Valentinian I

Valentinian I
Valentinianic
Father	Gratianus Funarius
Religion	Nicene Christianity

Valentinian I (

succeeding him in the western half of the empire.

Early life

Valentinian was born in 321 at Cibalae (now Vinkovci, Croatia) in southern Pannonia^[4][5] into a family of Illyrian origin.^[6] Valentinian and his younger brother Valens were the sons of Gratianus (nicknamed Funarius), a military officer renowned for his wrestling skills.^[4][5][7]

Gratianus was promoted to comes Africae in the late 320s or early 330s, and the young Valentinian accompanied his father to Africa.^[8][5] However, Gratian was soon accused of embezzlement and retired.^[8][4] Valentinian joined the army in the late 330s and later probably acquired the position of protector domesticus.^[8][9] Gratian was later recalled during the early 340s and was made comes Britanniae.^[8][9] After holding this post, Gratianus retired to the family estate in Cibalae.^[10][9]

In 350,

Service under Constantius and Julian

The conflict between Magnentius and Constantius had allowed the

With his career in ruins, Valentinian returned to his new family estate in Sirmium. Two years later his first son Gratian was born by his wife Marina Severa.^[21][20] Valentinian's actions and location become uncertain around this time, but he was likely exiled,^[c] or perhaps simply sent to command a remote outpost.^[22] The sources give contradictory accounts of what happened, with some versions saying that he refused to make pagan sacrifices and voluntarily chose to leave, and others saying he was merely dismissed for his Christianity.^[23]

Rise to power

At the news of Julian's death on a campaign against the Sassanids, the army hastily declared

A meeting of civil and military officials was convened at Nicaea to choose a new emperor.

As a man well qualified and at hand, the assembly finally agreed upon Valentinian, and sent messengers to inform him in Ancyra.

Reign

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Valentinian accepted the acclamation on 25 or 26 February 364.

Valentinian selected as co-Augustus his brother Valens at Constantinople on 28 March 364.

).

Campaigns in Gaul and Germania

In 365 the

Valentinian advanced to Durocortorum and sent two generals, Charietto and Severianus, against the invaders.^[36] Both generals were promptly defeated and killed.^[37] In 366, Dagalaifus was sent against the Alamanni but he was also ineffective.^[38] Late in the campaigning season Dagalaifus was replaced by Jovinus, a general from the court of Valentinian. After several victories along the Meuse river, Jovinus fought and won a pitched battle with the Alamanni near Chalôn.^[39] After his victory he pushed the Alamanni out of Gaul and was awarded the consulate the following year for his efforts.^[40]

In early 367 Valentinian was distracted from launching a punitive expedition against the Alamanni due to

In 370 the Saxons renewed their attacks on northern Gaul. Nannienus, the comes in charge of the troops in northern Gaul, urged Severus to come to his aid. After several modest successes, a truce was called and the Saxons handed over to the Romans young men fit for duty in the Roman military – in exchange for free passage back to their homeland. The Romans ambushed them and destroyed the entire invading force.^[48]

Valentinian meanwhile tried to persuade the

valley in Italy, where they were still settled at the time Ammianus wrote his history.

Valentinian campaigned unsuccessfully for four more years to defeat Macrian who in 372 barely escaped capture by Theodosius. Meanwhile, Valentinian continued to recruit heavily from Alamanni friendly to Rome. He sent the Alamannic king Fraomarius, as a Tribune, to Britain in 372–373 with an army in order to replenish troops there and made the noblemen Bitheridius and Hortarius commanders in his army although Hortarius was soon executed for conspiring with Macrian. Valentinian's Alamannic campaigns, however, were hampered by troubles first in Africa, and later on the Danube river. In 374 Valentinian was forced to make peace with Macrian because the Emperor's presence was needed to counter an invasion of Illyricum by the Quadi and Sarmatians.

The Great Conspiracy

In 367, Valentinian received reports from Britain that a combined force of

with instructions to return Britain to Roman rule. Meanwhile, Severus and Jovinus were to accompany the emperor on his campaign against the Alamanni.

Theodosius arrived in 368 with the

as an additional general. In 369, Theodosius set about reconquering the areas north of London; putting down the revolt of Valentinus, the brother-in-law of a vicarius, Maximinus. Subsequently, Theodosius restored the rest of Britain to the empire and rebuilt many fortifications – renaming northern Britain 'Valentia'. After his return in 369, Valentinian promoted Theodosius to magister equitum in place of Jovinus.

Revolt in Africa and crises on the Danube

In 372, the rebellion of

broke out in the still-devastated African provinces. This rebellion was driven by the corruption of the comes Romanus. Romanus took sides in the murderous disputes among the legitimate and illegitimate children of Nubel, a Moorish prince and leading Roman client in Africa. Resentment of Romanus's personal use of public funds and his failure to defend the province from desert nomads caused some of the provincials to revolt. Valentinian sent in Theodosius to restore imperial control. Over the following two years Theodosius uncovered Romanus' crimes, arrested him and his supporters, and defeated Firmus.

In 373, hostilities erupted with the Quadi, a group of Germanic-speaking people living on the upper Danube. Like the Alamanni, the Quadi were outraged that Valentinian was building fortifications in their territory. They complained and sent deputations to the magister armorum per Illyricum Aequitius, who promised to refer the matter to Valentinian. However, the increasingly influential minister Maximinus, now praetorian prefect of Gaul, blamed Aequitius to Valentinian for the trouble, and managed to have him promote his son Marcellianus to finish the project.^[50] The protests of Quadic leaders continued to delay the project, and to put an end to their clamor Marcellianus murdered the Quadic king Gabinius at a banquet ostensibly arranged for peaceful negotiations. This roused the Quadi to war, along with their allies the Sarmatians. During the fall, they crossed the Danube and began ravaging the province of Pannonia Valeria. The marauders could not penetrate the fortified cities, but they heavily damaged the unprotected countryside. Two legions were sent in but failed to coordinate and were routed by the Sarmatians. Meanwhile, another group of Sarmatians invaded Moesia, but were driven back by the son of Theodosius, Dux Moesiae and later emperor Theodosius.

Valentinian did not receive news of these crises until late 374. The following spring he set out from Trier and arrived at Carnuntum, which was deserted. There he was met by Sarmatian envoys who begged forgiveness for their actions. Valentinian replied that he would investigate what had happened and act accordingly. Valentinian ignored Marcellianus’ treacherous actions and decided to punish the Quadi. He was accompanied by Sebastianus and Merobaudes, and spent the summer months preparing for the campaign. In the fall he crossed the Danube at Aquincum into Quadi territory.^[51] After pillaging Quadi lands without opposition, he retired to Savaria to winter quarters.^[52]

Death

Without waiting for the spring, Valentinian decided to continue campaigning and moved from Savaria to

Reputation

Modern historian

Unfortunately Valentinian's good intentions were often frustrated by a bad choice of ministers, and "an obstinate belief in their merits despite all evidence to the contrary."[60] Further, the benevolence of his more generous edicts was counterbalanced by remarkable cruelty and barbarism in his private affairs. He often had servants and attendants executed on trifling charges, and was reportedly accustomed to feed his victims to two bears, known as Mica Aurea (golden flake), and Innocence, whose iron cage was transported wherever the emperor went. At length Innocence, when she was considered to have faithfully discharged her office, was released with Valentinian's good wishes into her native wilds.^[61]

Valentinian was a Christian but permitted liberal religious freedom to all his subjects, proscribing only some forms of rituals such as particular types of sacrifices, and banning the practice of magic. Again, Valentinian steadily set his face against the increasing wealth and worldliness of the clergy. He issued a pointed edict via Pope Damasus I, forbidding the grant of bequests to Christian clergy-men; and another forcing members of the sacerdotal order to discharge the public duties owed on account of their property, or else relinquish it.^[62][58]

Socrates Scholasticus gives an interesting account in his Historia Ecclesiastica of Valentinian's marriages, that has inspired some to call this emperor polygamous. According to the text: the empress Justina^[63]

became known to Marina Severa, wife of the emperor Valentinian, and had frequent dialogue with the empress, until their intimacy at length grew to such an extent that they were accustomed to bathe together. When Severa saw Justina in the bath she was greatly struck with the beauty of the virgin, and spoke of her to the emperor; saying that the daughter of Justus was so lovely a creature, and possessed of such symmetry of form, that she herself, though a woman, was altogether charmed with her. The emperor, treasuring this description by his wife in his own mind, considered with himself how he could espouse Justina, without repudiating Severa, as she had borne him Gratian, whom he had created Augustus a little while before. He accordingly framed a law, and caused it to be published throughout all the cities, by which any man was permitted to have two lawful wives. The law was promulgated and he married Justina, by whom he had Valentinian the younger.

— Socrates Scholasticus, Historia Ecclesiastica, IV.31

This story is known only from Socrates, and there is no trace of any edict by any emperor allowing polygamy. Valentinian I may have divorced Severa according to Roman Law, which allowed for divorce (see

Appearance

The coin portraits of Valentinian and Valens are of dubious quality, showing "heavy" faces rendered with "no animation, and little consistency".[67] A more flattering physical description of Valentinian is given by Ammianus (XXX.9.6), who praises the emperor's "strong and muscular body, his brilliant complexion, his grey eyes, with a gaze that was always sidelong and stern, his fine stature, and his regular features".^[68]

See also

• List of Roman emperors
• Illyrian emperors

Notes

References

1. ISBN 1-55540-099-X
   .
2. JSTOR 41540754
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3. JSTOR 25606700
   .
4. ^ ^{a b c} Roberts 1998.
5. ^ ^{a b c} Grant 1985, p. 259.
6. ^ Lenski 2003, p. 56.
7. ^ Tomlin 1973, p. 2.
8. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Tomlin 1973, p. 4.
9. ^ ^{a b c} Hughes 2013, p. 7.
10. ^ Tomlin 1973, p. 5.
11. ^ Potter 2004, p. 471.
12. ^ ^{a b c d e} Hughes 2013, p. 8.
13. ^ Potter 2004, p. 473.
14. ^ Potter 2004, p. 474.
15. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Tomlin 1973, p. 13.
16. ^ "Valentinian I". Museum of Classical Archaeology. This frowning head with staring eyes can be identified with accuracy by comparison with coins, and from a bronze head discovered in the early twentieth century at the Ponte Sisto in Rome.
17. ^ Johansen, F. (1995). Catalogue of the Roman Portraits III; Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. Copenhagen. pp. 178–179
18. ^ ^{a b} García Ruiz, María P.; Quirogas Puertas, Alberto J. (2021). Emperors and Emperorship in Late Antiquity: Images and Narratives. Brill. p. 150.
19. ^ Hughes 2013, p. 9.
20. ^ ^{a b} Hughes 2013, p. 12.
21. ^ ^{a b} Tomlin 1973, p. 14.
22. ^ Hughes 2013, p. 16.
23. ^ Jones, A.H.M.; Martindale, J.R. (1971). The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Vol. I: AD 260–395. Cambridge University Press. p. 933.
24. ^ Tomlin 1973, p. 16.
25. ^ ^{a b} Hughes 2013, p. 18.
26. ^ Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, (The Modern Library, 1932), ch. XXV., pp. 845, 846
27. ^ Curran 1998, pp. 80–81.
28. ^ "Discussion: Colossal bronze statue of emperor in cuirass. Probably from Constantinople (now in Barletta). Late fourth to fifth century [LSA-441]". Last Statues of Antiquity. University of Oxford.
29. ^
    ISBN 978-9004163461
    .
30. ISBN 978-1440838095
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31. ^ Gibbon, p. 849 note
32. ^ Gibbon, ch. XXIII., pp. 771–773; ch. XXV., p. 849
33. ^ Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae XXVI.5.9
34. ^ Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae XXVI.5.12
35. ^ Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae XXVI.5.13
36. ^ Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae XXVII.1.2
37. ^ Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae XXVII.1.4
38. ^ Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae XXVII.2.1
39. ^ Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae XXVII.2.1–7
40. ^ Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae XXVII.2.10
41. ^ ^{a b} Hughes 2013.
42. ^ Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae XXVII.10.15
43. ^ Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae XXVII.10.16
44. ^ Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae XXVII.10.17
45. ^ Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae XXVIII.2.1
46. ^ Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae XXVIII.2.2
47. ^ Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae XXVIII.2.8
48. ^ Rike, R.L., Apex Omnium: Religion in the Res Gestae of Ammianus (1987), p.. 91; Jones, Martindale and Morris, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire Vol. I (1971), pp. 615–616
49. ^ Curran 1998, pp. 83–84.
50. ^ Gibbon, p. 894
51. ^ Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae XXX.5.13
52. ^ Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae XXX.5.14
53. ^ Curran 1998, p. 86.
54. ^ Lenski 2003, p. 142.
55. ISBN 978-0674660137
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56. ISBN 0-674-99365-9
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57. ^ Robert Colton, "Ausonius and Juvenal", in: The Classical Journal, 1973, p. 41
58. ^ ^{a b}  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Valentinian I.". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 851.
59. ^ Gibbon, ch. XIV, p. 375; ch. XXV, p. 859
60. ^ A.H.M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire, 284–602: A Social, Economic and Administrative Survey (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, 1986), p. 139.
61. ^ Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae XXIX.3.9; Charles Kingsley, The Roman And The Teuton, A Series Of Lectures delivered before the University of Cambridge, (Macmillan & Co., 1889, London), lecture II, The Dying Empire
62. ^ Gibbon, ch. XXV, p. 864; ch. XX, p. 662, editor's note
63. ^ Translated by A.C. Zenos. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 2. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1890.)
64. ^ Frier, Bruce W. and McGinn, Thomas A.J.: A Casebook on Roman Family Law (American Philological Association) OUP US, 2003. Part D, "The End of Marriage"
65. ^ Matthew 19, 4–6.
66. ^ Timothy Barnes, "Ammianus Marcellinus and the Representation of Historical Reality" (1998), pp. 123–125
67. ISBN 0-500-23273-3
    .
68. ISBN 0-674-99365-9
    .

Sources

Primary sources

• Ammianus Marcellinus. Rerum gestarum libri qui supersunt. W. Seyfarth, ed. 3 vols. Leipzig, 1978.
• ISBN 9781889758879
  .
• Consularia Constantinopolitana. T. Mommsen ed., Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi. Volume 9. Berlin, 1892.
• Codex Theodosianus. T. Mommsen, P.M. Meyer, and P. Krüger, eds. Theodosiani libri XVI cum constitutionibus Sirmondianis et leges novellae ad Theodosianum pertinentes (2 vols.). Berlin, 1905.
• Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Vol. 6. T. Mommsen, ed. Berlin, 1875.
• Epitome de Caesaribus. F.R. Pichlmayr, ed. Leipzig, 1961.
• Jerome. Chronicon. R. Helm, ed., in Malcolm Drew Donalson, A Translation of Jerome's Chronicon with Historical Commentary. Lewiston, NY, 1996.
• Orosius. Adversus paganos historiarum libri septem. Z. Zangemeister, ed. Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum 5. Vienna, 1882.
• Socrates. Historia Ecclesiastica. J.P. Migne ed., Patrologia Graeca 67. Paris, 1864.
• Sozomen. Historia Ecclesiastica. J.P. Migne ed., Patrologia Graeca 67. Paris, 1864.
• Theoderet. Historia Ecclesiastica. J.P. Migne ed., Patrologia Graeca 82. Paris, 1864.
• Zosimus. Historia nova. François Paschoud, ed. and trans., Zosime: Histoire Nouvelle (3 vols.). Paris, 1971–89.
• Ammian, Books 26–30 Uchicago.edu. English summaries. Main text in Latin.

Secondary accounts

• Curran, John (1998). "From Jovian to Theodosius". In
  ISBN 0-521-30200-5
  .
• Errington, R. Malcolm (2006). Roman Imperial Policy from Julian to Theodosius. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
  ISBN 0-8078-3038-0
  .
• Roberts, Walter E. (1998). "Valentinian I (364–375 A.D)". De Imperatoribus Romanis.
• ISBN 0-684-18388-9
  .
• Hughes, Ian (5 August 2013). Imperial Brothers: Valentinian, Valens and the Disaster at Adrianople. Pen and Sword.
  ISBN 978-1-4738-2863-6
  .
• Lenski, Noel (2003). Failure of Empire: Valens and the Roman State in the Fourth Century A.D.
  ISBN 0520928539
  .
• Potter, David S. (2004). The Roman Empire at Bay: AD 180–395. New York: Routledge.
  ISBN 0-415-10057-7
  .
• Tomlin, Roger (1973). The Emperor Valentinian I.
• Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1776.
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Valentinian I." . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 851.
• (in German) Schmidt-Hofner, Sebastian. Reagieren und Gestalten: der Regierungsstil des spaetroemischen Kaisers am Beispiel der Gesetzgebung Valentinians I. Muenchen: Beck, 2008. 398 p. (Vestigia, Bd. 58).
• Ernst Stein, Histoire du Bas-Empire, vol. i, chap. 4 (1959).
• Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Valentinian" . Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 16. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Flavius Valentinianus.

• This list of Roman laws of the fourth century shows laws passed by Valentinian I relating to Christianity.

Valentinian I Valentinianic dynasty Born: 321 Died: 17 November 375
Regnal titles
Preceded by Jovian	Roman emperor 364–375 With: Valens	Succeeded by Gratian and Valentinian II
Political offices
Preceded by Jovian Varronianus	Roman consul 365 with Valens	Succeeded by Gratian Dagalaifus
Preceded by Lupicinus Iovinus	Roman consul II 368 with Valens II	Succeeded by Valentinianus Galates Victor
Preceded by Valentinianus Galates Victor	Roman consul III 370 with Valens III	Succeeded by Gratian II Sex. Claudius Petronius Probus
Preceded by Domitius Modestus Arintheus	Roman consul IV 373 with Valens IV	Succeeded by Gratian III Equitius