Merobaudes (magister peditum)
Flavius Merobaudes (died 383 or 388) was a Roman army officer of
Biography
Merobaudes was an official of emperor
Around 375, Emperor
Merobaudes was twice
In 378 Gratian ordered Merobaudes to withdraw his troops eastwards to reinforce the Eastern Emperor Valens in his planned attack on the Goths, who had begun to revolt after relocating to Roman territory when displaced by invading Huns. Merobaudes decided to leave troops behind in Gaul, preventing a disaster when the Alemanni decided to invade after learning of the planned Roman withdrawal and leading to a massive victory for Gratian's army at Argentia, killing 30,000 Alemanni.[3] However, this delay led to the death of Valens and the destruction of most of his eastern army at the Battle of Adrianople when Valens decided to attack without waiting for Gratian's reinforcement (possibly to avoid sharing the victory with his Western rival).
According to ancient sources, in 383 Merobaudes supported the
Bibliography
- ISBN 0-521-07233-6
- Helmut Reimitz, "Merobaudes", Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, volume 19, 2001, p. 572f.
References
- ^ Jones, Martindale and Morris, pg. 598
- ^ Hebblewhite M. (2020) Theodosius and the Limits of Empire pg. 21-22 argues that Merobaudes almost certainly organised the execution of Theodosius the Elder
- ^ Ammianus 31.10.1-19; Aurelius Victor 47.2; Paulus Orosius, Adversus paganos historiarum libri septem, 7.33 in CSEL 5, ed. Z. Zangemeister (Vienna, 1882); Prosper Tiro, Epitoma chronicon, no. 1160, in MGH AA 9, ed. T. Mommsen (Berlin, 1861, repr. Berlin, 1961)