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{{short description|Peoples and cities bound by a treaty, typically in relation to Rome (Antiquity)}}
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'''''Foederati''''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|f|ɛ|d|ə|ˈ|r|eɪ|t|aɪ}} {{respell|FED|ə|RAY|ty}}; singular: '''''foederatus''''' {{IPAc-en|ˌ|f|ɛ|d|ə|ˈ|r|eɪ|t|ə|s}} {{respell|FED|ə|RAY|təs}}) were peoples and cities bound by a [[treaty]], known as ''foedus'', with Rome. During the [[Roman Republic]], the term identified the ''[[socii]]'', but during the [[Roman Empire]], it was used to describe foreign states, client kingdoms or barbarian tribes to which the empire provided benefits in exchange for military assistance. The term was also used, especially under the empire, for groups of [[barbarian]] mercenaries of various sizes who were typically allowed to settle within the empire.

==Roman Republic==
In the early [[Roman Republic]], ''foederati'' were tribes that were bound by a [[treaty]] ('''''foedus''''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|f|iː|d|ə|s}}) to come to the defence of Rome but were neither [[colonies in antiquity|Roman colonies]] nor beneficiaries of [[Roman citizenship]] (''civitas''). Members of the [[Latium|Latini]] tribe were considered blood allies, but the rest were federates or ''[[socii]]''. The friction between the treaty obligations without the corresponding benefits of Romanity led to the [[Social War (91–88 BC)|Social War]] between the Romans, with a few close allies, and the disaffected ''socii''. A [[law]] of 90 BC (''Lex Julia'') offered Roman citizenship to the federate states that accepted the terms. Not all cities were prepared to be absorbed into the Roman ''[[res publica]]'' ([[Heraclea (Lucania)|Heraclea]] and [[Naples]]). Other ''foederati'' lay outside [[Roman Italy]] such as [[Cádiz|Gades]] (Cádiz) and [[Marseille|Massilia]] (Marseille).{{Clarify|So not offered the settlement, or just turned it down?|date=March 2008}}

==Roman Empire==
The term ''foederati'' had its usage and meaning extended by the Romans' practice of subsidising entire [[barbarian]] tribes such as the [[Franks]], [[Vandals]], [[Alans]], [[Huns]] and the [[Visigoths]], the last being the best known, in exchange for providing warriors to fight in the Roman armies. [[Alaric I]] began his career leading a band of Gothic ''foederati''.

At first, the Roman subsidy took the form of money or food, but as tax revenues dwindled in the 4th and the 5th centuries, the ''foederati'' were billeted on local landowners, which became identical to being allowed to settle on Roman territory. Large local landowners living in distant border provinces (see "[[marches]]") on extensive villas, which were largely self-sufficient, found their loyalties to the central authority, which were already conflicted by other developments, further compromised in such situations. As loyalties wavered and became more local, the empire then began to devolve into smaller territories and closer personal [[fealty|fealties]].

===4th century===
The first Roman treaty with the Goths was after the defeat of [[Ariaric]] in 332, but whether or not it was a ''foedus'' is unclear.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=XjTI-RGgrUIC&pg=PA245 From Roman Provinces to Medieval Kingdoms.] Thomas F. X. Noble. ed. 2006, p.245</ref>

The Franks became foederati in 358, when Emperor [[Julian (emperor)|Julian]] let them keep the areas in northern [[Roman Gaul]], which had been depopulated during the preceding century. Roman soldiers defended the [[Rhine]] and had major armies {{convert|100|mi|km|-1}} south and west of the Rhine. Frankish settlers were established in the areas north and east of the Romans and helped the Roman defence by providing intelligence and a buffer state. The [[Crossing of the Rhine|breach of the Rhine borders]] in the frozen winter of 406 and 407 ended the Roman presence along the Rhine when both the Romans and the allied Franks were overrun by a massive tribal migration of [[Vandals]] and [[Alans]].

In 376, some of the [[Goths]] asked Emperor [[Valens]] to allow them to settle on the southern bank of the [[Danube River]] and were accepted into the empire as ''foederati''. The same Goths then revolted in retaliation for abuses and defeated the Romans in the [[Battle of Adrianople (378)|Battle of Adrianople]] in 378. The critical loss of military manpower thereafter forced the Empire to rely much more on ''foederati'' levies.

The loyalty of the tribes and their chieftains was never reliable, and in 395, the Visigoths, now under the lead of [[Alaric I|Alaric]], once again rose in rebellion. The father of one of the most powerful late Roman generals, [[Stilicho]], rose from the ranks of the ''foederati''.

===5th century===
At the [[Battle of Faesulae (406)|Battle of Faesulae]] in 406 AD, Stilicho defeated the Gothic king [[Radagaisus]] and his combined Vandal and Gothic army only with the support of the Gothic chieftain [[Sarus the Goth|Sarus]] and the Hunnic ruler [[Uldin]].

In 423, the general [[Flavius Aetius]] entered the service of the usurper [[Joannes]] as ''[[cura palatii]]'' and was sent by Joannes to ask the [[Huns]] for assistance. Joannes, a high-ranking officer, lacked a strong army and fortified himself in his capital, [[Ravenna]], where he was killed in the summer of 425. Soon, Aetius returned to Italy with a large force of Huns to find that power in the west was now in the hands of [[Valentinian III]] and his mother, [[Galla Placidia]]. After fighting against Aspar's army, Aetius managed a compromise with Galla Placidia. He sent back his Hunnic army and in return obtained the rank of ''comes et [[magister militum]] per Gallias'', the commander-in-chief of the Roman Army in Gaul.

Around 418 (or 426), [[Attaces]], the king of the [[Alans]], fell in battle against the [[Visigoths]], who were still allies of Rome in Hispania, and most of the surviving Alans appealed to [[Gunderic]]. Their request was accepted by Gunderic, who thus became King of the Vandals and Alans.

Late in Gunderic's reign, the Vandals themselves began to clash more and more with the Visigothic ''foederati'' and often got the worse of these battles because the Visigoths were so much more numerous. After Gunderic died early in 428, the Vandals elected his half-brother, [[Genseric]], as the successor, and Genseric left [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberia]] to the Visigoths to invade [[Africa (Roman province)|Roman Africa]].

By the 5th century, lacking the wealth needed to pay and train a professional army, the Western Roman Empire's military strength was almost entirely reliant on ''foederati'' units. In 451, [[Attila the Hun]] was defeated only with help of the ''foederati'', who included the Visigoths, Franks, Alans and Saxons. The ''foederati'' would deliver the fatal blow to the dying nominal [[Western Roman Empire]] in 476, when their [[Germanic chieftain|commander]], [[Odoacer]], deposed the usurping Western Emperor [[Romulus Augustulus]] and sent the imperial insignia back to [[Constantinople]] with the Senate's request for the 81-year-old west–east subdivision of the empire to be abolished. Even before the eventual [[fall of the Western Roman Empire]] in 476, several kingdoms with the status of ''foederati'' had managed to gain a full independence that was formally recognised by the [[Western Roman Empire]], such as the [[Vandals]] in the peace treaty concluded in 442 between their king, [[Genseric]], and [[Valentinian III]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IjSqCwAAQBAJ&q=Vandals++treaty++442+++first++independent&pg=PA64|title=Christianity in Roman Africa: The Development of Its Practices and Beliefs– Google Knihy|date=November 30, 2014|access-date=2016-12-25|isbn=978-0-8028-6931-9|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161226060050/https://books.google.sk/books?id=IjSqCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA64&lpg=PA64&dq=Vandals++treaty++442+++first++independent&source=bl&ots=3lheIzcTYd&sig=JdhUyvpSkkhfTRuOueh3vReljoU&hl=cs&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiUgoCx1I_RAhWJLMAKHS0WD1kQ6AEINjAE#v=onepage&q=Vandals%20%20treaty%20%20442%20%20%20first%20%20independent&f=false|archive-date=2016-12-26|url-status=live|last1=Patout Burns|first1=J.|last2=Jensen|first2=Robin M.|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans }}</ref> and the Visigoths through the peace treaty concluded in 475 between their king [[Euric]] and [[Julius Nepos]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bI9_AwAAQBAJ&q=475+Visigoths+independent+Euric&pg=PA443|title=Faiths Across Time: 5,000 Years of Religious History [4 Volumes]– Google Knihy |date= January 15, 2014|access-date=2018-10-17|isbn=978-1-61069-025-6|last1=Gordon Melton |first1=J. |publisher=Abc-Clio }}</ref>

After the collapse of the Hunnic Empire, the [[Ostrogoths]] entered relations with the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] and were settled in [[Pannonia]] to become ''foederati'' of the Byzantines. During the latter half of the 5th century, the Ostrogoths' relationship with the Byzantines started to shift from friendship to enmity, just like the Visigoths before them, and Ostrogoth King, [[Theoderic the Great]] frequently led armies that ravaged the provinces of the Eastern Roman Empire and eventually threatened Constantinople itself. Eventually, Theoderic and Emperor [[Zeno (emperor)|Zeno]] worked out an arrangement beneficial to both sides in which Theoderic invaded Odoacer's kingdom and eventually conquered Italy.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Costambeys|first=Marios|date=November 2016|title=The Legacy of Theoderic|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-roman-studies/article/legacy-of-theoderic/3E2C27F54F317F996C9A74490D92B4FB|journal=The Journal of Roman Studies|volume=106|pages=249–263|doi=10.1017/S0075435816000587|s2cid=163532641|via=Cambridge Journals Online|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

===6th century===
''Foederati'' (transliterated in Greek as Φοιδερᾶτοι or translated as Σύμμαχοι) were still present in the [[East Roman army]] during the 6th century. [[Belisarius]]' and [[Narses]]' victorious armies included many ''foederati'', but by this time the term in Greek refers to units that may once have included large numbers of non-Romans but have become professional, regular units in the Roman army that included Romans.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=McMahon |first1=Lucas |title=The Foederati, the Phoideratoi, and the Symmachoi of the Late Antique East (ca. A.D. 400-650) |journal=Ma Thesis - University of Ottawa |date=2014 |pages=9–44 |url=https://www.academia.edu/15110353}}</ref> These armies also included non-Roman elements such as Hunnic archers and Herule mercenaries who were more akin to traditional ''foederati'' but who were now referred to as symmachoi.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=McMahon |first1=Lucas |title=The Foederati, the Phoideratoi, and the Symmachoi of the Late Antique East (ca. A.D. 400-650) |journal=Ma Thesis - University of Ottawa |date=2014 |pages=52–69 |url=https://www.academia.edu/15110353}}</ref> At the [[Battle of Taginae]], a large contingent of the Byzantine army was made up of [[Lombards]], [[Gepids]] and [[Bulgars]].

In the east, foederati were formed out of several Arab tribes to protect against the Persian-allied Arab [[Lakhmids]] and the tribes of the Arabian peninsula. Among these foederati were the [[Tanukhids]], [[Banu Judham]], [[Banu Amela]] and the [[Ghassanids]]. The term continues to be attested in the Eastern Roman armies until around the reign of [[Maurice (emperor)|Maurice]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=McMahon |first1=Lucas |year=2014 |title=The Foederati, the Phoideratoi, and the Symmachoi of the Late Antique East (ca. A.D. 400-650) |url=https://www.academia.edu/15110353 |website=academia.edu |access-date=2018-11-20 }}</ref> Although no longer as important as in the sixth century, a unit of ''foederati'' appear in the Byzantine ''thema'' of the Anatolikon in the ninth century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Haldon |first1=John |title=Byzantine Praetorians: An Administrative, Institutional, and Social Survey of the Opsikion and Tagmata, c. 580-900 |date=1984 |publisher=Rudolf Habelt |location=Bonn |pages=245–253}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Ancient Rome}}
*[[Ammianus Marcellinus]]
*[[Foedus Cassianum]]
*[[Laeti]]
*[[Numerus (Roman military unit)]]
*[[Varangian Guard]]
*[[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]]

==References==
{{reflist|1}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite journal |last1=Maspero |first1=Jean |title=Φοιδερᾶτοι et Στρατιῶται dans l'armée byzantine au VI siècle |journal=Byzantinische Zeitschrift |date=1912 |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=97–109 |doi=10.1515/byzs.1912.21.1.97|s2cid=192034477 }}
* {{cite journal|last1=McMahon |first1=Lucas |year=2014 |title=The Foederati, the Phoideratoi, and the Symmachoi of the Late Antique East (ca. A.D. 400-650) |url=https://www.academia.edu/15110353 |website=academia.edu |access-date=2018-11-20 }}

==External links==
*[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Foederatae_Civitates.html George Long, "Foederati civitates"] (English). An essay by a 19th-century Roman law scholar.
*[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/ Harry Thurston Peck, ''Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities'', 1898]: Foederati

{{Barbarian kingdoms}}

[[Category:Foederati| ]]
[[Category:Ancient peoples]]
[[Category:Late Roman military units]]
[[Category:Military units and formations of the Roman Republic]]
[[Category:Foreign relations of ancient Rome]]
[[Category:Roman auxiliaries]]
[[Category:Federalism]]
[[Category:Former client states]]