|
Avitus
Eparchius Avitus (c. 390 – 457) was Roman emperor of the West from July 455 to October 456. He was a senator of Gallic extraction and a high-ranking officer both in the civil and military administration, as well as Bishop of Piacenza. He opposed the reduction of the Western Roman Empire to Italy alone, both politically and from an administrative point of view. For this reason, as Emperor he introduced several Gallic senators in the Imperial administration; this policy, however, was opposed by the senatorial aristocracy and by the people of Rome, who had suffered from the sack of the city by the Vandals in 455. Avitus had a good relationship with the Visigoths, in particular with their king Theodoric II, who was a friend of his and who acclaimed Avitus Emperor. The possibility of a strong and useful alliance between the Visigoths and Romans faded, however, when Theodoric invaded Hispania at Avitus' behest, which rendered him unable to help Avitus against the rebel Roman ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Majorian
Majorian ( la, Iulius Valerius Maiorianus; died 7 August 461) was the western Roman emperor from 457 to 461. A prominent general of the Roman army, Majorian deposed Emperor Avitus in 457 and succeeded him. Majorian was the last emperor to make a concerted effort to restore the Western Roman Empire with its own forces. Possessing little more than Italy, Dalmatia, and some territory in northern Gaul, Majorian campaigned rigorously for three years against the Empire's enemies. His successors until the fall of the Empire, in 476–480, were actually instruments of their barbarian generals, or emperors chosen and controlled by the Eastern Roman court. After defeating a Vandal attack on Italy, Majorian launched a campaign against the Visigothic Kingdom in southern Gaul. Defeating king Theodoric II at the Battle of Arelate, Majorian forced the Goths to abandon their possessions in Septimania and Hispania and return to federate status. Majorian then attacked the Burgundian King ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period from 395 to 476, where there were separate coequal courts dividing the governance of the empire in the Western and the Eastern provinces, with a distinct imperial succession in the separate courts. The terms Western Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire were coined in modern times to describe political entities that were '' de facto'' independent; contemporary Romans did not consider the Empire to have been split into two empires but viewed it as a single polity governed by two imperial courts as an administrative expediency. The Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476, and the Western imperial court in Ravenna was formally dissolved by Justinian in 554. The Eastern imperial court survived until 1453. Though the Empire had seen periods ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marcian
Marcian (; la, Marcianus, link=no; grc-gre, Μαρκιανός, link=no ; 392 – 27 January 457) was Roman emperor of the East from 450 to 457. Very little of his life before becoming emperor is known, other than that he was a (personal assistant) who served under the commanders Ardabur and his son Aspar for fifteen years. After the death of Emperor Theodosius II on 28 July 450, Marcian was made a candidate for the throne by Aspar, who held much influence because of his military power. After a month of negotiations Pulcheria, Theodosius' sister, agreed to marry Marcian. Zeno, a military leader whose influence was similar to Aspar's, may have been involved in these negotiations, as he was given the high-ranking court title of patrician upon Marcian's accession. Marcian was elected and inaugurated on 25 August 450. Marcian reversed many of the actions of TheodosiusII in the Eastern Roman Empire's relationship with the Huns under Attila and in religious matters. Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sidonius Apollinaris
Gaius Sollius Modestus Apollinaris Sidonius, better known as Sidonius Apollinaris (5 November of an unknown year, 430 – 481/490 AD), was a poet, diplomat, and bishop. Sidonius is "the single most important surviving author from 5th-century Gaul" according to Eric Goldberg. He was one of four Gallo-Roman aristocrats of the 5th- to 6th-century whose letters survive in quantity; the others are Ruricius, bishop of Limoges (died 507), Alcimus Ecdicius Avitus, bishop of Vienne (died 518) and Magnus Felix Ennodius of Arles, bishop of Ticinum (died 534). All of them were linked in the tightly bound aristocratic Gallo-Roman network that provided the bishops of Catholic Gaul. His feast day is 21 August. Life Sidonius was born in Lugdunum (modern Lyon). His father, whose name is unknown, was Prefect of Gaul under Valentinian III (Sidonius recalls with pride being present with his father at the installation of Astyrius as consul for the year 449.) Sidonius' grandfather was Praetorian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Petronius Maximus
Petronius Maximus ( 39731 May 455) was Roman emperor of the West for two and a half months in 455. A wealthy senator and a prominent aristocrat, he was instrumental in the murders of the Western Roman ''magister militum'', Aëtius, and the Western Roman emperor, Valentinian III. Maximus secured the throne the day after Valentinian's death by ensuring the backing of the Senate and by bribing the palace officials. He strengthened his position by forcing Valentinian's widow to marry him and forcing Valentinian's daughter to marry his son. He cancelled the betrothal of his new wife's daughter to the son of the Vandal king Genseric. This infuriated both his stepdaughter and Genseric, who sent a fleet to Rome. Maximus failed to obtain troops from the Visigoths and he fled as the Vandals arrived, became detached from his retinue and bodyguard in the confusion, and was killed. The Vandals thoroughly sacked Rome. Early career Petronius Maximus was born about 397. Although he was o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecdicius
Ecdicius Avitus (c. 420 – after 475) was an Arverni aristocrat, senator, and ''magister militum praesentalis'' from 474 until 475. As a son of the Emperor Avitus, Ecdicius was educated at ''Arvernis'' (modern Clermont-Ferrand), where he lived and owned some land. In the 460s he was one of the richest and most important persons in the western Empire and he was present at the court of Anthemius until 469. Ecdicius and his brother-in-law Sidonius Apollinaris, the Bishop of Clermont, took charge of the defence of the Auvergne against the Visigoths from 471 to 475. The Visigothic king Euric besieged many cities, but Ecdicius, with a private army of horsemen paid for out of his own wealth, brought provisions to those cities, lifted their sieges, and fed a multitude of poor.Sidonius Apollinaris, ''Epistulae'' III.3; translated by W.B. Anderson, ''Sidonius: Poems and Letters'' (Harvard: Loeb Classical Library, 1965), vol. 2 pp. 13ff The size of his warband seems to have been quite sma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solidus (coin)
The ''solidus'' (Latin 'solid'; ''solidi'') or nomisma ( grc-gre, νόμισμα, ''nómisma'', 'coin') was a highly pure gold coin issued in the Late Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire. Constantine introduced the coin, and its weight of about 4.5 grams remained relatively constant for seven centuries. In the Byzantine Empire, the solidus or nomisma remained a highly pure gold coin until the 11th century, when several Byzantine emperors began to strike the coin with less and less gold. The nomisma was finally abolished by Alexius I in 1092, who replaced it with the hyperpyron, which also came to be known as a "bezant". The Byzantine solidus also inspired the originally slightly less pure dinar issued by the Muslim Caliphate. In Western Europe, the solidus was the main gold coin of commerce from late Roman times to Pepin the Short's currency reform, which introduced the silver-based pound/ shilling/ penny system. In Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the sol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agricola (vir Inlustris)
Agricola (Floruit, fl. 466 – 485) was an Arvernian noble and son of the Western Roman Emperor Avitus. Biography Agricola was the son of Avitus, and therefore the brother of Ecdicius and Papianilla (wife of Sidonius Apollinaris), Papianilla. His grandfather was probably the Agricola (consul 421), Agricola who was consul in 421. Agricola was related to the poet Sidonius Apollinaris, who married Papianilla, and to Ruricius of Limoges, who was his father-in-law. He married and had a son, Parthenius, who gave him some grandsons. Two letters are addressed to him by Sidonius Apollinaris (''Epistles'' I.2, 453/466; II.12, before 469), and one by Ruricius (II.32, 485/506). He was a ''vir inlustris''. When he received Ruricius' letter, he had recently been ordained a priest. Bibliography * Jones, A.H.M., J.R. Martindale, and J. Morris, "Agricola 2", ''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'', Volume 2 395–527, Cambridge, 1971–1992, p. 37. 5th-century Romans 5th-centu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Papianilla (wife Of Sidonius Apollinaris)
Papianilla (''floruit'' 455) was an aristocrat of Roman Gaul. She was the daughter of Eparchius Avitus, who rose from the Gallo-Roman senatorial aristocracy to become Western Roman Emperor from 455 to 456. Papianilla had two brothers, Agricola and Ecdicius, and possibly some sisters; she was related to another Papianilla (wife of the prefect Tonantius Ferreolus). Before her father's rise to the throne (455), she married Sidonius Apollinaris, another aristocrat, with whom she had three or four children: Apollinaris, Severiana, Roscia and Alcima (the latter, mentioned only in Gregory of Tours and not in Sidonius letters, being possibly another name for Severiana or Roscia). Papianilla brought her husband the estate called ''Avitacum'' in Auvergne. Her husband gave away silver vessels from their home to the poor, but she criticised him so he bought them back.Gregory of Tours, ''History of the Franks'', II, 22 Notes {{Reflist Sources * "Papianilla 2", ''Prosopography of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brioude
Brioude (; Auvergnat: ''Briude'') is a commune in the Haute-Loire department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-central France. It lies on the banks of the river Allier, a tributary of the Loire. History At Brioude, the ancient ''Brivas'', its martyrs in the 4th century, Julien and Ferréol, became its patron saints; according to the Chronicle of Moissac, Euric of Toulouse had the basilica built, in the fourteenth year of his reign (c. 480): it was wondrously decorated with columns. The emperor Avitus (acclaimed at Toulouse, died 456) had already been buried at the shrine of Julian at ''Brivas'' (Brioude), according to Gregory of Tours. Euric's basilica may have served to venerate both the saint and the Visigothic candidate for Roman Emperor. Brioude was taken by the Franks, then in turn besieged and captured by the Goths (532), the Burgundians, the Saracens (732) and the Normans. Carolingian Brioude remained a place of some importance: William I of Aquitaine min ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label=Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, with a population of 146,734 (2018). Its metropolitan area (''aire d'attraction'') had 504,157 inhabitants at the 2018 census.Comparateur de territoire: Aire d'attraction des villes 2020 de Clermont-Ferrand (022), Unité urbaine 2020 de Clermont-Ferrand (63701), Commune de Clermont-Ferrand (63113) INSEE It is the prefecture (capital) of the [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agricola (consul 421)
Agricola (full name possibly Julius Agricola; 365–421) was a West Roman statesman who served twice as praetorian prefect and became consul for 421. Life He was from Gaul Narbo.Martindale & Morris (1980), p. 36 His familial relations are unclear: the names of Agricola's parents are unknown, as is the name of his wife, and the names of his children. He may have had a son named Nymphidius. He was the grandfather of Magnus, consul in 460. He was also a relative, perhaps even the father, of the emperor Avitus (455–456). He served twice as praetorian prefect. His first tenure was sometime before 418, but the exact circumscription is unknown; it was most probably in the Western half of the empire, however. The second time Agricola served as praetorian prefect of Gaul was in 418. He presided over the initial annual ''concilium'' of the Gauls. This assembly had been founded by a previous praetorian prefect, Petronius, but it had stopped meeting due to the revolt of Constantine I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Marcian")
.png "Click for more on -> Petronius Maximus")
