Gondorian Urban Cohorts

The Vigiles had both police and fire roles, and were at one point privately run with personal slaves. They numbered between 3,430 and 3,920. They were more concerned with robberies, petty crimes, runaway slaves and putting out fires. Meanwhile the Urban Cohorts handled violent crimes and riots. The Urban Cohorts consisted of between 1,500 and 2,000 people. By combining the two groups to avoid duplication of duties and partially returning to the private slave system, we can get the Gondorian versions of the Urban Cohorts, Vigiles and Praetorian Guard under the banner of the Tower Guard and less than or equal to 3,000 people. Under this, the 250 of the book can be the elites within a force as large as the 3,000 of the movies.   Now, the real Praetorian Guard had 9 cohorts of 90 cavalry. My sources assume the standard cohort size for a field legion of 480. This means the 3,000 Gondorian Urban Cohorts to have 562 mounted soldiers. With the Byzantine Army Structure, we can expect the 3,000 Urban Cohorts of Gondor to have about 400 officers at all levels.   My sources also state that a strong medieval government would have 1 police equivalent for every 150 people. Some would only have 1 per 300 people. For Minas Tirith's 67,550 population, this means the Urban Cohorts should be between 225 and 451. So the Tower Guards by themselves could probably handle all police duties in the entire city. At least for the standards of the day. But Gondor has by my estimates 112,322 urban residents - which would need between 374 and 749 to cover. I estimate 3,000. So if we assume that the Urban Cohorts performed all the jobs surrounding police, fire, official body guard and manning watchtowers and gate houses, this works.

Starting in the second century AD, the same person ran Rome’s proto-police and proto-fire departments on top of the Praetorian Guard. Like the Praetorian Guard, the Urban Cohorts (the major police force) and Vigiles (fire department) were led by the equine class.

The Urban Cohorts were also trained well enough to go into battle as well.

Officer pay would average around 28,800 nomismata. The 2,350 rank and file Urban Cohorts would get a total of 42,300. I suspect that the the total Tower Guard and Urban Cohort pay would be 125,100 nomismata or $26,476,372.50 per year. Now, that would probably fall at least in part on the municipal government of Minas Tirith and the guilds of the city, as these Urban Cohorts would function as the local police and fire department. I would expect that only the Tower Guards and possibly the officers would be taken fully out of the central government’s treasury. Their wages might be fully paid for the entire organization if they are mustered into battlefield service, like in the case of the Battle of Minas Tirith. Possibly, free rations, weaponry, housing and similar bonuses would mean some of this large sum would be paid in kind.   Another possibility is slavery. Given the fact that many criminals in societies involved with the slave trade sold criminals, it is possible that part of the revenue from the sale of slaves would go to the person who captured the criminal. In the Peonage System practiced in the former Confederacy, that was used.