Valeria Maximilla () was the Empress of the Romans and wife of Emperor

Maxentius Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius (c. 283 – 28 October 312) was a Roman emperor, who reigned from 306 until his death in 312. Despite ruling in Italy and North Africa, and having the recognition of the Senate in Rome, he was not recognized ...

Life

She was the daughter of Emperor

Galerius Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus (; 258 – May 311) was Roman emperor from 305 to 311. During his reign he campaigned, aided by Diocletian, against the Sasanian Empire, sacking their capital Ctesiphon in 299. He also campaigned across th ...

and his first wife, whose name is unknown. She married Maxentius around 293 (the exact date is unknown) in what was likely an attempt to forge an alliance between the families of Galerius and Maxentius' father

Maximian Maximian ( la, Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus; c. 250 – c. July 310), nicknamed ''Herculius'', was Roman emperor from 286 to 305. He was '' Caesar'' from 285 to 286, then ''Augustus'' from 286 to 305. He shared the latter title with his ...

, himself Emperor in the West. She bore two sons: the eldest,

Valerius Romulus (Marcus Aurelius) Valerius Romulus (died 309 AD), was the son of Emperor Maxentius and of Valeria Maximilla, daughter of Emperor Galerius by his first wife. Through his father, he was also grandson of Maximian the Tetrarch, whom he predeceased. B ...

, was born c. 295; the other son's name is not recorded, but might be Aurelius Valerius, was executed in 312. As an emperor's daughter, she was entitled . Her husband was acclaimed emperor in October 306 against the wishes of Valeria Maximilla's father, who tried to overthrow the usurper in 307 but without success. Maxentius remained the ruler of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, Italy and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

until 312, when

Constantine I Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterran ...

invaded

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Valeria and her husband were together before the

Battle of the Milvian Bridge The Battle of the Milvian Bridge took place between the Roman Emperors Constantine I and Maxentius on 28 October 312. It takes its name from the Milvian Bridge, an important route over the Tiber. Constantine won the battle and started on the pa ...

, when she disappears from the historical record. Her fate is unknown. Their son, Romulus, died in 309. Valeria Maximilla's portrait does not appear on any of the coinage issued under Maxentius, but she may have been depicted on a defaced sculpture now housed in the

Capitoline Museums The Capitoline Museums ( Italian: ''Musei Capitolini'') are a group of art and archaeological museums in Piazza del Campidoglio, on top of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, Italy. The historic seats of the museums are Palazzo dei Conservatori and Pal ...

. If it is of Maximilla, it was likely defaced after her husband's overthrow, when his own images were also defaced. Suess Conversion of Empress

In St. Catherine's hagiography

Maximilla may be the nameless queen who appears in the

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies might ...

of St. Catherine of Alexandria by

Jacobus de Voragine Jacobus de Voragine (c. 123013/16 July 1298) was an Italian chronicler and archbishop of Genoa. He was the author, or more accurately the compiler, of the '' Golden Legend'', a collection of the legendary lives of the greater saints of the medi ...

(one of the fantastic stories in the " Golden Legend"). In this story, the queen converted to Christianity after meeting with Catherine, and the both of them were then tortured and executed by Maxentius, depicted here as a persecutor of Christians. In another similar version by 15th-century Italian hagiographer Petrus de Natalibus, the queen was named "Faustina". She was accompanied to Catherine's jail by Porphyrius, an army captain. Along with Faustina, the captain and 200 of his soldiers also converted, and they were all supposedly martyred by Maxentius. In

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...

churches, Faustina, Porphyrius (called a stratelates) and the soldiers share a

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context do ...

with Catherine: November 24 for the Russian Orthodox Church, and Nov. 25 for the Greek Orthodox Church.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maximilla, Valeria 3rd-century Roman women 4th-century Roman empresses 3rd-century births 4th-century deaths Valerii Maxentius Nobilissimi Daughters of Roman emperors

Life

In St. Catherine's hagiography

See also

References