Roman civil war of 456

TheRoman Civil War of 456was acivil warfought in theWestern Roman Empireduring the second half of 456 AD.

Roman Civil War of 456
Part ofFall of the Western Roman Empire
Northern Italy
Date 456 AD Location NorthernItalia,Western Roman Empire Result Victory for Majorianus and Ricimer
Belligerents
Imperial government	Rebels
Commanders and leaders
Avitus Remistus Messianus	Majorianus Ricimer
Strength
5,000–10,000	15,000

The Roman generalsMajorianusandRicimerrevolted against the Western Roman emperorAvituswho was appointed by theVisigothsafter theSack of Romein 455. Avitus went toGaulto gather support for his rule which he lacked from the RomanSenateand people. Avitus was defeated by the stronger rebel army at a battle inPiacenza,deposed as emperor, and died shortly thereafter in mysterious circumstances.Eastern RomanemperorLeo Iappointed Majorianus and Ricimer asmagister militumbefore Majorianus appointed himself Western emperor with support from the Senate and army.

Sources

For the events in the Western Roman Empire in the period after the death ofValentinian III(455), historians have only scarce chronicles and fragments from historiography at their disposal. In addition, thePanegyricofSidonius Apollinarisabout Avitus and his letters provides important information about this phase of Roman rule in the west.

Background

Since its founding in 395 AD, theWestern Roman Empirewas in aprolonged state of decline,and under pressure from the influx ofGermanicand other non-Roman peoples known as theMigration Period. In 442, EmperorValentinian IIInegotiated apeace treatywith theVandal KingdomofGenseric,one of the Germanic states that was encroaching on the empire. The treaty included amarriage of statebetween Valentinian's daughterEudociaand Genseric's sonHuneric,though Valentinian was killed in 455 before the marriage could take place. His successorPetronius Maximus,to strengthen his legitimacy as emperor, had Eudocia marry his own sonPalladiusinstead. Genseric proclaimed that their peace treaty wasnull and voidand used it as acasus bellito attack the Romans, which resulted in theSack of Romeand the death of Maximus.

Avitus,aGallo-Romanmagister militum,was appointed emperor by theVisigothickingTheodoric IIin the aftermath. Among historians, there is a consensus that Avitus' reign was not strongly rooted at the beginning. He was rather dependent on the support of all major players in the Western Roman Empire about that time. That support was indispensable to gain sufficient control over both the civil institutions, theSenateand theEast Roman EmperorMarcian,as well as those of the army and its commanders, the generalsMajorianusandRicimer.Moreover, his relationship with the eastern part of the empire was not optimal. In contrast, his relationship with the Theodoric was excellent.An explanation for Avitus' weak position might be, that he had been put forward by theGallicsenators with support of Theodoric as the successor of Maximus. In Italia, where the core of the power of the Western Empire was established, he was considered as an outsider by the Senate in Rome. According to Sidonius Apollonaris, Majorianus and Ricimer were also interested in the throne, and had already had plans in that direction after the death of Valentinian.Initially, they supported Avitus' reign, but turned against him when he got into trouble.

There were two major conflicts at the time of Avitus' reign: theSuebiansin northernHispaniawere on a warpath, and the Vandals that the Romans were now at war with again. The Visigothic army, together with theBurgundy,campaigned for Avitus in Hispania to restore power there.The Roman army under Ricimer took action against the Vandals in theMediterraneanand achieved some successes, but Genseric proved difficult to beat at sea.The Vandals blocked theportof Rome, causingfamineto break out in the capital which depended ongrainfromAfricafor its food supply.

The Civil War

Prelude

Halfway through 456, during the food blockade, Avitus stayed in Rome where he was confronted by hungry and dissatisfied residents. The fact that he belonged to the Gallic aristocracy and had appointed several Gauls to high posts worked to his disadvantage. Some senatorial circles blamed him for the famine. In addition, he also had problems with his Roman army because he did not have enough cash to pay their wages. At this stage, Ricimer and Majorianus seriously began plans to depose Avitus. Ricimer had gained prestige after his victories and Majorian had a strong following among the troops previously loyal toFlavius Aetius.Avitus, who was never loved much by the Roman people, lost his support in the Senate in the course of 456. For Ricimer and Majorianus this was the perfect moment to draw power to them and revolted, causing the emperor to flee because a large part of the army sided against him. Avitus fled toGaulto gather reinforcements, arriving inArleswhere he scraped some troops together, but had to do it without the support of the Theodoric who was campaigning in Hispania.

Assassination of Remistus

The first action in the revolt of Ricimer and Majorian was the assassination of Avitus'magister militumRemistus,thecommander-in-chiefof the Roman army, who had been commissioned to preserve the imperial seatRavennafor him. In September 456, Ricimer went with an army to Ravenna and surprised Remistus near the city. The sources do not clearly indicate under what circumstances the attack took place, but Remistus was killed as a result.Then, the troops of Ricimer and Majorianus moved north to intercept the reinforcements Avitus had gathered in Arles.

Battle of Piacenza

Avitus appointed a new commander-in-chief, Messianus, to succeed Remistus and prepared for the confrontation with Ricimer and Majorian. With the army he gathered in Gaul, he returned to Italia in early October. He encountered the army of Recimer and Majorian nearPiacenzawhere there was a battle between the Roman armies. Avitus was clearly the lesser, lacking the support of theGothicfoederatiand possibly could only have gathered part of the established Gallic army in that short time. The rebels, on the other hand, had most of the Italiancomitatenses.On October 17 or 18, Avitus attacked the much stronger army led by Ricimer with his troops, and after a major massacre among his men including Messianus, he fled and took refuge in the city. In the immediate aftermath, Ricimer saved his life, but forced him to becomeBishop of Piacenza.As for his death shortly after, the sources are vague or contradictory; it is enough to say that this was very convenient for Ricimer and Majorian.

Aftermath

After the deposition and death of Avitus, the Gallo-Roman aristocracy revolted, turning to the Burgundian and Visigothicfoederatifor support.When Theodoric andGundiocreceived the message about the overthrow of Avitus and the revolt in Gaul, Theodoric left the command to his generals Suneric and Cyril and returned toToulouse,while Gundioc with his entire army returned to the mountains ofSapaudia.Taking advantage of the confusing state, Theodoric saw opportunities to establish his own state on Roman soil. In the course of 457, he pushed the treaty with the Romans on the side with which theGothic Warbegan.

The recently appointed Eastern EmperorLeo Iwas now also emperor of the West until he had appointed a successor. Initially, Leo was not inclined to cooperate with the rebellious generals, but due the extremely unstable situation in the West he eventually accepted them.Leo appointed Ricimer aspatricius e magister militum(commander-in-chief with the title ofPatrician) and Majorian asmagister militum,making Majorian the subordinate of Ricimer.Majorianus then forced Leo, with the support of the Senate, to appoint him asCaesaron 1 April 457. When Leo hesitated to acknowledge him, Majorian declared himself Emperor of the West on 28 December 457, with the support of the Senate and the army.

Primary sources

• Hydatius,Chronicles 169–174
• Sidonius Apollinaris,panegyriekandletters
• John of Antioch,Historia cronike
• Gregory of Tours,Historia Francorum
• Priscus,fragments

Bibliography

• O'Flynn, John Michael (1983),Generalissimos of the Western Roman Empire,The University of Alberta Press,ISBN0888640315
• Hodgkin, Thomas(2001),The Barbarian Invasions of the Roman Empire,London: The Folio Society
• Heather, Peter (2006),The Fall of the Roman Empire,New York: Oxford University Press,ISBN9780195325416