Dux Belgicae secundae
The Dux Belgicae secundae ("commander of the second Belgic province") was a senior officer in the army of the Late Roman Empire who was the commander of the limitanei (frontier troops) and of a naval squadron on the so-called Saxon Shore in Gaul.
| Dux Belgicae secundae | |
|---|---|
The Saxon Shore (Litus saxonicum) around the year 380. | |
| Active | end of the fourth century to the fifth century |
| Country | Roman Empire |
| Type | commander of a stretch of the Rhine limes and Litus Saxonicum (Saxon Shore) |
The office is thought to have been established around 395 AD. At the imperial court, a dux was of the highest class of vir illustris. The Notitia Dignitatum lists for the Gallic part of the Litus Saxonicum ("the Coast of Saxony") two commanders, and their military units, who were charged with securing the coasts of Flanders (Belgica II), of Normandy (Lugdunensis II), and of Brittany (Lugdunensis III), these commanders being the Dux Belgicae secundae and the neighboring Dux Armoricani et Nervicani.
These two commanders were the successors to an official the Comes Maritimi Tractus (Commander of the Coastal Regions), who formerly commanded both the British and the Gallic part of the Saxon Shore. These two commanders maintained coastal defenses until the mid–5th Century. A well known commander was the Frankish king Childeric I (late 5th century).