Gaudentius (died before AD 425) was the father of the Roman magister militum Flavius Aetius and married to an Italian noblewoman. [1] He is described as a native of the Roman province Scythia [1] (although some misread this to portray him as an ethnic Scythian). [2] [3]
Gaudentius served under the Eastern Roman emperor Theodosius I against the usurper Eugenius. Later, when his son Flavius Aetius was born in 396, Gaudentius served as magister equitum , or Master of Cavalry, under the Emperor Honorius. In 399, he served as the Comes Africae. Augustine of Hippo claimed that he destroyed pagan temples in Carthage. [4] Gaudentius, along with Jovius, are described by Gibbon as destroying Pagan temples under orders from Theodosius I [5] . During the usurpation of Joannes, Gaudentius was made magister militum praesentalis. [6] Gaudentius died in a military uprising in Gaul before 425. [1]
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 430s decade ran from January 1, 430, to December 31, 439.
Year 430 (CDXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Theodosius and Valentinianus. The denomination 430 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
The 420s decade ran from January 1, 420, to December 31, 429.
Year 391 (CCCXCI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Tatianus and Symmachus. The denomination 391 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
The 390s decade ran from January 1, 390 to December 31, 399
The 440s decade ran from January 1, 440, to December 31, 449.
Year 425 (CDXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Theodosius and Valentinianus. The denomination 425 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Valentinian III was Roman emperor in the West from 425 to 455. Starting in childhood, his reign over the Roman Empire was one of the longest, but was dominated by civil wars among powerful generals and the invasions of late antiquity's Migration Period.
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.
Stilicho was a military commander in the Roman army who, for a time, became the most powerful man in the Western Roman Empire. He was of Vandal origins and married to Serena, the niece of emperor Theodosius I. He became guardian for the underage Honorius. After nine years of struggle against barbarian and Roman enemies, political and military disasters finally allowed his enemies in the court of Honorius to remove him from power. His fall culminated in his arrest and execution in 408.
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. This included pagans, reviving the pagan cause. His army fought the army of Theodosius at the Battle of the Frigidus, where he was captured and executed.
Petronius Maximus was Roman emperor of the West for two and a half months in 455. A wealthy senator and a prominent aristocrat, he was instrumental in the murders of the Western Roman magister militum, Aëtius, and the Western Roman emperor, Valentinian III.
Bonifatius was a Roman general and governor of the diocese of Africa. He campaigned against the Visigoths in Gaul and the Vandals in North Africa. An ally of Galla Placidia, mother and advisor of Valentinian III, Bonifacius engaged in Roman civil wars on her behalf against the generals Felix in 427-429 and Aetius in 432. Although he defeated the latter at the Battle of Rimini, Bonifacius suffered a fatal wound and was succeeded by his son-in-law Sebastianus as patricius of the Western Roman Empire.
Licinia Eudoxia was a Roman Empress, daughter of Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II. Her husbands included the Western Roman Emperors Valentinian III and Petronius Maximus.
Arbogast or Arbogastes 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.
Flavius Sigisvultus was a general of the late Western Roman Empire.
The Eastern Roman Empire was ruled by the Theodosian dynasty from 379, the accession of Theodosius I, to 457, the death of Marcian. The rule of the Theodosian dynasty saw the final East-West division of the Roman Empire, between Arcadius and Honorius in 395. Whilst divisions of the Roman Empire had occurred before, the Empire would never again be fully reunited. The reign of the sons of Theodosius I contributed heavily to the crisis that under the fifth century eventually resulted in the complete collapse of western Roman court.