User:Mharrsch/Books/GallicWars/Celtic Training

Warrior Training

Celtic boys from noble or free households were trained in the use of weapons by their fathers, kinsmen and other tribal members. This training included the use of a long slashing sword as well as a long fighting spear sometimes referred to as a lancea, a short throwing spear that came to be called a gaesum, and a light javelin known as the madaris. Boys would also practice the sling.

At the age of 14 they were considered old enough to enter the service of an established war leader. The young warriors would seek to ally themselves with the most successful war leaders to boost their chances of increasing their own wealth (and thereby status) from successful raids.

Before the more formalized warfare with the Romans in the Gallic Wars, young Celtic warriors honed their martial arts with low-intensity warfare activities such as cattle or slave raids and revenge attacks designed to settle disputes between clans and tribes. Their war band leader also hired out groups of warriors for mercernaries.

Clientage

The accumulation of wealth, primarily from war booty but from agricultural activities and trade as well, was the means to acquire prestige, renown, and power in the Celtic world. Lower ranking members of a tribe would often pledge allegiance to warriors with higher status in return for security, patronage and employment much like the patron-client system in Roman society.

Clientage could also extend to other tribes and even between tribes themselves: for example, the rival Aedui and Sequani and their respective client tribes in Gaul at the time of Caesar's campaigns. However, this continual competition for wealth, power and influence gave rise to a hierarchy that was inherently unstable. Freeman could, in the right circumstances, aspire to noble status, while some nobles such as Dumnorix and Orgetorix during the Gallic War had such powerful personal followings that they posed a threat to the stability of the tribe itself.

Inter-tribal clientage was often reinforced by the exchange of hostages, sometimes children, who were then raised in the household of a patron. This aspect of patron-client relationships was also common to Roman culture.

Leadership

Leadership of small scale raids was often determined at feasts where, after much drinking and boasting, a warrior would boldy cajole his companions into joining him on a raiding expedition. If he held sufficient status due to his battle experience and accumulated wealth, a group of warriors large enough to prosecute the raid may volunteer to join him.

Decisions of a more formal nature were usually decided by a vote of all of the free men of a tribe although some tribes in Gaul actually elected magistrates, much like the Roman system of governance.

However, leadership in larger scale engagements were directed by kings or chieftains chosen by a council of nobles. So, also much like the Romans, officers were drawn from the aristocracy.

References