Flavius Odoacer
King of Italy
Coin of Odoacer, Ravenna, 477, with Odoacer in profile, depicted with a "barbarian" moustache.
Reign	476–493
Born	c. 433
Died	493
Place of death	Ravenna
Predecessor	None (Title created after abolishment of Western Roman Empire)
Successor	Theodoric the Great
Father	Edeko
Religious beliefs	Arianism

Flavius Odoacer (433^[1]–493), also known as Flavius Odovacer, was a barbarian soldier, who after 476 became the first barbarian King of Italy. His reign is commonly seen as marking the end of the Western Roman Empire.^[2] Though the real power in Italy was in his hands, he represented himself as the client of Julius Nepos and, after Nepos' death in 480, of the Emperor in Constantinople. Odoacer generally used the Roman honorific patrician, granted by the Emperor Zeno, but is referred to as a king (Latin rex) in many documents and he himself used it at least once and on another occasion it was used by the consul Basilius.^[3] Odoacer introduced few important changes into the administrative system of Italy. He had the support of the Senate at Rome and was able to distribute land to his followers without much opposition. Unrest among his warriors led to violence in 477–478, but no such disturbances occurred during the later period of his reign. Although Odoacer was an Arian Christian, he rarely intervened in the affairs of the Orthodox Church.^{[citation needed]}

Biography[link]

Odoacer was a Germanic (Scirii) foederati general in Italy^[4][5][6][7] who led the revolt of Herulian, Rugian, and Scirian soldiers that deposed Romulus Augustulus on 4 September 476 CE. Augustulus had been declared Western Emperor by his father, the rebellious general of the army in Italy, less than a year before, but had been unable to gain allegiance or recognition beyond central Italy, With the backing of the Roman Senate, Odoacer thenceforth ruled Italy autonomously, paying lip service to the authority of Julius Nepos, the last Western emperor, and Zeno the emperor of the East. Upon Nepos' murder in 480 Odoacer invaded Dalmatia (in present Croatia), to punish the assassins. He did so, executing the conspirators, but within two years also conquered the region and incorporated it into his domain.^{[citation needed]}

When Illus, master of soldiers of the Eastern Empire, asked for Odoacer’s help in 484 in his struggle to depose Zeno, Odoacer invaded Zeno’s westernmost provinces. The emperor responded first by inciting the Rugi of present Austria to attack Italy. During the winter of 487–488 Odoacer crossed the Danube and defeated the Rugi in their own territory.^{[citation needed]}

Zeno also appointed the Ostrogoth Theodoric, who was menacing the borders of the Eastern Empire to be king of Italy, turning one troublesome nominal vassal against another. Theodoric invaded Italy in 489 and by August 490 had captured almost the entire peninsula, forcing Odoacer to take refuge in Ravenna. The city surrendered on 5 March 493; Theodoric invited Odoacer to a banquet and there killed him.^{[citation needed]}

Legacy[link]

Odoacer is the earliest ruler of Italy for whom an autograph of any of his legal acts has survived to the current day. The larger portion of a record of Odoacer granting properties in Sicily and the island of Melita on the Adriatic coast to Pierius, and issued in 488, was written in his reign.^{[citation needed]}

Ethnic affiliation[link]

The name Odoacer is derived from the Germanic Audawakrs, meaning "watchful of wealth" ^[8]

Except for the fact that he was not considered "Roman," Odoacer's ethnic origins are not completely known. Both the Anonymus Valesianus and John of Antioch state his father's name was Edeko; who were for some time the chief of the Germanic Scirii. however, it is unclear whether this Edeko is identical to one—or both—men of the same name who lived at this time: one was an ambassador of Attila to the court in Constantinople, and escorted Priscus and other Imperial dignitaries back to Attila's camp; the other, according to Jordanes, is mentioned with Hunulfus as chieftains of the Scirii, who were soundly defeated by the Ostrogoths at the river Bolia in Pannonia sometime in the late 460s.^[9] Since Sebastian Tillemont in the 17th century, all three have been considered to be the same person, Jordanes describes Odoacer as king of the Turcilingi (Turc-ilingi or Torcilingorum rex).^[10] However, in his Romana Jordanes also describes him as a member of the Rugii (Odoacer genere Rogus).^[11] The Consularia Italica calls him king of the Heruli, while Theophanes appears to be guessing when he calls him a Goth.^[12] Marcellinus Comes calls him "the king of the Goths" (Odoacer rex Gothorum).^[13]

Before Italy[link]

Possibly the earliest recorded incident involving Odoacer is from a fragment of a chronicle preserved in the Decem Libri Historiarum of Gregory of Tours. Two chapters of his work recount, in a confused or confusing manner, a number of battles fought by King Childeric I of the Franks, Aegidius, Count Paul, and one "Adovacrius" or "Odovacrius". If this is an account of Aegidius' victory over the Visigoths, otherwise known from the Chronicle of Hydatius, then this occurred in 463. Reynolds and Lopez in their article mentioned above, suggested that this "Adovacrius" or "Odovacrius" may be the same person as the future king of Italy.^[14] This suggestion has been accepted by some scholars; it appears to explain why Lewis Thorpe named this person "Odoacer" in his translation of Gregory's work.^[15]

The first certain act recorded for Odoacer was shortly before he arrived in Italy. Eugippius, in his Life of Saint Severinus, records how a group of barbarians on their way to Italy, had stopped to pay their respect to the holy man. Odoacer, at the time "a young man, of tall figure, clad in poor clothes", learned from Severinus that he would one day become famous. When Odoacer took his leave, Severinus made one final comment which proved prophetic: "Go to Italy, go, now covered with mean hides; soon you will make rich gifts to many."^[16]

[edit] Leader of the foederati

Romulus Augustus resigns the Crown (from an 1880 illustration).

By 470, Odoacer had become an officer in what remained of the Roman Army. Although Jordanes writes of Odoacer as invading Italy "as leader of the Sciri, the Heruli and allies of various races",^[10] modern writers describe him as being part of the Roman military establishment, based on John of Antioch's statement that Odoacer was on the side of Ricimer at the beginning of his battle with the emperor Anthemius in 472.^[17] Procopius goes as far as describing him as one of the Emperor's bodyguards.^[18]

When Orestes was in 475 appointed Magister militum and patrician by the Western Roman Emperor Julius Nepos, he became head of the Germanic foederati of Italy (the Scirian – Herulic foederati). However, Orestes proved to be ambitious, and before the end of that year Orestes had driven Nepos from Italy. Orestes then proclaimed his young son Romulus the new emperor as Romulus Augustus, called "Augustulus" (31 October).^[19] However, Nepos set up his court in Salona, Dalmatia and received homage and affirmation from the remaining fragments of the Western Empire beyond Italy and, most importantly, from Constantinople, which refused to accept Augustulus and branded him and his father traitors and usurpers.

About this time the foederati, who had been quartered on the Italians all of these years, had grown weary of this arrangement. In the words of J. B. Bury, "They desired to have roof-trees and lands of their own, and they petitioned Orestes to reward them for their services, by granting them lands and settling them permanently in Italy".^[20] Orestes refused their petition, and they turned to Odoacer to lead their revolt against Orestes. Orestes was killed at Placentia and his brother Paulus outside Ravenna. The Germanic foederati, the Scirians and the Heruli, as well as a large segment of the Italic Roman army, then proclaimed Odoacer rex Italiae ("king of Italy").^[20] In 476 Odoacer advanced to Ravenna and captured the city, compelling the young emperor Romulus to abdicate on September 4. According to the Anonymus Valesianus, Odoacer was moved by Romulus' youth and his beauty to not only spare his life but give him a pension of 6,000 solidii and sent him to Campania to live with his relatives.^[21]

Following Romulus Augustus' deposition, according to the historian Malchus, upon hearing of the ascension of Zeno to throne, the Senate in Rome sent an embassy to the Eastern Emperor and bestowed upon him the Western imperial insignia. The message was clear: the West no longer required a separate Emperor, for "one monarch sufficed [to rule] the world". In response, Zeno accepted their gifts observing "the Western Romans had received two men from the Eastern Empire and had driven out one and killed the other, Anthemius." The Eastern Emperor conferred upon Odoacer the title of Patrician and granted him legal authority to governing Italy in the name of Rome. Zeno also suggested that Odoacer should receive Nepos back as Emperor in the West "if he truly wished to act with justice."^[22] Although he accepted the title of Patrician, Odoacer did not invite Julius Nepos to return to Rome, and the latter remained in Dalmatia until his death. Odoacer was careful to observe form, however, and made a pretence of acting on Nepos' authority, even issuing coins with his image. Following Nepo's murder in 480, Zeno legally abolished the co-emperorship and ruled as sole Emperor.

Although Bury disagrees that Odoacer's assumption of power marked the fall of the Roman Empire:

"It stands out prominently as an important stage in the process of the dismemberment of the Empire. It belongs to the same catalogue of chronological dates which includes A.D. 418, when Honorius settled the Goths in Aquitaine, and A.D. 435, when Valentinian ceded African lands to the Vandals. In A.D. 476 the same principle of disintegration was first applied to Italy. The settlement of Odovacar's East Germans, with Zeno's acquiescence, began the process by which Italian soil was to pass into the hands of Ostrogoths and Lombards, Franks and Normans. And Odovacar's title of king emphasised the significance of the change."^[23]

King of Italy[link]

Odoacer's Kingdom in 480 AD, after he annexed Sicily and Dalmatia.

Odoacer solidus struck in the name of Emperor Zeno. This coin testifies to the formal submission of Odoacer to Zeno.

In 476, Odoacer became the first barbarian King of Italy, initiating a new era. Unlike most of the last emperors, he acted decisively. According to Jordanes, at the beginning of his reign he "slew Count Bracila at Ravenna that he might inspire a fear of himself among the Romans."^[24] He took many military actions to strengthen his control over Italy and its neighboring areas. He achieved a solid diplomatic coup by inducing the Vandal king Gaiseric to cede to him Sicily. Noting that "Odovacar seized power in August of 476, Geiseric died in January of 477, and the sea usually became closed to navigation around the beginning of November", F.M. Clover dates this cession to September or October 476.^[25] When Julius Nepos was murdered by two of his retainers in his country house near Salona (May, 480), Odovacar assumed the duty of pursuing and executing the assassins, and at the same time established his own rule in Dalmatia.^[26]

As Bury points out, "It is highly important to observe that Odovacar established his political power with the co-operation of the Roman Senate, and this body seems to have given him their loyal support throughout his reign, so far as our meagre sources permit us to draw inferences." He regularly nominated members of the Senate to the Consulate and other prestigious offices: "Basilius, Decius, Venantius, and Manlius Boethius held the consulship and were either Prefects of Rome or Praetorian Prefects; Symmachus and Sividius were consuls and Prefects of Rome; another senator of old family, Cassiodorus, was appointed a minister of finance."^[23] A.H.M. Jones also notes that under Odoacer the Senate acquired "enhanced prestige and influence", in order to counter any desires for restoration of Imperial rule. The most tangible example of this renewed prestige was that, for the first time since the mid-third century copper coins were issues with the legend S(enatus) C(onsulto). Jones describes these pieces as "fine big copper pieces", which were "a great improvement on the miserable little nummi hitherto current", and not only were copied by the Vandals in Africa, but formed the basis of Anastasius' currency reform in the Eastern Empire.^[27]

Although Odoacer was an Arian Christian, his relations with the Roman Catholic church hierarchy were remarkably good. As G.M. Cook notes in her introduction to Magnus Felix Ennodius' Life of Saint Epiphanius, he showed great esteem for Bishop Epiphanius: in response to the bishop's petition, Odoacer granted the inhabitants of Liguria a five-year immunity from taxes, and again granted his requests for relief from abuses by the praetorian prefect. "One wonders at his [Ennodius'] brevity," observes Cook. "To the thirteen years of Odovacar's mastery of Italy... a period which embraced nearly half the episcopate of Epiphanius -- Ennodius devotes but eight sections of the vita (101-107), five of which are taken up with the restoration of the churches." Cook uses Ennodius' brevity as an argumentum ex silentio to prove Odoacer was very supportive of the Catholic Church. "Ennodius was a loyal supporter of Theodoric. Any oppression, therefore, on the part of Odovacar would not be passed over in silence." She concludes that Ennodius' silence "may be construed as an unintentional tribute to the moderation and tolerance of the barbarian king."^[28] The biography of Pope Felix III in the Liber Pontificalis openly states that the pontiff's tenure fell during Odoacer's reign without any complaints about the king.^[29]

In 487 Odoacer led his army to victory against the Rugians in Noricum, taking their king Feletheus into captivity; when word that Feletheus' son, Fredericus, had returned to his people, Odoacer sent his brother Onoulphus with an army back to Noricum against him. Onoulphus found it necessary to evacuate the remaining Romans and resettled them in Italy.^[30] The remaining Rugians fled and took refuge with the Ostrogoths; the abandoned province was settled by the Lombards by 493.^[31]

Fall and death[link]

As Odoacer's position improved, Zeno, the Eastern Emperor, increasingly saw Odoacer as a rival. According to John of Antioch, Odoacer exchanged messages with Illus, who had been in revolt against Zeno since 484.^[32] Thus Zeno sought to destroy Odoacer, and promised Theodoric the Great and his Ostrogoths the Italian peninsula if they were to defeat and remove Odoacer. As both Herwig Wolfram and Peter Heather point out, Theodoric had his own reasons to agree to this offer: "Theodoric had enough experience to know (or at least suspect) that Zeno would not, in the long term, tolerate his independent power. When Theodoric rebelled in 485, we are told, he had in mind Zeno's treatment of Armatus. Armatus defected from Basilicus to Zeno in 476, and was made senior imperial general for life. Within a year, Zeno had had him assassinated."^[33]

In 489, Theodoric led the Ostrogoths across the Julian Alps and into Italy from the west. On 28 August, Odoacer met him at the Isonzo, only to be defeated. He withdrew to Verona, reaching its outskirts 27 September where he immediately set his men to throwing up a fortified camp. Theodoric followed him and three days later defeated him once again.^[34] While Odoacer took refuge in Ravenna, Theodoric continued across Italy to Mediolanum, where the majority of Odoacer's army, including his chief general Tufa, surrendered to the Visigothic king.^[35] Theodoric had no reason to doubt Tufa's loyalty and dispatched his new general to Ravenna with a band of elite soldiers, Herwig Wolfram observes. "But Tufa changed sides, the Gothic elite force entrusted to his command was destroyed, and Theodoric suffered his first serious defeat on Italian soil."^[36] Theodoric recoiled by seeking safety in Ticinum. Odoacer emerged from Ravenna and started to besiege his rival. While both were fully engaged, the Burgundians seized the opportunity to plunder and devastated Liguria. Many Romans were taken into captivity, and did not regain their freedom until Theodoric ransomed them three years later.^[36]

The following summer, the Visigothic king Alaric II demonstrated what Wolfram calls "one of the rare displays of Gothic solidarity" and sent military aid to help his kinsman, forcing Odoacer to raise his siege. Theodoric emerged from Ticinum, and on 11 August 490, the armies of the two kings clashed on the Adda River. Odoacer again was defeated and forced back into Ravenna, where Theoderic besieged him. Ravenna proved to be invulnerable, surrounded by marshes and estuaries and easily supplied by small boats from its hinterlands, as Procopius later pointed out in his History.^[37] Further, Tufa remained at large in the strategic valley of the Adige near Trent, and received unexpected reinforcements when dissent amongst Theodoric's ranks led to sizable desertions.^[38] That same year, the Vandals took their turn to strike while both sides were fully engaged, and invaded Sicily. While Theodoric was engaged with them, his ally Fredericus, king of the Rugians, began to oppress the inhabitants of Pavia, whom the latter's forces had been garrisoned to protect. Once Theodoric intervened in person in late August, 491, his punitive acts drove Fredericus to desert with his followers to Tufa. Eventually the two quarreled and fought a battle which led to both being killed.^[39]

By this time, however, Odoacer had to have lost all hope of victory. A large-scale sortie out of Ravenna on the night of 9/10 July 491 ended in failure, with the death of his commander-in-chief Livilia along with the best of his Herulian soldiers. On 29 August 492, the Goths were about to assemble enough ships at Rimini to set up an effective blockade of Ravenna. Despite these decisive losses, the war dragged on until 25 February 493 when John, bishop of Ravenna, was able to negotiate a treaty between Theodoric and Odoacer to occupy Ravenna together and share joint rule. After a three-year siege, Theodoric entered the city 5 March; Odoacer was dead ten days later, slain by Theodoric while they shared a meal.^[40] Theodoric had plotted to have a group of his followers kill him while the two kings were feasting together in the palace called Ad Laurentum ("At the Laurel Grove"); when this plan went astray, Theodoric drew his sword and struck him on the collarbone. In response to Odoacer's dying question, "Where is God?" Theodoric cried, "This is what you did to my friends." Theodoric was said to have stood over the body of his dead rival and exclaimed, "There certainly wasn't a bone in this wretched fellow."^[41]

According to one account, "That same day, all of Odoacer's army who could be found anywhere were killed by order of Theodoric, as well as all of his family."^[42] Odoacer's wife Sunigilda was stoned to death, and brother Onoulphus was killed by archers seeking refuge in a church. Theodoric exiled Odoacer's son Thela to Gaul, but when he attempted to return to Italy Theodoric had him killed.^[43]

The events around the Battle of Ravenna were used in the Germanic heroic saga of Dietrich von Bern (Theodoric of Verona). The event in which Theodoric kills Odoacer with his own hands is mirrored in the saga in the episode in which Dietrich kills the Dwarf King Laurin.

Odoacer's donation to Pierius[link]

Odoacer is the first ruler of Italy for whom the original text of any of his legal acts has survived. This is a grant by Odoacer to Pierius of properties in Sicily near Syracuse and on the island of Melita in Dalmatia, worth in total 690 solidi. The grant itself was made 18 March 488, but this document, which is on papyrus, was written shortly afterwards. The opening section is missing and the text is in two parts, one now in the Biblioteca Nazionale in Naples and the other in the Austrian National Library in Vienna, but the bulk of the act itself and the subscriptions by witnesses and officials survive.^[44]

Pierius, comes domesticorum, was given these properties as a reward for his achievements in the war against Theodoric. None of the parties involved in this transaction—not Pierius, Odoacer, nor the witnesses—could foresee that the recipient would die the following year in the battle of the Adda River.^[45]

Pierius' grant is the lone surviving document which has survived from the civic scriptorium of Syracuse prior to the Byzantine reconquest.^[46] Scipione Maffei made the unconfirmed assertion that both pieces were owned by the poet Giovanni Gioviano Pontano; it had already lost the beginning by then. The second part is known to have been in the possession of Cardinal Pasquale de Aragon during the 1660s, but Tjäder notes the two parts were reunited at the library of the Monastery of San Paolo in Naples in 1702. In 1718, the second part was presented to Emperor Charles VI in 1718, through whom that fragment found its way to Vienna.

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Odoacer

Ancient Germanic culture portal

• Germanic peoples
• Barbarian invasions

Notes[link]

Further reading[link]

v t e Kings of Italy between 476 and 963 Non-dynastic Odoacer (476–493) Ostrogoths Theodoric (493–526) Athalaric (526–534) Theodahad (534–536) Vitiges (536–540) Ildibad (540–541) Eraric (541) Totila (541–552) Teia (552–553) Byzantines Justinian I (as Emperor) (553–565) Lombards Alboin (565–572) Cleph (572–574) Interregnum (574–584) Authari (584–590) Agilulf (590–616) Adaloald (616–626) Arioald (626–636) Rothari (636-652) Rodoald (652–653) Aripert I (653–661) Godepert (661–662) Perctarit (661–662) Grimoald (662–671) Garibald (671) Perctarit (671–688) Cunipert (688–689) Alahis (689) Cunipert (689–700) Liutpert (700–702) Raginpert (701) Aripert II (702–712) Ansprand (712) Liutprand (712–744) Hildeprand (744) Ratchis (744–749) Aistulf (749–756) Desiderius (756–774) Carolingians Charles I (774–814) Pepin (781–810) Bernard (810–818) Lothair I (818–855) Louis I (855–875) Charles II (875–877) Carloman (877–879) Charles III (879–887) Arnulf (896–899) Ratold (896) Non-dynastic (title disputed 887–933) Unruochings: Berengar I (887–924) Guideschi: Guy (889–894) Lambert (891–897) Welfs: Rudolph (922–933) Bosonids: Louis II (900–905) Hugh (926–947) Lothair II (945–950) Anscarids: Berengar II (950–963) Adalbert (950–963)

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Mark A. Roeder is an American author. His work includes The Gay Youth Chronicles, a series of novels about growing up, discovering yourself, coming out, and falling in love. Set primarily in the fictional town of Verona, Indiana and spanning a twenty-year period, these novels explore the lives of a group of interrelated characters as they deal with issues of prejudice, hatred, violence and teen suicide.

To know Mark, all you really need to do is read his books. He's in there. He grew up in the country in southern Indiana, near small towns that were much like the fictional Verona that appears in his books. The high school he attended was very much like Verona High School. There were no openly gay boys in his school, but there was much prejudice and hate against homosexuals. Being called "gay" or "fag" was about the worst insult that could be hurled at anyone. He has no doubt that many of the fictional scenes in my book could well have happened in his old high school. All of Indiana tends to be fairly conservative and anyone who does not fit in the narrow mold of normalcy is largely considered an outcast. Being "outed" in his high school would have meant both being exposed, and being excluded, even exiled if you will.

He lived for a while in a small town in northern Indiana that is little different from the towns near where he grew up. Verona is a composite of all these towns. It is a town that could be located just about anywhere in the U.S., not just in Indiana. A few years ago he returned to his hometown in southern Indiana.

He gets a lot of questions about whether or not his characters are based upon himself. In many ways they are, especially those found in "Ancient Prejudice". Both Mark and Taylor were very much based upon himself, so much so that in early drafts they were far too much alike. He ended up splitting his personality between them, giving Mark his more confident and determined side and Taylor his more thoughtful and sensitive side. When you read the thoughts and feelings of these two boys, you are reading about Mark. He thinks every author puts much of himself in his characters. Most of what He is and believes can be found in his novels. Just about every single character has a touch of Mark in him.

Mark is a full-time writer and plans to keep on writing novels until he is no longer able to do so. There are always new characters and situations to explore. He has received a lot of letters from young and not so young gays telling him how much his books have touched them. It is for these individuals, and his self, that he writes.

The Gay Youth Chronicles[link]

The books are listed below in the suggested reading order by the author and not the chronological order of when they were written.

• Outfield Menace
• Snow Angel
• The Soccer Field is Empty
• Someone Is Watching
• A Better Place
• The Summer of My Discontent
• Disastrous Dates & Dream Boys
• Someone Is Killing The Gay Boys of Verona
• Keeper of Secrets
• Masked Destiny
• Do You Know That I Love You?
• Altered Realities
• Dead Het Boys
• This Time Around
• Phantom World
• The Vampire's Heart
• Second Star to the Right
• The Perfect Boy
• Graymoor Mansion B & B
• Shadows of Darkness
• Christmas at Graymoor

• Just Making Out
• Yesterday's Tomorrow
• The Heart of Graymoor
• Temptation University
• Ancient Prejudice, Break to New Mutiny

Ancient Prejudice was greatly expanded (by almost 200%) and retitled The Soccer Field is Empty. The expanded edition now included the thoughts and tellings of Taylor, Mark's boyfriend, as well as Mark. Both versions are still available.

Other Novels[link]

• The Vampire's Heart

Non-Fiction Writing[link]

• A History of Culver and The Culver Military Academy
• How to Make a Profit Buying & Selling Antiques & Collectibles Without Really Trying : The Almost Complete Guide to Antique Collecting

External links[link]

• Official website
• iUniverse Publishers (where you can read some of the books for free in "browse before you buy")

Kingdom of Italy
← 493–553 →
The Ostrogothic Kingdom at its greatest extent.
Capital	Ravenna (from 493 to 540)
Language(s)	Latin, Gothic
Religion	Arianism among the Goths, Chalcedonian Christianity among the Romans
Government	Monarchy
King
- 493–526	Theodoric the Great (first)
- 552–553	Teia (last)
Historical era	Late Antiquity
- Battles of Isonzo and Verona	489
- Fall of Ravenna	493
- Start of Gothic War	535
- Battle of Mons Lactarius	553

The Kingdom established by the Ostrogoths in Italy and neighbouring areas lasted from 493 to 553. In Italy the Ostrogoths replaced Odoacer, the de facto ruler of Italy who had deposed the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire in 476. The Gothic kingdom reached its zenith under the rule of its first king, Theodoric the Great. Most of the social institutions in the late Western Roman Empire were preserved during his rule. Starting in 535, the Byzantine Empire invaded Italy. The Ostrogothic ruler at that time, Witiges, could not defend successfully and was finally captured when the capital Ravenna fell. The Ostrogoths rallied around a new leader, Totila, and largely managed to reverse the conquest, but were eventually defeated. The last king of the Ostrogothic Kingdom was Teia. At its greatest extent the kingdom stretched from contemporary France in the west into modern Serbia in the southeast.

History[link]

Background[link]

The Ostrogoths[link]

The Ostrogoths were the eastern branch of the Goths. They settled and established a powerful state in Dacia, but during the late 4th century, they came under the dominion of the Huns. After the collapse of the Hunnic empire in 454, large numbers of Ostrogoths were settled by Emperor Marcian in the Roman province of Pannonia as foederati. But in 460, during the reign of Leo I, because the payment of annual sums had ceased, they ravaged Illyricum. Peace was concluded in 461, whereby the young Theodoric Amal, son of Theodemir of the Amals, was sent as a hostage to Constantinople, where he received a Roman education.^[1] In previous years, a large number of Goths, first under Aspar and then under Theodoric Strabo, had entered service in the Roman army and were a significant political and military power in the court of Constantinople. The period 477-483 saw a complex three-way struggle among Theodoric the Amal, who had succeeded his father in 474, Theodoric Strabo, and the new Eastern Emperor Zeno. In this conflict, alliances shifted regularly, and large parts of the Balkans were devastated by it. In the end, after Strabo's death in 481, Zeno came to terms with Theodoric. Parts of Moesia and Dacia ripensis were ceded to the Goths, and Theodoric was named magister militum praesentalis and consul for 484.^[2] However, barely a year later, Theodoric and Zeno fell out, and again Theodoric's Goths ravaged Thrace. It was then that the thought occurred to Zeno and his advisors to kill two birds with one stone, and direct Theodoric against another troublesome neighbor of the Empire - the Italian kingdom of Odoacer.

Odoacer's kingdom[link]

In 476, Odoacer, a Germanic magister militum, deposed the Western Emperor Romulus Augustulus and declared himself rex Italiae ("King of Italy"), while still nominally remaining under Imperial suzerainty. This fact was recognized by Zeno in 477, when he appointed Odoacer to the rank of patrician. Odoacer retained the Roman administrative system, cooperated actively with the Roman Senate, and his rule was efficient and successful. He evicted the Vandals from Sicily in 477, and in 480 he conquered Dalmatia after the murder of Julius Nepos.^[3][4]

The conquest of Italy by the Goths[link]

An agreement was reached between Zeno and Theodoric, stipulating that Theodoric, if victorious, was to rule in Italy as the emperor's representative.^[5] Theodoric with his people set out from Moesia in the autumn of 488, passed through Dalmatia and crossed the Julian Alps into Italy in late August 489. The first confrontation with the army of Odoacer was at the river Isonzo (the battle of Isonzo) on August 28. Odoacer was defeated and withdrew towards Verona, where a month later another battle was fought, resulting in a bloody, but crushing, Gothic victory. Odoacer fled to his capital at Ravenna, while the larger part of his army under Tufa surrendered to the Goths. Theodoric then sent Tufa and his men against Odoacer, but he changed his allegiance again and returned to Odoacer. In 490, Odoacer was thus able to campaign against Theodoric, take Milan and Cremona and besiege the main Gothic base at Ticinum (Pavia). At that point, however, the Visigoths intervened, the siege of Ticinum was lifted, and Odoacer decisively defeated at the river Adda on 11 August 490. Odoacer fled again to Ravenna, while the Senate and many Italian cities declared themselves for Theodoric.^[6]

The Goths now turned to besiege Ravenna, but since they lacked a fleet and the city could be resupplied by sea, the siege could be endured almost indefinitely, despite privations. It was not until 492 that Theodoric was able to procure a fleet and capture Ravenna's harbours, thus entirely cutting off communication with the outside world. The effects of this appeared six months later, when, with the mediation of the city's bishop, negotiations started between the two parties. An agreement was reached on 25 February 493, whereby the two should divide Italy between them. A banquet was organised in order to celebrate this treaty. It was at this banquet, on March 15, that Theodoric, after making a toast, killed Odoacer with his own hands. A general massacre of Odoacer's soldiers and supporters followed. Theodoric and his Goths were now masters of Italy.^[7]

The reign of Theodoric the Great[link]

The nature of Theodoric's rule[link]

Like Odoacer, Theodoric was ostensibly a patricius and subject of the emperor in Constantinople, acting as his viceroy for Italy, a position recognized by the new Emperor Anastasius in 497. At the same time, he was the king of his own people, who were not Roman citizens. In reality, he acted as an independent ruler, although unlike Odoacer, he meticulously preserved the outward forms of his subordinate position. The administrative machinery of Odoacer's kingdom, in essence that of the former Empire, was retained and continued to be staffed exclusively by Romans, such as the articulate and literate Cassiodorus. The Senate continued to function normally and was consulted on civil appointments, and the laws of the Empire were still recognized as ruling the Roman population, though Goths were ruled under their own traditional laws. Indeed, as a subordinate ruler, Theodoric did not possess the right to issue his own laws (leges) in the system of Roman law, but merely edicts (edicta), or clarifications on certain details.^[8] The continuity in administration is illustrated by the fact that several senior ministers of Odoacer, like Liberius and Cassiodorus the Elder, were retained in the new kingdom's top positions.^[9] The close cooperation between Theodoric and the Roman elite began to break down in later years, especially after the healing of the ecclesiastical rift between Rome and Constantinople (see below), as leading senators conspired with the Emperor. This resulted in the arrest and execution of the magister officiorum Boethius and his father-in-law, Symmachus, in 524.^[10]

On the other hand, the army and all military offices remained the exclusive preserve of the Goths. The Goths were settled mostly in northern Italy, and kept themselves largely apart from the Roman population, a tendency reinforced by their different faiths: the Goths were mostly Arians, while the people they ruled over were following Chalcedonian Christianity. Nevertheless, and unlike the Visigoths or the Vandals, there was considerable religious tolerance, which was also extended towards Jews.^[11] Theodoric's view was clearly expressed in his letters to the Jews of Genoa: "The true mark of civilitas is the observance of law. It is this which makes life in communities possible, and which separates man from the brutes. We therefore gladly accede to your request that all the privileges which the foresight of antiquity conferred upon the Jewish customs shall be renewed to you..."^[12] and "We cannot order a religion, because no one can be forced to believe against his will."^[13]

Relations with the Germanic states of the West[link]

Theodoric's Empire - Map depicting the Germanic kingdoms in 526, the year of Theodoric's death. Apart from Italy, Dalmatia and Provence, he exercised suzerainty over the Visigothic Kingdom.

It is in his foreign policy rather than domestic affairs that Theodoric appeared and acted as an independent ruler. By means of marriage alliances, he sought, to establish a central position among the barbarian states of the West. As Jordanes states: "...there was no race left in the western realms which Theoderic had not befriended or brought into subjection during his lifetime."^[14] This was in part meant as a defensive measure, and in part as a counterbalance to the influence of the Empire. His daughters were wedded to the Visigothic king Alaric II and the Burgundian prince Sigismund,^[15] his sister Amalfrida married the Vandal king Thrasamund,^[16] while he himself married Audofleda, sister of the Frankish king Clovis I.^[17]

These policies were not always successful in maintaining peace: Theodoric found himself at war with Clovis when the latter attacked the Visigoth dominions in Gaul in 506. The Franks were rapidly successful, killing Alaric in the Battle of Vouillé and subduing Aquitania by 507. However, starting in 508, Theodoric's generals campaigned in Gaul, and were successful in saving Septimania for the Visigoths, as well as extending Ostrogothic rule into southern Gaul (Provence) at the expense of the Burgundians. There in 510 Theodoric reestablished the defunct praetorian prefecture of Gaul. Now Theodoric had a common border with the Visigothic kingdom, where, after Alaric's death, he also ruled as regent of his infant grandson Amalaric.^[18]

Family bonds also served little with Sigismund, who as a staunch Chalcedonian Catholic cultivated close ties to Constantinople. Theodoric perceived this as a threat and intended to campaign against him, but the Franks acted first and invaded Burgundy in 523, quickly subduing it. Theodoric could only react by expanding his domains in the Provence north of the river Durance up to the Isère River.

The peace with the Vandals, secured in 500 with the marriage alliance with Thrasamund, and their common interests as Arian powers against Constantinople, collapsed after Thrasamund's death in 523. His successor Hilderic showed favour to the Nicaean Catholics, and when Amalfrida protested, he had her and her entourage murdered. Theodoric was preparing an expedition against him when he died.^[19]

Relations with the Empire[link]

Theodoric's relations with his nominal suzerain, the Eastern Roman Emperor, were always strained, for political as well as for religious reasons. Especially during the reign of Anastasius, these led to several collisions, none of which however escalated into general warfare. In 504-505, Theodoric's forces launched a campaign to recover Pannonia and the strategically important town of Sirmium, formerly parts of the praetorian prefecture of Italy, which were now occupied by the Gepids. The campaign was successful, but it also led to a brief conflict with imperial troops, where the Goths and their allies were victorious. Domestically, the Acacian schism between the patriarchates of Rome and Constantinople, caused by imperial support for the Henotikon, as well as Anastasius' Monophysite beliefs, played into Theodoric's hands, since the clergy and the Roman aristocracy of Italy, headed by Pope Symmachus, vigorously opposed them. Thus, for a time, Theodoric could count on their support. The war between the Franks and Visigoths led to renewed friction between Theodoric and the Emperor, as Clovis successfully portrayed himself as the champion of the Catholic Church against the "heretical" Arian Goths, gaining the Emperor's support. This even led to the dispatch of a fleet by Anastasius in 508, which ravaged the coasts of Apulia.^[20]

With the ascension of Justin I in 518, a more harmonious relationship seemed to be restored. Eutharic, Theodoric's son-in-law and designated successor, was appointed consul for the year 519, while in 522, to celebrate the healing of the Acacian schism, Justin allowed both consuls to be appointed by Theodoric.^[21] Soon, however, renewed tension would result from Justin's anti-Arian legislation, and tensions grew between the Goths and the Senate, whose members, as Chalcedonians, now shifted their support to the Emperor. The suspicions of Theodoric were confirmed by the interception of compromising letters between leading senators and Constantinople, which led to the imprisonment and execution of Boethius in 524. Pope John I was sent to Constantinople to mediate on the Arians' behalf, and, although he achieved his mission, on his return he was imprisoned and died shortly after. These events further stirred popular sentiment against the Goths.^[22]

Death of Theodoric and dynastic disputes[link]

After the death of Theodoric on 30 August 526, his achievements began to collapse. Since Eutharic had died in 523, Theodoric was succeeded by his infant grandson Athalaric, supervised by his mother, Amalasuntha, as regent. The lack of a strong heir caused the network of alliances that surrounded the Ostrogothic state to disintegrate: the Visigothic kingdom regained its autonomy under Amalaric, the relations with the Vandals turned increasingly hostile, and the Franks embarked again on expansion, subduing the Thuringians and the Burgundians and almost evicting the Visigoths from their last holdings in southern Gaul.^[23] The position of predominance which the Ostrogothic Kingdom had enjoyed under Theodoric in the West now passed irrevocably to the Franks.

This dangerous external climate was exacerbated by the regency's weak domestic position. Amalasuntha was Roman-educated and intended to continue her father's policies of conciliation between Goths and Romans. To that end, she actively courted the support of the Senate and the newly ascended Emperor Justinian I, even providing him with bases in Sicily during the Vandalic War. However, these ideas did not find much favour with the Gothic nobles, who in addition resented being ruled by a woman. They protested when she resolved to give her son a Roman education, preferring that Athalaric be raised as a warrior. She was forced to discharge his Roman tutors, but instead Athalaric turned to a life of dissipation and excess, which would send him to a premature death.^[24]

Eventually, a conspiracy started among the Goths to overthrow her. Amalasuntha resolved to move against them, but as a precaution, she also made preparations to flee to Constantinople, and even wrote to Justinian asking for protection. In the event she managed to execute the three leading conspirators, and her position remained relatively secure until, in 533, Athalaric's health began to seriously decline. Amalasuntha then turned for support to her only relative, her cousin Theodahad, while at the same time sending ambassadors to Justinian and proposing to cede Italy to him. Justinian indeed sent an able agent of his, Peter of Thessalonica, to carry out the negotiations, but before he had even crossed into Italy, Athalaric had died (on 2 October 534), Amalasuntha had crowned Theodahad as king in an effort to secure his support, and he had deposed and imprisoned her. Theodahad, who was of a peaceful disposition, immediately sent envoys to announce his ascension to Justinian and to reassure him of Amalasuntha's safety.^[25]

Justinian immediately reacted by offering his support to the deposed queen, but in early May 535, she was executed.^a[›] This crime served as a perfect excuse for Justinian, fresh from his forces' victory over the Vandals, to invade the Gothic realm in retaliation.^[26] Theodahad tried to prevent the war, sending his envoys to Constantinople, but Justinian was already resolved to reclaim Italy. Only by renouncing his throne in the Empire's favour could Theodahad hope to avert war.

The Gothic War and end of the Ostrogothic Kingdom[link]

This section requires expansion.

Rulers of the Ostrogothic Kingdom[link]

• Theodoric the Great (Thiudoric) 489-526
• Athalaric (Atthalaric) 526-534
• Theodahad (Thiudahad) 534-536
• Witiges (Wittigeis) 536-540
• Ildibad (Hildibad) 540-541
• Eraric the Rugian (Heraric, Ariaric) 541
• Totila (Baduila) 541-552
• Teia (Theia, Teja) 552-553

Culture[link]

Architecture[link]

The Palace of Theodoric, as depicted on the walls of St. Apollinare Nuovo. The figures between the columns, representing Theodoric and his court, were removed after the East Roman conquest.

Because of the kingdom's short history, no fusion of the two peoples and their art was achieved. However, under the patronage of Theodoric and Amalasuntha, large-scale restoration of ancient Roman buildings was undertaken, and the tradition of Roman civic architecture continued. In Ravenna, new churches and monumental buildings were erected, several of which survive. The Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, its baptistry, and the Archiepiscopal Chapel follow the typical late Roman architectural and decorative motifs, but the Mausoleum of Theodoric displays purely Gothic elements, such as its construction not from the usual brick, but of massive slabs of Istrian limestone, or the 300-ton single-piece roof stone.

Literature[link]

All of the surviving literature written in the Ostrogothic kingdom is in Latin,^{[citation needed]} though some older works were copied in Greek and Gothic (e.g. the Codex Argenteus), and the literature is solidly in the Greco-Roman tradition. Cassiodorus, hailing from a distinguished background, and himself entrusted with high offices (consul and magister officiorum) represents the Roman ruling class. Like many others of his background, he served Theodoric and his heirs loyally and well, something expressed in the writings of the period. In his Chronica, used later by Jordanes in his Getica, as well as in the various panegyrics written by him and other prominent Romans of the time for the Gothic kings, Roman literary and historical tradition is put in the service of their Gothic overlords. His privileged position enabled him to compile the Variae Epistolae, a collection of state correspondence, which gives great insight into the inner workings of the Gothic state. Boethius is another prominent figure of the period. Well-educated and also from a distinguished family, he wrote works on mathematics, music and philosophy. His most famous work, Consolatio philosophiae, was written while imprisoned on charges of treason.

In popular culture[link]

• The 1876 historical novel A Struggle for Rome by Felix Dahn (and its two-part screen adaptation in 1968 and 1969) focuses on the struggle between the Byzantines, the Ostrogoths and the native Italians over control of Italy after Theodoric's death.
• In the 1941 alternate history novel Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague de Camp, a modern archaeologist is transported through time to Ostrogothic Italy, helps to stabilise it after Theodoric's death and averts its conquest by Justinian.
• Guy Gavriel Kay's Sarantine Mosaic series takes place in a setting based on Ostrogothic Italy and the East Roman Empire, just before the Gothic War.
• Gary Jennings' 1993 novel Raptor documents the rise of Theodoric the Great and the Ostrogothic Kingdom through the eyes of his hermaphrodite confidant Thorn.

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

Sources[link]

Primary sources[link]

• Procopius, De Bello Gothico, Volumes I-IV
• Jordanes, De origine actibusque Getarum ("The Origin and Deeds of the Goths"), translated by Charles C. Mierow.
• Cassiodorus, Chronica
• Cassiodorus, Varia epistolae ("Letters"), at the Project Gutenberg
• Anonymus Valesianus, Excerpta, Pars II

Secondary sources[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ostrogoths

• Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Vol. IV, Chapters 41 & 43
• Amory, Patrick (2003). People and Identity in Ostrogothic Italy, 489-554. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-52635-7. 
• Barnwell, P. S. (1992). Emperor, Prefects & Kings: The Roman West, 395-565. UNC Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-2071-1. 
• Burns, Thomas S. (1984). A History of the Ostrogoths. Boomington. 
• Bury, John Bagnell (1923). History of the Later Roman Empire Vols. I & II. Macmillan & Co., Ltd.. http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/BURLAT/home.html. 
• Heather, Peter (1998). The Goths. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 978-0-631-20932-4. 
• Wolfram, Herwig; Dunlap, Thomas (1997). The Roman Empire and its Germanic peoples. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-08511-4. 

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2010)

Emperor of the Roman Empire
Former Monarchy
Imperial
Vexillum
Augustus
First monarch	Augustus
Last monarch	Theodosius I (Unified or Classical), Romulus Augustulus (Western), Constantine XI (Eastern)
Style	Imperator, Augustus, Caesar, Princeps, Dominus Noster, or Autokrator (depending on period)
Monarchy started	27 BC
Monarchy ended	AD 395 (Unified or Classical), AD 476 (Western), AD 1453 (Eastern)
Current pretender	None

The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period (starting at about 27 BC). The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor. If a man was "proclaimed emperor" this normally meant he was proclaimed augustus, or (for generals) imperator (from which English emperor ultimately derives). Several other titles and offices were regularly accumulated by emperors, such as caesar, princeps senatus, consul and Pontifex Maximus. The power of emperors was generally based on the accumulation of powers from republican offices and the support of the army.

Roman emperors refused to be considered "kings", instead claiming to be leaders of a republic, however nominal. The first emperor, Augustus, resolutely refused recognition as a monarch.^[1] Although Augustus could claim that his power was authentically Republican, his successor, Tiberius, could not convincingly make the same claim.^[2] Nonetheless, the Republican institutional framework (senate, consuls, magistracies etc.) was preserved until the very end of the Western Empire.

By the time of Diocletian, emperors were openly "monarchs",^[3] but the contrast with "kings" was maintained: Although the imperial succession was, de facto, generally hereditary, it was only hereditary if there was a suitable candidate acceptable to the army and the bureaucracy^[4] so the principle of automatic inheritance was not adopted. The Eastern (Byzantine) emperors ultimately adopted the formal title of Basileus, which had meant king in Greek, but became a title reserved solely for the "Roman" emperor (and the ruler of the Sassanid Empire). Other kings were referred to as regas.

In addition to their pontifical office, emperors were given divine status: initially after their death, but later from their accession. As Christianity prevailed over paganism, the emperor's religious status changed to that of Christ's regent on earth, and the Empire's status was seen as part of God's plan to Christianize the world.

The Western Roman Empire was dealt fatal blows by a set of military coups d'état in the Italian Peninsula in 475 and 476. The division of the empire into Western and Eastern was formally abolished as a separate entity by Emperor Zeno after the death of the last Western Emperor Julius Nepos in 480. Zeno's successors ruled from Constantinople (modern Istanbul) through the conquest of that city by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. The last Roman Emperor, Constantine XI died in hand to hand combat defending the capital. A dynasty of claimants maintained the Imperial tradition in the province of Chaldia through its conquest by the Ottomans in 1461.

Classical period[link]

Ancient Rome
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Roman Constitution
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Ordinary Magistrates
Consul Praetor Quaestor Promagistrate Aedile Tribune Censor Governor
Extraordinary Magistrates
Dictator Magister Equitum Consular tribune Rex Triumviri Decemviri
Titles and Honours
Emperor Legatus Dux Officium Praefectus Vicarius Vigintisexviri Lictor Magister militum Imperator Princeps senatus Pontifex Maximus Augustus Caesar Tetrarch
Precedent and Law
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Rome used no single constitutional office, title or rank exactly equivalent to the English title "Roman emperor". Romans of the Imperial era used several titles to denote their emperors, and all were associated with the pre-Imperial, Republican era. "Roman emperor" is a convenient shorthand used by historians to express the complex nature of the person otherwise known as princeps - itself a republican honorific.

The emperor's legal authority derived from an extraordinary concentration of individual powers and offices extant in the Republic rather than from a new political office; emperors were regularly elected to the offices of consul and censor. Among their permanent privileges were the traditional Republican title of princeps senatus (leader of the Senate) and the religious office of pontifex maximus (chief priest of Roman state). Every emperor held the latter office and title until Gratian surrendered it in 382 AD to St. Siricius; it eventually became an auxiliary honor of the Bishop of Rome.

These titles and offices conferred great personal prestige (dignitas) but the basis of an emperor's powers derived from his auctoritas: this assumed his greater powers of command (imperium maius) and tribunician power (tribunicia potestas) as personal qualities, independent of his public office. As a result, he formally outranked provincial governors and ordinary magistrates. He had the right to enact or revoke sentences of capital punishment, was owed the obedience of private citizens (privati) and by the terms of the ius auxiliandi could save any plebeian from any patrician magistrate's decision. He could veto any act or proposal of any magistrate, including the tribunes of the people (ius intercedendi or ius intercessionis). His person was held to be sacrosanct.

Roman magistrates on official business were expected to wear the form of toga associated with their office; different togas were worn by different ranks; senior magistrates had the right to togas bordered with purple. A triumphal imperator of the Republic had the right to wear the toga picta (of solid purple, richly embroidered) for the duration of the triumphal rite. During the Late Republic, the most powerful had this right extended. Pompey and Caesar are both thought to have worn the triumphal toga and other triumphal dress at public functions. Later emperors were distinguished by wearing togae purpurae, purple togas; hence the phrase "to don the purple" for the assumption of imperial dignity.

The titles customarily associated with the imperial dignity are imperator ("commander", lit. "one who prepares against"), which emphasizes the emperor's military supremacy and is the source of the English word emperor; caesar, which was originally a name but it came to be used for the designated heir (as Nobilissimus Caesar, "Most Noble Caesar") and was retained upon accession. The ruling emperor's title was the descriptive augustus ("majestic" or "venerable", which had tinges of the divine), which was adopted upon accession. In Greek, these three titles were rendered as autokratōr ("Αὐτοκράτωρ"), kaisar ("Καίσαρ"), and augoustos ("Αὔγουστος") or sebastos ("Σεβαστός") respectively. In Diocletian's Tetrarchy, the traditional seniorities were maintained: Augustus was reserved for the two senior emperors and Caesar for the two junior emperors - each delegated a share of power and responsibility but each an emperor-in-waiting, should anything befall his senior.

As princeps senatus (lit., "first man of the senate"), the emperor could receive foreign embassies to Rome; some emperors (such as Tiberius) are known to have delegated this task to the Senate. In modern terms these early emperors would tend to be identified as chiefs of state. The office of princeps senatus, however, was not a magistracy and did not own imperium. At some points in the Empire's history, the emperor's power was nominal; powerful praetorian prefects, masters of the soldiers and on a few occasions, other members of the Imperial family including Imperial mothers and grandmothers acted as the true source of power.

[edit] Imperator

The title imperator dates back to the Roman Republic, when a victorious commander could be hailed as imperator in the field by his troops. The Senate could then award (or withhold) the extraordinary honour of a triumph; the triumphal commander retained the title until the end of his magistry.^[5] Roman tradition held the first triumph as that of Romulus but the first attested recipient of the title imperator in a triumphal context is Aemilius Paulus in 189 BC.^[5] It was a title held with great pride: Pompey was hailed imperator more than once, as was Sulla, but it was Julius Caesar who first used it permanently - according to Dio, this was a singular and excessive form of flattery granted by the Senate, passed to Caesar's adopted heir along with his name and virtually synonymous with it.^[6]

In 38 BC Agrippa refused a triumph for his victories under Octavian's command and this precedent established the rule that the princeps should assume both the salutation and title of imperator. It seems that from then on Octavian (later first emperor Augustus) used imperator as a praenomen (Imperator Caesar not Caesar imperator). From this the title came to denote the supreme power and was commonly used in that sense. Otho was the first to imitate Augustus but only with Vespasian did imperator (emperor) become the official title by which the ruler of the Roman Empire was known.

[edit] Princeps

The word princeps (plural principes), meaning "first", was a republican term used to denote the leading citizen(s) of the state. It was a purely honorific title with no attached duties or powers. It was the title most preferred by Caesar Augustus as its use implies only primacy, as opposed to another of his titles, imperator, which implies dominance. Princeps, because of its republican connotation, was most commonly used to refer to the emperor in Latin (although the emperor's actual constitutional position was essentially "pontifex maximus with tribunician power and imperium superseding all others") as it was in keeping with the façade of the restored Republic; the Greek word basileus ("king") was modified to be synonymous with emperor (and primarily came into favour after the reign of Heraclius) as the Greeks had no republican sensibility and openly viewed the emperor as a monarch.

In the era of Diocletian and beyond, princeps fell into disuse and was replaced with dominus ("lord");^{[citation needed]} later emperors used the formula Imperator Caesar NN. Pius Felix (Invictus) Augustus. NN representing the individual's personal name, Pius Felix, meaning "Pious and Blest", and Invictus meaning "undefeated". The use of princeps and dominus broadly symbolise the differences in the empire's government, giving rise to the era designations "Principate" and "Dominate".

First Roman emperor[link]

Statue of Caesar Augustus, c. 30 BC–20 BC; this statue is located in the Louvre

At the end of the Roman Republic no new, and certainly no single title indicated the individual who held supreme power. Insofar as emperor could be seen as the English translation of imperator, then Julius Caesar had been an emperor, like several Roman generals before him. Instead, by the end of the civil wars in which Julius Caesar had led his armies, it became clear on the one hand that there was certainly no consensus to return to the old-style monarchy, and that on the other hand the situation where several officials, bestowed with equal power by the senate, fought one another had to come to an end.

Julius Caesar, then Octavian after him, accumulated offices and titles of the highest importance in the Republic, making the power attached to these offices permanent, and preventing anyone with similar aspirations from accumulating or maintaining power for themselves. However, Julius Caesar, unlike those after him, did so without the Senate's vote and approval^{[citation needed]}.

Julius Caesar held the Republican offices of consul four times and dictator five times, was appointed dictator in perpetuity (dictator perpetuo) in 45 BC and had been "pontifex maximus" for several decades. He gained these positions by senatorial consent. By the time of his assassination in 44 BC he was the most powerful man in Rome.

In his will, Caesar appointed his adopted son Octavian as his heir. On Caesar's death, Octavian inherited his adoptive father's property and lineage, the loyalty of most of his allies and - again through a formal process of senatorial consent – an increasing number of the titles and offices that had accrued to Caesar. A decade after Caesar's death, Octavian's victory over his erstwhile ally Mark Antony at Actium put an end to any effective opposition and confirmed Octavian's supremacy.

In 27 BC, Octavian appeared before the Senate and offered to retire from active politics and government; the Senate not only requested he remain, but increased his powers and made them lifelong, awarding him the title of Augustus (the elevated or divine one, somewhat less than a god but approaching divinity). Octavian stayed in office till his death; the sheer breadth of his superior powers as princeps and permanent imperator of Rome's armies guaranteed the peaceful continuation of what nominally remained a republic. His "restoration" of powers to the Senate and the people of Rome was a demonstration of his auctoritas and pious respect for tradition.

Even at Augustus' death, some later historians such as Tacitus would say that the true restoration of the Republic might have been possible. Instead, Augustus actively prepared his adopted son Tiberius to be his replacement and pleaded his case to the Senate for inheritance through merit. The Senate disputed the issue but eventually confirmed Tiberius as princeps. Once in power, Tiberius took considerable pains to observe the forms and day-to-day substance of republican government.

The historians of the 1st centuries observed the dynastic continuity: if a hereditary monarchy-not-by-kings existed after the republic, it had started with Julius Caesar. In this sense Suetonius wrote of The Twelve Caesars, meaning the emperors from Julius Caesar to the Flavians included (where, after Nero, the inherited name had turned into a title), and emperors adopted themselves into an Imperial lineage.

Collapse of the West[link]

By the end of the 3rd century AD, the Roman Empire was split into Western and an Eastern parts, each with its own augustis or caesares. Roman rule had disintegrated somewhat earlier in the century as a result of Germanic invasions which had overrun much of the Western Empire, and imperial authority now ran in the disconnected regions of Italy, Sicily, the Alps, Dalmatia, northwestern Gaul, and what is modern Morocco.^{[citation needed]}

The succession of Western Emperors ended after a set of military coup d'état in Italy during 475 and 476. In 475, Orestes, the Magister militum ("master of soldiers", equivalent to general of the army) in the west, revolted against Emperor Julius Nepos and seized the Italian Peninsula. Orestes then pronounced his own son, Romulus Augustus, as Emperor. Nepos fled to Dalmatia and continued to have the allegiance of the balance of the Western Empire (essentially northern Gaul, Dalamatia, and Morocco) and the backing of the Eastern Empire authorities. Orestes was never able to consolidate power beyond Italy, or gain the Eastern Emperor's recognition for his son's ascension, and when he failed to make good on his promises to the Foederati (foreign mercenaries), they rose up against him. Less than a year after his proclamation, Romulus Augustus was deposed by the German Odoacer, leader of the Foederati. Although he had the strong support of the Senate and enjoyed good relations with the Pope, Odoacer refrained from taking the imperial title and ruled in Nepos' name during the remaining four years of the later's life. Nevertheless he was de facto an autonomous king, and his ascension is generally used by historian to mark the end of Antiquity and the beginning of the Early Middle Ages, also known as the Dark Ages. Upon Nepos' death in 480, Odoacer pursued his assassins, expanding his rule to include Dalmatia as a consequence. Emperor Zeno, with the support of the Roman Senate officially abolished the separate Western Empire at this time and thereafter the unitary empire was ruled from the eastern capitol of Constantinople.^{[citation needed]}

The Roman Empire survived in the east until 1453, but the marginalization of the former heartland of Italy to the empire would have profound cultural impacts on the empire and the position of emperor. In 620, the official language was changed from Latin to Greek, and although the Greek-speaking inhabitants were Romaioi (Ῥωμαῖοι), and were still considered Romans by themselves and the populations of Eastern Europe, the Near East, India, and China, many in Western Europe began to refer to the political entity as the "Greek Empire". The evolution of the church in the no-longer imperial city of Rome and the church in the now supreme Constantinople began to follow divergent paths culminating in the split between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox faiths. The position of emperor was increasingly influenced by Near Eastern concepts of kingship. Starting with Emperor Heraclius, Roman emperors styled themselves "King of Kings" (form the imperial Persian "Shananshah") from 627 and "Basileus" (from the title used by Alexander the Great) from 629. The later period of the empire is today called the Byzantine Empire as a matter of scholarly convention.^{[citation needed]}

Post-classical assertions to the title[link]

Survival of the Roman Empire in the East[link]

Imaginary portrait of Constantine XI, the last Roman emperor

The line of Roman emperors in the Eastern Roman Empire continued unbroken until the fall of Constantinople in 1453 under Constantine XI Palaiologos. These emperors eventually normalized the imperial dignity into the modern conception of an emperor, incorporated it into the constitutions of the state, and adopted the aforementioned title Basileus kai autokratōr Rhomaiōn ("Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans"). These emperors ceased to use Latin as the language of state after Heraclius. Historians have customarily treated the state of these later Eastern emperors under the name "Byzantine Empire", though Byzantine is not a term that the Byzantines ever used to describe themselves.

Last Roman emperor[link]

Constantine XI Palaiologos was the last reigning Roman emperor. A member of the Palaiologos dynasty, he ruled the feeble remnant of the Eastern Roman Empire from 1449 until his death in 1453 defending its capital Constantinople.

He was born in Mystra^[7] as the eighth of ten children of Manuel II Palaiologos and Helena Dragaš, the daughter of the Serbian prince Constantine Dragaš of Kumanovo. He spent most of his childhood in Constantinople under the supervision of his parents. During the absence of his older brother in Italy, Constantine was regent in Constantinople from 1437-1440.

Before the beginning of the siege, Mehmed II made an offer to Constantine XI. In exchange for the surrender of Constantinople, the emperor's life would be spared and he would continue to rule in Mystra. Constantine refused this offer. Instead he led the defense of the city and took an active part in the fighting along the land walls. At the same time, he used his diplomatic skills to maintain the necessary unity between the Genovese, Venetian, and Byzantine troops. As the city fell on May 29, 1453, Constantine is said to have remarked: "The city is fallen but I am alive." Realizing that the end had come, he reportedly discarded his purple cloak and led his remaining soldiers into a final charge, in which he was killed. With his death, Roman imperial succession came to an end, almost 1500 years after Augustus.

After the fall of Constantinople, Thomas Palaiologos, brother of Constantine XI, was elected emperor and tried to organize the remaining forces. His rule came to an end after the fall of the last major Byzantine city, Corinth. He then moved in Italy and continued to be recognized as Eastern emperor by the Christian powers.

His son Andreas Palaiologos continued claims on the Byzantine throne until he sold the title to Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, the grandparents of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.

New Western lineage[link]

Charles V was the last man to be crowned Roman Emperor and to celebrate triumph in Rome

The concept of the Roman Empire was renewed in the West with the coronation of the king of the Franks, Charlemagne, as Roman emperor by the Pope on Christmas Day, 800. This line of Roman emperors was actually generally Germanic rather than Roman, but maintained their Roman-ness as a matter of principle. These emperors used a variety of titles (most frequently "Imperator Augustus") before finally settling on Imperator Romanus Electus ("Elected Roman Emperor"). Historians customarily assign them the title "Holy Roman Emperor", which has a basis in actual historical usage, and treat their "Holy Roman Empire" as a separate institution. To Latin Christians of the time, the Pope was the temporal authority as well as spiritual authority, and as Bishop of Rome he was recognized as having the power to anoint or crown a new Roman emperor.

The title of "Western Roman emperor" was further legitimized when the Eastern Roman emperor at Constantinople recognized Charlemagne as Basileus of the West. The last man to hold the title of proper Roman emperor and to be crowned by the pope (although in Bologna, not Rome) was Charles V. All his successors bore only a title of "emperor-elect". Charles V was also the last man to celebrate a triumph in Rome.

The line of "emperor-elect" rulers lasted until 1806 when Francis II dissolved the Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. Despite the existence of later potentates styling themselves "emperor", such as the Napoleons, the Habsburg Emperors of Austria, and the Hohenzollern heads of the German Reich, this marked the end of the Western Empire. Although there is a living heir to the Habsburg dynasty, as well as a Pope and pretenders to the positions of the electors, and although all the medieval coronation regalia are still preserved in Austria, the legal abolition of all aristocratic prerogatives of the former electors and the imposition of republican constitutions in Germany and Austria removed the potential for a revival of the Holy Roman Empire.

Titles and positions[link]

Although these are the most common offices, titles, and positions, one should note that not all Roman emperors used them, nor were all of them used at the same time in history. The consular and censorial offices especially were not an integral part of the Imperial dignity, and were usually held by persons other than the reigning emperor.

• Augustus (also "Αὔγουστος" or "Σεβαστός"), "Majestic" or "Venerable"; an honorific cognomen exclusive to the emperor
• Αὐτοκράτωρ, Autokrator (lit. "Self-ruler"); Greek title equivalent to imperator i.e. Commander-in-Chief
• Βασιλεύς (Basileus), Greek for King, popularly used in the east to refer to the emperor; a formal title of the Roman emperor beginning with Heraclius
• Caesar (also "Καίσαρ" or "Nobilissimus Caesar"), "Caesar" or "Most Noble Caesar"; initially the mere cognomen of a single individual, it was transformed into a title; an honorific name later used to identify an emperor-designate;
• Censor, a Republican office with a five year term and one coequal officeholder; the censor could audit all other magistrates and all state finances
• Consul, the highest magistracy of the Roman Republic with a one year term and one coequal officeholder; the consul was the head of government within Rome and the automatic commander-in-chief of the army outside Rome
• Dominus ("Lord" or "Master"), an honorific title popular in the Empire's middle history
• Imperator ("Commander" or "Commander-in-Chief"), a victory title taken on accession to the purple and after a major military victory; the praenomen of most Roman emperors
• Imperator Destinatus ("Destined to be Emperor"), heir apparent, used by Septimius Severus for Caracalla.
• Imperium maius ("greater imperium") absolute power to a degree greater than any other, including power of enacting capital punishment
• Invictus ("Unconquered"), an honorific title
• Pater Patriae ("Father of the Fatherland"), an honorific title
• Pius Felix ("Pious and Blessed"), an honorific title
• Pontifex Maximus ("Supreme Pontiff" or "Chief Priest", literally "Greatest Bridgemaker"), a title and office of Republican origin, which could not be used by "Catholic" emperors, while by that time only the Pope had a claim on the title of highest religious authority.
• Princeps ("First Citizen" or "Leading Citizen"), an honorific title denoting the status of the emperor as first among equals
• Princeps Iuventutis ("Prince of Youth"), an honorific title awarded to a presumptive emperor-designate
• Princeps Senatus ("First Man of the Senate"), a Republican office with a five year term
• Tribunitia potestas, "tribunician power"; the powers of a tribune of the people, including sacrosanctity and inviolability of his person, and the veto over any decision by any other magistrate, assembly, or the Senate (the emperor could not be a "tribune" because a tribune was a plebeian by definition, therefore the emperor had all the powers of a tribune without actually being one)

Powers[link]

When Augustus established the Princeps, he turned down supreme authority in exchange for a collection of various powers and offices, which in itself was a demonstration of his auctoritas ("authority"). As holding princeps senatus, the emperor declared the opening and closure of each Senate session, declared the Senate's agenda, imposed rules and regulation for the Senate to follow, and met with foreign ambassadors in the name of the Senate. Being pontifex maximus made the emperor the chief administrator of religious affairs, granting him the power to conduct all religious ceremonies, consecrate temples, control the Roman calendar (adding or removing days as needed), appoint the vestal virgins and some flamens, lead the Collegium Pontificum, and summarize the dogma of the Roman religion.

While these powers granted the emperor a great deal of personal pride and influence, they did not include legal authority. In 23 BC, Augustus gave the emperorship its legal power. The first was Tribunicia Potestas, or the powers of the tribune of the plebs without actually holding the office (which would have been impossible, since a tribune was by definition a plebeian, whereas the emperor was by definition a patrician). This endowed the emperor with inviolability (sacrosanctity) of his person, and the ability to pardon any civilian for any act, criminal or otherwise. By holding the powers of the tribune, the emperor could prosecute anyone who interfered with the performance of his duties. The emperor's tribuneship granted him the right to convene the Senate at his will and lay proposals before it, as well as the ability to veto any act or proposal by any magistrate, including the actual tribune of the plebeians. Also, as holder of the tribune's power, the emperor would convoke the Council of the People, lay legislation before it, and served as the council's president. But his tribuneship only granted him power within Rome itself. He would need another power to veto the act of governors and that of the consuls while in the provinces.

To solve this problem, Augustus managed to have the emperor be given the right to hold two types of imperium. The first being consular imperium while he was in Rome, and imperium maius outside of Rome. While inside the walls of Rome, the reigning consuls and the emperor held equal authority, each being able to veto each other's proposals and acts, with the emperor holding all of the consul's powers. But outside of Rome, the emperor outranked the consuls and could veto them without the same effects on himself. Imperium Maius also granted the emperor authority over all the provincial governors, making him the ultimate authority in provincial matters and gave him the supreme command of all of Rome's legions. With Imperium Maius, the emperor was also granted the power to appoint governors of imperial provinces without the interference of the Senate. Also, Imperium Maius granted the emperor the right to veto the governors of the provinces and even the reigning consul while in the provinces.

Lineages and epochs[link]

In the listings of Roman emperors below, the common name is given first, followed by the more formal name adopted upon accession to the purple, the name given at birth, and the years of his reign. So-called victory titles and other titles not forming an integral part of the name (Pontifex Maximus, Princeps Senatus, Pater Patriae, &c.) are not listed. Co-emperors are listed in inferior text, along with notes identifying senior emperors who had hitherto served as co-emperors. Following abbreviations are used:

Principate[link]

The nature of the imperial office and the Principate was established under Julius Caesar's heir and posthumously adopted son, Caesar Augustus, and his own heirs, the descendants of his wife Livia from her first marriage to a scion of the distinguished Claudian clan. This Julio-Claudian dynasty came to an end when the Emperor Nero— a great-great-grandson of Augustus through his daughter and of Livia through her son—was deposed in 68.

Nero was followed by a succession of usurpers throughout 69, commonly called the "Year of the Four Emperors". The last of these, Vespasian, established his own Flavian dynasty. Nerva, who replaced the last Flavian emperor, Vespasian's son Domitian, in 96, was elderly and childless, and chose therefore to adopt an heir, Trajan, from outside his family. When Trajan acceded to the purple he chose to follow his predecessor's example, adopting Hadrian as his own heir, and the practice then became the customary manner of imperial succession for the next century, producing the "Five Good Emperors" and the Empire's period of greatest stability.

The last of the Good Emperors, Marcus Aurelius, chose his natural son Commodus as his successor rather than adopting an heir. Commodus's misrule led to his murder on 31 December 192, following which a brief period of instability quickly gave way to Septimius Severus, who established the Severan dynasty which, except for an interruption in 217-218, held the purple until 235.

Crisis of the Third Century[link]

The accession of Maximinus Thrax marks both the close and the opening of an era. It was one of the last attempts by the increasingly impotent Roman Senate to influence the succession. Yet it was the second time that a man had achieved the purple while owing his advancement purely to his military career; both Vespasian and Septimius Severus had come from noble or middle class families, while Thrax was born a commoner. He never visited the city of Rome during his reign, which marks the beginning of a series of "barracks emperors" who came from the army. Between 235 and 285 over a dozen emperors achieved the purple, but only Valerian and Carus managed to secure their own sons' succession to the throne; both dynasties died out within two generations.

Dominate[link]

The accession to the purple on 20 November 284, of Diocletian, the lower-class, Greek-speaking Dalmatian commander of Carus's and Numerian's household cavalry (protectores domestici), marked a major departure from traditional Roman constitutional theory regarding the emperor, who was nominally first among equals; Diocletian introduced oriental despotism into the imperial dignity. Whereas before emperors had worn only a purple toga (toga purpura) and been greeted with deference, Diocletian wore jewelled robes and shoes, and required those who greeted him to kneel (proskynesis) and kiss the hem of his robe (adoratio). In many ways, Diocletian was the first monarchical emperor, and this is symbolised by the fact that the word dominus ("Lord") rapidly replaced princeps as the favoured word for referring to the emperor. Significantly, neither Diocletian nor his co-emperor, Maximian, spent much time in Rome after 286, establishing their imperial capitals at Nicomedia and Mediolanum (modern Milan), respectively.

Diocletian established the Tetrarchy, a system by which the Roman Empire was divided into East and West, with each having an Augustus to rule over it and a Caesar to assist him. The Tetrarchy ultimately degenerated into civil war, but the eventual victor, Constantine the Great, restored Diocletian's system of dividing the Empire into East and West. He kept the East for himself and founded his city of Constantinople as its new capital.

The dynasty Constantine established was also soon swallowed up in civil war and court intrigue until it was replaced, briefly, by Julian the Apostate's general Jovian and then, more permanently, by Valentinian I and the dynasty he founded in 364. Though he was a soldier from a low middle class background, Valentinian was not a barracks emperor; he was elevated to the purple by a conclave of senior generals and civil officials.

Late empire[link]

Theodosius I acceded to the purple in the East in 379 and in the West in 394. He outlawed paganism and made Christianity the Empire's official religion. He was the last emperor to rule over a united Roman Empire; the distribution of the East to his son Arcadius and the West to his son Honorius after his death in 395 represented a permanent division.

In the West, the office of emperor soon degenerated into being little more than a puppet of a succession of Germanic tribal kings, until finally the Heruli Odoacer simply overthrew the child-emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476, shipped the imperial regalia to the Emperor Zeno in Constantinople and became King of Italy. Though during his own lifetime Odoacer maintained the legal fiction that he was actually ruling Italy as the viceroy of Zeno, historians mark 476 as the traditional date of the fall of the Roman Empire in the West. Large parts of Italy (Sicily, the south part of the peninsula, Ravenna, Venice etc.), however, remained under actual imperial rule from Constantinople for centuries, with imperial control slipping or becoming nominal only as late as the 11th century. In the East, the Empire continued until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. Although known as the Byzantine Empire by contemporary historians, the Empire was simply known as the Roman Empire to its citizens and neighboring countries.

For rulers of Italy after Romulus "Augustulus" and Julius Nepos, see list of barbarian kings.

For the Roman emperors who ruled in the East after The Fall in the West, see List of Byzantine emperors.

For emperors of the HRE in the West , see Holy Roman Emperor.

See also[link]

• Byzantine Emperor
• Holy Roman Emperor
• Imperator
• Interregnum
• Justitium
• King of Rome
• Roman Emperors family tree; also Julio-Claudian family tree and Severan dynasty family tree
• Roman usurper

Lists:

• List of Imperial Victory Titles
• List of Roman Emperors
• List of Roman usurpers
• List of condemned Roman emperors

Notes[link]

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

• De Imperatoribus Romanis
• Rulers of Rome
• "Decadence, Rome and Romania, and the Emperors Who Weren't", by Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D.
• UNRV.com
• The Roman Law Library

Aëtius is also the name of several other persons.

Flavius Aëtius (c. 396–454), dux et patricius, was a Roman general of the closing period of the Western Roman Empire. He was an able military commander and the most influential man in the Western Roman Empire for two decades (433-454). He managed policy in regard to the attacks of barbarian peoples pressing on the Empire. Notably, he gathered a large Roman and barbarian army to win the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, ending the famous Hunnic invasion of Attila in 451.

Along with his rival Count Boniface, he has often been called "the last of the Romans". Edward Gibbon refers to him as "the man universally celebrated as the terror of Barbarians and the support of the Republic" for his victory at the Catalaunian Plains.

Biography[link]

Origins and Family[link]

Aëtius was born at Durostorum in Moesia Inferior (modern Silistra, Bulgaria), around 390. His father was Flavius Gaudentius, a known Roman soldier of Scythian extraction,^[1][2] and his mother, whose name is unknown, was a wealthy aristocratic woman of Italian ancestry.^[3] Before 425 Aëtius married the daughter of Carpilio,^[4] who gave him a son, also named Carpilio.^[5] Later he married Pelagia, widow of Bonifacius, from whom he had a son, Gaudentius. It is possible that he had also a daughter, wife of Thraustila who avenged Aëtius' death by killing emperor Valentinian III.^[6]

Early years and service under Joannes[link]

As a boy, Aëtius was at the service of the imperial court, enrolled in the military unit of the tribuni praetoriani partis militaris.^[7] Between 405 and 408 he was kept as hostage at the court of Alaric I, king of the Visigoths.^[8] In 408 Alaric asked to keep Aëtius as a hostage, but was refused, as Aëtius was sent to the court of Rugila, king of the Huns.^[9] Aëtius's upbringing amongst militaristic peoples gave him a martial vigour not common in Roman generals of the time.^[10][11]

In 423 the Western Emperor Honorius died. The most influential man in the West, Castinus, chose as his successor Joannes, a high ranking officer. Joannes was not part of the Theodosian dynasty and he did not receive the recognition of the eastern court. The Eastern Emperor Theodosius II organized a military expedition westward, led by Ardaburius and his son Aspar, to put his cousin, the young Valentinian III (who was a nephew of Honorius), on the western throne. Aëtius entered the service of the usurper as cura palatii and was sent by Joannes to ask the Huns for assistance. Joannes lacked a strong army and fortified himself in his capital, Ravenna, where he was killed in the summer of 425. Shortly afterwards, Aëtius returned to Italy with a large force of Huns to find that power in the west was now in the hands of Valentinian III and his mother Galla Placidia. After fighting against Aspar's army, Aëtius managed to compromise with Galla Placidia. He sent back his army of Huns and in return obtained the rank of comes et magister militum per Gallias, the commander in chief of the Roman army in Gaul.^[12]

First Gallic campaigns[link]

In 427, Aëtius arrived in southern Gaul with an army of roughly 40,000^[13] to find Arelate, an important city in Septimania near the mouth of the Rhone, under siege from the Visigoths led by their king Theodoric I. Aëtius defeated Theodoric, lifted the Siege of Arelate, and drove the Visigoths back to their holdings in Aquitania.^[14] In 428 he fought the Salian Franks at the Battle of Vicus Helenae, defeating their king Chlodio and recovering some territory they had occupied along the Rhine.^[15] In 429 he was elevated to the rank of magister militum; this was probably the iunior of the two offices of magister militum praesentalis, as the senior is known to have been the patrician Flavius Felix, the most influential man in those years, supporter of Galla Placidia. In 430 the Visigoths led by Anaolsus attacked Arelate again but were defeated by Aëtius at the Battle of Mons Colubrarius, establishing a peace treaty.^[16][17] In May 430, Aëtius accused Felix of plotting against him and had him and his wife killed. Once Felix was dead, Aëtius was probably the most prominent among the magistri militum, even if he had not yet been granted the title of patrician. During late 430 and 431 Aëtius was in Raetia and Noricum, and is attested in the city of Vindelicia, re-establishing Roman rule on the Danube frontier and campaigning against the Juthungi.^[18] In 431 he returned to Gaul, he received Hydatius, bishop of Aquae Flaviae, who complained about the attacks of the Suebi. In 432 Aëtius again defeated the Franks, making peace with them, and he sent back Hydatius to the Suebi in Hispania.^[19]

War with Bonifacius[link]

While Aëtius was campaigning in Gaul, there was an ongoing power struggle between Aëtius, generals Felix and Bonifacius, and emperor Valentinian's mother and regent Galla Placidia. After the execution of Felix, Aëtius and Bonifacius remained as the empire's most influential generals, both constantly vying for the favor of Placidia. In 427 while Bonifacius was away as governor (comes) of Africa, Aëtius caused him to fall into disfavour with Placidia. Bonifacius was eventually returned to favor by Placidia, but not before revolting and causing the loss of most of Africa to the Vandals.^[20]

In 432 Aëtius held the consulate, but Bonifacius was recalled to Italy and received warmly by Placidia. Bonifacius was given the rank of patrician, while Aëtius was stripped of his military command, which was given to Bonifacius.^[21] Aëtius, believing his fall now imminent, marched against Bonifacius and fought him at the Battle of Rimini.^[22] Boniface won the battle but was mortally wounded, dying a few months later. Aëtius escaped to Dalmatia and traveled to the court of his friend, Rugila, the king of the Huns. With their help he returned to power, receiving the title of magister utriusque militiae; he had Bonifacius' son-in-law, Sebastianus, who had succeeded to Bonifacius as magister militum praesentalis, exiled from Italy to Constantinople, bought the properties of Bonifacius and married his widow Pelagia.^[23]

Campaigns against Burgundians, Bagaudae, and Visigoths[link]

From 433 to 450, Aëtius was the dominant personality in the Western Empire, obtaining the patrician rank (5 September 435) and playing the role of "protector" of Galla Placidia and Valentinian III while the Emperor was still young. At the same time he continued to devote attention to Gaul. In 436, the Burgundians of King Gunther were defeated and obliged to accept peace by Aëtius, who, however, the following year sent the Huns to destroy them; 20,000 Burgundians were killed in a slaughter which probably became the basis of the Nibelungenlied, a German epic.^{[citation needed]} That same 436 Aetius was probably in Armorica with Litorius to suppress a rebellion of the Bacaudae. Year 437 saw his second consulship and the wedding of Valentinian and Licinia Eudoxia in Constantinople; it is probable that Aetius attended at the ceremony that marked the beginning of the direct rule of the Emperor. The following two years were occupied by a campaign against the Suebi and by the war against the Visigoths; in 438 Aetius won a major battle (probably the battle of Mons Colubrarius), but in 439 the Visigoths defeated and killed his general Litorius and obtained a peace treaty. On his return to Italy, he was honoured by a statue erected by the Senate and the People of Rome by order of the Emperor; this was probably the occasion for the panegyric written by Merobaudes.^[24]

In 443, Aëtius settled the remaining Burgundians in Savoy, south of Lake Geneva. His most pressing concern in the 440s was with problems in Gaul and Iberia, mainly with the Bagaudae. He settled Alans around Valence and Orléans to contain unrest around present-day Brittany.

The Alans settled in Armorica caused problems in 447 or 448. It was probably in that period that he fought a battle near Tours, followed by a Frankish attack under Clodio to the region near Arras, in Belgica Secunda; the invaders were stopped by a battle around a river-crossing near Vicus Helena, where Aëtius directed the operations while his commander Majorian (later Emperor) fought with the cavalry.^[25] However, in 450 Aëtius had already returned in good terms with the Franks. In that year, in fact, the king of the Franks died, and the patricius supported his younger son's claim to the throne, adopting him as his own son and sending him from Rome, where he had been sent as ambassador, to the Frankish court with many presents.^[26]

Victory over Attila at the Catalaunian Plains[link]

The probable path of the Hun forces in their invasion of Gaul, leading up to the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains

Before 449 Aëtius had signed an agreement with the Huns, allowing some of them to settle in Pannonia, along the Sava River; he also sent to Attila, the king of the Huns, a man called Constantius as a secretary. In 449, Attila was angry for an alleged theft of a golden plate, and Aëtius sent him an embassy under Romulus to calm him; Attila sent him as a present a dwarf, Zerco, whom Aëtius gave back to his original owner, Aspar.^[27]

However, the good terms between Romans and Huns did not last, as Attila wanted to attack Gaul; he knew that Aëtius was a serious obstacle to his enterprise, and tried to have him removed, but in 451, when the Huns attacked, Aëtius was the commander of the Roman army in Gaul.^[28] The large Hunnish army^[29] captured several cities, and proceeded towards Orléans.

When the Alans living in the region were ready to defect to Attila, Aëtius, with the help of the influential Gallo-Roman senator Avitus, convinced the Visigoths of king Theodoric I to join him against the external menace; he also succeeded in preventing Sangibanus, a possible ally for Attila, from combining his army with the Hunnish one. Then the joint Roman and Visigothic armies moved to relieve the besieged city of Orléans, forcing the Huns to abandon the siege and retreat to open country.^[30]

On September 20, 451 (some sources place the date at June 20, 451),^[31] Aëtius and Theodoric defeated Attila and his allies at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains.^[32] Theodoric died in the battle, and Aëtius suggest his son Thorismund to quickly reach Toulouse (capital of the Kingdom of the Visigoths) to secure his throne; for this reason it is said that Aëtius kept all of the booty for his army.^[33]

Attila returned in 452 to again press his claim of marriage to Honoria; Aëtius did not take the necessary precautions to block the Alpine passes,^[34] and Attila invaded and ravaged Italy, sacking numerous cities and razing Aquileia completely, leaving no trace of it behind. Valentinian III fled from Ravenna to Rome; Aëtius remained in the field but lacked the strength to offer battle. Gibbon however says Aëtius never showed his greatness more clearly in managing to harass and slow Attila's advance with only a shadow force. Attila finally halted at the Po, where he met an embassy including the prefect Trigetius, the ex-consul Gennadius Avienus, and Pope Leo I. After the meeting he turned his army back, having gained neither Honoria's hand nor the territories he desired.

Assassination[link]

Although in 453 Aëtius had been able to betroth his son Gaudentius to Valentinian's daughter Placidia, Valentinian felt intimidated by Aëtius, who had once supported Joannes against him and who Valentinian believed wanted to place his son upon the imperial throne. The Roman senator Petronius Maximus and the chamberlain Heraclius were therefore able to enlist Valentinian in a plot to assassinate Aëtius. On September 21, 454, when at court in Ravenna delivering a financial account, Aëtius was slain by Valentinian's own hand. Edward Gibbon credits Sidonius Apollinaris with the famous observation, "I am ignorant, sir, of your motives or provocations; I only know that you have acted like a man who has cut off his right hand with his left."^[35]

Maximus expected to be made patrician in place of Aëtius, but was blocked by Heraclius. Seeking revenge, Maximus arranged with two Hun friends of Aëtius, Optila and Thraustila, to assassinate both Valentinian III and Heraclius. On March 16, 455, Optila stabbed the emperor in the temple as he dismounted in the Campus Martius and prepared for a session of archery practice. As the stunned emperor turned to see who had struck him, Optila finished him off with another thrust of his blade. Meanwhile, Thraustila stepped forward and killed Heraclius. Most of the soldiers standing close by had been faithful followers of Aëtius and none lifted a hand to save the emperor.

Legacy[link]

Military legacy[link]

Aëtius is generally viewed as a great military commander, indeed he was held in such high esteem by the Eastern Roman Empire, that he became known as the last true Roman of the west. Most historians also consider the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains as decisively important, crippling Attila by destroying his aura of invincibility.^[36] Gibbon eloquently states the majority view:

(Attila's) retreat across the Rhine confessed the last victory which was achieved in the name of the Western Roman Empire.".^[37]

John Julius Norwich caustically referred to the assassination of Valentinian III by his own guards as an act that Valentinian brought on himself by his foolish execution of Aëtius, the "Empire's greatest commander."^[38] Certainly Aëtius' military legacy is defined by Châlons, even though he effectively ruled the western empire from 433-450, and attempted to stabilize its European borders under a deluge of barbarians, including foremost, Attila and the Huns.

One of his greatest achievements was the assembling of the coalition against Attila. On this Arther Ferrill says:

After he secured the Rhine, Attila moved into central Gaul and put Orléans under siege. Had he gained his objective, he would have been in a strong position to subdue the Visigoths in Aquitaine, but Aëtius had put together a formidable coalition against the Hun. The Roman leader had built a powerful alliance of Visigoths, Alans and Burgundians, uniting them with their traditional enemy, the Romans, for the defense of Gaul. Even though all parties to the protection of the Western Roman Empire had a common hatred of the Huns, it was still a remarkable achievement on Aëtius' part to have drawn them into an effective military relationship.

—"Attila the Hun and the Battle of Chalons", by Arther Ferrill

While J. B. Bury viewed Aëtius as a great military commander, and giant figure of history, he did not consider that the battle itself was particularly decisive. He argues that Aëtius attacked the Huns when they were already retreating from Orléans (so the danger to Gaul was departing anyway); and he declined to renew the attack on the Huns next day, precisely in order to preserve the balance of power. (Others suggest that the Huns may have abandoned the siege of Orléans because Aëtius's armies were advancing on them.)

Bury suggests that the German victory over the Huns at the Battle of Nedao, three years later, was more important. This determined that there would be no long-term Hunnic Empire in Europe, which Bury thinks would have been unlikely even if they had crushed the Germans on that occasion. For Bury, the result of the battle of the Catalaunian Plains determined chiefly that Attila spent his last year looting Italy, rather than Gaul.

Bury's view remains in the minority, and the battle is considered crucial by virtually every other major historian.

Controversies[link]

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