{{Short description|Highest division of the Visigothic army}} The '''''thiufa''''' was the highest division of the Visigothic army in Hispania. Based on the known decimal structure of the rest of the army, it seems likely that it was nominally composed of one thousand men. Its commander was called a '''''thiufadus''''' (also ''tiuphadus'').<ref name=thompson>{{cite book | last =Thompson | first =E. A. | title =The Goths in Spain | publisher =Clarendon Press | year =1969 | location =Oxford}}</ref><ref name=contamine>{{cite book | last =Contamine | first =Phillippe | last2 = trans. Michael Jones | title =War in the Middle Ages | publisher =Basil Blackwell Ltd | year =1984 | location =Oxford}}, page 20.</ref>
==Structure== It is unknown if the ''thiufae'' were ever actually called into service or if they existed only on paper. Perhaps smaller or larger units formed the actual basis of the Visigothic army.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}}
==Etymology== The term ''thiufadus'' derives from either the Latin ''devotus'' or the Germanic ''thusundifaths''. The mechanism of the transmission via the latter is, however, considered impossible by some.<ref name=wiener>{{cite book | last =Wiener | first =Leo | title = Commentary to the Germanic Laws and Mediaeval Documents | publisher =Harvard University Press | year =1915 | location =Cambridge | url = https://archive.org/details/cu31924021216217| quote =Commentary to the Germanic Laws and Medieval Documents. }}</ref> The Latin ''devotus'' was generally applied by the Ostrogoths and Visigoths to high-ranking Goths in the Gothic language as ''thiwadus''.<ref name=wiener/>
==Thiufadus== A class of officials called the ''confiscatores'' or ''exactores'' in the ''Codex Theodosianus'', ''Lex Salica'', and ''Edictum Chilperici'' are referred to in the early Visigothic laws of Theudis as ''compulsares vel executores''. In the later Visigothic laws, like the ''Liber Iudiciorum'', they go by various titles: ''compulsor exercitus'', ''servus dominicus'', or ''thiufadus''.<ref name=wiener/> The thiufadus was elsewhere called a ''vassus regis'' (vassal of the king) and ''agente in rebus''.<ref name=wiener/>
The thiufadus, however, was both a military and judicial official.<ref name=wiener/> His position is immediately below that of the ''comes'' (count) or ''vicarius'' (vicar): a position the same as that of the Frankish ''thunginus'' or Late Roman ''ducenarius''.<ref name=wiener/> Their position in the army was above that of the ''centenarius'' (commander of a hundred), but it cannot be positively identified with the position of ''millenarius'' (commander of a thousand).<ref name=wiener/>
The ''Liber Iudiciorum'' augmented the powers of the ''thiufadi''. In their double capacity as general and judge they were assisted by ''sayos''. The ''thiufadus'', who controlled the countryside, seems to have been weaker than the counts who controlled the ''civitates'', city districts.
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==Sources== *Thompson, E. A. ''The Goths in Spain''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969. *Contamine, Phillippe. ''War in the Middle Ages''. trans. Michael Jones. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd, 1984. *Wiener, Leo. ''[http://www.northvegr.org/lore/germaniclaw/index.php Commentary to the Germanic Laws and Medieval Documents]''. London: Oxford University Press, 1915.
Category:Military units and formations of the Middle Ages Category:Visigothic Kingdom