The Chronica or Cronaca Gallica of 511, also called the Gallic Chronicle of 511, is a chronicle of late antiquity preserved today in a single manuscript of the thirteenth century now in Madrid. It resembles in all its traits another late antique Gallic chronicle, the Chronica Gallica of 452 , of which it may be a continuation.
Like the chronicle of 452, it was written in the south of Gaul, possibly at Arles or Marseille. The sources of its author include the earlier chronicle, the chronicle of Sulpicius Severus, that of Hydatius, that of Orosius, and the imperial consular records. [1] It was added to a compilation of texts in Spain in 733. The chronicle is considered an extremely complex document, containing an epitome—probably an epitome that has been condensed further—instead of Severus' chronicle detailing the history of the world. [2] It was also described as one of the earliest extant works that used Hydatius as a source and was an exiguous revision—and also continuation—of Eusebius' chronicle translated by Jerome. [3]
The chronicle covers the period from 379 to 509/511, from which derives its name. Its entries are short and pointed, but only (approximately) datable by the rare reference to the regnal year of an emperor and by the (assumed) chronological ordering of events. Among the events for which there is no other extant source is the defeat and death of Anthemiolus around 471. Some of its contents including the dates of an emperor's reign and the chronology of events are not accurate. [4]
Glycerius was Roman emperor of the West from 473 to 474. He served as comes domesticorum during the reign of Olybrius, until Olybrius died in November 472. After a four-month interregnum, Glycerius was proclaimed as emperor in March 473 by Gundobad, the magister militum and power behind the throne. Very few of the events of his reign are known other than that an attempted invasion of Italy by the Visigoths was repelled by local commanders, diverting them to Gaul. Glycerius also prevented an invasion by the Ostrogoths through diplomacy, including a gift of 2,000 solidi.
Anicius Olybrius was Roman emperor from July 472 until his death later that same year; his rule as augustus in the western Roman Empire was not recognised as legitimate by the ruling augustus in the eastern Roman Empire, Leo I. He was in reality a puppet ruler raised to power by Ricimer, the magister militum of Germanic descent, and was mainly interested in religion, while the actual power was held by Ricimer and his nephew Gundobad.
Majorian was the Western Roman emperor from 457 to 461. A prominent commander in the Western military, Majorian deposed Avitus in 457 with the aid of his ally Ricimer. Possessing little more than Italy, Dalmatia, as well as some territory in Hispania and northern Gaul, Majorian campaigned rigorously for three years against the Empire's enemies. In 461, he was murdered at Dertona in a conspiracy, and his successors until the Fall of the Empire in 476 were puppets either of barbarian generals or the Eastern Roman court.
Flavius Aetius was a Roman general and statesman of the closing period of the Western Roman Empire. He was a military commander and the most influential man in the Empire for two decades (433–454). He managed policy in regard to the attacks of barbarian federates settled throughout the West. Notably, he mustered a large Roman and allied (foederati) army in the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, ending a devastating invasion of Gaul by Attila in 451, though the Hun and his subjugated allies still managed to invade Italy the following year, an incursion best remembered for the ruthless Sack of Aquileia and the intercession of Pope Leo I.
Procopius Anthemius was the Western Roman emperor from 467 to 472. Born in the Eastern Roman Empire, Anthemius quickly worked his way up the ranks. He married into the Theodosian dynasty through Marcia Euphemia, daughter of Eastern emperor Marcian. He soon received a significant number of promotions to various posts, and was presumed to be Marcian's planned successor. However, Marcian's sudden death in 457, together with that of Western emperor Avitus, left the imperial succession in the hands of Aspar, who instead appointed Leo, a low-ranking officer, to the Eastern throne, probably out of fear that Anthemius would be too independent. Eventually, this same Leo designated Anthemius as Western emperor in 467, following a two-year interregnum that started in November 465.
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.
The Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, also called the Battle of the Campus Mauriacus, Battle of Châlons, Battle of Troyes or the Battle of Maurica, took place on June 20, 451 AD, between a coalition, led by the Roman general Flavius Aetius and the Visigothic king Theodoric I, against the Huns and their vassals, commanded by their king, Attila. It proved one of the last major military operations of the Western Roman Empire, although Germanic foederati composed the majority of the coalition army. Whether the battle was of strategic significance is disputed; historians generally agree that the siege of Aurelianum was the decisive moment in the campaign and stopped the Huns' attempt to advance any further into Roman territory or establish vassals in Roman Gaul. However, the Huns successfully looted and pillaged much of Gaul and crippled the military capacity of the Romans and Visigoths. Attila died only two years later, in 453; after the Battle of Nedao in 454 AD, the coalition of the Huns and the incorporated Germanic vassals gradually disintegrated.
Hydatius, also spelled Idacius was a late Western Roman writer and clergyman. The bishop of Aquae Flaviae in the Roman province of Gallaecia, he was the author of a chronicle of his own times that provides us with our best evidence for the history of Hispania in the 5th century.
Aegidius was the ruler of the short-lived Kingdom of Soissons from 461 to 464/465. Before his ascension he was an ardent supporter of the Western Roman emperor Majorian, who appointed him magister militum per Gallias in 458. After the general Ricimer assassinated Majorian and replaced him with Emperor Libius Severus, Aegidius rebelled and began governing his Gallic territory as an independent kingdom. He may have pledged his allegiance to the Eastern Roman emperor Leo I.
Placidia was a daughter of Valentinian III, Roman emperor of the West from 425 to 455, and from 454/455 the wife of Olybrius, who became western Roman emperor in 472. She was one of the last imperial spouses in the Roman west, during the Fall of the Western Roman Empire during Late Antiquity.
Marcellinus was a Roman general and patrician who ruled over the region of Dalmatia in the Western Roman Empire and held sway with the army there from 454 until his death. Governing Dalmatia both independently from, and under, six Emperors during the twilight of the Western Empire, Marcellinus proved to be an able administrator and military personality with sources making reference that he ruled justly and well and kept Dalmatia independent of the emperor and of barbarian rulers.
Anthemiolus was the son of the Western Roman Emperor Anthemius (467–472) and Marcia Euphemia, daughter of the Eastern Roman emperor Marcian.
Libius Severus, sometimes enumerated as Severus III, was Western Roman emperor from 461 to his death in 465. A native of Lucania, Severus was the fourth of the so-called "Shadow Emperors" who followed the deposition of the Valentinianic dynasty in 455. He ruled for just under four years, attaining the throne after his predecessor, Majorian, was overthrown by his magister militum, Ricimer. Severus was the first of a series of emperors who were highly dependent on the general, and it is often presumed that Ricimer held most of the de facto power during Severus' reign
The Chronica Gallica of 452, also called the Gallic Chronicle of 452, is a Latin chronicle of Late Antiquity, presented in the form of annals, which continues that of Jerome. It was edited by Theodor Mommsen in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica as Chronica Gallica A. CCCCLII, along with another anonymous Gallic chronicle, the Chronica Gallica of 511.
Agrippinus was a general of the Western Roman Empire, Magister militum per Gallias under emperors Valentinian III, Petronius Maximus, Avitus and Libius Severus.
The Battle of Orléans took place in the year 463 pitting the forces of the Kingdom of Soissons, under the command of the magister militum Aegidius, against those of the Visigoths who were commanded by the Visigoth King Theodoric II and his brother Federico.
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 Burgundian Revolt of Gunther consisted two revolts of the Burgundian foederati in the Western Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Valentinian III. The uprisings happened in the Gallic province of Germania Prima and was led by the King of the Burgundian Gunther, his main opponent was General Aetius.
The Gothic War in Spain was a military operation of the Visigoths commissioned by the West Roman Empire. This operation consisted of multiple campaigns that took place between 416 and 418 and were directed against the Vandals and the Alans to restore Roman power in the Spanish provinces of Betica, Lusitania and Cartaginense. As far as is known, the Roman field army was not involved in the battles, only foederati units fought on the side of the Romans. According to Thompson played the Hasdingi in Gallaecia a dubious role in this war.
The Frankish War (428) was a short military conflict between the Frankish people the Salians and the West Roman Empire under Emperor Valentinian III. The protagonists in this conflict were the captain of the Franks' king Clodio and the Roman general Aetius. The war ended in a Roman victory.