Arbogast (magister militum)

*Magister militum*

Arbogastes
Magister militum ; Arbogastes
Other name(s)	Arbogast, Arbogastiz
Born	4th century; Galatia Minor
Died	8 September 394; Near the Frigidus River
Allegiance	Western Roman Empire
Years of service	? – 394
Rank	Magister militum
Battles/wars	Battle of the Frigidus †
Relations	Richomeres (uncle)

Last updated May 21, 2024

Arbogast or Arbogastes (died 8 September 394) was a Roman army officer of Frankish origin. He won distinction in the service of the emperor Gratian, and was subsequently entrusted by Theodosius I with the guardianship of the underage Valentinian II. The death of Valentinian in mysterious circumstances, and the rise of the controversial Eugenius, led to a civil war in which Arbogast perished.

Early career

Arbogast was the nephew of the great Frankish general Flavius Richomeres ^[1] and a native of Galatia Minor.^[2] His Germanic name, Arbogastiz, attested in other contexts, is composed of the elements *arbija- 'inheritance' and *gastiz 'guest'.^[3] An ancient contention that he was the son of Bauto, his predecessor as Valentinian II's protector and magister militum , is variously defended and contested by modern scholarship.^[4]^[5] John of Antioch fragment 187 is the source for Arbogast being Bauto's son, but no other ancient authority, who mentions these two, mentions that fact. Zosimus, without ascribing a familial relationship, says both were "Franks by birth, exceedingly well-disposed to the Romans, completely immune to bribes, and outstanding as regards to warfare in brain and brawn".^[6]

Expelled from Galatia in the later 370s, Arbogast became an officer in the army of the Western Roman Empire under Gratian, son of Valentinian I ^[7] and elder brother to Valentinian II.^[8] Having made a name for himself as an extremely efficient and loyal field-commander,^[9] "who excelled in spirit, counsel, bravery, boldness, and power",^[10] Arbogast came to be considered Gratian's principal officer, along with Mellobaudes, king of the Franks.^[11] In 380 Gratian sent Arbogast, along with his magister militum Bauto,^[12] to aid Theodosius I ^[13] against the Goths who had been pillaging areas of Macedonia and Thessaly since the preceding year. The combined Western and Eastern armies defeated the Gothic leader Fritigern, pushing his forces out of Macedonia and Thessaly towards Thrace in lower Moesia where the raids had begun, and ultimately established a peace treaty with the Visigoths in 382.^[14] The following year, Gratian was deposed and killed by Magnus Maximus.^[15]

Threat and execution of Maximus

Maximus gained recognition as Western Roman Emperor from Theodosius I, who ruled in the East.^[16] Arbogast, apparently still loyal to the memory of Gratian, deserted from the Western army and went over to Theodosius, in whose service he also reached a position of distinction.^[17] In 387 Maximus invaded Italy, demonstrating his ambitions of supremacy in the whole empire, and Theodosius took his trusted commanders Arbogast and Richomeres to fight the usurper.^[18] The following year Maximus was defeated at Poetovio and fled to Aquileia, whose disaffected garrison arrested him and handed him over to Theodosius for execution.^[19] Arbogast, who at this time had the title of magister peditum in the West, went to Trier on the orders of Theodosius and assassinated Victor, Maximus' son and heir.^[20] The vacated western throne passed to Valentinian II, who was too young to rule on his own. Theodosius stayed in Italy to conduct civil and political affairs from the beginning of Valentinian's reign in 388 until 391, when he returned to Constantinople. Arbogast was promoted to magister militum and left to supervise the young Emperor, now headquartered in Vienne.^[21]

Arbogast and Valentinian II

During his regency for Valentinian, Arbogast held the title of Magister Militum in Praesenti, or commander of the armies of the Western Empire; answering only to Theodosius, he was effective ruler of the western provinces, mainly Gaul, Spain and Britain. Zosimus adds that the Western army respected Arbogast as "brave and experienced in warfare and contemptuous of money. And so he came to great power, such that even in the Emperor's presence he spoke quite freely, and he vetoed those actions which he thought were wrong or unbecoming...for Arbogastes was supported by the good will of all the soldiers."^[22] Arbogast could never exercise this power in his own name, because of his barbarian birth,^[23] and he employed Valentinian as a figurehead. The nominal Emperor was isolated in Vienne, his status essentially reduced to that of a private citizen. His court was dominated by allies of Arbogast,^[24] and the control of the Western armies belonged to Arbogast's Frankish mercenaries. The Magister Militum became increasingly violent towards Valentinian II and his councilors, and is said to have killed Harmonius, a friend of the Emperor who had been accused of taking bribes, in Valentinian's presence.^[25] At this point, Valentinian began sending secret messages to both Theodosius I and Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, pleading for them to come to his aid,^[23] even asking Ambrose for a baptism in fear that he would die soon at the hands of Arbogast.^[26]

Death of Valentinian II

In 392, Valentinian II attempted to assert his authority and dismiss Arbogast from office.^[27] According to Zosimus, Arbogast replied "You have neither given me my command nor will you be able to take it away," threw the order of dismissal to the ground, and walked out.^[22] Soon after this encounter, Arbogast and Valentinian met again and began a discussion which grew heated; Philostorgius claims that the Emperor tried to stab Arbogast and was stopped by a palace guard.^[28] Shortly afterward on May 15, 392, Valentinian II was found hanged in his sleeping quarters. Declaring the death to be a suicide,^[29] Arbogast sent the corpse to Milan for a proper funeral.^[30]

Debate about the death of Valentinian II

Ambrose claims that the death of Valentinian II was the result of a dispute with Arbogast, involving diplomacy and who would lead the armies defending Italy from Balkan invasions.^[31] Another roughly contemporary source, the ecclesiastical history of Tyrannius Rufinus, states that nobody was really sure whether it was a case of murder or of suicide.^[32] Later ancient historians such as Zosimus,^[33] Philostorgius,^[34] Socrates Scholasticus,^[35] and Paulus Orosius,^[36] all believed Valentinian was murdered by Arbogast. Edward Gibbon thought the death was the result of a conspiracy to replace one puppet emperor with another, leaving Arbogast as the true source of power.^[37] Conversely, modern scholars John Frederick Matthews^[29] and Brian Croke^[38] argue that Valentinian died by suicide. Croke points out that a four-month interregnum followed the death, indicating that Arbogast was unprepared to install a new emperor. Gerard Friell suggests that Valentinian killed himself out of humiliation after his authority was devalued by Arbogast on multiple occasions.^[27] Thomas Hodgkin leans towards murder, claiming that "Arbogast had much to fear from the prolongation of his master's life, and something to hope from his death," but he also acknowledges that the interregnum shows that Arbogast did not have a plan for what to do after the death of Valentinian.^[39]

Arbogast and Eugenius

In August 392, Arbogast nominated Eugenius,^[40] a Roman teacher of rhetoric, as the next emperor in the West.^[41] Whether or not the rumors surrounding the death of Valentinian II are true, contemporaries initially considered the transfer of power "legitimate, legal, Roman, and civilized".^[42] With the new ruler established, in 393 Arbogast travelled across the Rhine frontier to take revenge against his own Franks and their kinglets Sunno and Marcomer, who had plundered the region in the reign of Valentinian.^[43] The campaign, which met little opposition, included restoration of the fortress city of Cologne, an important strategic location which allowed the Romans to occupy the Rhine's eastern bank for the last time in their history.^[23] Furthermore, Arbogast was able to conclude a peace treaty in which the Franks promised to supply the Roman military with valuable new recruits.^[41]

Eugenius was a Christian, whose religious position had been approved by Ambrose and Theodosius I, but he was sympathetic to paganism and allowed the reopening of temples closed under Gratian and Valentinian II.^[44] It has been suggested, by Zosimus among others,^[45] that Arbogast chose Eugenius as part of a program of pagan revival.^[42] Certainly there was an increase in public pagan worship during his reign,^[46] although neither he nor Arbogast may have intended for this to be so.^[47] It was dangerous to incur the displeasure of Theodosius, who seemed to be preparing his son Honorius, recently promoted to Augustus ,^[42] to take Eugenius' place. Furthermore, all communication between the Eastern and Western courts was now managed by Rufinus, Theodosius' new Praetorian Prefect, who could poison the Emperor's mind against Arbogast and Eugenius if he wished.^[48]

In order to shore up their legitimacy, Arbogast and Eugenius moved in April 393 to take control of Italy, a strategic and symbolic center of the Roman world. There they engaged in further gestures of goodwill towards the pagan community, appointing the polytheist nobleman Virius Nicomachus Flavianus as Prefect of Italy,^[49] and permitting the restoration of the Altar of Victory and other pagan symbols removed by stricter Christian emperors.^[50] It was said that they threatened to turn the basilica at Milan into a stable for their horses.^[51] When, in 394, Theodosius decided that Eugenius must be eliminated,^[52] he justified the conflict as a holy war. The Eastern and Western forces had a single, decisive engagement, the Battle of the Frigidus.

Battle of the Frigidus and death of Arbogast

Theodosius set off from Constantinople in the middle of May, reaching Adrianople on 20 June 394. His route to Italy lay through the Julian Alps, and Arbogast and Eugenius moved to intercept him. They made camp in Milan and were joined by Nicomachus Flavianus, who had conducted a haruspicy and obtained a prophecy of victory for their cause.^[53] The Western army's original plan called for laying a series of ambushes in the Alps, arranged so as to encircle Theodosius and his troops. Theodosius failed to appear at the expected time, and Arbogast concluded that the enemy had changed course and was trying to outflank him from behind the heavily defended Adriatic coast. He called off the attacks in the mountain passes and dispatched a substantial portion of his forces to the south to meet the supposed assault.

In fact, Theodosius had paused at Sirmium to gather reinforcements. He passed undisturbed through the Alps and reached Arbogast's location in September. The forces of Arbogast and Eugenius entrenched themselves in a plain with their backs turned to the river Frigidus, with additional troops occupying nearby elevated positions and the south still defended against outflanking movements. Theodosius was compelled to make a frontal assault. Battle commenced on 5 September 394 and lasted the entire day, with Theodosius failing to break through Arbogast's lines. Having taken heavy losses, the Eastern army retreated towards the protection of the Julian Alps. Arbogast sent a large force after them, but suffered a humiliating reversal when Theodosius convinced the attackers to switch sides in return for a substantial bribe.

Thus reinforced, Theodosius was ready to attack Arbogast and Eugenius again on the following day. He approached the battlefield on a narrow road, where the diminished Western army tried to ambush him. The ambush was thwarted by a local weather phenomenon known as the bora, wherein the pressure effect on cold air passing over the mountains produces cyclonic winds of up to 60 mph. The wind threw dust in the faces of Arbogast and his troops and turned back their projectile weapons, helping Theodosius to a comprehensive victory.^[54]^[55]^[56] Christian writers such as Theodoretus and Saint Augustine say that the Battle of the Frigidus was won through divine intervention, although a modern scholar sees more significance in Theodosius' unprecedentedly large-scale employment of barbarian mercenaries.^[57]

Eastern forces overran the enemy camp and captured Eugenius, who was beheaded. Arbogast escaped into the Alps, where he wandered alone for a few days. Sometime after 6 September 394, he decided that his position was hopeless and killed himself.^[58]

Despite Arbogast's questionable involvement in politics in the latter years of his life, Hodgkin gives a positive overall estimation of his career: "Arbogast, the flame-like Frank, was no mere intriguer like [Magnus] Maximus, but a brave and well-trained soldier, probably the best General in the Roman Empire".^[59] Gerard Friell and Stephen Williams concur, summarizing Arbogast as "a first-class military commander with a fine record, very popular with the army and wholly loyal to the houses of Valentinian and Theodosius".^[23]

Related Research Articles

Galla Placidia, daughter of the Roman emperor Theodosius I, was a mother, tutor, and advisor to emperor Valentinian III. She was queen consort to Ataulf, king of the Visigoths from 414 until his death in 415, briefly empress consort to Constantius III in 421, and managed the government administration as a regent during the early reign of Valentinian III until her death.

Theodosius I, also called Theodosius the Great, was a Roman emperor from 379 to 395. During his reign, he succeeded in a crucial war against the Goths, as well as in two civil wars, and was instrumental in establishing the creed of Nicaea as the orthodox doctrine for Christianity. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule the entire Roman Empire before its administration was permanently split between the West and East.

The 390s decade ran from January 1, 390 to December 31, 399

Magnus Maximus was Roman emperor in the West from 383 to 388. He usurped the throne from emperor Gratian.

Gratian was emperor of the Western Roman Empire from 367 to 383. The eldest son of Valentinian I, Gratian was raised to the rank of Augustus as a child and inherited the West after his father's death in 375. He nominally shared the government with his infant half-brother Valentinian II, who was also acclaimed emperor in Pannonia on Valentinian's death. The East was ruled by his uncle Valens, who was later succeeded by Theodosius I.

Valentinian II was a Roman emperor in the western part of the Roman empire between AD 375 and 392. He was at first junior co-ruler of his half-brother, then was sidelined by a usurper, and finally became sole ruler after 388, albeit with limited de facto powers.

Count Theodosius or Theodosius the Elder, was a senior military officer serving Valentinian I and the Western Roman Empire during Late Antiquity. Under his command the Roman army defeated numerous threats, incursions, and usurpations. Theodosius was patriarch of the imperial Theodosian dynasty and father of the emperor Theodosius the Great.

<i>Magister militum</i> Imperial Roman military office

Magister militum was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer of the empire. In Greek sources, the term is translated either as strategos or as stratelates.

Eugenius was a Western Roman emperor from 392 to 394, unrecognized by the Eastern Roman emperor Theodosius I. While Christian himself, Eugenius capitalized on the discontent in the West caused by Theodosius' religious policies targeting pagans. He renovated the pagan Temple of Venus and Roma and restored the Altar of Victory after continued petitions from the Roman Senate. Eugenius replaced Theodosius' administrators with men loyal to him including pagans. This revived the pagan cause. His army fought the army of Theodosius at the Battle of the Frigidus, where he was captured and executed.

Victor was a Western Roman emperor from either 383/384 or 387 to August 388. He was the son of the magister militum Magnus Maximus, who later became a usurper of the Western Roman Empire, in opposition to Gratian. Maximus rose up in 383, and was recognized as the legitimate emperor in the west by Theodosius I. Victor was elevated to augustus of the Western Roman Empire in either 383/384 or mid-387, making him co-emperor with his father. Maximus invaded Italy in 387, to depose Valentinian II, the brother and successor of the late Gratian. Because of Maximus' invasion, Theodosius invaded the Western Empire in 388. Theodosius defeated Maximus in two battles in Pannonia, before crushing his army at Aquilea, and capturing Maximus. Maximus was executed on 28 August 388. His death was followed quickly by that of Victor, who was executed in Trier by the Frankish general Arbogast.

The Theodosian dynasty was a Roman imperial family that produced five Roman emperors during Late Antiquity, reigning over the Roman Empire from 379 to 457. The dynasty's patriarch was Theodosius the Elder, whose son Theodosius the Great was made Roman emperor in 379. Theodosius's two sons both became emperors, while his daughter married Constantius III, producing a daughter that became an empress and a son also became emperor. The dynasty of Theodosius married into, and reigned concurrently with, the ruling Valentinianic dynasty, and was succeeded by the Leonid dynasty with the accession of Leo the Great.

Aelia Flavia Flaccilla was a Roman empress and first wife of the Roman Emperor Theodosius I. She was of Hispanian Roman descent. During her marriage to Theodosius, she gave birth to two sons – future Emperors Arcadius and Honorius – and a daughter, Aelia Pulcheria.

The Battle of the Frigidus, also called the Battle of the Frigid River, was fought on 5 and 6 September 394 between the armies of the Roman emperor Theodosius the Great and the rebel augustus Eugenius, in the eastern border of Roman Italy. Theodosius won the battle and defeated the usurpation of Eugenius and Arbogast, restoring unity to the Roman Empire. The battlefield, in the Claustra Alpium Iuliarum near the Julian Alps through which Theodosius's army had passed, was probably in the Vipava Valley – with the Frigidus River being the modern Vipava – or possibly in the valley of the Isonzo.

The Valentinian dynasty was a ruling house of five generations of dynasts, including five Roman emperors during late antiquity, lasting nearly a hundred years from the mid fourth to the mid fifth century. They succeeded the Constantinian dynasty and reigned over the Roman Empire from 364 to 392 and from 425 to 455, with an interregnum (392–423), during which the Theodosian dynasty ruled and eventually succeeded them. The Theodosians, who intermarried into the Valentinian house, ruled concurrently in the east after 379.

Justina was a Roman empress. She was initially the wife of the rebel emperor Magnentius and was then married to Valentinian I, with whom she had four children, including the emperor Valentinian II and the empress Galla.

Galla was a Roman empress as the second wife of Theodosius I. She was the daughter of Valentinian I and his second wife Justina.

Flavius Bauto was a Romanised Frank who served as a magister militum of the Roman Empire and imperial advisor under Valentinian II.

Flavius Richomeres or Ricomer was a Frank who lived in the late 4th century. He took service in the Roman army and made a career as comes, magister militum, and consul. He was an uncle of the general Arbogastes. He is possibly to be identified with the Richomeres who married Ascyla, whose son Theodemer later became king of the Franks.

Flavius Merobaudes was a Roman army officer of Frankish origin. He was appointed magister peditum around 375, and consul twice in 377 and 383. Ancient sources record that he was put to death that year for his support of the imperial usurper Magnus Maximus, but an inscription records that he became consul a third time in 388.

The persecution of pagans under Theodosius I began in 381, after the first couple of years of his reign as co-emperor in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. In the 380s, Theodosius I reiterated the ban of Constantine the Great on animal sacrifices, prohibited haruspicy on animal sacrifice, pioneered the criminalization of magistrates who did not enforce anti-pagan laws, broke up some pagan associations and destroyed pagan temples.

References

↑ Jones, Martindale & Morris, pp. 765–766.
↑ Socrates, ch. XXV, p. 297 https://archive.org/details/ecclesiasticalh02valogoog/page/296/mode/2up
↑ Ludwig, p. 60
↑ Jones, Martindale & Morris, p. 97.
↑ Cameron, Alan (2010). The Last Pagans of Rome. Oxford University Press. pp. 85–86.
↑ Zosimus, IV. 33 p. 165
↑ Jones, Martindale & Morris, pp. 933–934.
↑ Croke 1976, p. 236.
↑ Burns 1994, p. 75.
↑ Orosius, Histories 7.35.11
↑ Edward Gibbon, The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, (The Modern Library, 1932), chap. XXVI, p. 933; chap. XXVII, pp. 961, 994
↑ Jones, Martindale & Morris, pp. 159–160.
↑ Jones, Martindale & Morris, pp. 904–905.
↑ Wolfram, pp. 132–134
↑ Jones, Martindale & Morris, p. 588.
↑ Cambridge Medieval History, p. 383
↑ Gibbon, p. 994
↑ Williams & Friell 1994, p. 62.
↑ Williams & Friell 1994, p. 63.
↑ Zosimus, IV. 47 p. 180
↑ Croke 1976, p. 235.
1 2 Zosimus, IV. 53 p. 186
1 2 3 4 Williams & Friell 1994, p. 126.
↑ Gregory of Tours, II.9 p. 122
↑ Hodgkin, pp. 551–552
↑ Hodgkin, p. 554
1 2 Williams & Friell 1994, p. 127.
↑ Philostorgius, 11.9 p. 143
1 2 Matthews, p. 238
↑ Ambrose, p. 358
↑ Ambrose, p. 359
↑ Rufinus, XI. 31
↑ Zosimus, IV. 54 pp. 186–187
↑ Philostorgius, 11.1, p. 143
↑ Socrates, 5.11
↑ Orosius, 7.35
↑ Gibbon, ch 27
↑ Croke 1976, p. 244.
↑ Hodgkin, p. 592
↑ Jones, Martindale & Morris, p. 293.
1 2 Burns 1994, p. 104.
1 2 3 Williams & Friell 1994, p. 129.
↑ Gregory of Tours, II.9, p. 122
↑ Hodgkin, p. 560
↑ Zosimus, IV. 54 p. 187
↑ Salzman, "Ambrose and the Usurpation of Arbogastes and Eugenius"
↑ Paulinus, p. 106
↑ Williams & Friell 1994, p. 128.
↑ Jones, Martindale & Morris, p. 630.
↑ Williams & Friell 1994, p. 130.
↑ Paulinus, p. 108
↑ Socrates, 5.18.14.
↑ Williams & Friell 1994, p. 132.
↑ Burns 1994, pp. 104–107.
↑ Williams & Friell 1994, pp. 132–134.
↑ Hebblewhite 2020, pp. 137–140.
↑ Burns 1994, p. 105.
↑ Williams & Friell 1994, pp. 134–135.
↑ Hodgkin, p. 559

Sources

Ambrose (2005). Liebeschuetz, John Hugo Wolfgang Gideon (ed.). Political Letters and Speeches . Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 978-1-846-31243-4.
Gregory of Tours (1974). The History of the Franks Translated with an introduction by Lewis Thorpe. England: Penguin Classics. ISBN 978-0-14-044295-3.
Orosius, Paulus (2002). The Seven Books of History Against the Pagans. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press. ISBN 978-0-8132-1310-1.
Ludwig, Uwe; Schilp, Thomas (2008). Nomen et Fraternitas: Festschrift für Dieter Geuenich zum 65. Geburtstag (in German). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-916712-3.
Paulinus of Nola (1999). Trout, Dennis (ed.). Life, Letters, and Poems. Transformation of the Classical Heritage (first ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-21709-6.
Rufinus. Historia Ecclesiastica. Edited by T. Mommsen. Berlin, 1903–1908.
Amidon, Philip, ed. (2007). Philostorgius: Church History. Writings from the Greco-Roman World. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature. ISBN 978-1-58983-215-2.
Socrates. Historia Ecclesiastica. With introduction by W.Bright. Oxford, 1878.
Zosimus. Historia Nova, The Decline of Rome. Translated by James Buchanan and Harold Davis. Trinity University Press. Texas, 1967.
Burns, Thomas S. Barbarians Within the Gates of Rome : A Study of Roman Military Policy and the Barbarians, ca. 375–425 A.D. Indiana University Press 1994. ISBN 978-0-253-31288-4.
Croke, B (1976), "Arbogast and the Death of Valentinian II", Historia, 25 (2).
Williams, Stephen; Friell, Gerard (1994). Theodosius: The Empire at Bay. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-07447-5.
Gibbon, Edward (1826). The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. J. & J. Harper.
Hebblewhite, Mark (2020). Theodosius and the Limits of Empire. London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315103334. ISBN 978-1-138-10298-9. S2CID 213344890.
Hodgkin, Thomas (1982). Italy and Her Invaders: pt. 1–2. The Visigothic invasion. Clarendon Press.
Jones, A.H.M.; J.R. Martindale & J. Morris (1971). Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. Vol. 1. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-07233-6.
Matthews, John (1975). Western Aristocracies and Imperial Court, A.D. 364–425. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-814499-1.
Salzman, Michele Renee. Ambrose and the Usurpation of Arbogastes and Eugenius: Reflections on Pagan-Christian Conflict Narratives. Journal of Early Christian Studies – Volume 18, Number 2, Summer 2010, pp. 191–223. The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Wolfram, Herwig and Dunlap, Thomas. History of the Goths. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990. ISBN 978-0-520-06983-1
"Chapter VIII. The Dynasty of Valentinian and Theodosius the Great". The Death of Gratian 383. Cambridge Medieval History. Archived from the original on 9 February 2011. Retrieved December 15, 2010.

Authority control databases
International	VIAF 2
National	Germany Vatican
People	Deutsche Biographie