Hi everyone. Welcome to another episode of ancient warfare answers with me Murray, your weekly fix of ancient warfare related material where I attempt to answer a question in 10 minutes. That's my time limit, sometimes over, sometimes under, more times over than under, on a question based from a viewer,

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So this is Memo from Essex, Memo from Essex, I think Memo from Essex.

And they ask, can I ask?

Of course.

How much do we really know about the Balcardai or Balcaldi, I suppose?

How important were they in the eventual collapse of the Western Roman Empire? Thanks. Oh my, Mimo from Essex, I've gone on a deep dive. My notes to myself are 3,000 words long. So hopefully I don't go too crazy. So we react. Let me see if I can stay on time. So the Balcadai or the Balcadai, C or G, seem to be groups of the peasant insurgents in the western parts of the Roman Empire,

although they are mentioned once in Macedonia, who begin to be mentioned in the multiple

disruptions and lack of centralized authority in the third century AD, which used to be

called the crisis of the third century, no longer called the crisis of the third century,

but it's a period where you have multiple emperors and usurpers. Some emperors don't last

very long at all. There's breakaway empires in Gaul and Britain and Pelmaira and Egypt,

and eventually they get returned to imperial authority under Diocletian in 284 onwards.

It's interesting because we used to call it the crisis of the third century.

It's really only from 235 to 284.

So it's really only 50 years that it really goes to pot.

Anyway, in that period, we start to get these groups of Balcadai or Balgardei,

who are revolting, especially in Gaul and Spain.

Now, we will come across something called the

Balgaardai or the Balcadae revolt, but I think that they are localized and independent

...