Roman Civil War of 425 | |||||||
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Part of Fall of the Western Roman Empire | |||||||
![]() Northern Italy | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Western Roman Empire Huns | Eastern Roman Empire African rebels | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Joannes ![]() Castinus Flavius Aetius | Theodosius II Galla Placidia Ardaburius Aspar Bonifatius | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
10,000–15,000 | 15,000 [1] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
unknown | unknown |
The Roman Civil War of 425 was a short civil war between the West Roman Emperor Joannes and the East Roman Emperor Theodosius II. After rising tensions, battles took place in Italy between the armies of both halves of the empire. Despite this, the conflict did not end by battle, but as a result of a conspiracy in which the Western emperor was captured and killed shortly afterwards.
Already at the beginning of his reign on November 20, 423, Joannes was not recognized as emperor by the eastern court in Constantinople, but considered as a usurpator. After the death of his predecessor Honorius, the nephew of the eastern emperor, he was pushed forward as a successor by Castinus, patricius and magister militum (commander-in-chief) of the western army. His reign was not recognized in the North- African province, ruled by comes Africae Bonifatius. [2]
In 424, diplomatic tensions between the two imperial halves continued when Theodosius named his nephew Valentinian as Caesar of the western part with his mother Placidia as Augusta. [3] Prosper writes that an Italian field army unsuccessfully fought against Bonifatius and that the western army was weakened by the losses there. [4] The bucellari, the strong private army of Bonifatius, played a decisive role in this. [5]
Joannes feared an attack from the east and sent his general Aetius on a mission to the Huns for military aid. [6] Before this help arrived, Theodosius decided to take action and ordered his chief commander-in-chief magister militum Ardaburius to overthrow Joannes Reijn. Ardaburius prepared his army, commanded the fleet himself and sent his son Aspar by land through Dalmatia to Italia. The eastern army landed in Aquileia early 425 and took the city in no time. Some time later, Aspar's field army arrived and joined Ardaburius' main force.
Soon after, battles broke out between the western and eastern armies, with Ardaburius accidentally falling into the hands of the western army. With regard to this event, the sources are vague and contradictory. According to Prosper, the imperial court at Ravenna was attacked and taken. John of Antioch, on the other hand, argues that a shepherd led the army of Aspar safely through the swamps that protected the city and that local allies opened the gate for them. [7]
Nevertheless, the captured commander-in-chief was well treated by Joannes. Maybe the emperor hoped to reach an agreement with Theodosius II. According to Stewart East West Ardaburius, during his captivity, he persuaded a number of Western Roman officers to commit a coup against Emperor Joannes, which they succeeded in doing. The Ravenna garrison opened the gates to the Eastern Roman army after which the emperor could be taken captive.
After his capture, John was beheaded in May 425 after a hand had previously been knocked off from him. [8] Three days after his death, another battle took place between Aspar and Aëtius, which ended in a draw. Aëtius then entered into an agreement with Ardaburius and Aspar and entered the service of the new Western Roman government. Valentinian III was appointed emperor in the West shortly afterwards. Castinus, the commander-in-chief of the Western Army, was removed from office and then exiled.
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.
The 420s decade ran from January 1, 420, to December 31, 429.
The 450s decade ran from January 1, 450, to December 31, 459.
The 440s decade ran from January 1, 440, to December 31, 449.
Year 423 (CDXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Marinianus and Asclepiodotus. The denomination 423 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.
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.
Marcian was Roman emperor of the East from 450 to 457. Very little of his life before becoming emperor is known, other than that he was a domesticus who served under the commanders Ardabur and his son Aspar for fifteen years. After the death of Emperor Theodosius II on 28 July 450, Marcian was made a candidate for the throne by Aspar, who held much influence because of his military power. After a month of negotiations Pulcheria, Theodosius' sister, agreed to marry Marcian. Zeno, a military leader whose influence was similar to Aspar's, may have been involved in these negotiations, as he was given the high-ranking court title of patrician upon Marcian's accession. Marcian was elected and inaugurated on 25 August 450.
Valentinian III was Roman emperor in the West from 425 to 455. Made emperor in childhood, his reign over the Roman Empire was one of the longest, but was dominated by powerful generals vying for power amid civil wars and the invasions of Late antiquity's Migration Period, including the campaigns of Attila the Hun.
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.
Flavius Ardabur Aspar was an Eastern Roman patrician and magister militum of Alanic-Gothic descent. As the general of a Germanic army in Roman service, Aspar exerted great influence on the Eastern Roman Emperors for half a century, from the 420s to his death in 471, through the reigns of Theodosius II, Marcian and Leo I, who, in the end, had him killed. His death led to the ending of the Germanic domination of Eastern Roman policy.
Joannes or John was Western Roman emperor from 423 to 425.
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.
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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.
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.
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 Roman Civil War (432) was a military conflict between the Roman generals Aëtius and Bonifatius during the reign of Emperor Valentinian III. This war took place on Italian soil and was decided in the Battle of Rimini. Despite Aëtius losing the battle, the civil war ended in his favor, because Bonifatius was wounded in battle and eventually died of his injuries.
The Roman civil war of 427-429 was a civil war during the reign of the West Roman emperor Valentinian III. In that period there was a power struggle going on between the generals Felix and Bonifatius that degenerated into an armed conflict. When the central government tried to deput Bonifatius as governor of North-Africa, he separated his territory from the empire without proclaiming himself emperor. He carried the personal loyalty of the African troops and lead them at his discretion during this war. Bonifatius was able to successfully defy and resist state authority. The civil war ended with a truce after which peace was made.
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.