Taifals

right|thumb|200px|The dragon-and-pearl device of the shields of the Equites Honoriani Taifali iuniores unit based in Gaul. The dragon was blue, as was the "pearl". The boss was blue and the band around the boss was red. The field was white.

The Taifals or Tayfals ( or Theifali; ) were a people of Germanic or Sarmatian origin, first documented north of the lower Danube in the mid third century AD. They experienced an unsettled and fragmented history, for the most part in association with various Gothic peoples, and alternately fighting against or for the Romans. In the late fourth century some Taifali were settled within the Roman Empire, notably in western Gaul in the modern province of Poitou. They subsequently supplied mounted units to the Roman army and continued to be a significant source of cavalry for early Merovingian armies. By the sixth century their region of western Gaul had acquired a distinct identity as Thifalia.