Roman Cavalry

[marcus brutus]

does anyone know of a type of romen cavelry called the extraordinarii i think its a rank though.

[Cyrus]

That might have been a name given to a specific group of Equitatus, but I don

[PerfectimusPrime]

And its cavalry not ''cavelry''

[longbow]

The only place i've heard of extraordinarii is in the diabolical Conn Igulden Novels.

 

BTW,who cares about the spelling you know what he means

[Primus Pilus]

Extraordinarii were magistrates that quite frankly held extraordinary positions of power. Examples include Dictator, Military Tribunes with Consular power (dating from the very early Republic)...

 

Another example that might be the problem here is the Magister Equitum. The title of the Dictator's 'Master of Horse' (Cavalry) was also an extraordinary magistrate and perhaps this is somehow being mistranslated to mean that an entire cavalry wing was extraordinarii?

 

[EDIT: I edited the topic title because misspelling also drives me nuts sometimes ]

[marcus brutus]

The only place i've heard of extraordinarii is in the diabolical Conn Igulden Novels.

 

BTW,who cares about the spelling you know what he means

i love the conn igulden books even though ther not historicly acurate. would everyone stop talking bout my speliong(i kow i got that word wrong) mistakes,

[Favonius Cornelius]

Lol.

 

I laugh because usually (elsewhere) I am the one grilled for spelling errors, so it's nice to look from outside the box.

[Onasander]

So long as the concept gets passed along, spelling be damned.

[Spartan JKM]

I'm pretty sure the extraordinarii was an elite reserve body formed from the socii (Italic allies). It comprised about 1,000 men, of which about 200 were cavalry. It also served as a body-guard to the Roman generals and formed the vanguard on the march. The extraordinarii was under the immediate commnad of the general. The finest troops of the extraordinarii were called the ablecti, and they were the immediate body-guard for the general. I think many were actually hostages, fighting for the welfare of their respective socii. Later on, Roman generals would form their own elite units called something like 'praetoria cohorts'.

 

I'm not completely sure about this. A very good question, marcus brutus. To answer your question succinctly and directly, the cavalry arm of the extraordinarii were from Rome's Italian allies. I'm sure we can look it up somewhere, and Primus Pilus seems to know quite a bit.

 

As we know, the cavalry arm was never a favorite of the Romans. It was a mere adjunct to the infantry, and because of the relative limited amount of horses in Italy, it was expensive, thus mostly only the nobility (the equites) were mounted. This is what Hannibal exploited so well in Italy during his epic years. The Romans were not the natural horsemen that the Macedoninas, Thessalians, Scythians, and Numidians etc. were. But the Romans were as pragmatic and determined as any martial people ever, and they improved on their cavalry in equipment and tactical order, most notably under Gaius Claudius Nero and Publius Cornelius Scipio, later Africanus, and came to rely more and more on the horsemen of their federated allies, such as the Campanians and Samnites. Masinissa and, to a lesser extent, Dacamas (if Appian was correct), and their Numidians, proved invaluble at Zama. Scipio indeed had the extraordinarii in his reserve.

 

Thanks Spartan JKM

[Germanicus]

Hi all - the below is from Polybius. Where he is describing the assembling of legions by the Consuls in preparation for a campaign. The Extraordinarii as he describes them, were both Infantry and Cavalry.

 

 

 

When they are all met together, the distribution of the allies, who are assembled also with the Romans, is regulated by twelve officers, called prefects, and appointed by the consuls, in the following manner. They first choose out from all the allies a body of the bravest and most skillful soldiers, both cavalry and infantry, to serve near the person, and under the immediate orders, of the consuls. These are called the extraordinary, or selected troops. The whole infantry of the allies is usually the same in number with that of the Romans; but the cavalry three times as many. Among these, about a third part of the cavalry, and a fifth part of the infantry, are set apart as extra-ordinaries

Edited November 24, 2005 by Germanicus

[military]

Lol.

 

I laugh because usually (elsewhere) I am the one grilled for spelling errors, so it's nice to look from outside the box.

 

i know how you feel.

in fourth grade i was terrible at it.

now, i have a vocabulary as big as a college student's!

(or so people tell me)

[P.Clodius]

Both Spartan JKM and Germanicus are correct. I am currenty reading Hannibal by Theo Dodge in which he mentions the Extraordinarii quite often. As for spelling I think we should be flexible in light of the many non-native english speakers that visit this site. Unless of course your name is Future Historian, then may I recommend a copy of "Huct on Foniks".