Valentinian III (Emperor Of The Western Roman Empire - 425-455)

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Valentinian III, Latin in full, Flavius Placidius Valentinianus (b. 2July 419, Ravenna - d. 27 Mar 455, Rome), Roman emperor from 425 to 455.At no time in his long reign were the affairs of state personally managedby Valentinian. He was the son of the patrician Flavius Constantius (whoruled as Constantius III in 421) and Galla Placidia. When his uncle, theemperor Honorius, died in 423, the usurper John ruled for two yearsbefore he was deposed. Then Placidia controlled the West in her youngson's name until 437, although the powerful patrician Aetius became theeffective ruler toward the end of this regency. The most importantpolitical event of these years was the landing of the Vandals in Africain 429; 10 years later they threw off the overlordship of Valentinian'sgovernment.

On 29 Oct 437, Valentinian married Licinia Eudoxia, the daughter ofTheodosius II (Eastern emperor, 408-450) and Eudocia. Little is known ofValentinian in the years after his marriage. He spent his life in thepursuit of pleasure while Aetius controlled the government. In 444Valentinian, acting in conjunction with Pope Leo I the Great, issued thefamous Novel 17, which assigned to the bishop of Rome supremacy over theprovincial churches. The most important political events of the closingyears of his reign were the Hun invasions of Gaul (451) and of northernItaly (452), but it is not known whether Valentinian personally playedany significant part in meeting these crises.

As a result of false information that made him doubt Aetius's loyalty,Valentinian murdered the great patrician with his own hands in theimperial palace at Rome on 21 Sep 454. The following year, twobarbarians, Optila and Thraustila, who had been reatiners of Aetius,avenged their master by murdering the Emperor in the Campus Martius.[Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1995]

From Ralph W. Mathisen, University of South Carolina:

Valentinian's Early Years -Placidus Valentinianus, later the emperorValentinian III, was born in 419, the son of the emperor Honorius' sisterGalla Placidia and the patrician, later emperor, Constantius. He was thebrother of Justa Grata Honoria. In the early 420s he was proclaimed MostNoble (Nobilissimus) by his uncle Honorius, but neither this title norhis father's emperorship were initially recognized in the east. After hismother's falling out with Honorius, the young Valentinian accompanied herand his sister to exile at the court of his cousin Theodosius II(402-450) at Constantinople. The eastern attitude toward Valentinianchanged in 423, when the usurper Johannes seized power in the west.Valentinian was first reaffirmed as Nobilissimus in 423/424, and then wasnamed Caesar (junior emperor) in 424. In the same year he was betrothedto his cousin Licinia Eudoxia, the daughter of Theodosius II. In 425 hewas proclaimed Augustus at Rome after the defeat of Johannes, and in 437he returned to Constantinople for his marriage. A partially extant poemin honor of the nuptials was written by the poet Merobaudes.

Valentinian's Reign - In the early years of his reign, Valentinian wasovershadowed by his mother. After his marriage in 437, moreover, much ofthe real authority lay in the hands of the Patrician and Master ofSoldiers Aetius. Nor does Valentinian seem to have had much of anaptitude for rule. He is described as spoiled, pleasure-loving, andinfluenced by sorcerers and astrologers. He divided his time primarilybetween Rome and Ravenna. Like his mother, Valentinian was devoted toreligion. He contributed to churches of St. Laurence in both Rome andRavenna. He also oversaw the accumulation of ecclesiastical authority inthe hands of the bishop of Rome as he granted ever greater authority andprestige to pope Leo the Great (440-461) in particular.

Valentinian's Death - Valentinian's reign saw the continued dissolutionof the western empire. By 439, nearly all of North Africa was effectivelylost to the Vandals; Valentinian did attempt to neutralize that threat bybetrothing his sister Placidia to the Vandal prince Huneric. In Spain,the Suevi controlled the northwest, and much of Gaul was to all intentsand purposes controlled by groups of Visigoths, Burgundians, Franks, andAlans. In 454, Valentinian murdered his supreme general Aetius,presumably in an attempt to rule in his own right. But in the next year,he himself was murdered by two members of his bodyguard, ex-partisans ofAetius.

Although Valentinian was ineffectual as a ruler, his legitimate statusand connection to the old ruling dynasty provided a last vestige of unityfor the increasingly fragmented Roman empire. After his death, the decayof the west accelerated. The different regions of the west went their ownway, and the last several western emperors, the so-called "Shadow" or"Puppet" Emperors, not only were usually overshadowed by one barbariangeneral or other, but also were limited primarily to Italy.

Bibliography -
Editions - Primary sources: For legislation issued by Valentinian, seethe Constitutiones sirmondinianae and the Novella Valentiniani publishedin the Codex Theodosianus, see also the Codex Justinianus.

Critical Studies -
Barnes, Timothy D. "Patricii Under Valentinian III." Phoenix 29(1975):155-170
Ensslin, Wilhelm "Valentinians III. Novellen XVII und VIII von 445."Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung f?r Rechtsgeschichte, R?manistischeAbteilung 57(1937): 367-378
Musumeci, Anna Maria, "La politica ecclesiastica di Valentiniano III."Siculorum gymnasium 30 ns(1977): 431-481.
Selb, Walter, "Episcopalis audientia von der Zeit Konstantins bis zurNov. XXXV Valentinians III." Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung f?rRechtsgeschichte, R?manistische Abteilung 84(1967): 162-217.

Copyright (C) 1996, Ralph W. Mathisen. This file may be copied on thecondition that the entire contents,including the header and thiscopyright notice, remain intact.

Valentinian married Licinia Eudoxia Of The Eastern Roman Empire on 29 Oct 437 in Constantinople, Turkey. Licinia (daughter of Theodosius II (Emperor Of The Eastern Roman Empire - 408-450) and Eudocia (Athenais) Of Athens) was born in 422 in Constantinople, Turkey; died in in Constantinople, Turkey. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Placidia and died.
2. Eudoxia Constantia was born in 448 in Roman Empire; died before 484.

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• RULED: 421-421
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Constantius came from Naissus (modern Nis, Yugoslavia) in the province ofMoesia. In 411, as magister militium ("master of the soldiers") under thewestern Roman emperor Flavius Honorius (reigned 393-423), Constantiushelped to overthrow the usurping emperor Constantine (Flavius ClaudiusConstantinus) at Arelate (modern Arles, France). He drove the Visigothsfrom southern Gaul into Spain in 415, but later recalled the tribe andsettled it in southwestern Gaul. In 417, he married the emperor's halfsister Galla Placidia. Appointed co-emperor of the West by Honorius, withthe title Augustus. On 8 Feb 421, Constantius died without having beenrecognized by the eastern emperor, Theodosius II. Constantius' son byPlacida ruled the West as the emperor Valentinian III from 425 to 455.[Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1995]

From Hugh Elton, Florida International University -

Constantius was a soldier from Naissus in Dacia. Although he presented afierce facade in public, he was far more relaxed in private and atbanquets. Constantius was a Catholic. He had a successful career as oneof the most important magistri militum of Honorius after the death ofStilicho in 408. He was able to defeat Gerontius and Constantine III inGaul in 411 and expelled the Goths under Ataulf from Italy in 412.Constantius married Honorius' half-sister Galla Placidia in 417 at theurging of Honorius; and they produced a son, Valentinian (III) in 419. OnFebruary 8, 421 Constantius was acclaimed as Augustus in the West andGalla Placidia was raised to the dignity of Augusta. These statuses werenot recognized in the East. Constantius was said at his death to havebeen planning a campaign against Theodosius II because of this slight. Hedied of illness September 2, 421. Although he was not emperor for long,he complained about the burden of office-holding, especially his loss ofpersonal freedom.

Bibliography -
Kent, J.P.C., Roman Imperial Coinage volume 10 (London, 1994).
Matthews, J.F., Western Aristocracies and Imperial Court, A.D. 364-425(Oxford, 1975), 377-378.
Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, vol. 2, ed. J.R. Martindale(Cambridge, 1980), 321-325.
Seeck, O. "Constantius (9)." RE 4:1099ff.

For references to primary sources, see entries in RE or the PLRE.Translations of much of the source material can be found in C.D. Gordon (The Age of Attila: Fifth-Century Byzantium and the Barbarians [Ann Arbor,1960]) and R.C. Blockley (Fragmentary Classicising Historians of theLater Roman Empire [Liverpool, 1983], vol. 2.).

Copyright (C) 1999, Hugh Elton. This file may be copied on the conditionthat the entire contents, including the header and this copyright notice,remain intact.

Constantius married Aelia Galla Placidia Of The Western Roman Empire (Imp?ratrice Of Rome - 421-450) on 1 Jan 416-417. Aelia (daughter of Flavius Theodosius I ('The Great') (Emperor Of The Roman Empire - 379-395) and Galla Justina Valentinia) was born in 389 in Roma, Roma, Italy; died on 27 Nov 450 in Roma, Roma, Italy; was buried in 450 in Ravenna, Italy. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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Galla was sister to the Roman Emperor. She was supported by the armiesof her nephew Theodosius II. After she defeated John and had himexecuted, her child Valentinian was crowned Augustus at Rome (towards theend of 425). As long as Valentinian III was a minor (425-437), GallaPlacidia, formerly the queen of the Goths, governed as regent for herson.

Galla Placida married the Master of the Soldiers Constantius (who ruledbriefly as co-Emperor with Honorius, Galla's brother) when he was at theheight of his career, and their son Valentinian III reigned in the West.When the Visigoths under King Alaric I sacked Rome in 410, they carriedoff Galla with them as hostage. She was of course returned, and laterwent on to rule the empire when her son was very young with the formaltitle of "piissima et perpetua Augusta mater" which translates to "mostpius and eternal Empress."

From Ralph W. Mathisen, University of South Carolina:

Galla's Youth (395-423 A.D.) - Aelia Galla Placidia, born in the eastcirca 388/390, was the daughter of the emperor Theodosius I (379-395) andhis second wife Galla. She was the half-sister of the emperors Honorius(393-423) (q.v.) and Arcadius (383-408). In the early 390s, she wasgranted her own household, which made her financially independent. In 394she was summoned to Milan, and there she witnessed the death of herfather in early 395. During her childhood she was named Most Noble Girl(Nobilissima Puella), and she seems to have been raised in the care ofher cousin Serena, the wife of the western general Stilicho. Shepresumably received a classical education; she also knew how to weave andembroider.

Galla Placidia's First Marriage - When the Visigoths attacked Rome in408, Placidia remained in the city, where, for whatever reasons, sheconcurred in the execution of Serena. By the time of the sack of Rome in410, Placidia seems already to have been in Gothic hands. She was carriedoff with them to Gaul, and in 414 she was married in a Roman weddingceremony to the Visigothic chieftain Athaulf at Narbonne. She may havebeen one of the causes of his eventual pro-Roman outlook. Shesubsequently traveled with the Goths to Spain and bore Athaulf a son,Theodosius, who died in infancy, thus destroying an opportunity for apossible Romano-Visigothic rapprochement.

Galla Placidia's Marriage to Constantius - In 416, after Athaulf's death,Placidia finally was restored to the Romans. In the next year, ratheragainst her will, she was wedded to the powerful Roman generalConstantius, to whom she bore two children, Justa Grata Honoria and thefuture emperor Valentinian III. In 419 she and her husband becameinvolved -- on the losing side -- in the controversy over the election ofa new bishop of Rome. She personally summoned the African bishops to asynod in Italy, and three of the letters she wrote in the matter stillsurvive. In 421, Constantius became co-emperor in the west and she wasmade Augusta (Empress); their elevations, however, were not recognized inthe east. After Constantius' death in the same year, she quarreled withher brother, and with her children sought refuge in Constantinople withher nephew, the eastern emperor Theodosius II (402-450).

After the defeat of the western usurper Johannes in 425, the easterngovernment belatedly recognized the claim of Placidia's son Valentinianto the western throne, but only at the price of part of the westernempire. The two accompanied the eastern army to Italy, where Johannes wasoverthrown and Valentinian was proclaimed Augustus of the west in 425.

Galla Placidia Augusta - Placidia served as Valentinian's regent for thefirst twelve years of the young emperor's reign. An early supporter ofthe new regime was the Count of Africa Boniface, who had not recognizedJohannes. A rival for influence was Aetius, who had the support of theHuns. But Placidia's initial choice for supreme general was a certainFelix, who in 430 was murdered on the orders of Aetius: according to onereport, Placidia herself had instructed Felix to kill Aetius. Meanwhile,in Africa Placidia's erstwhile ally Boniface had declared hisindependence, and after Placidia sent an army against him, Boniface wassaid to have responded by inviting the Vandals to come to his assistance.The Vandal threat became so great, however, that a reconciliation betweenBoniface and Placidia was reached. In 432, Boniface returned to Italy anddefeated his rival Aetius, but was killed in the process. After a briefperiod of exile, Aetius was restored to favor and became Patrician andMaster of Soldiers. The rise of Aetius, coupled with Valentinian'seventual majority, worked to reduce Placidia's direct authority, althoughshe continued in a position of influence up to her death.

Galla Placidia's Death - Galla Placidia was a devout Christian andpatroness of religion. She was involved in the building and restorationof several churches. In Rome, she assisted in the restoration of theBasilica of St. Paul-Outside-the-Walls and contributed to embellishmentsof the church of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. In Ravenna, she builtchurches of the Holy Cross and of St. John the Divine. The latter was theresult of a vow she had made in 423 when she and her children were caughtin a storm on the Adriatic Sea: the dedicatory inscription reads "GallaPlacidia, along with her son Placidus Valentinian Augustus and herdaughter Justa Grata Honoria Augusta, paid off their vow for theirliberation from the danger of the sea." Placidia also favored the churchof Ravenna in other ways, seeing to its elevation to the status ofarchbishopric. She also built a church of St. Stephen at Rimini.

Galla Placidia died at Rome on 27 November 450. Her final resting placeis unknown: there remains much doubt as to whether the so-calledMausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna is actually her tomb or not. It isreasonably certain that either she or her son was responsible for itsconstruction, but it probably was initially intended as a chapel of St.Laurence, not as a tomb. Galla Placidia exemplifies the strong-willedimperial women -- Pulcheria, the sister of Theodosius II, being anotherexample -- who exercised great influence in the fifth century in defaultof effective male leadership.

Bibliography -
Editions - Primary: For Placidia's extant correspondence, see OttoGuenther ed., Epistulae imperatorum pontificum aliorum inde ab a.CCCLXVII usque ad a. DLIII datae avellana quae dicitur collectio,C.S.E.L. vol 35 pt.1 (Vienna, 1895) nos.25,27-28 (pp.71-74).

Critical Studies -
Gerke, F., "L'Iconografia delle monete imperiale dall' Augusta GallaPlacidia." Corsi di cultura sull'arte ravennate e bizantina 13(1966):163-204
Nagl, Maria Assunta, Galla Placidia , Studien zur Geschichte und Kulturdes Altertums. New York, 1967.
Oost, Stewart I. "Galla Placidia and the Law." Classical Philology63(1968): 114-121.
________. "Some Problems in the History of Galla Placidia." ClassicalPhilology 60(1965): 1-10.
________. Galla Placidia Augusta. A Biographical Essay. Chicago, 1968.
Sirago, V.A. Galla Placidia e la trasformazione politica dell' Occidente.Louvain, 1961.

Copyright (C) 1996, Ralph W. Mathisen. This file may be copied on thecondition that the entire contents,including the header and thiscopyright notice, remain intact.

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Theodosius I, byname Theodosius the Great, in full Flavius Theodosius (b.11 Jan 347, Cauca (Coca), Gallaecia - d. 17 Jan 395 Mediolanum (Milan)),Roman emperor of the East (379-392) and then sole emperor of both Eastand West (392-395), who, in vigorous suppression of paganism andArianism, established the creed of the Council of Nicaea (325) as theuniversal norm for Christian orthodoxy and directed the convening of thesecond general council at Constantinople (381) to clarify the formula.

Theodosius was born in the province of Gallaecia in northwestern Spain.His father was to become the general Flavius Theodosius; his mother'sname is unknown. His grandparents, like his parents, were probablyalready Christians. Theodosius, who grew up in Spain, did not receive anextensive education but was intellectually open-minded and acquired aspecial interest in the study of history.

While on his father's staff, he participated in his campaigns against thePicts and Scots in Britain in 368-373, against the Alemanni in Gaul in370, and against the Sarmatians in the Balkans in 372-373. As a militarycommander in Moesia, a Roman provence on the lower Danube, he defeatedthe Sarmatians in 374. When his father was sentenced to death andexecuted as a result of political intrigues by enemies at court,Theodosius withdrew to his Spanish estates. At the end of 376, hemarried Aelia Facilla, also a Spaniard. His first son, the futureemperor Arcadius, was born in 377, and his daughter Pulcheria in 378.

Immediately after the catastrophic defeat of the emperor Valens, whoperished at the hands of the Visigoths and other barbarians on 9 Aug 378,near Adrianople, the emperor Gratian unexpectedly summoned Theodosius tohis court. When Theodosius had once again proved his military ability bya victory over the Sarmatians, Gratian proclaimed him co-emperor on 19Jan 379. His dominion was to be the eastern part of the empire,including the provinces of Dacia (present-day Romania) and Macedonia,which had been especially infiltrated by barbarians in the preceding fewyears.

In 383, Maximus, a Spaniard who had been proclaimed emperor by the troopsin Britain asserted himself as ruler in the Western provinces(praefectura Galliarum). Suspicions that Theodosius was in collusionwith the usurper and thus implicated int he death of Emperor Gratian inAugust 282 are unfounded. Theodosius, who had to acknowledge thesovereignty of Gratian's stepbrother Valentinian II, born in 371 and thenominal ruler in Italy since the end of 375, could not interfere withMaximus, for he lacked both sufficient military strength and secureborders. Yet, when Maximus invaded Italy in 387 and Valentinian wasforced to flee to Thessalonica, Theodosius soon decided uponcoutermeasures. His decision was perhaps hastened throught the influenceof Valentinian's mother, whose daughter Galla he had married at the endof 387, having been a widower since 386.

Theodosius' position by that time had become stronger. Long-standingnegotiations with the Persians over the division of power in Armenia hadresulted in a treaty that was to become the basis for a long period ofpeace on the eastern border. Having ordered one army division from Egyptto Africa and sent Valentinian with a fleet to Italy, Theodosius set outin the spring of 388 with the main body of troops to move againstMaximus' army, which had invaded Pannonia in the Balkans. By July theenemy was defeated. When Maximus surrendered at the end of August he wasbranded as a usurper, but his followers were generally treated withleniency.

In the same year, Theodosius again relinquished the West to hisco-emperor Valetinian but secured his own influence by pacing theFrankish general Arbogast, a man he trusted, at Valentinian's side asgeneral adviser. By remaining in Italy until the spring of 391, where heresided mostly in Milan, Theodosius emphasized his claim to supremeauthority throughout the empire. In 389 he visitied Rome, where,accompanied by his four-year-old son Honorius, he mad a triumphant entry.

A new crisis arose for Theodosius three months after Valentinian's deathon 15 May 392. Arbogast treacherously proclaimed as emperor of the Westa former rhetoric teacher, Eugenius, who had close connections with thepagan aristocracy of the Senate. Theodosius, who did not yet dare risk acivil war, delayed reception of a legation requesting recognition ofArbogast's puppet. On 8 Nov 392, he made his edicts of 391 morestringent by completely prohibiting the worship of the pagan gods. Heleft no further doubts as to his position when he elevated his sonHonorius to Augustus in January 393 and thereby demonstrated that hewould no longer tolerate any emperor other than himself and his sons.Because he still refrained from military action, his enemies occupiedItaly in the spring of 393. Led by Nicomachus Flavianus, the forcesstriving to preserve the pagan cults gathered around Eugenius.

The now inevitable struggle for power was thus at the same time astruggle that would decide whether pagan religions would once again betolerated within the empire alongside Christianity. Theodosius did noset out from Constantinople until May 394. As in 388, he made his waytoward Danube and then the Sava with his powerful army. His forceconsisted largely of barbarians and their allies, one of whose leaderswas Stilicho, a Vandal who had been married since 384 to the Emperor'sniece Serena. Theodosius' sons Arcadius and Honorius stayed behind inthe capital. Arcadius, who had been given the right to promulgate lawsindependently, was supposed to direct the government in the East.

Theodosius first met the enemy at the Frigidus River on the easternborder of Italy. Although Theodosius' advance guard, comprised almostentirely of Visigoths, suffered heavy losses during an attemptedbreakthrough on 5 Sep 394, the emperor ventured to attack the followingday and was victorious. Later Christian tradition, emphasizingTheodosius' piety and trust in God, essentially interpreted the victoryas a divine judgement: the god of the Christians had triumphed over theold Roman gods. Following the deaths of Eugenius, Arbogast, andNicomachus Flavianus, Theodosius showed himself lenient and strove toachieve the settlement between opposing forces that was necessary tostrengthen imperial unity.

Probably as a result of the exertion of the campaign, Theodosius fellill. He went to Milan, where he summoned Honorius in order to presenthim formally as Augustus of the West. Because Theodosius had appeared torecover, his death in January 395 was generally unexpected. On hisdeathbed he had entrusted Stilicho, promoted to generalissimo after thevictory at the Frigidus, with the care of his two sons. From Ambrose'sfuneral oration, filled with praise of the Christian ruler, it is evidentthat contemporaries had no doubt as to the continuing unity of theempire, for the question of succession seemed to have been settled in thebest possible way. Yet, all too soon it was to become apparent thatTheodosius had not chosen his advisers with sufficient care and that themen who were guiding the sickly Arcadius were unwilling to cooperate withStilicho, who remained loyal to the dynasty. After his death,Theodosius' body was borne in state to Constantinople and interred in themausoleum erected by Constantius II. [Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1995]

From David Woods, University College of Cork:

Origin and Early Career - Flavius Theodosius was born at Cauca in Spainin about 346 to Thermantia and Theodosius the Elder (so-called todistinguish him from his son). Theodosius the Elder was a seniormilitary officer serving in the Western empire and rose to become themagister equitum praesentalis under the emperor Valentinian I from late368 until his execution in early 375. As the son of a soldier,Theodosius was legally obliged to enter upon a military career. He seemsto have served under his father during his expedition to Britain in367/8, and was the dux Moesiae Primae by late 374. Unfortunately,great controversy surrounds the rest of his career until Gratian had himhailed as his imperial colleague in succession to the emperor Valens atSirmium on 19 January 379. It is clear that he was forced to retirehome to Spain only to be recalled to active service shortly thereafter,but the circumstances of his forced retirement are shrouded inmystery. His father was executed at roughly the same time, and muchspeculation has centred on the relationship between these events. Ageneral consensus seems to have emerged, however, that the future emperorwas forced into retirement shortly after the execution of his father atCarthage in Africa during the winter of 375/6. The same courtfaction which had engineered the death of his father managed to persuadeValentinian to dismiss him also, or so the consensus goes. Thisinterpretation of events is incorrect, however, not least because itplaces far too much trust in a number of unreliable sources.

The answer to the mystery surrounding Theodosius' forced retirement liesin Ammianus' description of a severe defeat which Sarmatian raidersinflicted upon Roman forces in the province of Valeria in late 374 whenthey almost annihilated a legio Moesiaca, i.e. a legion from Moesia, anda legio Pannonica, i.e. a legion from Pannonia. These legions hadbeen sent to intercept a party of Sarmatians who had been pursuing asenior Roman officer named Aequitius deep into Roman territory, and wouldundoubtedly have triumphed had they acted together. But they failed toco-operate, and their quarrelling allowed the Sarmatians to catch themunprepared, defeating the legion from Moesia first, then the legion fromPannonia. Valentinian's reaction to this defeat can best be judged fromhis reaction to an earlier defeat which the Alamanni had managed toinflict on his forces in Gaul during the spring of 365. He soughtout those who had been the first to turn and run before the enemy andblamed them for the subsequent defeat. He ordered the unit in question -the Batavi - to be stripped of their weapons and sold into slavery, andit took the whole army to persuade him to relent. In this instance, thefirst of the two units to break and run had been the legion from Moesia.Hence Valentinian would have held their commanding officer responsiblefor the wider defeat, and, as the dux Moesiae Primae, Theodosius was theofficer ultimately responsible for this unit. Hence Valentinian dismissedTheodosius and sent him home to Cauca in Spain in the same manner, andfor the same reason, that the emperor Constantius II had dismissedValentinian himself in 357, or the magister equitum per Gallias Marcellusin the same year. He had found him guilty of cowardice.

The best explanation for the death of Theodosius the Elder is that he hadtried to intervene on behalf of his son, and Valentinian had had himexecuted as a result, most probably during the early new year of375. His son regained his commission within the army only followingthe death of Valentinian himself on 17 November 375. He seems to haveobtained a position similar to that which he had originally held at hisdismissal, that of dux Valeriae perhaps. He campaigned against theSarmatians again in 376, during which he was promoted as the magistermilitum per Illyricum. He remained as magister militum perIllyricum from 376 until 19 January 379 when the western emperor Gratianappointed him to succeed his eastern colleague Valens who had been killedat the Battle of Adrianople on 9 August 378. The fact that Gratian chosehim as his new colleague does not necessarily mean that he enjoyed aparticularly good reputation as the best general of his day. Gratian hadeffectively been forced to choose him since he seems to have been themost senior officer of Roman birth available to him at the time.

Foreign Policy - The problem confronting Theodosius immediately upon hisaccession was how to check the Goths and their allies who were continuingto ravage the Balkans. One difficulty was that they had spreadbeyond the diocese of Thrace into the dioceses of Macedonia and Dacia inthe prefecture of Illyricum, which had traditionally belonged to thewestern empire. The result was that Gratian surrendered the threedioceses of the prefecture of Illyricum to the temporary control ofTheodosius for the duration of the Gothic crisis, while he himselfreturned to Trier in Gaul. The date of this transfer is disputed,but it seems to have come into formal effect at the beginning of the newtax year on 1 September 379 and may be presumed to have ended on 31August 382. This left Theodosius in control of the entire theatre ofoperations. Theodosius left Sirmium, the site of his accession, forThessalonica in Macedonia which remained his base for the campaignseasons of 379 and 380. Gratian had transferred some of his own officersand men to Theodosius in order to assist him in his efforts to rebuildthe eastern field-armies, which had been shattered at the Battle ofAdrianople. These transfers included his comes domesticorum Richomer, whobecame Theodosius' magister peditum praesentalis, a post which heretained until his death by illness in late 392.

We are poorly informed about the exact sequence of events during theGothic war, but Theodosius' "general" Modares appears to have inflictedan important defeat upon the Goths somewhere in Thrace in 379.Theodosius proved himself willing to recruit one group of barbarians intohis army to use against the other groups who remained hostile, but thiswas a risky strategy. In order to reduce the risk, Theodosius transferredsome of these fresh barbarian recruits to Egypt in return for some of theexperienced Roman troops stationed there, during late 379apparently. Nevertheless, a large number of his new recruitsappeared to have defected to the other side during the course of hiscampaign in 380, so that he suffered at least one serious reverse. Heleft Thessalonica and entered Constantinople for the first time on 24November 380. He was to remain in Constantinople, or its immediatevicinity, until late 387. During the winter of 380/1 he wrote to Gratianfor his help against the Goths in Illyricum, and Gratian replied first bysending his "generals" Bauto and Arbogast against them, then by taking tothe field himself. They appear to have succeeded in driving theGoths and their allies from Illyricum and back into Thrace during 381.Theodosius, however, did enjoy a propaganda coup when the Gothicchieftain Athanaric surrendered to him at Constantinople on 11 January381, although he died only two weeks later. Theodosius finallyreached a settlement with the remainder of the Goths on 3 October382. The exact terms of this settlement have not been preserved,but it is clear that the Goths were granted the right to settle largeamounts of land along the Danube frontier in the diocese of Thrace andenjoyed an unusual degree of autonomy. Many came to serve in theRoman army, but the terms of their service remain unclear. Manyvolunteered to serve on a full-time professional basis, while more wereobliged to serve only for the duration of a specific campaign. Theresults were that the Goths who settled within the empire remained aconstant threat to its internal stability. A substantial number of Gothictroops defected to the side of Magnus Maximus when Theodosius joined hisforces with those of the young Valentinian II at Thessalonica in 387 inpreparation for their joint campaign westwards against Maximus.These hid in the rough country about Thessalonica until Theodosiusmanaged to drive them back into Thrace during his return from the West in391, where they remained a threat as late as 392 when they managed tokill the "general" Promotus. One of their emerging leaders, Alaric,participated in Theodosius' campaign against Eugenius in 394, only toresume his rebellious behaviour against Theodosius' son and easternsuccessor, Arcadius, shortly thereafter. Nor did the external threatcease. The "general" Promotus won a notable victory for Theodosius in 386when he defeated an attempt by Odotheus and his Greuthungian Goths toforce their way across the Danube.

The East remained relatively quiet under Theodosius. The Saracensrejected their previous treaty of 377 with the Romans and resumed theirraids once more along the frontier from Arabia to Syria in 383apparently. We do not know the reason for this revolt, but themagister peditum praesentalis Richomer appears to have crushed it in butone campaign that year. As a result, the Salihids replaced the Tanukhidsas the dominant group among Rome's Saracen foederati. As for thePersians, Theodosius maintained good relations with a rapid succession ofPersian kings during his reign. Armenia remained a potential source ofconflict between the two powers until they reached agreement upon thedivision of this country in 387 when Theodosius sent his magister militumper Orientem Stilicho on an embassy to the Persian court. Inaccordance with this agreement, the pro-Roman king Arsak retainedpossession of the western part of the country, while the pro-Persian kingKhosro retained possession of the eastern part.

Civil Wars - Theodosius fought two bloody civil wars in quick successionagainst the usurpers Magnus Maximus and Eugenius. Magnus Maximus was afellow Spaniard who even claimed to be a relative of Theodosiushimself. Like Theodosius, he was also a pious Catholic. Hence therewas no deep ideological differences between the two. Magnus Maximus hadbeen the commander of a field army in Britain in 383 when he had led histroops back to Gaul in an attempt to seize power. He forced Gratianto flee from an initial encounter near Paris, but was blamed forGratian's assassination near Lyons as he made for northern Italy. Thiswas the only charge which Theodosius could seriously have held againsthim in 383, that he had risen to power through the assassination of alegitimate emperor. War between the two had not been inevitable, and theorator Themistius undoubtedly exaggerates when he claims that Theodosiusset out against him in 384 with the intention of avenging Gratian'sdeath. The young Valentinian II continued to rule the prefecturesof Italy, Illyricum and Africa, which constituted a buffer-ground betweenthe territories of his two more powerful colleagues. An uneasy peaceprevailed until the late summer of 387 when Maximus sent his troops intonorthern Italy and forced Valentinian to retreat to Thessalonica at theeastern extreme of his territory. Yet while Maximus may have struckthe first formal blow in this renewed bout of civil war, one suspectsthat he felt compelled to act as he did much because of the growinginfluence of Theodosius over Valentinian and his ministers. One notesthat Theodosius' magister peditum praesentalis Richomer was the uncle ofValentinian's magister equitum praesentalis Arbogast, who was effectivelythe sole commander of Valentinian's forces at this point. Moreimportantly, perhaps, Valentinian had appointed Gildo as his comesAfricae ca. 386, and Theodosius had attempted to win Gildo over to hiscause by marrying Nebridius, a nephew of the empress Flaccilla, toGildo's daughter Salvina.The fact that Maximus suffered some sortof serious defeat at Sicily during the initial stage of the civil war in388, and that he committed a large number of men to naval operations offthe southern Italian coast under the command of his magister praesentalisAndragathius, suggests that Theodosius was well rewarded for his efforts,that he did at least persuade Gildo to defect to his side and seizeSicily on his behalf. Whatever the case, Theodosius joined withValentinian at Thessalonica during the late summer of 387, at which timehe also married Valentinian's sister Galla. They launched a jointexpedition against Maximus during the summer of 388, defeating his forcesin pitched battles at Siscia, then Poetovio. They then forced theirway across the Alps and captured Maximus himself at Aquileia. They hadhim executed three miles outside Aquileia on 28 August 388, and sentArbogast to do the same to his son Victor in Trier. However, they sparedhis wife and two daughters.

Theodosius spent about three years in Italy until he began his returntrip to Constantinople in the summer of 391. Valentinian now ruled thewhole of the western empire, but he was increasingly dominated by hismagister peditum praesentalis Arbogast, whose own arrogance increased thefurther Theodosius moved from the scene. Matters came to a head in 392when Valentinian tried to cashier Arbogast and Arbogast simply refused toaccept his command. Valentinian secretly wrote to Theodosius forhis assistance, but was found dead on 15 May 392. An uneasy peacefollowed as Arbogast awaited the news of Theodosius' reaction to thedeath of his brother-in-law Valentinian; Theodosius tried to determinewhether Valentinian really had committed suicide as alleged.Unfortunately for all concerned, Theodosius was still married to Galla,who refused to accept that her brother had committed suicide. Worsestill, Arbogast's strongest advocate at Theodosius' court, his uncleRichomer, was mortally ill. As a hostile judgement seemed increasinglylikely, Arbogast struck first. He hailed Valentinian's magister scriniias emperor on 22 August 392 and quickly secured Italy for his cause. Incontrast to his acceptance of Maximus for several years, Theodosiusrefused to recognise Eugenius as emperor right from the start. Hepublicly indicated this by his refusal to accept Eugenius' nominees forthe consulship of 393 and by his coronation of his second son Honorius asAugustus on 23 January 393. The war did not begin until the summer of 394when Theodosius finally began his march from Constantinople. The war wasdecided by one decisive battle on the banks of the river Frigidus in thefoothills of the Alps on 6 September 394. While Christian sourcesdelight to recount how God assisted Theodosius by sending a wind to blowhis enemies' weapons back into their faces, the crucial factor wassurely the decision by a key section of Maximus' army under the comesArbitio to defect from his side to that of Theodosius. SoTheodosius triumphed and had Eugenius executed, while Arbogast committedsuicide.

Religious Policy - Theodosius was Catholic and received baptism at thehands of bishop Acholius of Thessalonica during the autumn of 380 whenserious illness threatened his life. Two days after his firstarrival in Constantinople on 24 November 380, Theodosius expelled the"Arian" bishop Demophilus of Constantinople from the churches of thatcity and surrendered them to Gregory of Naziaznus who happened to be theleader of the small Catholic or "Nicene" community there at the time.This was greatly resented and may even have resulted in an attempt toassassinate the emperor. He also called a synod of 150 Catholicbishops who assembled at Constantinople in May 381. An early meeting ofthis synod, when all the bishops had not yet arrived, elected Gregory ofNazianzus as the new Bishop of Constantinople, but he was quickly forcedto resign. The synod then elected the senator Nectarius, who obviouslyenjoyed the strong backing of the emperor himself, in his stead.Theodosius' early reign witnessed the gradual expulsion of all hereticalbishops from the towns and cities of the East and the transfer of allchurch buildings and property to their Catholic rivals. The depth ofresentment which such policies caused can best be judged by the fact thatin 388 "Arian" mobs at Constantinople rioted and caused widespread damagein reponse to the false rumour that Magnus Maximus had inflicted a severedefeat upon Theodosius.

Theodosius continued to tolerate the traditional pagan practices andrituals which had enjoyed toleration from successive Christian emperorsthroughout the fourth century, i.e., almost anything which did notinclude blood-sacrifice or did not smack of treason against the emperor,until 391 at least. He then issued a series of laws which seemedeffectively to prohibit all pagan worship by forbidding visits to pagansites of worship or even the adornment in any manner of the images of thegods. This apparent change of policy on his part has often beencredited to the increased influence of bishop Ambrose of Milan. Forin 390 Ambrose had excommunicated Theodosius because he had ordered theexecution of several thousand of the inhabitants of Thessalonica inresponse to the murder there of his "general" Butherichus. Theodosiusaccepted his excommunication and even performed several months of publicpenance, so it is all too easy too imagine how he might have taken thetime to review his other "failings" also, including his continuedtoleration of paganism. However, the importance of these laws hasbeen greatly exaggerated. They were limited in scope, specificmeasures in response to various petitions and accusations and tell usless about Theodosius than the private agenda of many of the increasinglymilitant Christians who could be found throughout his administration.Although he had voiced his support earlier for the preservation oftemples or pagan statues as useful public buildings or as works of art,in 391 he officially sanctioned the destruction of the most famous of thetemples in the East, the Serapeum at Alexandria. Bands of monks andChristian officials had long been accustomed to take the law into theirown hands and destroy various centres of pagan worship, but thedestruction of the Serapeum seemed to confirm that such actions had oftenenjoyed the emperor's tacit approval at least, and served to encouragesuch action in the future also. Again, however, Theodosius had beeneffectively manipulated into sanctioning the destruction of the Serapeumby local officials who had essentially engineered the crisis there forthis very purpose.

Family and Succession - Theodosius married twice. His first wife was theSpanish Aelia Flavia Flaccilla. She bore him Arcadius ca. 377,Honorius on 9 September 384, and Pulcheria ca. 385. Theodosius honouredher with the title of Augusta shortly after his accession, but she diedin 386. In late 387 he married Galla, daughter of Valentinian I andfull-sister of Valentinian II. She bore him Gratian ca. 388, GallaPlacidia ca. 388/390, and died in childbirth in 394, together with hernew-born son John. Of his two sons who survived infancy, heappointed Arcadius as Augustus on 19 January 383 and Honorius as Augustuson 23 January 393. His promotion of Arcadius as a full Augustus at anunusually young age points to his determination right from the start thatone of his own sons should succeed him. He sought to strengthen Arcadius'position in particular by means of a series of strategic marriages whosepurpose was to tie his leading "generals" irrevocably to his dynasty.Hence he married his niece and adoptive daughter Serena to his magistermilitum per Orientem Stilicho in 387, her elder sister Thermantia to a"general" whose name has not been preserved, and ca. 387 hisnephew-in-law Nebridius to Salvina, daughter of the comes AfricaeGildo. By the time of his death by illness on 17 January 395,Theodosius had promoted Stilicho from his position as one of the twocomites domesticorum under his own eastern administration to that ofmagister peditum praesentalis in a western administration, in an entirelytraditional manner, under his younger son Honorius. Although Stilichomanaged to increase the power of the magister peditum praesentalis to thedisadvantage of his colleague the magister equitum praesentalis andclaimed that Theodosius had appointed him as guardian for both his sons,this tells us more about his cunning and ambition than it does aboutTheodosius' constitutional arrangements.

Theodosius' importance rests on the fact that he founded a dynasty whichcontinued in power until the death of his grandson Theodosius II in 450.This ensured a continuity of policy which saw the emergence of NiceneChristianity as the orthodox belief of the vast majority of Christiansthroughout the middle ages. It also ensured the essential destruction ofpaganism and the emergence of Christianity as the religion of the state,even if the individual steps in this process can be difficult toidentify. On the negative side, however, he allowed his dynasticinterests and ambitions to lead him into two unnecessary and bloody civilwars which severely weakened the empire's ability to defend itself in theface of continued barbarian pressure upon its frontiers. In this manner,he put the interests of his family before those of the wider Romanpopulation and was responsible, in many ways, for the phenomenon to whichwe now refer as the fall of the western Roman empire.

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Notes
On his origin at Cauca, see Zos. 4.24.4. His date of birth iscalculated from his death in his fiftieth year in January 395, Epit.48.19. The name of his mother is preserved only at Epit. 48.1.
Pan. Lat. 2(12).5.2 preserves the fullest surviving account of themovements of Theodosius the Elder throughout his career, but fails tonote his rank or position at any particular time. On this passage, seeNixon and Rodgers (1994), 517-19. Amm. Marc. 28.3.9 proves that hesucceeded Jovinus as the magister equitum praesentalis following hisreturn in late 368 from an expedition to Britain. He is normallyidentified as a comes rei militaris before this, with little effort todefine what exactly is meant by this term. See Birley (1981), 333-39. Ibelieve that he succeeded Charietto as the vicarius of the magisterequitum praesentalis Jovinus in early 365 and retained this post until hesucceeded Jovinus in 368.
On his service in Britain, see Zos. 4.24.4. On his position as duxMoesiae, see Amm. Marc. 29.6.15; Zos. 4.16.6. He had presumably served onhis father's staff as a protector domesticus, a member of the imperialbodyguard seconded to his command. Note, for example, that the tenprotectores domestici who had accompanied the magister militum perGallias Ursicinus to Cologne in 355 had consisted of friends andrelatives for the most part (Amm. Marc. 15.5.22).
Epit. 48.1; Oros. 7.34.2; Cons. Constant. s.a. 379 (exact date).
Pan. Lat. 2(12).9; Theod. HE 5.5.1-2. It has traditionally beenaccepted that the emperor Gratian recalled Theodosius to active serviceonly sometime after the battle of Adrianopole on 9 August 378, i.e., thathe remained in retirement in Spain for almost three years 376-78. See,e.g., Sivan (1996), 199. But Errington (1996a), 438-40, exposesTheodoret's account of Theodosius' recall to service for the fictitiousnonsense it is and dates his recall as early as late 377.
See, e.g., Nixon and Rodgers (1994), 453; Williams and Friell(1994), 23-4. Differences sometimes emerge, as when Errington (1996a),443-44, argues that their enemies forced the younger Theodosius intoretirement first before they dared to move against his father, or whenMatthews (1975), 93, claims that the younger Theodosius "withdrew to ajudicious retirement" after his father's execution as if he did soentirely voluntarily. Nevertheless, all accept that Theodosius the Elderwas executed at Carthage, and that his execution and his son's"retirement" should both to be dated to the winter of 375/76.
E.g., Oros. 7.33.7 is our only source to locate Theodosius' death atCarthage, and only because Carthage was the administrative centre for theregion. He may also have been influenced by the fact that Arcadius hadhad the rebellious comes Africae Heraclianus executed at Carthage ca.413. In contrast, Amm. Marc. 29.5.1-55 reveals not the slightestindication that Theodosius had visited Carthage even once during his stayin Africa ca. 373-4. Writing ca. 417, during the reign of Theodosius'grandson Arcadius, Orosius was principally concerned to fill in theflattering assumption that the father of such a pious dynasty had surelyreceived baptism before his death. As for the date of Theodosius'execution, Jerome is our only source, and he dates it to 376 (Chron. s.a.376). Note, however, that he does not date the execution of Theodosiusthe Elder alone to 376 but associates it with the deaths of many othernotables also. If he is not simply mistaken, as he is on other occasions,it is arguable that he refers to a series of executions, which culminatedin 376, rather than that they all necessarily occurred in the same year.
Amm. Marc. 29.6.13-14. These legions have traditionally beenidentified with two palatine legions whose names are recorded together inthe Notitia Dignitatum, the Pannoniciani seniores (ND Oc. 5.149) and theMoesiaci seniores (ND Oc. 5.150), e.g. by Hoffmann (1969), 433. There areseveral objections to this identification. The first must be that theirtitles do not actually match. Ammianus records the names of otherpalatine legions in the exact form that they have been preserved by theNotitia so that we cannot simply assume some literary licence on his partin this instance. He refers to the Primani (ND Or. 6.45) by their correcttitle (Amm. 16.12.49) and the Divitenses Iuniores and the TuncgrecaniIuniores by theirs (Amm. 26.6.12), and to the Lanciarii and the Mattiarii(Amm. 21.13.16, 31.13.8), whether seniores or iuniores (ND Or. 5.42,6.42; Or. 6.47, Oc. 7.30), as such rather than as, say, the legiolanciaria or the legio mattiaria. Next, a pair of palatine legions, aso-called "brigade" in the manner of the Pannoniciani seniores and theMoesiaci seniores should have been long used to operating together so itis difficult to understand why they should have quarrelled so badly here.Next, one notes that Ammianus does not say where exactly they came from,and the speed with which they arrived upon the scene inclines one tosuspect that they had not had to come very far at all. Finally, it muststrike one as a remarkable coincidence that the first two palatinelegions to arrive in response to attacks upon the Pannonias and MoesiaPrima should have been named after those very regions.
Zos. 4.9.3-4.
See Amm. Marc. 16.11.6-7 (dismissal of Valentinian) and Amm. Marc.16.4.3, 7.1, 8.1 (dismissal of Marcellus).
Cf. his earlier petition on behalf of the advocate Africanus whohad merely wanted a second provincial governorship, Amm. Marc. 29.3.6. Inresponse, Valentinian had ordered him to behead Africanus. It is beyondthe scope of the present article to explore the evidence in full, but Ibelieve that Theodosius the Elder reached the Pannonian provinces inorder to lead their defence against the Sarmatians sometime during late374, and that he then reported back to Valentinian himself at Trier. Heis probably identifiable as one of the "missing" consuls for 375. Jeromeis the only author to explain why there appear to have been no consulsfor 375, claiming that the consuls remained the same as the previous yearbecause of the Sarmatian devastation of the Pannonian provinces (Chron.s.a. 375). This was true in a round about way, in so far as the Sarmatianattacks did set off a chain of events that resulted in the execution ofTheodosius the Elder and the disgrace of his consular colleague, but notin the way that Jerome implies. The Sarmatian attack upon the Pannoniaswas an embarassment rather than a serious military crisis, as is bestrevealed by the fact that it did not provoke Valentinian I to leave hiscapital at Trier until the spring of 375, when the worst was over. Ifsuch an attack had prevented Valentinian from appointing new consuls for375, then it is a wonder that there were any new consuls at all duringthe far more serious crises of the subsequent decades.
Pan. Lat. 2(12).10.2-3; Themist. Or. 14.182c, 15.198a. This was thecampaign which Valentinian himself had been planning when he died.
Of Gratian's command staff in early 379, the names of his magistripraesentales Merobaudes and Frigeridus betray their German origin, as dothe names of his two western comites domesticorum Richomeres andMallobaudes. Finally, of the the two vicarii of his two magistripraesentales, Sebastianus had been killed at Adrianople, while Nannienus'name betrays his non-Roman origin also.
For detailed analyses of our meagre sources for this war, seeHeather (1991), 122-56; Errington (1996b).
Errington (1996b), 22-27.
Zos. 4.55.2-3. Strictly speaking, he was a magister militum (orutriusque militiae) praesentalis, probably prima (ND Or. 5.1), by thetime of his death, since Theodosius had merged the infantry and cavalrybranches of the army in the meantime, perhaps ca.388.
Zos. 4.25.2. Modares was himself a Goth, a member of the royalfamily, and is normally identified as a magister militum of some type. Noemperor would have appointed any barbarian defector to such a high rankwithout first having tested his ability and loyalty at a lower level ofcommand. So one suspects that he is identifiable with the dux Arabiae towhom Ammianus refers as Munderichus (Amm. 31.3.5), and that Ammianus, orhis source, have confused Modares' name with his Gothic title reiks"leader of men".
Zos. 4.30-32.
Cons. Constant. s.a. 380.
Zos. 4.32-33.
Cons. Constant. s.a. 381.
Ibid. s.a. 382.
Heather (1991), 157-92.
Zos. 4.45.3.
Zos. 4.51; Claud. De Cons. Stil.. 1.94-6.
Cons. Constant. s.a. 386; Zos. 4.35.1, 38-39.
Pan. Lat. 2(12).22.3. See Shahid (1984), 203-21.
In general, see Blockley (1987).
Pan. Lat. 2(12).24.1.
The nature of Maximus' command at the time of his revolt is amatter of great controversy. He is normally identified as one of thecomes Britanniarum, the dux Britanniarum or the comes litoris Saxonici.See Birley (1981), 346-52. I suspect that he was the vicarius of themagister peditum praesentalis Merobaudes and that he commanded a smallexpedition to Britain ca. 382 similar to that which Theodosius had ledthere in 367/68.
Them. Or. 18. See Vanderspoel (1995), 187-216, esp. 210.
Zos. 4.42-43.
Joh. Ant. frag. 187 (M?ller) = Eunap. frag. 58.2 (Blockley).
Claud. Gild. 154; Jer. Epp. 79.2, 123.17.
On Sicily, see Ambr. Ep. 73(40).22-23. Zos. 4.46.1 preserves aridiculous story that Valentinian's mother Justina sailed across theIonian Sea to Italy with some of her children, and that Maximus hadinitially assembled his fleet in order to capture her. He then kept thefleet in being because he feared that Theodosius was about to launch anaval expedition. It suffices to note that this would have leftValentinian's family stranded behind enemy lines in danger of being usedas hostages against him. McLynn (1994), 293-4, assumes that Valentinianhimself led a naval expedition which gained the victory at Sicily. ButValentinian had no military experience, and if he and Theodosius hadreally wanted to open a second front, then it would have been far lessrisky, and potentially far more beneficial, had they sent their forces toland on the eastern coast of peninsular Italy instead, as far north aspossible. They would then have been able to strike Maximus' main lines ofdefence in northern Italy from behind.
Ambr. Ep. 73(40).23; Pan. Lat. 2(12).34-35.
Zos. 4.53. According to Zosimus, Arbogast claimed that Valentinianhad not given him his command in the first place so he could not now takeit away from him. This is often interpreted as evidence that Theodosiushad somehow imposed him upon Valentinian and that he was the tool bywhich Theodosius had continued to control his western colleague. Itrefers, rather, to the fact that he had essentially "inherited" the postof magister peditum praesentalis from his father Bauto ca. 386. Neitheremperor had been in a position to nominate an alternative candidate tosucceed Bauto at the time.
The ancient sources disagree about the circumstances ofValentinian's death. See Soc. HE 5.25; Soz. HE 7.22; Philost. HE 11.1. Ingeneral, see Croke (1976) who concludes that Valentinian probably didcommit suicide
See Springer (1996).
E.g. Soc. 5.25; Soz. 7.24; Theod. HE 5.24; Claud. III Cons. Hon.89-98. For a modern, rational interpretation of this "miracle", see Kovac(1996).
Oros. 7.35.16 (for Arbitio's name); Ruf. HE 2.33; Soz. 7.24.5. Theecclesiastical historians have exaggerated the religious aspects of theconflict for ideological reasons, although many modern commentators havetraditionaly accepted their propaganda at its face value. The claims, forexample, that Eugenius' forces erected statues of Jupiter in the Alps(Aug. Civ. Dei 5.26), or that they bore an image of Hercules at theirhead as they marched (Theod. HE 5.24) are not to be taken literally. Theyhave their origin in a deliberate misrepresentation of the significanceof the fact that the two leading western military units, the Iovianiseniores and the Herculiani seniores, had probably restored theirstandards to what they imagined to be their traditional form. See Woods(1995). For a more traditional interpretation, see Duval (1996).
Soc. HE 5.6; Soz. HE 7.4. In general on this period, see Errington(1997a).
Chron. Pasch. s.a. 380; Malal. Chron. 13.36. Both sources describean attempt to assassinate an emperor, whom they identify as Gratian butthe date, location, and general circumstances of the attempt suggest thatthe anecdote which lies at their heart had originally described a plot toassassinate Theodosius.
Soc. HE 5.13.
C.Th. 16.10.10 (24 February 391), 16.10.11 (16 June 391), 16.10.12(8 November 392).
E.g., Williams and Friell (1994), 68-71.
Soz. HE 7.25; Ruf. HE 2.18; Aug. Civ. Dei 5.26; Theod. HE 5.17-18.See McLynn (1994), 315-30.
McLynn (1994), 330-35; Errington (1997b), passim.
For Theodosius' protection of temples, see C.Th. 16.10.8 (30November 382), Lib. Or. 30.49-51 (386). On the destruction of theSerapeum, see Soc. HE 5.16-17; Soz. HE 7.15; Ruf. HE 2.23.
Claud. Laus. Ser. 63-9.
Soc. HE 4.31; Philost. HE 10.7; Zos. 4.44.
Rebenich (1985), passim.
Many modern commentators follow Cameron (1970), 56, in dating themarriage of Serena and Stilicho to 384, although his conclusion, that itwas Serena herself, not Theodosius, who chose Stilicho as her husband,that it was "one of those very rare events in a royal family, a lovematch", ought to have occasioned greater scepticism. Much depends onone's interpretation of Claud. De Cons. Stil. 1.51-68, which records thatStilicho negotiated an important treaty with the Persians shortly beforehis marriage to Serena. I interpret this to refer to the treaty of 387 bywhich the Romans and Persians agreed upon the division of Armenia betweentheir empires. This means that Stilicho's daughter Maria can only havebeen about 10 years of age by the time of her marriage to Honorius inabout February 398. But this explains the tradition preserved at Zos.5.28.2, that Serena herself thought that Maria was too young formarriage, even if one cannot accept Zosimus' fanciful solution to thisproblem, that Serena managed to drug Honorius in order to prevent himfrom consummating the marriage, over a period of ten years apparently !
Relying principally on Zos. 4.59, Cameron (1969) argues thatTheodosius had appointed Stilicho as magister militum per Occidentem withcommand of all the western troops and the power to administer the westernempire in Honorius' name some three months before his death in January395. At that point, Theodosius made a vague statement entrusting his sonsto Stilicho which the latter interpreted in his own interest to mean thathis earlier regency over Honorius had now been extended over Arcadiusalso. But the office of magister militum per Occidentem, or whateverother title one wishes to use to describe the appointment of a singlesupreme military commander, was entirely without precedent and an obviousthreat to the independence of any emperor. One suspects, rather, thatTheodosius had appointed Stilicho to an entirely regular command, i.e. asmagister peditum praesentalis, at that point three months before hisdeath, and that Stilicho asserted a regency which he had yet to enjoyover either son.

Copyright (C) 1998, David Woods. This file may be copied on the conditionthat the entire contents, including the header and this copyright notice,remain intact.

Flavius married Galla Justina Valentinia in 387-388. Galla (daughter of Valentinian I (Emperor Of The Western Roman Empire - 364-375) and Justina) was born in 365; died in 394. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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Galla was the daughter of the Roman Emperor Valentinian I in the West,sister to Valentinian II, and second wife of the last Roman EmperorTheodosius I.

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Theodosius was Valentinian I's general in Amiens, France in 367. He wasexecuted in Carthage, Africa.

Flavius Theodosius was a major Roman general in Gaul and Britain, andfather of the Roman Emperor by the same name.

Flavius married Thermantia. Thermantia and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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Valentinian I, Latin in full Flavius Valentinianus (b. 321 - d. 17 Nov375, Brigetio, Pannonia Inferior), Roman emperor from 364 to 375 whoskillfully and successfully defended the frontiers of the Western Empireagainst Germanic invasions.

Valentinian, the son of an army officer stationed in Pannonia (in centralEurope), joined the army and served with his father in Africa. Accordingto some sources, when Valentinian was a tribune in the forces of Julianthe Apostate (emperor 360-363), he was disgraced for refusal to renounceChristianity. He did serve, however, in Julian's Persian expedition of363, and was promoted by Julian's successor, Jovian, who died soonafterward (17 Feb 364).

Nine days later the commanders of the army proclaimed Valentinian emperorat Nicaea (modern Iznik, Turkey). On March 28 he appointed his youngerbrother Valens as co-ruler and assigned him to govern the East, whileValentinian retained the West. Both agreed to allow religious toleration,which, unlike Valens, Valentinian maintained throughout his reign.

Displaying inexhaustible energy, Valentinian set about fortifying anddefending the borders. In January 365, his generals in Gaul were defeatedby the Germanic Alemanni; by October, Valentinian had set up residence inParis from which he directed operations against the invaders. His generalJovinus defeated them three times. At Durocatalaunum (modernChalons-sur-Marne, France), the third engagement, Jovinus inflicted heavycasualties on the Alemanni, securing Gaul for years to come. Meanwhile,in 367, the Emperor moved to Ambiani (modern Amiens, France) to be incloser communication with his general Theodosius (father of the LaterEmperor Theodosius I), who was defending Britain from Saxon, Pictish, andScottish invaders.

In order to strengthen the line of succession, Valentinian proclaimed (24Aug 367) his nine-year-old son, Gratian, as co-emperor. Two months laterValentinian took up residence at Trier (now in Germany). He remainedthere for seven years, devoting his attention to the construction of anelaborate system of fortifications on the Rhine. Then, an invasion ofPannonia by the Quadi in 275 brought Valentinian to Sirmium (modernSremska Metrovica, Yugoslavia), where he soon fell sick and died.

Despite his achievements, Valentinian gained a reputation forirritability and cruelty. He frequently chose ministers of the worstcharacter who ruthlessly oppressed provincials. [EncyclopaediaBritannica, 1995]

From Walter E. Roberts, Emory University, 1998:

Valentinian I (364-375 A.D) -

Introduction
Valentinian was one of Rome's last great warrior emperors. There wasa power vacuum after the death of Julian, last ruler of the Neo-Flavianline. His immediate successor Jovian did not really survive long enoughto leave his stamp on late Roman society. In general terms, Valentinian?schallenge was to hold together an empire that had experienced sixty yearsof internal unrest, something which was of major import. His provincialorigins and Nicene Christianity put him at odds with the senatorialnobility in the west. Furthermore, he had to deal with the increasingregionalism of the empire, especially in Gaul, Britain, and Africa.

Early Life
Valentinian, whose full name was Flavius Valentinianus, was born in A.D.321 at Cibalis (modern Vinkovci) in southern Pannonia. His fatherGratian was a soldier renowned for his strength and wrestling skills.Gratian had an illustrious career in the army, rising from staff officerto tribune, to comes Africae, and finally comes Britanniae. He wassuspected of graft while comes Africae, but nothing was ever proven.After he retired, Constantius II (337-60) confiscated his estates becausehe was suspected of having been a supporter of Magnentius. Gratian?salleged affiliation with Magnentius apparently did not keep Valentinianor his younger brother Valens from being able to enter the military, butit may have contributed to some early trouble for Valentinian.Valentinian embarked upon a military career, and, like his father, becamea victim of imperial politics. In 357 he was tribune of cavalry underJulian, Constantius II's Caesar in the west. In the intrigues surroundingJulian and Constantius, Valentinian and a colleague were accused ofundermining operations, and Constantius dismissed them from theservice. Valentinian was married twice. His first wife, Severa, diedsome time after giving birth to Valentinian?s first son Gratian in 359,and Valentinian married Justina, by whom he had Valentinian II, and twodaughters, Galla and Justa.

When Julian died, Valentinian was recalled to military service by Jovian.Upon his accession, Jovian sent Procopius, a notarius, and Memoridus toGaul and Illyricum to install his father-in-law Lucillianus, inretirement at Sirmium, as magister equitum et peditum. Lucillianus inturn was to journey to Milan and secure Jovian?s power in Italy and Gaul.Jovian supposedly gave Lucillianus secret instructions to handpick aselect cadre of supporters. Two of these men were Valentinian andSeniauchus. One of this group?s missions was to displace Jovinus,Julian?s magister armorum per Gallias, with Malarichus, a retired soldierand supporter of Jovian living in Italy. In addition they were to visitas many governors and military commanders as possible and announce thesuccessful end of the Persian campaign and Jovian's succession.Malarichus, however, refused his commission, and Lucillianus traveled onto Rheims where he began examining the accounts of one of Julian?sofficials. The official (not named in extant sources) fled to the army inGaul and spread rumors that Julian was still alive and that Lucillianuswas a rebel. In the riot that broke out, Seniauchus and Lucillianus werekilled, and Valentinian barely escaped through the help of his friendPrimitivus. By this time, Jovian had sent some additional soldiers whosecured peace in Gaul. As a result Valentinian was promoted to command ofthe second Scutarii division.

Valentinian's Accession
Jovian died on 17 February 364, apparently of natural causes, on theborder between Bithynia and Galatia. The army marched on to Nicaea,the nearest city of any consequence, and a meeting of civil and militaryofficials was convened to choose a new emperor. The names of Aequitius, atribune of the first Scutarii, and Januarius, a relative of Jovian?s incharge of military supplies in Illyricum, were bandied about. Both wererejected, Aequitius as too brutal, Januarius because he was too far away.The assembly finally agreed upon Valentinian, and sent messengers toinform him, as he had been left behind at Ancyra with his unit. Whileawaiting the arrival of Valentinian, Aequitius and Leo, another Pannonianin charge of distributing supplies to the soldiers of Dagalaifus,magister equitum, managed to keep the ?fickle? (mobilitas) soldiers fromchoosing another emperor.

Valentinian arrived in Nicaea on 24 February 364, the bisextile day. Thisday was used every four years by the Romans to balance the calendar muchas we use the modern leap year day: the sixth day (counting inclusively)before the first of March was counted twice. According to Ammianus, thisday was considered an ill-omened day to begin any new proceedings, soValentinian put off his official acceptance until the day after thebisextile. Furthermore, the prefect Salutius declared that noofficial business could be conducted on the repeated day. The holidaywould have prevented any attempt to name another emperor beforeValentinian.

On 26 February 364, Valentinian accepted the office offered to him. As heprepared to make his accession speech, the soldiers threatened to riot,apparently uncertain as to where his loyalties lay. Valentinian reassuredthem that the army was his greatest priority. Furthermore, to prevent acrisis of succession if he should die prematurely, he agreed to pick aco-Augustus. According to Ammianus, the soldiers were astounded byValentinian?s bold demeanor and his willingness to assume the imperialauthority. His decision to elect a fellow-emperor could also beconstrued as a move to appease any opposition among the civilianofficials in the eastern portion of the empire. By agreeing to appoint aco-ruler, he assured the eastern officials that someone with imperialauthority would remain in the east to protect their interests.

After promoting his brother Valens to the rank of tribune and putting himin charge of the royal stables on March 1, Valentinian selected Valens asco-Augustus at Constantinople on 28 March 364, though this was done overthe objections of Dagalaifus. Ammianus makes it clear, however,that Valens was clearly subordinate to his brother. The remainderof 364 was spent dividing up administrative duties and military commands.Valentinian retained the services of Jovinus and Dagalaifus, and promotedAequitius to comes Illyricum. In addition, he promoted Serenianus, aretired soldier and fellow Pannonian, to command of the domesticorumscholae. Several sources mention the division of administrativespheres between the two brothers, but Ammianus is the mostspecific. According to Ammianus, Valens was given the Prefecture ofthe Orient, governed by Salutius, while Valentinian gained control of thePrefecture of the Gauls and the Prefecture of Italy, Africa, andIllyricum. These latter three areas were put together as oneadministrative unit under control of the prefect Mamertinus. Valensresided in Constantinople, while Valentinian?s court was at Milan.

Valentinian and the Army
One of the first problems that faced Valentinian was an outbreak ofhostilities in Gaul with the Alamanni, a loose confederation ofGermanic-speaking peoples living beyond the Rhine. According to Ammianus,the Alamanni were upset because Valentinian would not supply them withthe level of tribute that previous emperors had paid them. In response tothis insult and the ill treatment their envoys received at the hands ofthe magister officiorum Ursatius, the Alamanni invaded Gaul in 365.At the same time Procopius began his revolt against Valens in the east.Valentinian received news of both the Alamannic trouble and Procopius'revolt on 1 November while on his way to Paris. He had a choice tomake--go east to help his brother or stay in Gaul and fight the Alamanni.He initially sent Dagalaifus to fight the Alamanni, while he himself madepreparations to journey east and help Valens. After receiving counselfrom his court and deputations from the leading Gallic cities begging himto stay and protect Gaul, however, he decided to remain in Gaul and fightthe Alamanni.

This move shows two things. First, that Valentinan subordinated theeastern portion of the empire to the west. In addition it shows thatValentinian was still unsure of his support in Gaul, a very importantpart of the west. There was no better way to win the support of theGallic nobility than by performing the traditional imperial duty ofpreserving peace by defeating barbarians. This ideology is amplyillustrated by the coinage issued from Gaul during this period.Valentinian issued such series as RESTITUTOR REIPUBLICAE, GLORIAROMANORUM, and TRIUMFATOR GENT BARB from the mints at Trier, Lyon, andArles.

Valentinian advanced to Rheims and sent two generals, Charietto andSeverianus, against the invaders. The armies of Charietto and Severianuswere promptly defeated and the generals killed. Dagalaifus was then sentagainst the enemy in 366, but the Alamanni were so scattered about Gaulthat he was ineffective. Jovinus replaced Dagalaifus late in thecampaigning season, and, after several battles, he pushed the Alamanniout of Gaul. He was awarded the consulate of 367 for his efforts.

Valentinian was distracted from launching a punitive expedition againstthe Alamanni at this time by problems in Britain and northern Gaul. TheAlamanni, however, were not deterred by their earlier defeat at the handsof Jovinus and they returned to Gaul. The city of Mainz was attacked andplundered by an Alamannic raiding party in late 367 or early 368.Valentinian did succeed in getting Roman agents to arrange theassassination of Vithicabius, an important Alamannic leader, by hispersonal bodyguard, but more serious measures were called for.Valentinian was determined to bring the Alamanni under Roman power onceand for all, and spent the winter of 367/8 gathering a huge army for aspring offensive. He summoned the comes Sebastianus, who was in charge ofthe Italian and Illyrian legions, to join Jovinus and Severus, magisterpeditum. Valentinian and his army, accompanied by Gratian, crossed theMain river in the spring of 368. They did not encounter any resistanceuntil they reached Solicinium (Schwetzingen), burning any dwellings orfood stores they found along the way. A tremendous battle was fought atSchwetzingen, with the Romans coming out on top, although Valentinian wasnearly killed. A temporary peace was apparently reached, and Valentinianand Gratian returned to Trier for the winter.

During 369, Valentinian ordered new defensive works to be constructed andold structures refurbished along the length of the Rhine?s left bank. Inan even bolder move, he ordered the construction of a fortress across theRhine, in the mountains near Heidelberg. The Alamanni sent envoys toprotest, but they were dismissed out of hand. As a result, the Alamanniattacked while the fortress was still under construction, destroyed it,and killed all the soldiers guarding it.

In 370, the Saxons renewed their attacks on northern Gaul. Nannienus, thecomes in charge of the troops in northern Gaul, had to ask Severus tocome to his aid. After several battles, a truce was called and the Saxonsgave the Romans many young men fit for duty in the Roman military inexchange for free passage back to their homeland. The Romans, however,treacherously ambushed the Saxons, killing them all. At this sametime, Valentinian was contemplating another attack against the Alamanni.His target was Macrianus, another powerful Alamannic chieftain. Ratherthan directly attack Macrianus, he tried to persuade the Burgundians toattack: they were another Germanic-speaking people, and bitter enemies ofthe Alamanni. If the Alamanni tried to flee, Valentinian would be waitingfor them with his army. Negotiations, however, with the Burgundians brokedown when Valentinian, in his usual high-handed manner, refused to meetwith the Burgundian envoys and personally assure them of Roman support inthe suggested attack. Nevertheless, the proposed alliance with theBurgundians did have the effect of scattering the Alamanni through fearof an imminent attack from their enemies. This event allowed Theodosius,magister equitum, to attack via Raetia and take many Alamannic prisoners.These captured Alamanni were settled in the Po river valley, where theystill flourished at the time Ammianus wrote his history.

Valentinian campaigned unsuccessfully for four more years to defeatMacrianus. In 372 Macrianus barely escaped capture by Theodosius. In themeantime, Valentinian continued to recruit heavily from those Alamannifriendly to the Roman cause. He sent the Alamannic king Fraomarius, alongwith Alamannic troops commanded by Bitheridius and Hortarius, to Britainin order to replenish troops there. Valentinian?s Alamanniccampaigns, however, were hampered by troubles first in Africa, and lateron the Danube. In 374 Valentinian was forced to make peace with Macrianusbecause the emperor's presence was needed to counter an invasion ofIllyricum by the Quadi and Sarmatians.

Military Problems in Britain, Gaul, and on the Danube
In 367, Valentinian received reports that a combined force of Picts,Attacotti and Scots had killed Nectaridus (comes maritimi tractus) andovercome the dux Fullofaudes in Britain. As a consequence, Britain was ina state of anarchy. At the same time, Frankish and Saxon forces wereharrying the coastal areas of northern Gaul. Valentinian, alarmed bythese reports, set out for Britain, sending Severus (comes domesticorum)ahead of him to investigate. Severus was not able to correct thesituation and returned to the continent, meeting Valentinian at Amiens.Valentinian then sent Jovinus to Britain and promoted Severus to magisterpeditum. It was at this time that Valentinian fell ill and a battle forsuccession broke out between Severus, a representative of the army, andRusticus Julianus, magister memoriae and a representative of the Gallicnobility. Valentinian, however, recovered and appointed his son Gratianas co-Augustus to forestall any such conflicts in the future. Ammianusremarks that such an action was unprecedented.

Jovinus quickly returned, saying that he needed more men to take care ofthe situation. Beginning in 368 Valentinian, however, was intent onpressing his successes against the Alamanni with a campaign into theirterritory. Therefore, he assigned the comes Theodosius the task ofrecovering Britain while Severus and Jovinus were to accompany theemperor on his campaign. Theodosius arrived in 368 with the Batavi,Heruli, Jovii and Victores legions, landing at Richborough, and proceededto London. His initial expeditions restored order to southern Britain.Later he rallied the remaining troops which had originally been stationedin Britain. It was apparent that the units had lost their cohesivenesswhen Nectaridius and Fullofaudes had been defeated. At this time,Theodosius sent for Civilis to be installed as the new vicarius of thediocese, and Dulcitius, an additional general.

In 369, Theodosius, relying on the tactics of stealth and ambush, setabout reconquering the areas north of London. During this period, he putdown the revolt of Valentinus, the brother-in-law of Maximinus, at thattime a vicarius. Valentinus had been exiled to Britain for crimes thatAmmianus does not specify and was apparently fomenting a rebellionagainst the imperial government. Theodosius learned of these plansthrough spies and quashed the revolt before it got off the ground. Afterthis, Theodosius restored destroyed fortifications and even recovered alost province which was renamed Valentia. After his return in 369,Valentinian promoted Theodosius to magister equitum in place ofJovinus.

Revolt of Firmus
In 372, the rebellion of Firmus broke out in the African provinces. Thisrebellion was driven by the corruption of the comes Romanus. When he tooksides in the murderous disputes among the legitimate and illegitimatechildren of Nubel, a Moorish prince and leading Roman client in Africa,resentment of Romanus' peculations and failure to defend the territorycaused some of the provincials to revolt. Valentinian was forced to sendin Theodosius to restore imperial control. Over the next two yearsTheodosius uncovered Romanus' crimes, arrested him and his cronies, anddefeated Firmus.

In 373 trouble erupted with the Quadi, a group of Germanic-speakingpeople living on the Danube. Like the Alamanni, the Quadi were outragedthat Valentinian was building fortifications in their territory. Theycomplained and sent deputations that were ignored by the magister armorumper Illyricum Aequitius. It seems, however, that by 373 the constructionof these forts was behind schedule. Maximinus, now praetorian prefect ofGaul, arranged with Aequitius to promote his son Marcellianus to the rankof dux per Valeriam and put him in charge of finishing the project. Theprotests of Quadic leaders continued to delay the project, and in a fitof frustration, Marcellianus murdered the Quadic king Gabinius at abanquet ostensibly arranged for peaceful negotiations. This roused theQuadi to war, along with their allies the Sarmatians. During the fallharvest, they broke across the Danube and began ravaging the province ofValeria. The marauders could not penetrate the fortified cities, but theyheavily damaged the unprotected countryside. Two legions, the Pannonicaand Moesiaca, were sent in, but they failed to coordinate their effortsand were routed by the Sarmatians. At the same time, another group ofSarmatians invaded Moesia, but they were driven back by the duxMoesiaeTheodosius the younger, future emperor and son of the magisterequitum.

Valentinian did not receive news of these disasters until mid-to-late374. In the spring of 375 he set out from Trier and came to Carnuntum,which was deserted. There he was met by Sarmatian envoys who beggedforgiveness for their actions. Valentinian replied that he wouldinvestigate what had happened and act accordingly. Valentinian ignoredMarcellianus? treacherous actions and decided to punish the Quadi. He,accompanied by Sebastianus and Merobaudes, spent the summer monthspreparing for the campaign and finally crossed into Quadic territory atAquincum (Budapest). After generally pillaging the Quadic lands andcarrying out acts of terrorism, he retired to Savaria (Szombathely) towinter quarters. For unknown reasons, he decided to continue campaigningand moved from Savaria to Brigetio (Komarom-Szony). It was herethat he received a deputation from the Quadi on November 17. In returnfor supplying fresh recruits to the Roman army, the Quadi were to beallowed to leave in peace. Before the envoys left, however, they weregranted an audience with Valentinian. The envoys insisted that theconflict was caused by the building of Roman forts in their lands, andthat furthermore individual bands of Quadi were not necessarily bound tothe rule of the chiefs who had made treaties with the Romans, and thusmight attack at any time. The attitude of the envoys so enragedValentinian that he suffered a stroke that ended his life.

Roman Society under Valentinian
Ammianus and Zosimus as well as modern scholars praise Valentinian forhis military accomplishments. He is generally credited with keepingthe Roman empire from crumbling away by ?. . . reversing the generallywaning confidence in the army and imperial defense . . ..? Severalother aspects of Valentinian's reign also set the course of Roman historyfor the next century. Valentinian deliberately polarized Roman society,subordinating the civilian population to the military. The military ordertook over the old prestige of the senatorial nobility. The imperialcourt, which was becoming more and more of a military court, became avehicle for social mobility. There were new ideas of nobility, which wasincreasingly provincial in character. By this it is meant that theimperial court, not the Senate, was the seat of nobility, and most ofthese new nobles came from the provinces. With the erosion of the oldnobility, the stage was set for the ascendancy of Christianity. At thesame time, the empire was becoming more and more of a bureaucracy, withthe emperor delegating authority to a chain of officials. These officialsdid not always perform their job well and, as a result, the provincialpopulations became increasingly alienated from the imperial government.They were crushed under the increasing burden of taxation, and often theemperor, through his delegates, failed to provide the security for whichthe provincials' tribute was paying.

Valentinian, Christianity, and Legislation
Unlike his brother Valens, Valentinian refused to become embroiled in thereligious controversies of the time. Ammianus praised Valentinian for hisreligious neutrality. Valentinian refused to get involved in theArian controversy of the east, dismissing a deputation of eastern Nicenebishops who appealed to him to control Valens. Valentinian did,however, take a harsh stand against two of the heretical movements thathad grown during the past century in the west. In 372 he forbadegatherings of Manichees in the city of Rome. Such assemblies were toresult in the death of the leaders, the exile of the others, andconfiscation of the property of all involved. In addition heofficially condemned Donatist bishops in Africa in 373.

The ecclesiastical sources for this period generally have a favorableopinion of Valentinian. Jerome speaks in glowing terms, saying?Valentinian was an excellent emperor in most cases and similar incharacter to Aurelian, save only that certain people interpreted hisexcessive strictness and parsimony as cruelty and greed.? Socratesand Orosius took the story of his dismissal from the military byConstantius II and turned him into a martyr of sorts. According toSozomen, Valentinian was dismissed from the military by Julian, insteadof Constantius II, for refusing to perform a pagan ritual at a paganshrine. Less accurately, Theoderet, Sozomen, and Socrates praisedValentinian for installing Ambrose as bishop of Milan. Ambrose?spredecessor, Auxentius, had been an Arian.

Valentinian, however, was not uniformly friendly towards Christianity.For example, he ordered Symmachus, praefectus urbi of Rome in 365, to putto death and confiscate the property of any Christians who becamecustodians of temples. It seems, however, that much of hislegislation concerning Christians was driven by fiscal motives, ratherthan any real concern with religious doctrine. Any Manichees caught underthe law contributed their property to the fisc, and the condemnation ofthe Donatists could really be seen as a condemnation of those whoinhibited the collection of taxes from the African provinces. In otherexamples, Valentinian addressed a law to Damasus, Pope of Rome in 370,which forbade ecclesiastics to marry widows or female wards of the state.The purpose of this law was to stop churchmen from obtaining the wealthof such women through inheritance. On the other hand, Valentinianappears to have given Christians special privileges. For example, in 370he upheld a law of Constantius II that exempted professed NiceneChristians in the African provinces from obligatory municipalduties. Similarly, a law was passed in 371 that those in the cityof Rome who could prove that they were ecclesiastics before the accessionof Valentinian were exempt from municipal services.

Revenues lost by these measures had to be made up from other sources, andValentinian sought them from the senatorial order. In a law promulgatedon 18 October 365 in Paris and reaching Carthage on 18 January 366,Valentinian ordered Dracontius, vicarius Africae, to send out men tocollect taxes from those African estates which were owned by Romansenators. This law was in keeping with Valentinian?s generalhostility to the senatorial order.

Initially, it seemed that Valentinian actively sought to pacify the paganaristocracy at Rome by retaining the title pontifex maximus and bypassing legislation confirming toleration of the pagan practice ofdivination. In 371, however, he sanctioned a purge of the nobilityby the praefectus annonae Maximinus, whom he temporarily elevated to theoffice of urban prefect for this purpose. Members of the aristocracy werebrought before Maximinus and Valentinian?s old friend Leo on charges suchas using magic, using poison, and adultery. Punishments ranged fromexile to death. Ammianus cites many such cases, including those of thesenators Cethegus, killed for adultery, and Paphius and Cornelius,prosecuted and executed for using poison. The scale of Maximinus?prosecutions was such that even children were tried. One Alypius, whomAmmianus describes as nobilis adulescens, was exiled for an offenseAmmianus does not specify (and thus implies was trumped up), whileLollianus, son of the ex-prefect Lampadius, was sentenced to exile forwriting a book concerning the destructive use of magic (noxiarum artium).Lampadius appealed to Valentinian, who turned the case over toPhalangius, governor of Baetica, who sentenced Lollianus to death.

Ammianus makes it clear that actions such as these were part of asystematic plan by Valentinian to erode the power and prestige of thesenatorial aristocracy. It was at the request of Maximinus thatValentinian abrogated the right of persons of senatorial rank to appealcases to the emperor, a right that had already been strictly curtailedduring the reign of Ampelius, Maximinus? predecessor as urban prefect. Hedid this by treating as treasonous such acts as adultery, use of magic,and poisoning. He also empowered Maximinus to use torture to extractconfessions from the accused. As with Lollianus, the appeals thatwere heard often resulted in a harsher punishment than the originalsentence.

Several pieces of extant legislation seem to confirm Ammianus?allegations that Valentinian was eroding senatorial prestige. In a law of364, Valentinian decreed that the equites now ranked in prestige onlybehind the senatorial order. In addition, these equites were exempt fromthe more onerous forms of compulsory service and senatorial taxes.Furthermore, a second law issued in 367 gave members of the imperialcourt the same privileges as senators. This law also established thatdischarged comites and tribunes could become senators.

In July of 372, Valentinian sent several pieces of legislation toAmpelius, praefectus urbi of Rome, putting members of the imperial courtand the military on equal footing with those who occupied places in thecivil administration. First, magistri peditum and magistri equitum wereto be of equal social prestige to praetorian prefects. In addition,quaestors, magistri officiorum, the comes sacrarum largitionum, the comesrerum privatarum, comites rei militaris, and magistri equitum outrankedproconsular governors. Finally, any member of the imperial courtoutranked vicarii.

Ammianus also observes that Valentinian?s main goal was to raise theprestige of the military. Zosimus confirms this by stating thatValentinian promoted many officers, and modified the system of taxcollection so that the army got its supplies more quickly. Valentinianissued several laws expressly intended to make the collection of taxeseasier. In 367, Valentinian instructed Probus that tax payments in kindcould now be made in three installments per annum or all at once.In addition, Valentinian raised the standard exactions. This increase intaxation alienated the provincials.

The African provinces illustrate this effect of Valentinian?s taxpolicies. When Romanus, as the military representative of the imperialgovernment, came to power in 363, he began exploiting the provincials inthe African diocese. When they refused to meet his exorbitant demands, heleft them to the vagaries of such peoples as the Austoriani. In addition,when Valentinian sent Palladius, a tribune and notarius, to investigate,Romanus split the stolen tax revenue with him to prevent Palladius fromreporting his misconduct to Valentinian. As a result of Romanus?actions, the provincials balked at paying any taxes. The fact thatValentinian had to resend the law directly to Dracontius, the vicarius ofAfrica in 367, confirms that the government was having a hard time incollecting its tribute. Valentinian was very distressed by thesituation, dispatching the notarius Neoterius, the protector domesticusMasaucio, and Gaudentius, a tribune of the Scutarii, to Africa in365. Theodosius took steps to ameliorate the situation upon hisarrival, declaring that the provincials did not have to supply his army.He would take any supplies he needed from the supporters of Firmus.

In addition, when Valentinian came to Pannonia in 375, the provincialstook the opportunity to complain bitterly about the oppression they hadsuffered under Probus, praetorian prefect for the region. According toAmmianus, the taxation was so onerous in Pannonia that many of theleading nobles fled, were imprisoned for debt, or killedthemselves. There may have been similar unrest in Gaul, forAmmianus reported that there was an outbreak of civil unrest among theprovincials there in 369, although he gives no details. Scholarssuch as Raymond Van Dam see such provincial outbreaks as signs that theimperial system was devolving to the local level.

Assessment of Valentinian's Reign
Valentinian's reign affords valuable insights into late Roman society,civilian as well as military. First, there was a growing fracture betweenthe eastern and western portions of the empire. Valentinian was the lastemperor to really concentrate his resources on the west. Valens wasclearly in an inferior position in the partnership. Second, there was agrowing polarization of society, both Christian versus pagan, and civilversus military. Finally there was a growing regionalism in the west,driven by heavy taxation and the inability of Valentinian to fullyexercise military authority in all areas of the west. All of these trendswould continue over the next century, profoundly reshaping the Romanempire and western Europe.

Selected Bibliography

I. Primary Sources
Ammianus Marcellinus. Rerum gestarum libri qui supersunt. W. Seyfarth,ed. 3 vols. Leipzig, 1978.
Consularia Constantinopolitana. T. Mommsen ed., Monumenta GermaniaeHistorica, Auctores Antiquissimi. Volume 9. Berlin, 1892.

Codex Theodosianus. T. Mommsen, P.M. Meyer, and P. Kr?ger, eds.Theodosiani libri XVI cum constitutionibus Sirmondianis et leges novellaead Theodosianum pertinentes (2 vols.). Berlin, 1905.

Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Vol. 6. T. Mommsen, ed. Berlin, 1875.

Epitome de Caesaribus. F.R. Pichlmayr, ed. Leipzig, 1961.

Jerome. Chronicon. R. Helm, ed., in Malcolm Drew Donalson, A Translationof Jerome?s Chronicon with Historical Commentary. Lewiston, NY, 1996.

Orosius. Adversus paganos historiarum libri septem. Z. Zangemeister, ed.Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum 5. Vienna, 1882.

Socrates. Historia Ecclesiastica. J.P. Migne ed., Patrologia Graeca 67.Paris, 1864.

Sozomen. Historia Ecclesiastica. J.P. Migne ed., Patrologia Graeca 67.Paris, 1864.

Theoderet. Historia Ecclesiastica. J.P. Migne ed., Patrologia Graeca 82.Paris, 1864.

Zosimus. Historia nova. Fran?ois Paschoud, ed. and trans., Zosime:Histoire Nouvelle (3 vols.). Paris, 1971-89.

II. Secondary Sources

Alf?ldi, Andreas. A Conflict of Ideas in the Late Roman Empire: The Clashbetween the Senate and Valentinian I. Translated by Harold Mattingly.Oxford, 1952.

Blockley, R.C. ?The Date of the ?Barbarian Conspiracy.?? Britannia 11(1980): 223-5.

Burns, Thomas S. Barbarians within the Gates of Rome: A Study of RomanMilitary Policy and the Barbarians, ca. 375-425 A.D. Bloomington, 1994.

Hind, J.G.F. ?The British ?Provinces? of Valentia and Orcades.? Historia24 (1975): 101-11.

Jones, A.H.M. The Later Roman Empire 284-602: A Social, Economic, andAdministrative Survey. 3 Volumes. Oxford, 1964.

________. ?The Social Background of the Struggle Between Paganism andChristianity.? In The Conflict Between Paganism and Christianity in theFourth Century, ed. Arnaldo Momigliano, 17-37. Oxford, 1963.

________., J.R. Martindale, and J. Morris, eds. The Prosopography of theLater Roman Empire, Volume I A.D. 260-395. Cambridge, 1971.

Matthews, John F. The Roman Empire of Ammianus. London, 1989.

________. "Symmachus and the magister militum Theodosius." Historia 20(1971): 122-8.

________. "Mauretania in Ammianus and the Notitia." In Aspects of the"Notitia Dignitatum", eds. R. Goodburn and P. Bartholomew, 157-86.Oxford, 1976.

________. Western Aristocracies and Imperial Court, A.D. 364-425. Oxford,1975.

Momigliano, Arnaldo, ed. The Conflict Between Paganism and Christianityin the Fourth Century. Oxford, 1963.

Nagl, A. "Valentinianus I." RE 14: 2158ff.

Napoli, Jo?lle. ?Ultimes fortifications du limes.? In L?arm?e romaine etles barbares du IIIe au VIIe si?cle, eds. Fran?oise Vallet and MichelKazanski, 67-76. Paris, 1993.

Oldenstein, J?rgen. ?La fortification d?Alzey et la defense de lafronti?re romaine le long du Rhine au IVe et au Ve si?cles.? In L?arm?eromaine et les barbares du IIIe au VIIe si?cle, eds. Fran?oise Vallet andMichel Kazanski, 125-33. Paris, 1993.

Pearce, J.W.E. The Roman Imperial Coinage: Vol. 9 Valentinian I toTheodosius I. Harold Mattingly, C.H.V. Sutherland, and R.A.G. Carson eds.London, 1972.

Stein, Ernest. Histoire du bas-empire. Translated by Jean-Remy Palanque.Amsterdam, 1968.

Thompson, E.A. ?Ammianus Marcellinus and Britain.? Nottingham MedievalStudies 34 (1990): 1-15.

Tomlin, Roger. ?The Date of the ?Barbarian Conspiracy.?? Britannia 5(1974): 303-9.

Van Dam, Raymond. Leadership and Community in Late Antique Gaul.Berkeley, 1985.

Warmington, B.H. ?The Career of Romanus, Comes Africae.? ByzantinischeZeitschrift 49 (1956): 55-64.

Notes

For a survey of the primary source for Valentinian I, see A.H.M.Jones, J.R. Martindale, and J. Morris, The Prospography of the LaterRoman Empire, Volume 1 A.D. 260-395 (Cambridge, 1971), s.v. ?FlaviusValentinianus 7 [hereafter cited as PLRE 1]; and Karl Mittelhaus andKonrat Ziegler, eds. Paulys Realencyclop?die der classischenAltertumswissenschaft, 2nd ed. Volume 14 (Munich, 1948), s.v.?Valentinianus 1,? by Assunta Nagl.

For the date see Ammianus Marcellinus, Rerum gestarum libri quisupersunt, 30.6.6, ed. W. Seyfarth, 3 vols. (Leipzig, 1978); Socrates,Historia Ecclesiastica, 4.31, in Patrologia Graeca 67, ed. J.P. Migne(Paris 1864); and Sozomen, Historia Ecclesiastica, 6.31, in PatrologiaGraeca 67, ed. J.P. Migne (Paris 1864). For the place see Ammianus30.7.2; Zosimus, 3.36.2; Socrates 4.1; Jerome, Chronicon, Olympiad 285.4,ed. R. Helm in Malcolm Drew Donalson, A Translation of Jerome?s Chroniconwith Historical Commentary (Lewiston, NY, 1996), 112; and Epitome decaesaribus, 45.2, ed. F.R. Pichlmayr (Leipzig, 1961).

Ammianus 30.7.1-3.

Ibid., 16.11.6-7.

PLRE 1 s.v. ?Marina Severa 2;? ?Justina;? ?Justa 1;? and ?Galla 2.?

Ammianus 25.8.8-10.

Ibid., 25.10.6.

Ibid., 25.8.11-12.

Ibid., 25.10.6-9. Zosimus 3.35.1-2 relates basically the same story,but says that Valentinian?s party was sent to Pannonia in order to informthe army there of Julian?s death. The Batavi legion in Pannonia regardedJovian as a usurper and attacked the envoys. Valentinian only escapeddeath by running away.

Ammianus 25.10.13; Consularia Constantinopolitana, 364.2, T.Mommsen ed., in Monumenta Germaniae Historica Auctores Antiquissimi,Volume 9 (Berlin, 1892); and PLRE I, s.v. ?Fl. Jovianus 3.?

Ammianus 26.1.3-6.

Ibid., 26.1.7-14.

Ibid., 26.2.1.

Ibid., 26.2.2-11.

Ibid., 26.4.1-2.

Ibid., 24.6.3; 26.5.1.

Ibid., 26.5.2-3.

Ibid., 26.5.5; Zosimus 4.3.1; and Theoderet, HistoriaEcclesiastica, 5.5, in Patrologia Graeca 82, ed. J.P. Migne (Paris 1864).

Ammianus 26.5.4-5.

Ibid., 26.5.7.

Ibid., 26.5.8. Three laws actually put Valentinian in Paris betweenOct. 18 and Dec. 12. Codex Theodosianus, 8.1.11; 10.19.3; 11.1.13, T.Mommsen, P.M. Meyer, and P. Kr?ger, eds. Theodosiani libri XVI cumconstitutionibus sirmondianis et leges novellae ad Theodosianumpertinentes, 2 vols., (Berlin, 1905).

Ammianus 26.8-13.

J.W.E. Pearce, Roman Imperial Coinage: Vol. 9 Valentinian I toTheodosius I, eds. Harold Mattingly, C.H.V. Sutherland, and R.A.G. Carson(London, 1972), 13-21; 34-47; 54-67.

Ammianus 27.7.1-5; 27.2.1-11.

Ibid., 27.10.1-16.

Ibid., 28.2.1-9. For a discussion of the archaeological evidencewhich supports the literary accounts of Valentinian?s program see Jo?lleNapoli, ?Ultimes fortifications du limes,? in L?arm?e romaine et lesbarbares du IIIe au VIIe si?cle, eds. Fran?oise Vallet and MichelKazanski (Paris, 1993), 67-76; and J?rgen Oldenstein, ?La fortificationd?Alzey et la d?fense de la fronti?re romaine le long du Rhine au IVe etau Ve si?cles,? in ibid., 125-33.

Ammianus 28.5.1-7.

Ibid., 28.5.8-14.

Ibid., 29.4.1-7.

Ibid., 30.3.1-6.

Ibid., 27.8.1-5; 27.6.1-16. For the problems of chronology withthese events see Roger Tomlin, ?The Date of the ?Barbarian Conspiracy?,?Britannia 5 (1974): 304-5; and R.C. Blockley, ?The Date of the ?BarbarianConspiracy?,? Britannia 11 (1980): 223-4.

Ammianus, 27.8.3; 27.10.6.

Ibid., 27.8.6-10.

Ibid., 28.3.1-9; see J.G.F. Hind, ?The British ?Provinces? ofValentia and Orcades,? Historia 24 (1975): 101-11; and E.A. Thompson,?Ammianus Marcellinus and Britain,? Nottingham Medieval Studies 34(1990): 1-15.

Ammianus 28.3.9.

Ibid., 29.5.1-55; for details of the campaign see John F. Matthews,"Mauretania in Ammianus and the Notitia," in Aspects of the "NotitiaDignitatum", eds. R. Goodburn and P. Bartholomew (Oxford, 1976), 157-86.

Ammianus 29.6.1-16.

Ibid., 30.5.1-15.

Ibid., 30.6.1-6.

Ibid., 29.4.1; Zosimus 4.3.4-5; Thomas S. Burns, Barbarians withinthe Gates of Rome: A Study of Roman Military Policy and the Barbarians,ca. 375-425 A.D. (Bloomington, 1994): 1-42; Ernest Stein, Histoire dubas-empire, trans. Jean-Remy Palanque (Amsterdam, 1968), 181-3.

Burns, Barbarians within the Gates, 294, n.4.

John F. Matthews, Western Aristocracies and Imperial Court A.D.364-425 (Oxford, 1975), 30-55; idem, The Roman Empire of Ammianus(London, 1989), 284-6; A.H.M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire 284-602: ASocial, Economic, and Administrative Survey, Volume 1 (Norman, 1964),138-54; and A.H.M. Jones, ?The Social Background of the Struggle betweenPaganism and Christianity,? in The Conflict Between Paganism andChristianity in the Fourth Century, ed. Arnaldo Momigliano (Oxford,1963), 17-37. For a contrary view see Andreas Alf?ldi, A Conflict ofIdeas in the Late Roman Empire: The Clash Between the Senate andValentinian I, trans. Harold Mattingly (Oxford, 1952).

Ammianus 30.9.5.

Sozomen 6.7.

CTh 16.5.3.

Ibid. 16.6.1.

Jerome, Chronicon, Olympiad 286.1, ed. R. Helm, in Malcolm DrewDonalson, A Translation of Jerome?s Chronicon with Historical Commentary(Lewiston, NY, 1996), 113.

Sozomen 6.6; Orosius, 7.32, states that Valentinian voluntarilywent into exile.

Socrates 4.30; Sozomen 6.24; and Theoderet 5.6.

CTh 16.1.1.

Ibid., 16.2.20.

Ibid., 16.2.18.

Ibid., 16.2.21.

Ibid., 11.1.13.

CIL, 6.1175; CTh 9.16.5.

Ammianus 28.1.10-12.

Ibid., 28.1.16; 28.1.29.

Ibid., 28.1.16; 28.1.26.

Ibid., 28.1.11; CTh 9.16.10.

Ibid., 6.37.1.

Ibid., 6.35.7.

Ibid., 6.7.1; 6.9.1; 6.11.1; 6.14.1; and 6.22.4.

Ibid., 11.1.15.

Ammianus 28.6.1-18.

CTh 11.1.16.

Ammianus 26.5.13.

Ibid., 29.5.10. For the social implications of Firmus? revolt seeB.H. Warmington, ?The Career of Romanus, Comes Africae,? ByzantinischeZeitschrift 49 (1956): 55-64; and John F. Matthews, ?Symmachus and themagister militum Theodosius,? Historia 20 (1971): 122-8.

Ammianus 30.5.5-10.

Ibid., 28.2.10.

Raymond Van Dam, Leadership and Community in Late Antique Gaul(Berkeley, 1985), 7-24.

Copyright (C) 1998, Walter E. Roberts. This file may be copied on thecondition that the entire contents, including the header and thiscopyright notice, remain intact.

Valentinian married Justina. Justina (daughter of Valerius Licinianus Licinius) was born in 330; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• _UID: 0A16AD5C5EBF46F48C98B2E740CF3B49D05C

Notes:

Justinia was the second wife of the Roman Emperor Valentinian I andmother of the Roman Emperor Valentinian II.