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'Household Regiment'

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  Quote rider Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: 'Household Regiment'
    Posted: 10-Feb-2007 at 03:26
Reading Lord Montgomery's 'Concise History' I faced a unit of the Byzantines, of which I had never heard before. It didn't give precise name but a later passage suggests that they might have been called 'the Household Regiment'.

The unit description (without a direct reference to the name) was something like this. This unit was created by Belisarius. They made war on horses, were heavily armoured; every man had a bow, darts, lance and sword. Each had to be highly skilled in the use of each of the four weapons. It told me as well, that when they charged, they first had to shoot three arrows and then revert to the lance or take some more enemies out with the darts.

Can anyone provide more information about this unit or perhaps pf their true name, if the 'Household Regiment' is false?

Thanks,

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  Quote Tar Szernd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10-Feb-2007 at 03:41
Hi!
 
Maybe they were the scholai, or the excubitas or the biglas.
(most of the byzantian heavy cav. were fighting and armoured like persian and avarian horsemen, so the using of the bow (perhaps the 3 avarian tipes)in heavy armour, together with the long and the short lance in battles is not surprising)
 
TSZ


Edited by Tar Szernd - 10-Feb-2007 at 03:46
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  Quote rider Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11-Feb-2007 at 09:07
I don't think so. The book clearly said that Belisarius created them and they were different from normal soldiers.
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  Quote Tar Szernd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11-Feb-2007 at 12:20
Hi!
 
Yes, different, in the 6. century. But after that time they became a common type. Until the 10-11. cent a lot of kataphraktes-like units used the bow and lances (mainly without shields).
 
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  Quote Hyarmendacil Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11-Feb-2007 at 13:32
Why can't they be Belisarius's boukellarioi? After all, their weapon combination seems fairly typical for the better-trained Byzantine cavalry of the time. Maybe the difference lay in their organization or their place in the command structure rather than in their tactical role.
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  Quote Praetor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12-Feb-2007 at 04:12
Whatever they were they were not the Scholae as the reforms which turned this and many other "bodyguard" units into crack proffesional forces had not taken place at this time. In fact during the reign of Justinian the Scholae was more a club for the wealthy sons of Senators and the like, Justinian even once amused himself by putting the unit on the active duty roster and observing the panic of its membersLOL

Based on my very limited knowledge of the issue I would agree with Hyarmendacil that they were the his bucellari, Belisarius "household troops" these elite calvalrymen lived at thier comanders personal expense. They seem to meet all the criteria including the name.

Edited by Praetor - 12-Feb-2007 at 04:13
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  Quote Byzantine Emperor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14-Feb-2007 at 00:40
Originally posted by rider

Can anyone provide more information about this unit or perhaps pf their true name, if the 'Household Regiment' is false?
 
I was going to ask if the author provided a name for the unit in transliterated Greek (the Greek name in the Roman alphabet).  Is "Household Regiment" all that Montgomery gave?
 
Originally posted by Hyarmendacil

Why can't they be Belisarius's boukellarioi? After all, their weapon combination seems fairly typical for the better-trained Byzantine cavalry of the time. Maybe the difference lay in their organization or their place in the command structure rather than in their tactical role.
 
This is along the lines of what I am thinking.  But we have to remember the transparency of Byzantine terminology as time progressed, i.e. names do not often correspond with realistic functions.  However, this is early enough, in Justinian's time, that I think the term might still correspond with the function.  The Scholai and Boukellarioi are both plausible in this case.  From Montgomery's description of their equipment, it seems that they were more suited for use on the field than for guard duty at the palace.  the armament sounds very similar to Kataphraktoi, at first glance.  I will check the sources that I know of for more details.


Edited by Byzantine Emperor - 14-Feb-2007 at 00:42
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  Quote rider Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14-Feb-2007 at 13:35
I will present the text from:

Originally posted by Lord Montgomery; A Concise History of Military Warfare

In the 520's Belisarius set about training an lite corps of heavy cavalry armed with a bow and lance, trained to be skirmishers as well as shock troops. He also armed them with feathered darts which were thrown by hand at close quarters. Finally they carried a heavy broadsword. It required a lot of drill to become proficient with all four weapons and to be able to control the horse at the same time. Belisarius trained his men to support themselves in the saddle by the stirrups and to control the movements of the horse with their knees. The men had a small shield strapped to their left arm, and wore themselves mail shirts of thigh length. Archery methods were copied from the Huns, and tilting with the lance from the Goths. The training exercise to improve the skill of the knight was to gallop towards a stuffed dummy hanging from a gallows. The rider had to string his bow as he approached, fire three arrows at the swaying figure, and finish the charge with the lance or darts. Pay, rations and rank were awarded according to proficiency in this and other exercises...

...Among the cavalry were 600 Huns and 400 Heruls, as well as Belisarius' own Household Regiment of 1,500 cuirassiers.



Edited by rider - 15-Feb-2007 at 11:41
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  Quote Tar Szernd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Feb-2007 at 06:08
Hi!
 
In the 460's and 480's some of the proto bulgars (mainly kutrigursand saraogurs(white-ogurs)) were settled down in Moesia by the greeks. Maybe they were those "huns". Or huns:-)
Or hun vasall akatirs.
 
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  Quote Hyarmendacil Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Feb-2007 at 13:53
There! Personal training by Belisarius himself, and the reference to "Belisarius's own Household regiment" makes a very strong case for them being Belisarius's personal boukellarioi.

I wish we had more information on the original rendition of the term  translated as "cuirassier," though, since somehow I fancy a connection between it and clibanarii.


Edited by Hyarmendacil - 15-Feb-2007 at 14:21
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14-Apr-2007 at 09:57
I heard of Belisarius's 'Household' Regiment, from a book called 'Count Belisarius' by Robert Graves, explained them the same way as the book you listed.
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  Quote Praetor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16-Apr-2007 at 03:14
I would like to make the case for the bucellarii stronger by qouting two references to them by Adrian Goldsworthy in the chapter on Belisarius in his book "IN THE NAME OF ROME":

Originally posted by Adrian Goldsworthy; IN THE NAME OF ROME

]
Another element within the calvalry consisted of Belisarius own household troops or bucellarii. These men lived at thier commander's expense, hence thier name derived from the military issue hard-tack biscuit, but were bound by an oath of loyalty to the emperor.


and again about the bucellarii:

Originally posted by Adrian Goldsworthy; IN THE NAME OF ROME

]
They were heavy calvalry, the rider- though probably not the horse- armoured, and equipped with both a spear or two-handed lance and a composite bow. Belisarius' bucellarii were especially well trained, even by the standards of such picked troops.


As you can see they were a highly trained, elite calvalry unit owing allegiance to Belisarius as thier personal benefactor. The only thing that concerns me is that there is no reference to darts......but then again the unit only recieves a passing mention in my book, perhaps someone else posseses a more detailed source.

Regards, Praetor.


Edited by Praetor - 16-Apr-2007 at 03:17
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