Book contents
- The Cambridge History of War
- The Cambridge History of War
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Maps
- Notes on contributors
- Introduction to volume II
- Part I Foundations, c.600–1000 ce
- 1 The early Islamic empire and the introduction of military slavery
- 2 The Western European kingdoms, 600–1000
- 3 The Scandinavian world
- 4 Byzantium to the twelfth century
- 5 The Slavs, Avars, and Hungarians
- 6 The Turks and the other peoples of the Eurasian steppes to 1175
- 7 China: the Tang, 600–900
- 8 Japan to 1200
- Part II Interactions, c.1000–1300 ce
- Part III Nations and Formations, c.1300–1500 ce
- Part IV Comparisons: Cross-Cultural Analysis
- Select bibliography
- Index
2 - The Western European kingdoms, 600–1000
from Part I - Foundations, c.600–1000 ce
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 September 2020
- The Cambridge History of War
- The Cambridge History of War
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Maps
- Notes on contributors
- Introduction to volume II
- Part I Foundations, c.600–1000 ce
- 1 The early Islamic empire and the introduction of military slavery
- 2 The Western European kingdoms, 600–1000
- 3 The Scandinavian world
- 4 Byzantium to the twelfth century
- 5 The Slavs, Avars, and Hungarians
- 6 The Turks and the other peoples of the Eurasian steppes to 1175
- 7 China: the Tang, 600–900
- 8 Japan to 1200
- Part II Interactions, c.1000–1300 ce
- Part III Nations and Formations, c.1300–1500 ce
- Part IV Comparisons: Cross-Cultural Analysis
- Select bibliography
- Index
Summary
Before c.600, Western European military forces were recognisably descended from the last western Roman armies, as can quickly be demonstrated. Late Roman troops had sometimes been paid via the delegation of fiscal revenues and, as earlier, received allotments of land on retirement.1 Their hereditary service,2 furthermore, exempted them from certain taxes. In the fourth and fifth centuries a series of military identities evolved, based around oppositions to traditional civic Roman ideals. These turned on ideas of barbarism, enhanced by possibly increased recruitment beyond the frontiers and greater opportunities for non-Roman soldiers to rise to higher command.3 As the territory effectively governed from Ravenna, the imperial capital, shrank during the fifth century, and with it the available taxation and recruiting bases, the enlistment, and political pre-eminence, of warriors from outside the empire grew further.4
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- The Cambridge History of War , pp. 50 - 82Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020
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