Comitatus (re-enactment)
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Comitatus is a historical reenactment and living history society, dedicated to the study and re-enactment of Late Roman, Germanic and Romano-British life 306-866.
The group covers the period of British and West-European history from the reign of Constantine I to establishment of Viking Jorvik. It specialises in portraying the Legio Praesidiensis, a comitatensis of the Late Roman army based in Britain during the late 4th century, just before the withdrawal of the legions from Britannia by Honorius This legion is listed in the Notitia Dignitatum under the Gallic command, but was based in Britain during the late 4th century.
One of the aims of the group is to demonstrate that the Roman Army did not remain static. The Roman Army was expanded and reformed under Diocletian, and developed under Constantine I, with an emphasis on defence in depth and divided into limitanei, troops guarding the borders, and well-equipped comitatenses, mobile field armies acting as reaction forces.[1].
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[edit] Objectives
Comitatus represent everyday military life rather than battle re-enactment, displaying legionary family life, craftworking, training and drill based on the writings of Vegetius and the Strategikon attributed to Emperor Maurice.
They undertake research, staging marches in authentic kit and experimenting with reconstructions, such as variously weighted and shafted plumabatae, the torsion ballista and the controversial reconstruction of an arcuballista as a crossbow.[2]
Comitatus is based in York, U.K., covering most of North East England. Like many re-enactment groups covering a long span of time, they specialise in portraying selected periods in order to increase the accuracy of portrayals: Late Roman circa 400, Sub Romano-British circa 570, and the Anglian period circa 627.
[edit] Military equipment
Legionary equipment changed in the Late Roman period from the characteristic gladius, semi-cylindrical shields & segmented armour illustrated on Trajan's Column to longer spatha, rounded shields, simpler helmets with mail, scale and lamellar armour.
Helmets of the period took several forms, for example the light, simple bi-part 'Intercisa' style ridge helmets, with cheekpieces apparently simply sewn on, also evidenced at Worms, Augsberg-Pfersee and Augst, the more complex 'Berkasovo' style, with a nasal and brow re-inforcement similar to other finds at Duerne, Burgh Castle and Concesti. Spangenhelme surprisingly similar to those depicted on Trajan's Column also seem to have been used such as the undated Egyptian finds known as the Leiden and Dar-al-Madinah helmets.
Decorative items such as the characteristic military belt may show the influence of heavy recruitment of Germanic troops, or may have themselves influenced Germanic fashions.
Shields are typically modelled on oval C3rd plywood or planked finds from Dura-Europus, which were between 1.07 and 1.18m in length and 0.92 and 0.97m in width and up to 1cm thick, the edges reinforced with rawhide. They are painted with a ten pointed red star on a blue field after the design listed for the Legio Praesidiensis in medieval copies of the Notitia Dignitatum.[3]
[edit] Living History
As part of the emphasis on Living History, crafts of the period are practised such as basketweaving, dyeing, loom and tablet weaving, embroidery, woodcarving, antler and bone working and cookery. The latter has included building an experimental bread oven and re-creating dishes of the period based on a variety of sources. [4] [5] [6]
[edit] References
- ^ Southern, P. & Dixon, K. 1996 The Late Roman Army, London: Routledge
- ^ Stephenson, I.P. 2006 Romano-Byzantine Infantry Equipment, Stroud: Tempus
- ^ Bishop, M.C. and Coulston, J.C.N. 2006 Roman Military Equipment: From The Punic Wars To The Fall Of Rome, Second ed. Oxford: Oxbow
- ^ Renfrew, J. 1985 Food & Cooking in Roman Britain: History and Recipes, London: English Heritage
- ^ Dalby, A. & Grainger, S. 1996 The Classical Cookbook, London: British Musum Press
- ^ Alcock, J.P. 2001 Food in Roman Britain, Stroud: Tempus
[edit] See also
- Historical reenactment
- Living history
- List of ancient reenactment groups
- Comparison of historical reenactment groups
- Dark Ages reenactment
- Ancient reenactment
[edit] External links
- Comitatus Late Roman Re-enactment photographs, essays, kit guide, bibliography and links. Background essay in pdf. format
- Fectiois Robert Vermaat's Late Roman Re-enactment Society. They focus on the military part of Late Roman society during the 4th to 5th century. Their area is the Western Empire, especially in the Lower German and British provinces.
- Minervii: Showing the life of the later empire this group displaying the comitatenses legio of the Minervii and the civilians around them.
