The Second Oldest Profession: Mercenaries (Part 2: Middle Ages to Renaissance)
Nov 5 · 6 min read
End of Rome
The need for experienced soldiers did not die out with the Roman Empire. As imperial authority waned across the territories, wars became increasingly frequent in the resulting power vacuum left by Roman absence. By the late imperial era, when Emperor Theodosius I divided the vast and unwieldy empire into two halves along the Danube river, Rome was already in its death throes. The armies, especially in the case of the Western Roman Empire, were stretched to their absolute breaking…

