Marcus (d. 406) 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 centu ...

who was proclaimed Emperor of

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of ''Britannia'' after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. Julius Caes ...

. He was killed later that same year in a subsequent mutiny.

Career

Marcus was a high-ranking soldier in Roman Britain who was proclaimed

emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

by the local

army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

sometime in 406, possibly during the summer. Possibly one of the army commanders in Britain ('' Comes Britanniarum'', '' Comes Litoris Saxonici'' or '' Dux Britanniarum''), he may have risen to power in response to increasing raids from abroad at a time when the Empire was withdrawing troops from its far-flung provinces, such as Britain, to protect its heartland. While the historian J. B. Bury has suggested that the revolt of the British legions in 406 was primarily directed against

Stilicho Stilicho (; – 22 August 408) was a military commander in the Roman army who, for a time, became the most powerful man in the Western Roman Empire. He was partly of Vandal origins and married to Serena, the niece of emperor Theodosius I. He b ...

, the ''

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 ...

'' of the 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 ...

, the ancient sources (

Olympiodorus of Thebes Olympiodorus of Thebes (; born c. 380, fl. c. 412–425 AD) was a Roman historian, poet, philosopher and diplomat of the early fifth century. He produced a ''History'' in twenty-two volumes, written in Greek, dedicated to the Emperor Theodosius II, ...

Zosimus Zosimus, Zosimos, Zosima or Zosimas may refer to: People * * Rufus and Zosimus (died 107), Christian saints * Zosimus (martyr) (died 110), Christian martyr who was executed in Umbria, Italy * Zosimos of Panopolis, also known as ''Zosimus Alch ...

and

Orosius Paulus Orosius (; born 375/385 – 420 AD), less often Paul Orosius in English, was a Roman priest, historian and theologian, and a student of Augustine of Hippo. It is possible that he was born in '' Bracara Augusta'' (now Braga, Portugal), ...

) generally link the revolt to the barbarian incursions into Gaul and Italy, especially the

Vandal The Vandals were a Germanic people who were first reported in the written records as inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the fifth century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vandal ...

and Alanic tribes crossing the Rhine, which

Prosper of Aquitaine Prosper of Aquitaine (; – AD), also called ''Prosper Tiro'', was a Christian writer and disciple of Augustine of Hippo, and the first continuator of Jerome's Universal Chronicle. Particularly, Prosper is identified with the (later) axiom ''� ...

dated to 31 December 406. Modern historians have therefore debated whether this event was the trigger for the rebellion. Historians such as N. H. Baynes and M. Kulikowski argue that the rebellion was triggered by the crossing of the Rhine, which should therefore be dated to 31 December 405. Others, however, such as F. Paschoud and

Anthony Birley Anthony Richard Birley (8 October 1937 – 19 December 2020) was a British ancient historian, archaeologist and academic. He was one of the leaders of excavations at of the Roman fortress at Vindolanda and also published several books on Roman ...

, argue that Prosper's date is correct and that the events 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 ...

which triggered the rebellion were related to the barbarians who entered Gaul from Italy, probably part of the army of

Radagaisus Radagaisus (died 23 August 406) was a Gothic king who led an invasion of Roman Italy in late 405 and the first half of 406.Peter Heather, ''The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians'', 2nd ed. 2006:194; A committed p ...

which invaded Italy in 405/6. Whatever the cause of the rebellion, all that is known of Marcus' brief reign is that he did not please the army and was soon killed by them and replaced by another short-lived usurper,

Gratian Gratian (; ; 18 April 359 – 25 August 383) was emperor of the Western Roman Empire from 367 to 383. The eldest son of Valentinian I, Gratian was raised to the rank of ''Augustus'' as a child and inherited the West after his father's death in ...

. Marcus died around October 406. Gratian, in turn, was killed by the troops in early 407 and replaced by Constantine III. In his pseudo-historical work, the ''

Historia Regum Britanniae (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), originally called (''On the Deeds of the Britons''), is a fictitious account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It chronicles the lives of the List of legendary kings o ...

'',

Geoffrey of Monmouth Geoffrey of Monmouth (; ; ) was a Catholic cleric from Monmouth, Wales, and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur. He is best known for his chronicle '' The History of ...

tells of a Gracianus Municeps who took the throne of

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

from King Dionotus;Monmouth, ''Historia Regum Britanniae'', 6:1 it is possible that he based these characters on the historical Gratian and Marcus. He is one of three would-be emperors described in Alfred Duggan's historical novel ''

The Little Emperors ''The Little Emperors'' is a 1951 historical novel by the English author Alfred Duggan. The novel follows the speculative exploits of Caius Felix in the Roman-British province of Britannia Prima. Plot synopsis The story is set in Britain in 40 ...

''.

Sources

Primary sources

, ''"Historia Nova"'', Book
Historia Nova

Secondary sources

* Birley, Anthony R., ''The Roman Government of Britain'', Oxford University Press, 2005, * Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin, John Robert Martindale, John Morris, ''

The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire ''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'' (abbreviated as ''PLRE'') is a work of Roman prosopography published in a set of three volumes collectively describing many of the people attested to have lived in the Roman Empire from AD 260, the date ...

'', volume 2, Cambridge University Press, 1992, * Bury, J. B., ''A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene'', Vol. I (1889)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marcus 406 deaths 5th-century Roman usurpers Ancient Romans in Britain Year of birth unknown