Tower Guard
The Tower Guards were the other elite force in Gondor and fall on the other end of the spectrum. While the Rangers are light infantry designed for living off the land and hit and run tactics, the Tower Guards were pure defensive and stationed on garrison duty. They were responsible for the top of Minas Tirith, the White Tower and protecting the kings then stewards. They were thus purely concentrated at the top level of the capital – not even allowed into the rest of the city in uniform. Nor were they allowed to speak on duty.
It appears to me that the closest historical analog to the Gondorian Tower/Citadel Gaurds is the Roman Praetorian Cohorts. This formation was first mentioned in sources discussing the war against Carthage. Troops were selected from the bravest and most competent normal soldiers and given 1.5 times the normal pay. Essentially, they were ad hoc formations meant to protect the commanders in battle. This became formalized during the civil war following Ceasar's death. Generals would always have a special bodyguard unit drawn from their best, most experienced and (importantly) most reliable troops.
Augustus fully formalized the formation. The first official cohorts were largely veterans from Ceasar's old veterans. It was also made from incorporating men from both his own Praetorians and those of his defeated enemies. He also made pay double that of normal legionaries. Eventually this would be increased to 3.33:1. A lump sum was provided to them at similar ratios. The time of service was shortened from the normal 16 years for legionaries to 12 for the Praetorians (20 and 16 later). Often this unit had easier routine duties as well - less manual labor and latrine duties.
It must be noted that the Germani Corporis Custodes was created and served alongside the Praetorian Cohorts for the first century of the Empire. It was essentially a personal bodyguard made of elite German troops. Foreign mercenaries were considered more reliable than Roman citizens, whose political loyalty may be divided. This unit did not last. Nor did the role of the Emperor on the battlefield. Strong leaders were able to hold the Cohorts in check - but no state can consistently maintain perfect leadership over centuries. This led to the Praetorian Cohorts to become more openly political. To the point they assassinated leaders for their own self interest and literally auctioned off the role of Emperor. The Crisis of the Third Century was made much worse by constant plotting by greedy Praetorian Prefects seeking power for themselves or their chosen candidates.
This plotting led to their eventual destruction. Constantine was so impressed by their combat abilities when he fought against them that he spared them from massacre. But he clearly defeated them and naturally questioned their loyalty. So he dispersed their units so far and wide across the Empire's northern frontiers that they could not be a threat to him. This was consolidated with the destruction of the Castra Praetoria. At this point the disbandment was a mere formality. Its power and primary function was gone.
There are two Byzantine versions we can look at for a moment here. First is the Varangian Guard. They acted as prison guards and protectors of the Imperial Treasury. On top of the normal standing watch as the emperor appeared in public or when he was sleeping. There were also reports of them engaging in military campaigns. The name comes from the fact they were vikings hired to fill this role. So yeah, they were mercenaries. But they also were loyalty to the death after they got that money. They were known as being incredibly fierce due to the fact they were mainly recruited from Scandinavia.
They were also profoundly loyal apparently. They were seen as not accepting any hint of disloyalty. They considered protection of the Emperor a sacred obligation and a form of family tradition. Now, remember the commentary I wrote regarding the Vikings and cultures of honor in the minor human factions section? That same group of people that I drew from there was the same people who were hired to fill this real life formation. They also were used as a form of police, specializing in conspiracy and treason.
Now, it seems unlikely that this unit would operate very similar to the Tower Guards, mainly due to what seems as the racist position of Gondor. Their sense of cultural superiority would make it unlikely they would hire mercenaries or outsiders for such an important position. This is especially true when one looks at the fact that most other human societies were hostile to Gondor or Rohan. But there were units of 30 cavalry attached to them. Perhaps it is possible that units of 30 Rohirrim could be sent as part or symbol of the traditional alliance between the two nations. The only other element I can see being borrowed is the Guard being used to suppress treason and conspiracies.
Treadgold 1995, p. 92.
Enoksen, Lars Magnar. (1998). Runor : historia, tydning, tolkning. Historiska Media, Falun. ISBN 91-88930-32-7 p. 135
The Legions of Rome, Stephen Dando-Collins, pp41, Quercus (December 2010)
The next is the Scholae Palatinae – a 500 strong cavalry unit that served as a literal mounted replacement for the Praetorian Guard after Constintine disbanded the latter group. They, like the Praetorian Guard before them were paid more. They also received extra rations. However, unlike the Praetorian Guard, the individual Scholae did not have an overall commander – instead the emperor was the supreme commander for all of them. This was a major protection against the abuses of the Praetorian Guard, as unified command makes it easier to launch coups.
Important elements of this unit are directly applicable to Gondor. The first is that they lost their fighting power due to long periods of inactivity. Emperors stopped taking to the field themselves, similar to the Gondorian Stewards. This meant they were less valuable in real fighting. The second was the fact that it became possible to buy positions in the Scholae Palatinae – the unit was actually increased to 2,000 explicitly to increase revenues from this. This meant the unit was mainly filled with people whose main qualification was being the young family members of well connected nobility. Functionally, all of this left the Scholae Palatinae as merely pretty looking and well paid parade troops. From this group, 40 were selected to become the personal bodyguards of the Emperor, but even this slowly became ceremonial. The Excubitors – who replaced these as the main functional bodyguard unit, remained around 300. We can take this to mean that the actual bodyguards can be expected to remain similarly low. Also interesting is the fact that the Scholae had enough pay and status to have personal servants.
Treadgold (1995), p. 92
Haldon (1999), p. 68
Southern & Dixon (1996), p. 56
Jones (1986), pp. 613-614 & 1253
Composition
Manpower
In the books the Guards of the Citadel was 250 strong. For the movies it had 3,000 members. For an army that I estimate later to be realistically at best 4,000 to 5,000, the movie numbers seem to be a bit high. After all, this formation, like the Rangers, are not meant to be the center point of the entire army. Large numbers of them would be wasted. The Praetorian Guard peaked at 10 cohorts of 500 men each. The Varangian Guard was the Byzantine version and ranged between 700 and 5,000. These units were much more full military formations used on the battlefield. So, the 500 strong Roman Cohort or early 700 strong Varangian Guard sound reasonable.
For combat, we can expect only one of the Tower Guard Cohorts to go into the field. After all, the capital needs to be occupied. This would mean 500 heavy infantry, 30 cavalry and 30 Imperial bodyguards.
Units like this tend to be the most well equipped, best trained men in the entire army. The incredible proximity to the Head of State means they have historically been the units most likely to successfully overthrow the government. Thus, it can be dangerous to have this unit be too big.
Like the regular army, the Praetorian Guard was organized based on the 500 man cohort, but had 30 cavalry attached to it. Another 30 per cohort were attached to make arrests and conduct executions. These would form the main bodyguards during battles. Apparently there is some debate as to the size and organization of the Praetorian Guard. One source claims it was 10,000 strong split into 10 double strength cohorts. Others say only 9 cohorts. Though it is unclear if that is a real disagreement or the result of either intentional disbandment or destruction on the battlefield.
So, we know what to expect from the historical perspective. Lets see if this holds up based on what we know of Minas Tirith – the equivalent of Rome or Byzantium for Gondor. Well, if we base our calculations off my assumptions from my dedicated note on the city, then the Citadel Guards would be responsible for the city center built directly on the mountain and the main tower, plus the Steward personally. Possibly commanders of the Tagma and the bandas as well. Also remember that gates in the Medieval city had between 4-12 people running them.
To get an idea of how much manpower devoted specifically to protecting officers Ancient Rome had, lets look for a second at the Lictors. They were the main body guards of public officials then. Centurions were eligible to become lictors after retiring from the army. They could also arrest and execute people when their masters ordered them to. Traditionally the Emperors had 24 after the Reforms of Domitian. High ranking military commanders had 5.
Lets take all of these numbers together. Minas Tirith had 7 gates, set at between 4 and 12 men per each. I suspect that the outer gate would be the only one that needs the full 12 in peacetime conditions, the rest can be left with 4 each. That is 36 for the gatehouses. For security of officers, there is the emperor’s contingent of 24, bringing us up to 60. There are 5 Tagmas, which would mean 25 to protect them. The total here would be 85. That leaves 165 to reach the smallest number of 250 from the book or 615 if we use the more expansive Varangian Guard as out basis. This means we can actually drop the numbers for this formation down to 200 to make it a standard banda unit. This leaves us with still 115 men to spare. These could be broken up into three groups. The first of 50 could be stationed in the Port. The other could be for the White Tower and the White Tree at the top of the mountain. The remaining 15 could run the Long Walls between Minas Tirith and its port. The two outside gatehouses and the perimeter towers could be manned by the militia or irregular troops.
The gap between what is needed for its actual function and its actual membership means that the full unit would probably only be fully mobilized only when it is time for a parade or in times of crisis. Like knights who are required to serve for 45 day to 3 months a year, a Tower Guard 3 times its required strength could see these troops work 4 months out of the year, then go home or serve in other positions the rest of the time. Another option that I think is a bit more practical is to have the commanders of the Tower Guards be these buyers and the core 250 could be traditional professionals. The extra 500 would essentially be purely or mostly honorary. Perhaps getting special legal privileges and so forth. Meanwhile, they would go through a nominal 6 week training period and be required to spend a certain amount of time in the capital serving the Steward similar to a squire or a page. They might be more aristocratic bureaucrats or the members of the General Staff or instructors at military academies.
Equipment
The helmets of the Tower Guards were the only plumed helmets in Gondor. They also had no shields, which is interesting to me. I would expect a more beefed up set for whoever protecting the Steward. For the ones guarding the citadel, plumes were added to the helmet as were black capes. Otherwise they wore the same suit as normal infantry. The ones guarding the tree have a set that includes a mail hauberk.
Apparently, they did not wear anything for protection outside large coats. This does not make sense to me. You would want them to look impressive yes, but their protection needs to be paramount. Generally you would want to have the last line of defense against the head of state to be as strong as possible, and not making that investment is a nice way to make them less dedicated to sacrificing their lives for that mission. The result would be heavy, well made armor and arms – probably full plate armor with decorative features taken to the extreme.
Mail was also effective as an inner layer of armor. Its flexibility meant that it could cover areas that would be at best difficult to cover with plate. The result was gambeson on the inside. Mail would then be placed in between the gambeson and plate. To me, this would be what the Tower Guards would primarily use.
Given the fact these units are meant for urban fighting, heavy infantry equipment can be expected. This would include full body plate armor with a solid helmet and plate protection for the arms and shins. At the same time, these are more riot control and police units, so full knight level plate covering the entire body and limbs would probably be overkill. A spear, short sword and short bow would most likely be their weaponry. The cavalry would probably be light – mail, a helmet, standard spear and short bow. As full heavy cavalry would probably be overkill even for riots, this unit would probably not be outfitted and trained for heavy roles.
Praetorians were also distinguished by their uniform. It is unknown if they used the Attic helmet outside ceremonies, but it appears that it was at least used then. This helmet is distinguished from the normal legionary helmet by a larger crest and a distinctive brow plate. The shield was an oval shape instead of the normal rectangular shield. These shields also had highly decorated faces with unique iconography to give each cohort its own identity. When wearing armor, the famous Lorica Segmentata armor appears to be common. Later depictions suggest this was changed to the Roman scale armor. When not in open combat, civilian togas were worn to allow them to blend in better.
The Varangians had mail hauberks, iron cone shaped helmets and the iconic Viking shield.
Weaponry
Varangian weapons were mainly the Dane Axe.
The Tower Guard's main weaponry was a spear. It was 10 feet long with a one foot blade. It was unique for Middle Earth in that an inward facing crescent guard was placed at the base of the blade. The sword was the standard issue. But I suspect that the axe of the Varangians might be used too.
Structure
Normally and similar to real life modern equivalent posts in more autocratic regimes, the second in line to becoming the head of state was the commander of the Tower Guard.
Commanders of the Praetorians came from the Equestrian class. The Senatorial class was seen as too corruptible and likely to abuse the power and privileges of their post in the Cohorts. Meanwhile equestrians were viewed as more dependent on the emperor and had less power outside what the emperor personally provided. Thus, this class was seen as more reliable.
Tactics
When they engaged in battle, the Varangian Guard were effective shock troops. The first contingent sent by the Kievan Rus was 6,000 strong. One emperor was saved by the sacrifice of these men who held out even after the entire rest of the army was wiped out. In one case, the Byzantine government crushed a rebel group - whose men turned to flee. The Varangians pursued and butchered them. Basically don't mess with them at all.
The main duties of Praetorians involved protecting the Emperor. This meant his home was one of the main building covered by the Cohorts. But they would often also provide escort services to him and his family. Importantly, they also served as a form of riot police and secret police force. This went as far as Praetorians conducting assassinations and clandestine activities. A specialized elite formation was used for spying and scouting operations. Their use as formal messengers for the Emperor provided cover for them to conduct espionage missions. This went so far as to spy on guests at dinner parties and to eavesdrop on the crowds at sport events.
When in Rome, the Germani Corporis Custodes served as infantry. But in battles, they operated as cavalry. They were closely associated with the normal Praetorians though. The idea was that they would serve as a mirror and counter to the normal Praetorian Cohorts.
Training
Soldiers in this unit were considered the elite troops of the realm.
It must be noted that Praetorians were still quite competent soldiers. Battlefield records suggest they were quite brave, skilled and well led. They just were overly spoiled and took full advantage of their superior position. Apparently their corruption did not interfere with combat abilities. This was due to the increased role the emperors played in battlefield command and increasing wars during the Second century. The result was an increase in and constant front line experience that counteracted the problems one would expect. This period was seen as the Guard's Golden Age.
Logistics
Upkeep
One would also want to make sure that they are the highest paid unit in the army. For security reasons, cutting their salaries or refusal to pay is the worst idea ever. Given the risk of coups from this group, it is also the group with the highest levels of surveillance from the political or secret police in the country in question. This group would also be the prime target for selling positions in, given the prestige and pay of it.
Praetorian Guards also received three and a half times the amount of pay. They also received special payouts known as donativum. These payments in some cases were equal to several years of pay and were essentially bribes to keep them from overthrowing the emperor. This backfired, as the Praetorian Guard would effectively auction off the throne to whoever promised the highest donativum payments.
The Cohort was originally stationed on a single hill that made up the city of Rome. The Castra Praetoria was its own walled compound covering 12 hectares. Its two story barracks could hold 12,000 men. This concentration in the capital, instead of being dispersed around the city and empire increased its power. This was further increased when command was centralized under a single person instead of the original tow separate leaders at the top.
Body guards in Byzantium tended to earn 216 pounds of gold a year. At 250 Tower Guards, that would mean 54,000 nomismata a year. I would imagine that this would be similar to what the Tower Guards receive. Meanwhile, the elite units in charge of protecting the Byzantine Emperor did not have military lands, and thus did not have near the independence or the distractions of the normal units. Nor did they have any specific regional loyalties. They were often also foreign mercenaries often replaced from outside the Empire by new recruits. So long as the money kept coming, they remained loyal to the Empire. Or at least to the Emperor that gave out their pay. Thus, they were typically better practiced and more loyal to the Emperor. Thus, weak and unpopular emperors tended to rely on them to protect against rebellions and mutinies in the traditional military.
Recruitment
They were hand picked from the academies to protect the steward and the White Tree. It is just as important if not more so to have records that demonstrate above average loyalty, courage under extreme conditions and obedience compared to the rest of the army. Granted, you want higher skill and physical fitness than the rest of the army as well, but if you need to cut corners on some fitness standards to meet recruitment targets, it is best to do it in this formation.
Now, lets look at the Praetorian Guard for a moment here. Given the fact that it served a similar role in Rome as the Citadel/Tower Guard, it could give us insights. Their term of service was 12-16 years depending on time, which was 4 years shorter than the general army. Recruits ranged in age from 15 to 32. Normally, new members were 18-21 citizens from Italy. Good character and respectable family origins were important criteria for admission.
To get into the Praetorian Guard, members had to be in top shape and have a good moral character. Often, they were recruited from the best soldiers of the army, focusing on those troops from Italy. Calling on patronage networks and getting letters of recommendation was part of the process as well. After two years and catching the attention of their commanding officers, they could be promoted to junior officers, general staff or technical positions. After two more years, the administrative positions, higher command and standard bearer positions opened up. Often this meant rising through the ranks first to command positions over the Vigiles, then the Urban Cohort and finally in the Guard itself. These positions of Tribunes were primarily veterans with extensive combat experience in the standard legions. The leader of the Praetorian Guard was also a sort of political adviser to the emperor and was the closest thing we have to a military chief of staff.
Dr Boris Rankov, The Praetorian Guard, Osprey Publishing, 1994, ISBN 978-1-85532-361-2
Now, the Byzantine versions of the Praetorian Guard – namely the Scholae Palatinae – did increase its numbers to generate revenues. This increased its size from initially 500 to a total of 2,000. But since 250 appears to be what is technically needed, the cohort size of 500 would be doubling the required size of the Tower Guards and the Varangian Guard’s starting number would be almost 3 times that. This means I would suspect the paper strength of the Tower Guard to be actually 750. The full membership would be drawn like the Scholae Palatinae – mainly from the second sons of well connected noble families. These could afford to buy their positions and would have little prospects for inheriting the family fortune in an era where the eldest son gets everything. Careers in the Church were common for real life second sons for similar reasons.
As for the recruitment of the Tower Guards, I would suspect that the highly corrupt and political process of the historical guards to carry over. Eldest sons of nobles would probably pay to get essentially a no show position. The support staff would probably be mostly slaves. The main command staff would be drawn from the noble and middle classes. The Rank and file would most likely be army veterans who have an stellar service record and recommendation from their commanding officers. Or bribes could be paid to get desired positions in the Tower Guard. The main 250 tower Guard units that we actually see holding the spear would be those who rose through the ranks. Thus these soldiers would demonstrate their above average record for service, bravery, dedication – or above average pocket book.
Type
Security
Overall training Level
Elite
Assumed Veterancy
Decorated/Honored
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