Ecdicius Avitus
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Ecdicius Avitus (c. 420 – after 475) was an Arverni aristocrat, senator, and ''
magister militum (Latin for "master of soldiers", plural ) was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, ...
praesentalis'' from 474 until 475. As a son of the
Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
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 o ...
, Ecdicius was educated at ''Arvernis'' (modern
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'attract ...
), 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 Procopius Anthemius (died 11 July 472) was western Roman emperor from 467 to 472. Perhaps the last capable Western Roman Emperor, Anthemius attempted to solve the two primary military challenges facing the remains of the Western Roman Empire: ...
until 469. Ecdicius and his brother-in-law
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 ...
, the
Bishop of Clermont The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Clermont (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Claromontana''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Clermont'') is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the department of Puy-d ...
, took charge of the defence of the
Auvergne Auvergne (; ; oc, label= Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Au ...
against the
Visigoths The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is ...
from 471 to 475. The Visigothic king
Euric Euric (Gothic: ''* Aiwareiks'', see '' Eric''), also known as Evaric, or Eurico in Spanish and Portuguese (c. 420 – 28 December 484), son of Theodoric I, ruled as king (''rex'') of the Visigoths, after murdering his brother, Theodoric II, ...
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 small --- he broke a Visigothic siege of Clermont-Ferrand with only eighteen horsemen, or ten according to the non-contemporary account of Gregory of Tours. Ecdicius also obtained the submission of
Chilperic II of Burgundy Chilperic II ( la, Chilperikus; 450–493 AD) was the King of Burgundy from 473 until his death. Before that he co-ruled with his father Gondioc beginning in 463. He began his reign in 473 after the partition of Burgundy with his younger brot ...
on behalf of the Empire. In 471 Anthemius sent an army into Gaul under the command of his son
Anthemiolus Anthemiolus (died c. 471 AD) was the son of the Western Roman Emperor Anthemius (467–472) and Marcia Euphemia, daughter of the Eastern Roman emperor Marcian. His name means "little Anthemius" and is a diminutive of his and his father's nam ...
against the Visigoths, but he was defeated near
Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...
. By 473 the Visigoths had captured Arles and
Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...
, and they appeared poised for an invasion of Italia itself. Ecdicius was elevated in 474 to the rank of
patrician Patrician may refer to: * Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage * Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...
by the new emperor
Julius Nepos Julius Nepos (died 9 May 480), or simply Nepos, ruled as Roman emperor of the West from 24 June 474 to 28 August 475. After losing power in Italy, Nepos retreated to his home province of Dalmatia, from which he continued to claim the western im ...
, and invested with the title ''magister militum praesentialis'', apparently with the intent to wage war against the Visigoths; when Sidonius learned of this promotion, he shared his hopes with his wife Papianilla that Ecdicius might gain victories and be rewarded with the
Consulate A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth c ...
. However, in 475, just as Ecdicius embarked on his campaign against the Visigoths, he was recalled to Italy by Julius and
Flavius Orestes OrestesNo other names are known, according to J.R. Martindale ''The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'' vol. II pp. 811–812. Cambridge University Press, 1980 (died 28 August 476) was a Roman general and politician of Pannonian ancest ...
replaced him as head of the Roman army. The emperor then exchanged the Auvergne for
Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...
, giving the Visigoths the territories they had long desired. The reason for Nepos's about face is puzzling, as Ralph W. Mathisen admits before accusing the Senate in Rome of being responsible. After he was replaced, Ecdicius practically vanishes from the historical record. A letter written by Sidonius Apollinaris survives, in which he pleads with his brother-in-law to return to the Auvergne; but whether or not Ecdicius did return – or even if Sidonius sent the letter – is unknown. Some evidence suggests that he remained in Italy: there is a letter in the ''Variae'' of
Cassiodorus Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c. 485 – c. 585), commonly known as Cassiodorus (), was a Roman statesman, renowned scholar of antiquity, and writer serving in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. ''Senator'' ...
(2.4.22), written after the
Battle of Vouillé The Battle of Vouillé (from Latin ''Campus Vogladensis'') was fought in the northern marches of Visigothic territory, at Vouillé, near Poitiers (Gaul), in the spring of 507 between the Franks, commanded by Clovis, and the Visigoths, comman ...
in 507, concerning the sons of one Ecdicius who wanted to return to Gaul where they had property; in a 1984 article Mathisen argued for the identification, pointing out that "not only is the Arvernian Ecdicius known to have been in Rome earlier, but Ecdicius also is a rare name."Mathisen
"Emigrants, Exiles, and Survivors: Aristocratic Options in Visigothic Aquitania", ''Phoenix''
38 (1984), p. 166 and note


Notes

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External links

*Jones, A. H. M.; Martindale, J. R.; Morris, J. ''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire''. vol. 2, pp 395–527. Cambridge, 1971–1992. * Gregory of Tours
''Historia Francorum''.
translated Earnest Brehaut, 1916. 420 births 470s deaths Senators of the Roman Empire Magistri militum 5th-century Romans Sons of Roman emperors