Valentinian III

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Flavius Placidius Valentinianus, known in English as Valentinian III (July 2, 419 – March 16, 455), Western Roman Emperor (424-455).

Valentinian was born in Ravenna, as the only son of Constantius III and Galla Placidia, daughter of the Emperor Theodosius I and granddaughter of Emperor Valentinian I. He was elevated as Caesar on October 23, 424 in Constantinople, and after a brief war in Italy, was installed as Emperor of the West in Rome on October 23, 425.

He was only six years of age when he received the title of Augustus, and during his minority the conduct of affairs was in the hands of first his mother, then after 433, Aëtius. His reign is marked by the dismemberment of the Western Empire; the conquest of the province of Africa by the Vandals in 439; the final abandonment of Britain in 446; the loss of great portions of Spain and Gaul, in which the barbarians had established themselves; and the ravaging of Sicily and of the western coasts of the Mediterranean Sea by the fleets of Genseric.

As a set-off against these calamities, there was the great victory of Aëtius over Attila the Hun in 451 near Chalons, and his successful campaigns against the Visigoths in southern Gaul (426, 429, 436), and against various invaders on the Rhine and Danube (428-431).

On 437, Valentinian married Licinia Eudoxia, the only daughter of eastern Emperor Theodosius II.

The burden of taxation became more and more intolerable as the power of Rome decreased, and the loyalty of her remaining provinces was seriously impaired in consequence. Ravenna was Valentinian's usual residence; but he fled to Rome on the approach of Attila, who, after ravaging the north of Italy, died in the following year (453).

In 454 Aëtius, whose son had married a daughter of the emperor, was treacherously murdered by Valentinian. On March 16 of the following year, however, the emperor himself was assassinated in Rome, by two of the barbarian followers of Aëtius.

Valentinian not merely lacked the ability to govern the empire in a time of crisis, but aggravated its dangers by his self-indulgence and vindictiveness.

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References

Our chief original sources for the reign of Valentinian III are Prosper's Chronicles, Jordanes, whose Gothic History was written in the 6th century, and the poet Sidonius Apollinaris. A modern secondary source is Oost, Galla Placidia Augusta (Chicago: University Press, 1968).

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition{{#if:{{{article|}}}| article {{#if:{{{url|}}}|[{{{url|}}}}} "{{{article}}}"{{#if:{{{url|}}}|]}}{{#if:{{{author|}}}| by {{{author}}}}}}}, a publication now in the public domain.

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