Flavius Richomeres or Ricomer (died 393) was a Frank who lived in the late 4th century. He took service in the Roman army and made a career as ''

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 ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', and ''

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

''. He was an uncle of the general Arbogastes. He is possibly to be identified with the Richomeres who married Ascyla, whose son Theodemer later became king of the Franks.Rouche 1996, p. 83.

Life

Around the years 377/378, Richomeres was '' comes domesticorum'' of Emperor Gratian and was transferred from

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 ...

Thracia Thracia or Thrace () is the ancient name given to the southeastern Balkans, Balkan region, the land inhabited by the Thracians. Thrace was ruled by the Odrysian kingdom during the Classical Greece, Classical and Hellenistic period, Hellenis ...

, where he was involved in the Gothic wars of Emperor

Valens Valens (; ; 328 – 9 August 378) was Roman emperor from 364 to 378. Following a largely unremarkable military career, he was named co-emperor by his elder brother Valentinian I, who gave him the Byzantine Empire, eastern half of the Roman Em ...

. At Adrianople, he tried to persuade Valens to wait on Gratian for support. When the Gothic leader Fritigern demanded hostages to secure peace from the Romans, he volunteered and departed the Roman camp to bring the other hostages safely to Fritigern, but before he arrived, some elements of the two armies got out of control and engaged, starting the famous Battle of Adrianople. Richomeres ended up at a battlefield in complete chaos, but he saved himself by withdrawing and survived. However, Valens' army was largely destroyed and many officers fell, including Valens himself. Around 383, he was General in the east (''magister militum per orientem''), and became

in 384. In 388,

Theodosius I Theodosius I ( ; 11 January 347 – 17 January 395), also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman emperor from 379 to 395. He won two civil wars and was instrumental in establishing the Nicene Creed as the orthodox doctrine for Nicene C ...

sent him together with his nephew Arbogastes and Promotus and Timasius against the usurper Magnus Maximus, who was defeated. From the year 388, he served as supreme commander in the Eastern portion of the Empire (''comes et magister utriusque militiae'') until his death in 393. Richomeres was interested in literature, and was acquainted with rhetoricians, such as Libanius and Augustinus. He introduced the rhetorician Eugenius to his nephew Arbogastes. A few years later, Arbogastes seized power in the western portions of the Empire. After the death of Valentinian II, Arbogastes promoted Eugenius to be his Emperor, while he himself remained the leader and generalissimo. In 393, Theodosius I organised a campaign against Arbogastes, and Richomeres was asked to lead the cavalry against his nephew. On the way from the East to the West, he died before the battle took place. Arbogastes lost the battle and committed suicide with his own sword.

References

* Ammianus Marcellinus, ''History'', Loeb Classical Library, translated by John C. Rolfe. *Jones, Martindale, and Morris. '' Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire''. (PLRE I) {{s-end Year of birth unknown 393 deaths 4th-century Frankish people 4th-century Roman consuls Comites domesticorum Frankish warriors Magistri militum