, Attalus. The sources seem to suggest that it was not a regular marriage. (Soraci "databili" 1.) 2. Bonosus - Hunila. He was an usurper 276/82, born of a British father and a Gallic mother. She is said to have been a Gothic princess. The source (SHA, Quad. Tyr. 15.3-7) is unreliable. (Soraci "databili" 2.) 67 3. Proculus - Vituriga (quae et Samso). He was an usurper 276/82, a noble- man who claimed descent from the Franks (thus perhaps an earlier inter-marriage) . Her name might be Germanic.

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