Maximus was a

Roman usurper Roman usurpers were individuals or groups of individuals who obtained or tried to obtain power by force and without legitimate legal authority. Usurpation was endemic during the Roman imperial era, especially from the crisis of the third cent ...

(409 – 411) in

Hispania Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hi ...

(the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...

, modern

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

). He had been elected by general Gerontius, who might have been his father. Relations between the usurper

Constantine III Constantine III may refer to: * Constantine III (Western Roman Emperor), self-proclaimed western Roman Emperor 407–411 * Heraclius Constantine, Byzantine Emperor in 641 * Constans II, Byzantine emperor 641–668, sometimes referred to under this ...

and his general Gerontius, who had been sent to Hispania, had been deteriorating through the year 409. When Constantine sent an army under his son and heir

Constans Flavius Julius Constans ( 323 – 350), sometimes called Constans I, was Roman emperor from 337 to 350. He held the imperial rank of '' caesar'' from 333, and was the youngest son of Constantine the Great. After his father's death, he was mad ...

, Gerontius mutinied and installed Maximus in the late summer of 410.J. F. Drinkwater
"The Usurpers Constantine III (407-411) and Jovinus (411-413)", ''Britannia''
29 (1998), p. 284 Kullikowski suggests that Gerontius may have feared being replaced as Constantine's chief military figure in the provinces of Hispania.Michael Kulikowski
"The Career of the 'Comes Hispaniarum' Asterius", ''Phoenix''
54 (2000), p. 124 Drinkwater on the other hand suggests that Gerontius, seeing Constantine negotiating with Emperor Honorius, over 409 had decided to side with the local Theodosian supporters. However, by the summer of 410 Gerontius had received no support from Italy, was threatened by Constans and desperate for imperial authority to confirm his arrangements with his barbarian allies. Faced by these threats, "Gerontius was at length driven into open revolt." Maximus managed some degree of rule over the provinces of Hispania. Kullikowski reports that "the mint at Barcino struck coins in his name and there is evidence for major construction work on that city's walls during reign." In the first 18 months of his reign Gerontius's forces defeated Constantine's forces, killed his son Constans at

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

(modern Vienne, Isère) and trapped Constantine himself inside Arelas. Seeing the losses of the armies of the two usurpers, Honorius sent his general Constantius into Gaul; Gerontius' soldiers deserted him for the imperial general. Gerontius retired to Hispania, and when his remaining troops turned on him, committed suicide. Deprived of his major supporter, Maximus reportedly fled to sanctuary "amongst the barbarians in Hispania." The remainder of the recorded history of this shadowy figure becomes even more murky. He is commonly identified with a second Maximus who started his rebellion in Hispania between July 419 and February 421. According to

Marcellinus Comes Marcellinus Comes (Greek: Μαρκελλίνος ό Κόμης, died c. 534) was a Latin chronicler of the Eastern Roman Empire. An Illyrian by birth, he spent most of his life at the court of Constantinople. His only surviving work, the ''Chronicl ...

, this Maximus was brought to Rome where he was displayed and executed, along with one Jovinianus, around 23 January 422, during Honorius' tricennalia. Kullikowski supports this identification, explaining that he was defeated and captured by the ''

comes ''Comes'' ( ), plural ''comites'' ( ), was a Roman title or office, and the origin Latin form of the medieval and modern title "count". Before becoming a word for various types of title or office, the word originally meant "companion", either i ...

'' Asterius, for which achievement Asterius was rewarded with the Patriciate.Kullikowski, "Career", pp. 134f

References

External links

Elton, Huges, "Maximus (409-422 A.D.)", ''De Imperatoribus Romanis''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maximus Of Hispania 5th-century Roman usurpers 5th-century deaths Year of birth unknown