Editing Mercenary (section)

=====Byzantine Empire=====
In the late [[Roman Empire]], it became increasingly difficult for Emperors and generals to raise military units from the citizenry for various reasons: lack of manpower, lack of time available for training, lack of materials, and, inevitably, political considerations. Therefore, beginning in the late 4th century, the empire often contracted whole bands of [[barbarian]]s either within the [[Roman legion|legions]] or as autonomous [[foederati]]. The barbarians were [[Romanization (cultural)|Romanized]] and surviving veterans were established in areas requiring population.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/barb/hd_barb.htm|access-date=2021-01-19|website=Metropolitan Museum of Art|title=Barbarians and Romans &#124; Essay &#124; the Metropolitan Museum of Art &#124; Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History|archive-date=1 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201171252/https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/barb/hd_barb.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Varangian Guard]] of the [[Byzantine Empire]] is the best known formation made up of barbarian mercenaries (see next section).