Magister militum (Latin for "Master of the Soldiers", plural magistri militum) was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine. Used alone, the term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, the emperor remaining the supreme commander) of the Empire. In Greek sources, the term is translated either as strategos or as stratelates.
Establishment and development of the office
The title of magister militum was created in the 4th century, when Emperor Constantine the Great deprived the praetorian prefects of their military functions. Initially two posts were created, one as head of the foot troops, as the magister peditum ("Master of the Infantry"), and one for the more prestigious horse troops, the magister equitum ("Master of the Cavalry"). The latter title had existed since Republican times, as the second-in-command to a Roman dictator.
Under Constantine's successors, the title was also established at a territorial level: magistri peditum and magistri equitum were appointed for every praetorian prefecture (per Gallias, per Italiam, per Illyricum, per Orientem), and, in addition, for Thrace and, sometimes, Africa. On occasion, the offices would be combined under a single person, then styled magister equitum et peditum or magister utriusque militiae ("master of both forces").
As such they were directly in command of the local mobile field army of the comitatenses, composed mostly of cavalry, which acted as a rapid reaction force. Other magistri remained at the immediate disposal of the Emperors, and were termed in praesenti ("in the presence" of the Emperor). By the late 4th century, the regional commanders were termed simply magister militum.
In the Western Roman Empire, a "commander-in-chief" evolved with the title of magister utriusque militiae. This powerful office was often the power behind the throne and was held by Stilicho, Flavius Aetius, Ricimer, and others. In the East, there were two senior generals, who were each appointed to the office of magister militum praesentalis.
During the reign of Emperor Justinian I, with increasing military threats and the expansion of the Eastern Empire, three new posts were created: the magister militum per Armeniam in the Armenian and Caucasian provinces, formerly part of the jurisdiction of the magister militum per Orientem, the magister militum per Africam in the reconquered African provinces (534), with a subordinate magister peditum, and the magister militum Spaniae (ca. 562).
In the course of the 6th century, internal and external crises in the provinces often necessitated the temporary union of the supreme regional civil authority with the office of the magister militum. In the establishment of the exarchates of Ravenna and Carthage in 584, this practice found its first permanent expression. Indeed, after the loss of the eastern provinces to the Muslim conquest in the 640s, the surviving field armies and their commanders formed the first themata.
Supreme military commanders sometimes also took this title in early medieval Italy, for example in the Papal States and in Venice, whose Doge claimed to be the successor to the Exarch of Ravenna.
Unspecified commands
383-385/8: Flavius Bauto, magister militum under Valentinian II
385/8-394: Arbogast, magister militum under Valentinian II and Eugenius
383–388: Andragathius
after 383-408: Flavius Stilicho
422-?: Asterius
? – 480: Ovida
411 – 421: Flavius Constantius
422 - 425: Castinus
425 - 430: Flavius Constantius Felix
431 - 432: Bonifacius
432 - 433: Sebastianus
433 – 454: Flavius Aetius
455 - 456: Avitus & Remistus
456 – 472: Ricimer
472–473: Gundobad
475: Ecdicius Avitus
475–476: Flavius Orestes
352–355: Claudius Silvanus
362–364: Flavius Iovinus, magister equitum under Julian and Jovian
? – 419: Flavius Gaudentius
425–433: Flavius Aetius
435-439: Litorius
452–456: Agrippinus
456–461: Aegidius
461/462: Agrippinus
? - 472: Bilimer
441-442: Asterius
443: Flavius Merobaudes
446: Vitus
?-350: Vetranio, magister peditum under Constans
361: Flavius Iovinus, magister equitum under Julian
365–375: Equitius, magister utriusquae militiae under Valentinian I
395-? Alaric I
448/9 Agintheus (known from Priscus of Panium to have held office as the latter's embassy proceeded towards the court of Attila).
468–474: Julius Nepos
477–479: Onoulphus
479–481: Sabinianus Magnus
528: Ascum
529–530/1: Mundus (1st time)
532–536: Mundus (2nd time)
c. 538: Justin
c. 544: Vitalius
c. 550: John
568–569/70: Bonus
581–582: Theognis
c. 347: Flavius Eusebius, magister utriusquae militiae
349–359: Ursicinus, magister equitum under Constantius
359–360: Sabinianus, magister equitum under Constantius
363–367: Lupicinus, magister equitum under Jovian and Valens
371–378: Iulius, magister equitum et Peditum under Valens
383: Flavius Richomeres, magister equitum et peditum
383–388: Ellebichus, magister equitum et peditum
392: Eutherius, magister equitum et peditum
393–396: Addaeus, magister equitum et peditum
395/400: Fravitta
433–446: Anatolius
447–451: Zeno
460s: Flavius Ardabur Aspar
-469: Flavius Iordanes
469–471: Zeno
483–498: Ioannes Scytha
c. 503–505: Areobindus Dagalaiphus Areobindus
505–506: Pharesmanes
?516-?518: Hypatius
?518–529: Diogenianus
520-525/526: Hypatius
527: Libelarius
527–529: Hypatius
529–531: Belisarius
531: Mundus
532–533: Belisarius
540: Buzes
542: Belisarius
543–544: Martinus
549–551: Belisarius
555: Amantius
556: Valerianus
569: Zemarchus
572–573: Marcian
573: Theodorus
574: Eusebius
574/574-577: Justinian
577–582: Maurice
582–583: John Mystacon
584-587/588: Philippicus
588: Priscus
588–589: Philippicus
589–591: Comentiolus
591–603: Narses
603-604 Germanus
604-605 Leontius
605-610 Domentziolus
377–378: Flavius Saturninus, magister equitum under Valens
377–378: Traianus, magister peditum under Valens
378: Sebastianus, magister peditum under Valens
380–383: Flavius Saturninus, magister peditum under Theodosius I
392–393: Flavius Stilicho, magister equitum et peditum
412–414: Constans
441: Ioannes the Vandal, magister utriusque militiae
468–474: Armatus
474: Heraclius of Edessa
511: Hypatius
512: Cyril
514: Vitalian
530–533: Chilbudius
550–ca. 554: Artabanes
588: Priscus (1st time)
593: Priscus (2nd time)
593–594: Peter (1st time)
594–ca. 598: Priscus (2nd time)
598–601: Comentiolus
601–602: Peter (2nd time)
351–361: Flavius Arbitio, magister equitum under Constantius
361–363: Flavius Nevitta, magister equitum under Julian
363–379: Victor, magister equitum under Valens
366–378: Flavius Arinthaeus, magister peditum under Valens
364–369: Flavius Iovinus, magister equitum under Valentinian I
364–366: Dagalaifus, magister peditum under Valentinian I
367–372: Severus, magister peditum under Valentinian I
369–373: Flavius Theodosius, magister equitum under Valentinian I
375–388: Merobaudes, magister peditum under Valentinian I, Gratian and Magnus Maximus
388-395: Timasius
394–408: Flavius Stilicho, magister equitum et peditum
399-400: Gainas
400: Fravitta
409: Varanes and Arsacius
419-: Plinta
443–451: Apollonius
450–451: Anatolius
475-477/478: Armatus
485–: Longinus
492–499: John the Hunchback
518–520: Vitalian
520–?: Justinian
528: Leontius
528-529: Phocas
520-538/9: Sittas
536: Germanus
536: Maxentianus
546–548: Artabanes
548/9–552: Suartuas
562: Constantinianus (uncertain)
582: Germanus (uncertain)
585–ca. 586: Comentiolus
626: Bonus (uncertain)
373–375: Flavius Theodosius, magister equitum
386–398: Gildo, magister equitum et peditum
534–536: Solomon
536–539: Germanus
539–544: Solomon
544–546: Sergius
545–546: Areobindus
546: Artabanes
546–552: John Troglita
578–590: Gennadius
8th century: Marcellus
737: Domenico Leoni under Leo III the Isaurian
738: Felice Cornicola under Leo III the Isaurian
739: Theodatus Hypatus under Leo III the Isaurian
741: Ioannes Fabriacius under Leo III the Isaurian
764–787: Mauricius Galba
By the 12th century, the term was being used to describe a man who organized the military force of a political or feudal leader on his behalf. In the Gesta Herwardi, the hero is several times described as magister militum by the man who translated the original Early English account into Latin. It seems possible that the writer of the original version, now lost, thought of him as the 'hereward' – the supervisor of the military force. That this later use of these terms was based on the classical concept seems clear.
