Vigla (tagma)
| Vigla or Arithmos | |
|---|---|
| Active | 8th century–11th century |
| Country | Byzantine Empire |
| Type | heavy cavalry, imperial guard |
| Garrison/HQ | Constantinople, Bithynia, Thrace |
The Vigla (Greek: Βίγλα, "guard watch", from Latin: vigilia), also known as the Arithmos (Greek: Ἀριθμός, "Number") and in English as the Watch, was one of the elite tagmata of the Byzantine army. It was established in the latter half of the 8th century, and survived until the late 11th century. Along with the Noumeroi regiment, the Vigla formed the guard of the imperial palace in Constantinople, and was responsible for the Byzantine emperor's safety on expeditions.
The Vigla or Arithmos was the third of the imperial tagmata to be established, with its commander attested for the first time in 791. Both names derive from the Latin terminology of the Late Roman army: the term vigilia was applied from the 4th century onto any kind of guard detachment, while arithmos is the Greek translation of the Latin numerus, both titles being used in a generic sense for "regiment". In literary sources, Vigla is more commonly used than Arithmos, and is also the title used in the seals of its commanders.
Its exact date of creation is contested among modern historians of the Byzantine army: Byzantinist John Haldon considers that the Vigla was established as a tagma by the Empress Irene in the 780s out of a provincial brigade, but Warren Treadgold supports its creation along with the first two tagmata, the Scholai ("Schools") and Exkoubitoi ("Excubitors"), by Emperor Constantine V (r. 741–775) in the mid-8th century. If the former hypothesis is true, then the establishment of the Vigla by Irene may have been intended to counterbalance the two older tagmata, which remained loyal to iconoclasm and resented Irene's iconophile policies. The provincial parent unit, in turn, appears to have been of considerable ancestry: the presence of archaic Late Roman titles for its officers points to an origin, possibly as a cavalry vexillation, in the old East Roman army before the Muslim conquests of the 7th century.John B. Bury has traced a hypothetical lineage to the early 5th-century vexillationes palatinae of the Comites Arcadiaci, the Comites Honoriaci and the Equites Theodosiaci. Along with many of the other tagmata, the Vigla disappeared in the decades of crisis in the late 11th century: it is last mentioned in 1094.
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