77 *CONSTANTINE III (r.409-411) (W)
78 *CONSTANS II (r.409-411) (W)
In Hispania some of Honorius’ relatives raised a private army and prevented the Vandals, Suebi and Alani from crossing the Pyrenees. But they still adhered to the government in Ravenna and so their success was a challenge to Constantine, who now dispatched his son Constans (fl.408-411) along with his general Gerontius to deal with them. Honorius’ loyalists were easily overpowered somewhere near the passes of the Pyrenees. Constans returned to Arelate, leaving Gerontius and much of the army to guard Hispania.
Sarus and his forces, after the death of Stilicho (408), abandoned the Western Army and thus left Honorius without any significant military force to confront Alaric, under whom the Gothic army was roaming unchecked in Etruria. So in 409 Honorius accepted overtures from Constantine III in Ravenna and received him as co-emperor. Constantine then, without the approval of Honorius, elevated his son to augustus.
In September the Vandals and their allies crossed into Hispania unopposed. Constantine, angered by this new threat to recently conquered Hispania, ordered Constans to return there and replace Gerontius with a certain Justus. Gerontius, rather than give up his new status and position, now chose rebellion and proclaimed his own man Maximus of Hispania, augustus.
In 410 the Britons, having been deserted by Constantine, expelled his governors and appealed to Honorius for help. In his reply, according to the historian Zosimus (fl.490s-510s), the emperor informed the citizens of Britain that they must in future take care of themselves (Bruttium, not Britain?).
In 411 Gerontius and Maximus invaded Gaul where they met Constans at Vienne and killed him in battle, before moving on to besiege Constantine at Arelate. Honorius sent his magister militum and future emperor 61Flavius Constantius (fl.410-421) into Gaul. After routing a relieving army from the north, Constantius captured Constantine and took him and his other son Julianus back to Italy, where they were both beheaded.
Gerontius and Maximus fled to Hispania, where the former was killed by his own troops and the latter found safety among the barbarians. In 419-421 there was another rebellion in Spain led by another Maximus and it is generally accepted that this was the same man. He was captured and executed.
More Usurpers
In North Africa the comes Heraclianus (fl.408-413) declared himself emperor. Constantius sent his representative Marinus to Carthage, where he captured and beheaded the usurper as he sought refuge in a church. North Africa was still experiencing the violence brought on by Donatist suppression, and when Marinus moved to purge Heraclianus’ supporters, Augustine of Hippo (75; 354-430) blamed the Donatists for using Marinus’ task as an excuse to kill staunch Catholics.
Augustine was in particular horrified when Marcellinus, who had presided over the Council of Carthage (411), which had found against the Donatists, and to whom he would dedicate the first books of his City of God (426), was arrested and on 13 September 413, beheaded.
While Marinus was dealing with Heraclianus, the troops stationed at Moguntiacum had acclaimed another usurper, Jovinus (3), who immediately moved south to take over the city of Arelate; and Ataulf (c.45; r.411-415), who on the death of his brother-in-law Alaric had been elected to the throne, had crossed the Alps with his Visigoths early in 412.
Priscus Attalus, the former usurper who was travelling with Athaulf, recommended that they support Jovinus. A short-lived treaty was negotiated, which Ataulf broke as soon as Jovinus appointed his own brother Sebastianus (2) as co-emperor, from which Ataulf had probably inferred that there was no place for a Goth in the imperial succession.
Ataulf sent a message to Honorius promising to defeat the two new emperors and this was accepted by Honorius. With his huge army Ataulf stormed the city and captured the two brothers, who were sent to Narbonne and executed there by 46Claudius Postumus Dardanus, the prefect of Gaul (412-413). Their severed heads arrived at Ravenna in August 413.
Burgundian Kingdom (411-436, 443-534)
Burgundians were living in central Poland by the first century AD. In c.260 they settled in present-day eastern Germany. After the crossing of the Rhine in 406-7, the Burgundians under Gundohar (r.407-436) seized the area of land around the cities of Augusta Vangionum (=Worms, Germany), Argentoratum (=Strasbourg, France) and Noviomagus (=Speyer, Germany).In 411 they supported the usurper Jovinus in the West and two years later he recognized the Burgundian Kingdom in Germania Superior, with its capital at Worms. After the fall of Jovinus, the Burgundians achieved good relations with Honorius and secured his friendship as foederati.
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