Apollinaris (Latin: Apollinarius) was Praetorian Prefect of Gaul from May 408 or earlier until 409 AD, [1] when he was succeeded by his friend Decimus Rusticus. He was the grandfather of Sidonius Apollinaris and was the son or grandson of another Apollinaris who was Prefect of Gaul under Constantine II between 337 and 340.
Little is known of Apollinaris' early life. It is suggested that he was born in about 380 AD in Lugdunum (modern Lyon). [2]
In 407, Flavius Claudius Constantinus was declared emperor in Roman Britain and crossed the channel into Gaul (modern France), taking all of the mobile troops from Britain under Gerontius. With a mixture of fighting and diplomacy Constantine stabilised the situation and established control over Gaul and Hispania (modern Spain and Portugal) in May 408. He had made Arles his capital, where he appointed Apollinaris as chief minister (with the title of praetorian prefect ). The sitting emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Honorius, sent an army under Sarus the Goth to expel Constantine's forces. After initial victories, however, Sarus was repulsed.
Apollinaris was the father two children: Apollinaris, who was Prefect of Gaul under Valentinian III (Sidonius recalls being present with his father at the installation of Astyrius as consul in 449 [3] ), and Thaumastus, another Prefect of Gaul under Valentinian III and father of Eulalia, born in 425. [4]
His tenure lasted until 409, when he was ousted (possibly by Constantine III) in favor of Decimus Rusticus, who was also Master of the Offices. When Honorius appointed a new general, Flavius Constantius in another attempt to suppress Constantine, he defeated Constantine and besieged Arles. Despite Constantius' assurances that Constantine would be able to safely retire to a clerical office, Constantius had him imprisoned, and further had him beheaded during his return to Ravenna, in either August or September 411. [5] Decimus Rusticus was also captured and put to death.
Apollinaris' grandson, Sidonius Apollinaris, was the son-in-law to Emperor Avitus and was the Bishop of Clermont in 469, which he retained until his death in the 480s.
Apollinaris served as the Praetorian Prefect of Gaul, a position of significant power and responsibility in the Late Roman Empire. The Praetorian Prefecture of Gaul was one of four large prefectures into which the Late Roman Empire was divided. It comprised not only Gaul but also Roman Britain, Hispania, and Mauretania Tingitana in Africa Proconsulare.
Honorius was Roman emperor from 393 to 423. He was the younger son of emperor Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla. After the death of Theodosius in 395, Honorius, under the regency of Stilicho, ruled the western half of the empire while his brother Arcadius ruled the eastern half. His reign over the Western Roman Empire was notably precarious and chaotic. In 410, Rome was sacked for the first time since the Battle of the Allia almost 800 years prior.
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.
The 410s decade ran from January 1, 410, to December 31, 419.
Constantius III was briefly Western Roman emperor in 421, having earned the throne through his capability as a general under Honorius. By 411 he had achieved the rank of magister militum, and in the same year he suppressed the revolt of the usurper Constantine III. Constantius went on to lead campaigns against various barbarian groups in Hispania and Gaul, recovering much of both for the Western Roman Empire. He married Honorius's sister Galla Placidia in 417, a sign of his ascendant status, and was proclaimed co-emperor by Honorius on 8 February 421. Constantius reigned for seven months before dying on 2 September 421.
Eparchius Avitus was Roman emperor of the Western Empire from July 455 to October 456. He was a senator of Gallic extraction and a high-ranking officer both in the civil and military administration, as well as Bishop of Piacenza.
Gaius Sollius Modestus Apollinaris Sidonius, better known as Sidonius Apollinaris, was a poet, diplomat, and bishop. Born into the Gallo-Roman aristocracy, he was son-in-law to Emperor Avitus and was appointed Urban prefect of Rome by Emperor Anthemius in 468. In 469 he was appointed Bishop of Clermont and he led the defence of the city from Euric, King of the Visigoths, from 473 to 475. He retained his position as bishop after the city's conquest, until his death in the 480s. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic church, the Orthodox Church, and the True Orthodox Church, with his feast day on 21 August.
Constantine III was a common Roman soldier who was declared emperor in Roman Britain in 407 and established himself in Gaul. He was recognised as co-emperor of the Roman Empire from 409 until 411.
Athaulf was king of the Visigoths from 411 to 415. During his reign, he transformed the Visigothic state from a tribal kingdom to a major political power of late antiquity.
Constans II was the son of Western Roman emperor Constantine III, and served as his co-emperor from 409 to 411. Constans was a monk prior to his father being acclaimed emperor by the army in Britain in early 407, an act of rebellion against the ruling emperor Honorius. He was summoned to Gaul, appointed to the position of caesar (heir) and swiftly married so that a dynasty could be founded. In Hispania, Honorius's relatives rose in 408 and expelled Constantine's administration. An army under the generals Constans and Gerontius was sent to deal with this and Constantine's authority was re-established. Honorius acknowledged Constantine as co-emperor in early 409 and Constantine immediately raised Constans to the position of augustus (emperor), theoretically equal in rank to Honorius as well as to Constantine. Later in 409 Gerontius rebelled, proclaimed his client Maximus emperor and incited barbarian groups in Gaul to rise up. Constans was sent to quash the revolt, but was defeated and withdrew to Arles. In 410, Constans was sent to Hispania again. Gerontius had strengthened his army with barbarians and defeated Constans; the latter withdrew north and was defeated again and killed at Vienne early in 411. Gerontius then besieged Constantine in Arles and killed him.
Ruricius I was a Gallo-Roman aristocrat and bishop of Limoges from c. 485 to 510. He is one of the writers whose letters survive from late Roman Gaul, depicting the influence of the Visigoths on the Roman lifestyle. He should not be confused with his son-in-law, Saint Rusticus.
The Praetorian Prefecture of Gaul was one of four large prefectures into which the Late Roman Empire was divided.
Decimus Junius Rusticus of Treves and Lyon (Lugdunum) was a Master of the Offices and the praetorian prefect of Gaul between 409 and 410 or 413. He was one of those responsible for the withdrawal from Britannia.
Tonantius Ferreolus was the praetorian prefect of Gaul from 451.
Magnus was a Roman senator of Narbonne. He was appointed Roman consul in 460 by the Western emperor Majorian, at the same time Apollonius served in the East. Magnus also served as praetorian prefect of Gaul around the same time.
Thaumastus was a friend and uncle of Sidonius Apollinaris. His brother, the elder Apollinaris was born around 405 and was the praetorian prefect of Gaul under Valentinian III between 425 and 455. Thaumastus and his brother were both sons of another Apollinaris, praetorian prefect of Gaul before 409 and were friends with his successor Decimus Rusticus. Thaumastus was associated with Tonantius Ferreolus in the impeachment of Arvandus. He was the father of Eulalia, born in 425, married before 450 to Flavius Probus, Roman Senator.
Valerius Maximus was a Roman senator.
Edobichus was a general of the Roman usurper Constantine III. Although he was a native of Britain, according to Zosimus his ancestors were Franks.
The Council of the Seven Provinces was a governing body of the Seven Provinces in the praetorian prefecture of Gaul, then part of the Western Roman Empire. Between its establishment in 418 and its decline in the 460s, it met annually in Arles between mid-August and mid-September. Its members belonged to the Gallo-Roman aristocracy, including the bishops.
The Gothic revolt of Theodoric I was an uprising of the Gothic Fouderati in Aquitaine during the regime of Emperor Valentinian III (425-455). That rebellion was led by Theodoric I, King of the Visigoths and took place in the South of France. The uprising took place between 425 and 426, in the period shortly after the death of usurpator John and was terminated by a military operation under the command of Aëtius.
The Bagaudae Revolt (409-417) was a violent conflict in the early 5th century, involving part of the population in northwestern Gaul. The uprising was an indirect result of the Rhine crossing in 405–406, through which various Germanic peoples invaded the Western Roman Empire, as well as the revolt of the army in Britannia and the resulting civil war. In the following period, the Gallic population largely had to rely on itself and formed self-defense groups, which were called Bagaudae. In mid-409, groups of Bagaudae in the Loire Valley and Brittany rebelled against the Roman regime. The course of this uprising has been briefly reported. Most of the information comes from the work of the Byzantine historian Zosimus (460-515), the Roman poet Rutilus Namatianus and the priest Salvianus from Marseille.