Valentinian III, 425–455 A. D. Honorius died in 423 A. D., leaving no children, and Castinus, the new master of the soldiers, secured the nomination of John, a high officer of the court, as his successor. However, Theodosius refused him recognition and his authority was defied by Bonifacius, an influential officer who had established himself in Africa. Valentinian, the five-year-old son of Placidia and Constantius, was escorted to Italy by forces of the eastern empire and John was deposed. His chief supporter Aetius, who had brought an army of Huns to his aid, was induced to dismiss his troops and accept a command in Gaul with the rank of count. Placidia, who had returned to Italy with Valentinian, became regent with the title of Augusta.
Aetius. During the reign of Valentinian III interest centers about the career of Aetius, “last of the Romans.” In 429, after getting rid of his enemy Felix, who had succeeded to the position of Castinus, Aetius himself became master of the soldiers and the real ruler of the empire. However, the Augusta Placidia endeavored to compass his downfall by an appeal to Bonifacius, who after his revolt of 427 A. D. had fought in the imperial cause against the Vandals. In 432 Bonifacius returned to Italy and was appointed master of the soldiers in place of Aetius. The latter appealed to arms, was defeated near Ariminum, and forced to flee for refuge to his friends [pg 359]the Huns. But as Bonifacius died not long after his victory, Aetius, with the backing of the Huns, was able to force the emperor to reappoint him master of the soldiers in 433 A. D. From that time until his death in 454 he directed the imperial policy in the West. He received embassies from foreign peoples and the latter made treaties with him and not with the emperor.
Attila’s invasion of Gaul, 451 A. D. The chief efforts of Aetius were directed towards the preservation of central and southeastern Gaul for the empire. In this he was successful, holding in check the Franks on the north, the Burgundians on the east, and the Goths in the southwest. But though Gaul was saved, Africa was lost to the Vandals, Britain to the Saxons and the greater part of Spain to the Suevi. The success of Aetius in Gaul was principally due to his ability to draw into his service large numbers of Hunnish troops, owing to the influence he had acquired with the leaders of that people while a hostage among them. At this time the Huns occupied the region of modern Hungary, Rumania, and South Russia. They comprised a number of separate tribes, which in 444 A. D. were united under the strong hand of King Attila, who also extended his sway over neighboring Germanic and Scythian peoples.
At first Attila remained on friendly terms with Aetius but his ambitions and his interference in the affairs of Gaul led to friction and to his demand for the hand of Honoria, sister of Valentinian III, with half of the western empire as her dowry. When the emperor refused to comply Attila led a great army across the Rhine into Gaul and laid siege to Orleans. Their common danger brought together the Romans and the Germanic peoples of Gaul, and Aetius was able to face the Huns with an army strengthened by the presence of the kings of the Visigoths and the Franks. Repulsed at Orleans, Attila withdrew to the Mauric plains where, in the vicinity of Troyes, a memorable battle was fought between the Huns and the forces of Aetius. Although the result was indecisive, Attila would not risk another engagement and recrossed the Rhine. The next year he invaded Italy, but the presence of famine and disease among his own forces and the arrival of troops from the Eastern Empire induced him to listen to the appeal of a Roman embassy, led by the Roman bishop Leo, and to withdraw from the peninsula without occupying Rome. Upon his death in 453 A. D. his empire fell to pieces and the power of the Huns began to decline.
Maximus and Avitus, 455–6 A. D. The death of Attila was soon followed by that of Aetius, who was murdered by Valentinian at the instigation of his chamberlain Heraclius (454 A. D.). This rash act deprived him of the best support of his authority and in the next year Valentinian himself fell a victim to the vengeance of followers of Aetius. With him ended the dynasty of Theodosius in the West. The new emperor, a senator named Petronius Maximus, compelled Valentinian’s widow, Eudoxia, to marry him, but when the Vandal Gaiseric appeared in Italy in answer to her call he offered no resistance and perished in flight. Maximus was succeeded by Avitus, a Gallic follower of Aetius, whom he had made master of the soldiers. But after ruling little more than a year Avitus was deposed by his own master of the soldiers, Ricimer (456 A. D.).
Ricimer. Ricimer, a German of Suevic and Gothic ancestry, who succeeded to the power of Aetius, was the virtual ruler of the western empire from 456 until his death in 472. Backed by his mercenary troops he made and unmade emperors at his pleasure, and never permitted his nominees to be more than his puppets. Majorian, who was appointed emperor in 457 A. D., was overthrown by Ricimer in 461, and was followed by Severus. After the death of Severus in 465 no emperor was appointed in the West for two years. The imperial power was nominally concentrated in the hands of the eastern emperor, Leo, while Ricimer was in actual control of the government in Italy. In 467, Leo sent as emperor to Rome, Anthemius, a prominent dignitary of the eastern court, whose daughter was married to Ricimer in order to secure the coöperation of the latter in a joint attack of the two empires upon the Vandal kingdom in Africa. However, in 472 Ricimer broke with Anthemius who had endeavored with the support of the Roman Senate to free himself from the influence of the powerful barbarian. Anthemius was besieged in Rome, and put to death following the capture of the city. Thereupon Ricimer raised to the purple Olybrius, a son-in-law of Valentinian III. But both the new emperor and his patron died in the course of the same year (472 A. D.).
The last years of the western empire. In 473 A. D. Gundobad, the nephew of Ricimer, caused Glycerius to be proclaimed emperor. However, his appointment was not recognized by Leo, who nominated Julius Nepos. The next year Nepos invaded Italy and overthrew his rival, only to meet a like fate at the hands of Orestes, whom he had [pg 361]made master of the soldiers (475 A. D.). Orestes did not assume the imperial title himself, but bestowed it upon his son Romulus, known as Augustulus. But Orestes was unable to maintain his position for long. The Germanic mercenaries in Italy—Herculi, Sciri, and others—led by Odovacar, demanded for themselves lands in Italy such as their kinsmen had been granted as foederati in the provinces. When their demands were refused they mutinied and slew Orestes. Romulus was forced to abdicate, and Odovacar assumed the title of king (476 A. D.). The soldiers were settled on Italian soil and the barbarians acquired full control of the western empire.
The kingship of Odovacar, 476–493 A. D. With the deposition of Romulus Augustulus, the commander-in-chief of the barbarian soldiery, long the virtual ruler in the western empire, was recognized as legally exercising this power. The imperial authority was united in the person of the eastern emperor who sanctioned the rule of Odovacar by granting him the title of patrician, which had been held already by Aetius, Ricimer and Orestes. The barbarian king was at the same time the imperial regent in Italy.
But it was only in Italy that Odovacar obtained recognition. The last remnants of Roman authority vanished in Gaul and Spain, while Raetia and Noricum were abandoned to the Alamanni, Thuringi and Rugii.
The Ostrogothic conquest of Italy, 488–493 A. D. In 488 A. D. the position of Odovacar in Italy was challenged by Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths. This people after having long been subject to the Huns, recovered their freedom at the death of Attila, and settled in Pannonia as foederati of the eastern empire. Theodoric, who became sole ruler of the Ostrogoths in 481 A. D., had proved himself a troublesome ally of the emperor Zeno who mistrusted his ambitions. Accordingly when Theodoric demanded an imperial commission to attack Odovacar in Italy, Zeno readily granted him the desired authority in order to remove him to a greater distance from Constantinople. In 488 Theodoric set out with his followers to invade Italy. Odovacar was defeated in two battles and, in 490 A. D., blockaded in Ravenna. After a long siege he agreed to surrender upon condition that he and Theodoric should rule jointly over Italy. Shortly afterwards he and most of his followers were treacherously assassinated by the Ostrogoths (493 A. D.). Theodoric now ruled Italy as king of the Ostrogoths and an official of the Roman empire, probably [pg 362]retaining the title of master of the soldiers which he had held in the East.