{"id":106601,"date":"2022-06-15T22:27:49","date_gmt":"2022-06-15T20:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/?page_id=106601"},"modified":"2022-06-15T22:27:49","modified_gmt":"2022-06-15T20:27:49","slug":"vexillatio","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/roman-army\/units-of-roman-army\/vexillatio\/","title":{"rendered":"Vexillatio"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Monument dedicated to Jupiter<\/a> the Greatest (Iuppiter Optimus Maximus<\/em> – initials IOM) by vexillatio<\/em> from the Sequani cohort<\/a> and Raurici connected with the XXII legion<\/a> of Primigenia Pia Fidelis<\/em>. <\/div>\n \n
\n Creative Commons Attribution license - On the same terms 3.0. <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n \n

Vexillatio<\/em> (plural vexillationes<\/em>) was a unit separated from the parent legion, most often for a specific purpose, created during the principate’s times. It took its name most likely from vexillum<\/em>, a legionary<\/a> mark.<\/p>\n

Contrary to popular belief, it seems that vexillationes<\/em> were made by auxilia<\/a><\/em> soldiers, not legionaries. The term ward appears in the singular, but the term in the plural was used more often due to the fact that such wards operated in groups. Vexillationes<\/em> were established ad hoc<\/em> in crisis situations at the borders. There were many such situations in the 3rd century CE, during the great crisis of the Roman Empire<\/a>: usurpations<\/a>, rebellions, and invasions of neighbouring countries\/peoples. The vexillatio<\/em> unit differed both in number and composition, but as a rule, it amounted to about 1000 infantry soldiers and 500 horsemen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The reasons for the creation of vexillationes<\/em> and their application stemmed from the difficult period in which the Roman Empire found itself in the 3rd century CE. A huge Roman army<\/a><\/b>, dating back to the beginning of the 3rd century CE around 400,000 people<\/b> was unable to dynamically respond to all threats and incidents across wide borders. Rarely was it possible to send an entire legion to the site of a rebellion or invasion, and there were no reserves as such. The only logical solution was to separate the troops from the legions and merge them into a single unit to eliminate the threat. Immediately after completing the quest, the unit split and returned to its home legion<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Other troops such as: infantry – cohortes<\/em> and centuriae<\/em>; and rides – alae<\/em> and turmae<\/em>, could have had their own vexilla<\/em>. In turn, the vexillatio<\/em> unit itself, having separate vexilla<\/em> units, could use them as special units. They had functions similar to vexillarii<\/em> – restored veterans.<\/p>\n

The vexillatio<\/em> system initially functioned very well, due to mobility (due to the great road system) and high discipline, consistency and morale. However, during the “Great Depression of the 3rd century CE”<\/b> (from 235 to about 290 CE), the vexillationes<\/em> were so often moved from place to place that there was a great confusion of troops and disorganization of the Roman army. To this end, the successive emperors<\/a> Diocletian<\/a><\/b> and Constantine the Great<\/b> had to carry out military reforms to strengthen the structure of the army.<\/p>\n

During the time of the dominion, the term vexillatio<\/em> referred to a horse unit in the Roman army. The Vexillationes<\/em> were probably used as cavalrymen in many campaigns from the time of Diocletian and the introduction of the tetrarchy. In the 4th century CE vexillationes palatinae<\/em> and vexilationes comitatenses<\/a><\/em> were supposed to be between 300 and 600 people. The Roman document from the end of the empire Notitia Dignitatum<\/b><\/em> mentions the existence of 88 units of vexillationes<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vexillatio (plural vexillationes) was a unit separated from the parent legion, most often for a specific purpose, created during the principate’s times. It took its name most likely from vexillum, a legionary mark. Contrary to popular belief, it seems that vexillationes were made by auxilia soldiers, not legionaries. The term ward appears in the singular, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":39250,"parent":50395,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-106601","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/106601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/106601\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/50395"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}