#germanicwarfare

The Germanic Warrior: Loyalty Unto Death

In Germanic society, the surest route to wealth, status and power was success in battle. Its most important institution was the comitatus or war band, the personal retinue of elite warriors that every king or chief tried to gather around him and which formed the core of the tribal army. The need to keep the war band together often dictated the politics of early German chiefdoms and kingdoms.

Warriors needed war as an arena to display their prowess and win status and wealth. Kings and chiefs needed success in war to provide the means to reward their warriors and keep them loyal. In such a society, long periods of peace were impossible to sustain. Success bred success, as more warriors would be attracted to the war band of a triumphant leader. The confederations and political centralization of the third and fourth centuries were in part driven by particularly successful war bands.

Loyalty Unto Death

Warriors were expected to be loyal to their leaders, unto death if necessary. There was no formal discipline; fear of dishonour was generally sufficient to prevent a warrior abandoning his comrades in battle. Loyalty to the war leader was higher than loyalty to one's people (modern ideas of nationalism are not appropriate to the early Middle Ages). Germanic mercenaries maintained this attitude when they enrolled in the Roman army – they were no more likely to mutiny than Roman soldiers and were loyal to their Roman commanders even when asked to fight against their own people. In early Germanic society all able-bodied free men were expected to bear arms.

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