Flavius Placidius Valentinianus (Flavii) Augustus (419 - 455)

Born 2 Jul 0419 in Ravenna, Western Roman Empire

Ancestors

Husband of Licinia Eudoxia Theodosian — married 29 Oct 0437 (to 16 Mar 0455) in Constantinople

Descendants

Died 16 Mar 0455 at age 35 in Rome, Western Roman Empire

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Valentian III (Flavii) Augustus was a member of aristocracy in ancient Europe. Join: Medieval Project Discuss: medieval

Biography

Name: Flavius Placidius Valentinianus Augustus Gens: Flavii Dynasty: Theodosian

Birth, Parents, Family

Born Flavius Placidius Valentinianus Augustus on 2 July 419, he reigned as Valentinian III from 425 to his death on 16 March, 455. ^[1]

Valentinian was born in the western capital of Ravenna, the only son of Galla Placidia and Flavius Constantius. His mother was the younger half-sister of the western emperor Honorius, while his father was at the time a Patrician and the power behind the throne. ^[1]

Through his mother, Valentinian was a descendant both of Theodosius I, who was his maternal grandfather, and of Valentinian I, who was the father of his maternal grandmother. It was also through his mother's side of the family that he was the nephew of Honorius and first cousin to Theodosius II (the son of Honorius' brother Arcadius), who was eastern emperor for most of Valentinian's life. Valentinian had a full sister, Justa Grata Honoria, who was probably born in 417 or 418 (the history of Paul the Deacon mentions her first when mentioning the children of the marriage, suggesting she was the eldest. His mother had previously been married to Ataulf of the Visigoths, and had borne a son, Theodosius, in Barcelona in 414; but the child had died early in the following year, thus eliminating an opportunity for a Romano-Visigothic line. ^[1]

Infancy and Regency

In either 421 or 423, Valentinian was given the title of Nobilissimus by Honorius, but which was not initially recognized in the eastern court of Theodosius II. After the death of his father in 421, Valentinian followed his mother and his sister (Justa Grata Honoria) to Constantinople, when court intrigue saw Galla Placidia forced to flee from her half-brother, Emperor Honorius, and the young Valentinian went to live at the court of his cousin Theodosius II. ^[1]

In 423, Honorius died, and the usurper Joannes took power in Rome. To counter this threat to his power, Theodosius belatedly recognised Valentinian's father as Augustus and nominated the 5-year-old Valentinian Caesar of the West in October 23, 424. Theodosius also betrothed him to his own daughter Licinia Eudoxia (whom Valentinian would eventually marry in 437 when he was 18). It was only in the following year, after Joannes had been defeated in a combined naval and land campaign, that Valentinian was installed by the eastern patricius et magister officiorum Helion as Western Emperor in Rome, on October 23, 425, at the age of six.^[1]

Given his minority, the new Augustus ruled under the regency of his mother Galla Placidia, one of whose first acts was to install Felix as the Magister utriusque militiae in the west. Her regency lasted until 437, and, for the duration, Theodosius II gave her his full support. This period was marked by a vigorous imperial policy and an attempt to stabilize the western provinces as far as the stretched resources of the empire could manage.^[1]

Galla Placidia's regency came to an end in 437 when Valentinian travelled to Constantinople to marry his fiancée, Licinia Eudoxia. On his return to Rome, he was nominally the emperor, but in truth the management of imperial policy in the west was in the hands of Aëtius.

Reign

Wikipedia reports that his reign was marked by the ongoing dismemberment of the Western Empire. ^[1]

In summary, Rome was in conflict with the Huns to the north, the Visigoths in Gaul, and the Vandals first in Hispania and then in North Africa. With each victory by their enemies, Rome ruled less territory and its tax base was depleted, reducing its capacity to arm and pay its troops. To compound matters, constant struggles among the leaders in Rome prevented the development of any stable response to these challenges.^[1]

The fall of Carthage on 19 October 439 was a major blow because taxes and foodstuffs from these wealthy provinces supported Rome. By 440, Vandal fleets were ravaging Sicily and Aëtius coordinated a joint response with the eastern court, which saw large numbers of troops arriving in Sicily, with the intent of attacking Gaiseric.^[1]

These plans were abandoned when pressure from the Huns forced the transfer of these troops to the Danube to repulse the Hunnic invasions. Therefore, in 442, Aëtius and Valentinian were forced to acknowledge the Vandal conquests of Proconsular Africa, Byzacena, and western Numidia, in exchange for which Rome was returned the now devastated provinces of Tripolitana, Mauretania Sitifensis, Mauretania Caesariensis, and part of Numidia. Regardless, however, Gaiseric had soon retaken Mauretania Sitifensis and Mauretania Caesariensis, as well as taking Sardinia and Corsica, and conducting devastating raids on Sicily.^[1]

Therefore, Aëtius was determined that, if they could not prevent Gaiseric wreaking havoc by military means, that perhaps linking him to the imperial dynasty would be the next best thing. Consequently, sometime before 446, he convinced Valentinian to agree to a marriage between his eldest daughter, Eudocia, and Gaiseric's son, Huneric. Unfortunately, Huneric was already married to the daughter of the king of the Visigoths, so the idea was abandoned.^[1]

Spain as well continued to slip away from imperial control during the early to mid 440s as the Suebi extended their control. By 444, all the Spanish provinces bar Hispania Tarraconensis had been lost to the Germanic tribe and even Tarraconensis was under pressure due to continued Bagaudic uprisings. As a consequence of these territorial losses, by the mid 440s the state was experiencing severe financial problems, with the government openly acknowledging that there was insufficient revenue to meet the military needs of the Roman state. ^[1]

The Huns continued to pressure the Danubian provinces in the 440s. Sometime before 449, Valentinian granted the honorary title of Magister militum of the western empire upon their chieftain, Attila the Hun, and the western court was relieved when he concentrated on raiding the eastern empire's provinces in the Balkans from 441 through to 449. In 449, Attila received a message from Honoria, Valentinian III's sister, offering him half the western empire if he would rescue her from an unwanted marriage that her brother was forcing her into.^[1]

Attila had been looking for a pretext for invading the West and was allegedly bribed by the Vandal king Gaiseric to attack the Visigoths in Gaul. In 450, he invaded the Gallic provinces, after securing peace with the eastern court.Valentinian was furious over the invasion. The man Honoria sent to Attila with the offer was tortured to reveal all the details of the arrangement and then beheaded. It took a great deal of persuading for Valentinian's mother to get her son to agree to spare his sister's life.^[1]

In early 451, Attila crossed the Rhine and entered the Belgic provinces, capturing Divodurum Mediomatricum on April 7, 451, Aëtius gathered together a coalition of forces, including Visigoths and Burgundians, and raced to prevent Attila from taking the city of Aurelianum, successfully forcing the Huns to beat a hasty retreat. The Roman-Germanic forces met Hunnic forces at the Battle of Châlons, resulting in a victory for Aëtius, who sought to retain his position by allowing Attila and a significant number of his troops to escape.^[1]

This allowed Attila to regroup, and, in 452, Attila invaded Italy. He sacked and destroyed Aquileia and took Verona and Vincentia as well. Aëtius was shadowing the Huns but did not have the troops to attack, so the road to Rome was open. Although Ravenna was Valentinian's usual residence, he and the court eventually moved back to Rome, where he was as Attila approached.^[1]

Valentinian sent Pope Leo I and two leading senators to negotiate with Attila. This embassy, combined with a plague among Attila's troops, the threat of famine, and news that the Eastern Emperor Marcian had launched an attack on Hun homelands along the Danube, forced Attila to turn around and leave Italy. The death of Attila in Pannonia in 453 and the power struggle that erupted between his sons ended the Hunnic threat to the empire.^[1]

455 Assassination

With the Hun invasion thwarted, Valentinian felt secure enough to begin plotting to have Aëtius killed, egged on by Petronius Maximus, a high ranking senator who bore Aëtius a personal grudge and his chamberlain, the eunuch Heraclius. Aëtius, whose son had married Valentinian's youngest daughter, Placidia, was murdered by Valentinian on 21 September 454. The ancient historian Priscus reported that Aëtius was presenting a financial statement before the Emperor when Valentinian suddenly leapt from his throne and accused him of drunken depravity. He held him responsible for the empire's tribulations and accused him of plotting to take the empire away from him. Valentinian then drew his sword and together with Heraclius, rushed at the weaponless Aëtius and struck him on the head, killing him on the spot. When Valentinian later boasted that he had done well to dispose of Aëtius in such a way, a counselor famously replied "Whether well or not, I do not know. But know that you have cut off your right hand with your left." ^[1]

On March 16 of the following year, however, the emperor himself was assassinated in Rome by two Scythian followers of Aëtius: Optelas and Thraustelas. According to Priscus, these men were put up to it by Petronius Maximus, whose aims of political advancement were thwarted by Heraclius.[45] He may also have been taking revenge for the rape of his wife Lucina by Valentinian. The assassination occurred as Valentinian rode his horse on the Campus Martius. As the emperor dismounted to practise archery, the conspirators attacked. Optelas struck Valentinian on the side of the head, and when he turned to see who had hit him, Optelas delivered the death-blow. Meanwhile, Thraustelas slew Heraclius. Priscus reports a curious occurrence: as the emperor lay dead, a swarm of bees appeared and sucked up his blood.^[1]

Petronius Maximus

The day after the assassination Petronius Maximus had himself proclaimed emperor by the remnants of the Western Roman army after paying a large donative. He was not as prepared as he thought to take over and stabilize the depleted empire, however; after a reign of only 11 weeks, Maximus was stoned to death by a Roman mob. King Gaiseric and his Vandals captured Rome a few days later and sacked it for two weeks. ^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19} Wikipedia: Valentinian III Accessed 3/26/2019 jhd

See also:

• Space: Later Roman Empire