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Soldiers and Society in Late Roman Belgica
[Thesis]. Manchester, UK: The University of Manchester; 2014.
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Abstract
This thesis explores military identity in late Roman Belgica II. It examines the central idea of a gradual blurring of lines between soldiers and civilians which is often identified as as a distinctive feature of the late Empire. This is mediated through two scholary paradigms: integration and militarisation. According to these, late Roman society was dominated by the military in cultural terms as well as through domination of the social and economic networks of ordinary life: i.e. the cities and countryside. This study seeks to refine this view through an examination of the province of Belgica II. This province would appear to be an extreme example of the militarisation process, but a closer study will reveal a more nuanced picture. This study uses the idea of identity and the sociological concepts of constructed and complex identities to explore the dynamic nature of military identity and argue that the late Roman period should be taken on its own terms, rather than being compared with an idealised past. The study uses archaeological and historical material, but adopts a post-processualist approach, where relevant, with the material evidence in an attempt to get away from older scholary ideas such as, “Germanisation,” which often obscures our understanding. A survey of the literary record from Gaul on military identity is followed by an examination of military identities in Belgica II through the remnants of its soldiers, forts, cities, countryside and finally a brief survey of the changing world of the 5th century. Cemetery evidence is used occasionally to deepen the analysis, where appropriate. It is concluded that the terms of the debate are probably too crude and underplay the importance of the long-term changes in northern Gaul as drivers of social and economic change.
Layman's Abstract
This thesis explores military identity in late Roman Belgica II. It examines the central idea of a gradual blurring of lines between soldiers and civilians which is often identified as as a distinctive feature of the late Empire. This is mediated through two scholary paradigms: integration and militarisation. According to these, late Roman society was dominated by the military in cultural terms as well as through domination of the social and economic networks of ordinary life: i.e. the cities and countryside. This study seeks to refine this view through an examination of the province of Belgica II. This province would appear to be an extreme example of the militarisation process, but a closer study will reveal a more nuanced picture. This study uses the idea of identity and the sociological concepts of constructed and complex identities to explore the dynamic nature of military identity and argue that the late Roman period should be taken on its own terms, rather than being compared with an idealised past. The study uses archaeological and historical material, but adopts a post-processualist