80 *VALENTINIAN III (35; r.425-455) (W)
In 421 an unnatural fondness by the Western emperor Honorius for his half-sister Placidia forced her to flee with her children to the safety of Theodosius II’s court in Constantinople. In August 423 Honorius died. Placidia, as wife of Constantius III, wanted their four-year old son 58Flavius Placidius Valentinianus to succeed her brother. Theodosius, who considered himself the only legitimate Roman emperor, hesitated in confirming the succession. In the interregnum 56Flavius Castinus, now a patricius (‘patrician’, a high honorary title at this time), elevated the primicerius notariorum (‘chief notary’) Johannes, to emperor.
From the beginning, Joannes’ control over the Empire was to be insecure. In Gaul, his praetorian prefect Exuperantius (421-424) was slain at Arelate in an uprising of the soldiery there; and Bonifacius, comes Africae (422-431), held back the grain fleet destined to Rome.
In 424 to counter Joannes’ threat to his power, Theodosius proclaimed Placidia regent, and sent an army led by Ardaburius and his son 59Flavius Ardabur Aspar (c.71; fl.424-471) to overthrow the usurper. Placidia and her son Valentinianus travelled with the army and en route at Thessalonica on 24 October 424 the boy was raised to the rank of caesar.
Flavius Aetius (63; fl.405-454) [1/2]
From 405 to 408 60Flavius Aetius was a hostage at the court of the Visigoth king Alaric-I. He was then sent to the court of Uldin, king of the Huns, where he stayed throughout much of the reign of Uldin’s successor, Charaton (410s).
Late in 424 Johannes sent Aetius, his cura palatii (governor of the palace), to the Huns to seek military help against Joannes who, lacking a strong army, had fortified himself in his capital Ravenna. In the summer of 425 Joannes was captured and killed and three days after his death, Aetius returned at the head of a Hunnic army. After some skirmishing, Placidia, regent to her son, and Aetius came to an agreement. The Huns were paid off and sent home, while Aetius received the position of magister militum in Gaul. In October 425 in Rome, the magister officiorum (‘master of offices’) Helion (fl.414-425) installed Valentinianus as the Western emperor.
In 426 Aetius went to southern Gaul and took command of the field army. At that time Arelate (=Arles) was under siege by Theodoric-I and the Visigoths. Aetius raised the siege of the city and drove the Visigoths back to Aquitania. In 430 he defeated another band of Visigoths besieging Arelate and captured their leader Anaolsus.
In 427 Galla Placidia recalled Bonifacius to Ravenna, but he refused the summons and in Italy the magister militum utriusque 62Flavius Constantius Felix (fl.425-430), a supporter of Placidia, accused him of disloyalty. A Roman force led by Mavortius and Gallio, duces under Felix, assisted by Hun foederati under Sanoeces, laid siege to Bonifacius at Carthage, but the besiegers turned on each other and when all three leaders were killed the siege was abandoned. When the news reached Ravenna, the general 63Flavius Sigisvultus (fl.427-448) was sent with his army of Goths to Africa.
In 428 Nestorius (c.64; r.428-431), the Archbishop of Constantinople, rejected the long-used title ‘Mother of God’, for Mary, mother of Jesus, instead preferring the term ‘Mother of Christ’. Cyril (c.68; r.412-444), Patriarch of Alexandria, interpreted this to mean that Nestorius was in fact dividing Jesus into two persons, the divine Son of God and a human Christ, which was a heresy. In 431 Theodosius II convened in Ephesus a council of Christian bishops, which denounced Nestorius’ teaching and confirmed the original Nicene Creed.
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