88 OLYBRIUS (41; r.472) (W)
Olybrius, after a short and uneventful rule of seven months, died of dropsy. There had been no provision for a successor and when after several months when the eastern emperor Leo had not yet proposed a new candidate for the West, the magister militum utriusque Gundobad (472-473) raised the comes domesticorum 76Flavius Glycerius to the throne at Ravenna. Leo, meanwhile, had enlisted the magister militum per Illyricum, 77Flavius Julius Nepos (c.50; fl.468-480), to restore order in Italy
89 GLYCERIUS (c.60; r.473-474; d.480+) (W)
In the summer of 472 Euric’s forces captured Tarraconensis (northeast Spain). The Visigoth army then split into two columns: one under the command of the comes Gauterit crossed the western Pyrenees, occupied Pamplona and from there marched into the Ebro Valley, where he took Zaragoza and other towns in the area; the other, headed by the comes Heldefred and the dux Hispaniarum Vincentius, traversed the eastern passes then captured Tarragona and the other coastal towns. Vincentius then led an invasion of Italy but he was defeated and killed by Glycerius’ comites Alla and Sindila.
In 473 a large group of Ostrogoths invaded Italy, but Glycerius with a bribe managed to persuade Vidimir (32/45; fl.454-473), a brother of Theodemir, to take them into Gaul. Although this provided relief for the Romans it also united the two Gothic nations against the unfortunate Gauls.
In January 474 Leo-I died leaving his throne to his grandson 78Flavius Leo (7; fl.474). In February 474, Zeno, father of Leo II, was proclaimed augustus. Zeno sent Nepos to dispose of Glycerius and take the throne of the Western Empire.
Glycerius tried to assemble an army to oppose Nepos’ advance, but Gundobad went to Burgundy to succeed his father who had recently died. As Nepos got closer to Rome, Glycerius went to meet him and surrendered without a fight. Nepos spared him and made him Bishop of Salona (=Split, Croatia).
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