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Flavius Valerius Constantius, also called Constantius I, was a Roman emperor from 305 to 306. He was one of the four original members of the Tetrarchy established by Diocletian, first serving as caesar from 293 to 305 and then ruling as augustus until his death. Constantius was also father of Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor of Rome. The nickname "Chlorus" was first popularized by Byzantine-era historians and not used during the emperor's lifetime.
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 partly 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.
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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.
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The sack of Rome on 24 August 410 AD was undertaken by the Visigoths led by their king, Alaric. At that time, Rome was no longer the administrative capital of the Western Roman Empire, having been replaced in that position first by Mediolanum in 286 and then by Ravenna in 402. Nevertheless, the city of Rome retained a paramount position as "the eternal city" and a spiritual center of the Empire. This was the first time in almost 800 years that Rome had fallen to a foreign enemy, and the sack was a major shock to contemporaries, friends and foes of the Empire alike.
The crossing of the Rhine River by a mixed group of barbarians which included Vandals, Alans and Suebi is traditionally considered to have occurred on the last day of the year 406. The crossing transgressed one of the Late Roman Empire's most secure limites or boundaries; as such, it has been considered a climactic moment in the decline of the Empire. It initiated a wave of destruction of Roman cities and the collapse of Roman civic order in northern Gaul. That, in turn, occasioned the rise of three usurpers in succession in the province of Britannia. Therefore, the crossing of the Rhine is a marker date in the Migration Period during which various Germanic tribes moved westward and southward from southern Scandinavia and northern Germania.
Sarus or Saurus was a Gothic chieftain known as a particularly brave and skillful warrior. He became a commander for the Emperor Honorius. He was known for his hostility to the prominent Gothic brothers-in-law Alaric I and Athaulf, and was the brother of Sigeric, who briefly ruled the Goths in 415.
The War of Radagaisus was a military conflict in northern Italy in the period 405–406. This conflict was caused by the invasion of Radagaisus in 405. He invaded the Western Roman Empire with a huge population shortly after the empire had ended a war with the Visigoths. Due to the size of Radagaisus' army, it required a tremendous effort by the Romans to avert this danger. Commander-in-chief Stilicho was closely involved in the preparations that were made and personally directed the army's operations.
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.
References
- ↑ Jones, pg. 518
- ↑ Birley, pg. 458
- ↑ Birley, pg. 458
- ↑ Orosius, 7:40:4
- ↑ Burns, pg. 209
- ↑ Burns, pg. 209
- ↑ Birley, pg. 457
- ↑ Bury, pg. 138
- ↑ Zosimus, 6:3:1
- ↑ Bury, pg. 138
- ↑ Bury, pg. 139
- ↑ Burns, pg. 210
- ↑ Burns, pgs. 210-211
- ↑ Stevens, C., Marcus, Gratian and Constantine, Athenaeum, 35 (1957), pp. 320-322
- ↑ Zosimus, 6:2:1
- ↑ Birley, pg. 458; Jones, pg. 519
- ↑ Monmouth, Historia Regum Britanniae, 6:1