Joannes or John (; died 425) was
Western Roman emperor from 423 to 425.
On the death of the Western emperor
Honorius
Honorius (; 9 September 384 – 15 August 423) was Roman emperor from 393 to 423. He was the younger son of emperor Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla. After the death of Theodosius in 395, Honorius, under the regency of Stilicho ...
,
Theodosius II
Theodosius II ( ; 10 April 401 – 28 July 450), called "the Calligraphy, Calligrapher", was Roman emperor from 402 to 450. He was proclaimed ''Augustus (title), Augustus'' as an infant and ruled as the Eastern Empire's sole emperor after the ...
, the last remaining ruler of the
Theodosian dynasty, did not immediately announce a successor. In the ''
interregnum
An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of revolutionary breach of legal continuity, discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one m ...
'', the
patrician Castinus
Flavius Castinus was an influential Roman general and politician at the court of Emperor's' Honorius and Valentinian III, and most likely for some time before. He played a role in several military campaigns in Gaul and Hispania. He held the posit ...
elevated Joannes as emperor. Theodosius refused to accept the decision, and deposed Joannes in a civil war.
History
Joannes was a ''
primicerius notariorum'' or senior civil servant at the time of his elevation.
Procopius
Procopius of Caesarea (; ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; ; – 565) was a prominent Late antiquity, late antique Byzantine Greeks, Greek scholar and historian from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman general Belisarius in Justinian I, Empe ...
praised him as "both gentle and well-endowed with sagacity and thoroughly capable of valorous deeds."
From the beginning, his control over the empire was insecure. His
praetorian prefect
The praetorian prefect (; ) was a high office in the Roman Empire. Originating as the commander of the Praetorian Guard, the office gradually acquired extensive legal and administrative functions, with its holders becoming the Emperor's chief ai ...
was slain in
Gaul
Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...
by an uprising of the soldiery at
Arles
Arles ( , , ; ; Classical ) is a coastal city and Communes of France, commune in the South of France, a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône Departments of France, department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Reg ...
,
[Oost, Stewart (1968). ''Galla Placidia Augusta: A biographical essay''. Chicago: University Press, pp. 186–189ff.] and
Bonifacius, ''
comes
''Comes'' (plural ''comites''), translated as count, was a Roman title, generally linked to a comitatus or comital office.
The word ''comes'' originally meant "companion" or "follower", deriving from "''com-''" ("with") and "''ire''" ("go"). Th ...
'' of the
Diocese of Africa
The Diocese of Africa () was a diocese of the later Roman Empire, incorporating the provinces of North Africa, except Mauretania Tingitana. Its seat was at Carthage, and it was subordinate to the Praetorian prefecture of Italy.
The diocese in ...
, held back the grain fleet destined to
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
.
"The events of Johannes' reign are as shadowy as its origins," writes
John Matthews, who then provides a list of the ruler's known actions in a single paragraph. Joannes was proclaimed at Rome and praetorian games were provided at the expense of a member of the
Anicia gens. Johannes then moved his base of operations to
Ravenna
Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...
, knowing full well that the
Eastern Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...
would strike from that direction. There is a mention of an expedition against Africa, but its fate, presumed unsuccessful, is unrecorded. In Gaul, he appears to have caused offense by submitting clerics to secular courts.
Joannes had hoped that he could come to an agreement with the Eastern Emperor, but when
Theodosius II
Theodosius II ( ; 10 April 401 – 28 July 450), called "the Calligraphy, Calligrapher", was Roman emperor from 402 to 450. He was proclaimed ''Augustus (title), Augustus'' as an infant and ruled as the Eastern Empire's sole emperor after the ...
elevated the young
Valentinian III
Valentinian III (; 2 July 41916 March 455) was Roman emperor in the Western Roman Empire, West from 425 to 455. Starting in childhood, his reign over the Roman Empire was one of the longest, but was dominated by civil wars among powerful general ...
to ''
caesar'' (undoubtedly influenced by Valentinian's mother
Galla Placidia), he knew he could only expect war. Late in 424, he gave to one of his younger and most promising followers,
Aëtius, an important mission. Aëtius, governor of the Palace at the time, was sent to the
Huns
The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th centuries AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was par ...
, with whom he had lived as a hostage earlier, to seek military help.
While Aëtius was away, the army of the Eastern Empire left
Thessalonica
Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area) and the capital city, capital of the geographic reg ...
for
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, and soon camped in
Aquileia
Aquileia is an ancient Roman city in Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about from the sea, on the river Natiso (modern Natisone), the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times. Today, the city is small ( ...
. Although the primary sources state that Ravenna fell to their assault –
John of Antioch states that a
shepherd
A shepherd is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations; it exists in many parts of the globe, and it is an important part of Pastoralism, pastoralist animal husbandry. ...
led the army of
Aspar safely through the marshes that protected the city. Aspar's father,
Ardaburius, who had been captured by Joannes' soldiers, may have convinced the garrison of Ravenna to betray the city.
The fallen emperor was brought to Aquileia where first
his hand was cut off, then he was paraded on a
donkey
The donkey or ass is a domesticated equine. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a separate species, ''Equus asinus''. It was domes ...
in the
Hippodrome
Hippodrome is a term sometimes used for public entertainment venues of various types. A modern example is the Hippodrome which opened in London in 1900 "combining circus, hippodrome, and stage performances".
The term hippodroming refers to fr ...
to the insults of the populace. After further insults and injuries, Joannes was finally decapitated in mid 425. His death is sometimes dated to May or June, probably on the basis two laws in the ''
Codex Theodosianus
The ''Codex Theodosianus'' ("Theodosian Code") is a compilation of the laws of the Roman Empire under the Christian emperors since 312. A commission was established by Emperor Theodosius II and his co-emperor Valentinian III on 26 March 429 an ...
'' issued by Theodosius II on 5 May 425.
Three days after Joannes's death, Aëtius returned at the head of a substantial Hunnic army. After some skirmishing, Placidia,
regent
In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...
to her son, and Aëtius came to an agreement that established the political landscape of the
Western Roman Empire
In modern historiography, the Western Roman Empire was the western provinces of the Roman Empire, collectively, during any period in which they were administered separately from the eastern provinces by a separate, independent imperial court. ...
for the next thirty years. The Huns were paid off and sent home, while Aetius received the position of ''
magister militum
(Latin for "master of soldiers"; : ) was a top-level military command used in the late Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, the e ...
'' (
commander-in-chief of the
Roman army
The Roman army () served ancient Rome and the Roman people, enduring through the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), the Roman Republic (509–27 BC), and the Roman Empire (27 BC–AD 1453), including the Western Roman Empire (collapsed Fall of the W ...
).
The historian
Adrian Goldsworthy writes that "it took a hard-fought campaign by strong elements of the
East Roman army and navy, in addition to a fair dose of betrayal," to defeat Joannes.
[ Goldsworthy, Andrian (2010). ''The Fall of the West: The Slow Death of the Roman Superpower''. Orion Books Ltd, Paperback Edition. London, pp. 305 and 436.]
References
Further reading
* Hugh Elton (1999)
"Ioannes" ''
De Imperatoribus Romanis''
*
{{Authority control
425 deaths
4th-century Christians
5th-century Christians
5th-century Western Roman emperors
5th-century murdered monarchs
5th-century western Roman consuls
Executed Roman emperors
People executed by decapitation
People executed by the Roman Empire
Ancient Romans from unknown gentes
Year of birth unknown