Valentinian I.

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Portrait of Valentinian I with a pearl diadem on a coin of the emperor

Valentinian I ( Flavius ​​Valentinianus ; * 321 in Cibalae [probably Mikanovici], Pannonia ; † November 17, 375 in Brigetio near Komárom in today's Hungary ) was Roman emperor in the west of the empire from 364 to 375 . His main merit is the extensive security of the Rhine and Danube borders . At least as momentous was his decision to divide rule in the empire between two emperors, each with their own court and administrative apparatus, a measure that anticipated the so-called division of 395 .

Ascent

Valentinian entered the Roman army early, became a tribune of the scutarii around 360 and accompanied Emperor Julian to Antioch in Syria. He kept his post although he continued to openly profess Christianity under the pagan ruler . Julian fell during a campaign against the Sassanids in 363 , and after the surprising death of his successor Jovian , Valentinian was proclaimed emperor by the troops (February 26, 364). He disowned his first wife Marina Severa , the mother of his eldest son Gratian , and married Justina , who gave him a second son, Valentinian II.

Domination

Solidus Valentinians I.

Valentinian first resided in Milan , then in Paris and later mainly in Trier . Soon after taking office he appointed a co-emperor ( Augustus ) in Naissus at the urging of the army , namely his brother Valens , to whom he handed over the eastern part of the empire, albeit without the Illyricum and Greece . As senior Augustus , Valentinian reserved the last word for himself anyway. Valens, who never met his brother again afterwards, was given the task of repelling the Persian Sassanids , with whom Jovian had made a peace in 363, but with whom there was still great tension, especially in Armenia.

The usurpation of Procopius , a distant relative of Julian, was suppressed a little later. Although Valentinian was a Christian, he did not return to the aggressive Christianization policy that Julian's predecessor Constantius II in particular had pursued, but in fact allowed extensive religious freedom. An exception was the extent that it the edict against the Manichaeans from the times of Diocletian was revived in a weakened form, by 372 decreed that the Manicheans were to drive as Dishonorable. The rescript is handed down in the Codex Theodosianus .

Fight against the Teutons

The internal turmoil and civil wars that the Roman Empire had been through since around 350 had led to a massive neglect of border defense. This had been taken advantage of by raiding warrior groups. In 365 therefore Valentinian hurried to Gaul to drive out the Alemanni and Burgundians who had invaded there . Valentinian's entire reign was to be marked by defensive battles against the Germanic warriors on the Rhine and Danube. Alamanni were defeated at Charpeigne and Châlons-sur-Marne , but captured Mogontiacum in 367 . Shortly afterwards Valentinian won the battle at Solicinium (possibly at Sulz am Neckar ), but only with heavy losses. Valentinian also won a victory over the Franks in 366.

The emperor combined a traditional offensive strategy, in which Roman troops aggressively invaded and devastated enemy territory, with defensive measures. He strengthened the border fortresses on the Rhine and Danube (see Danube-Iller-Rhein-Limes ) and in the Balkans, which was to have a lasting effect, although a real defense of the long borders for logistical reasons was out of the question. Valentinian's border defense strategy was otherwise, as I said, geared towards a "forward strategy" and deterrence: If possible, the enemies in their own territory should be defeated before they could reach the empire, and the Roman troops should spread so much fear that looters were deterred . With regard to the suppression of the Alamannic warriors, which was only possible with the mobilization of all forces, the emperor benefited from the fact that they had no central leadership and often even offered the emperor their services as foederati . Overall, Valentinian managed to stabilize the Rhine border, which lasted until the Rhine crossing from 406 , when the situation in the northwest turned to the disadvantage of Rome.

Fight in Britain and Africa

In 367 Valentinian, who was at times seriously ill, appointed his eldest son Gratian as co-emperor in the west. However, the emperor was based not only on family members as Valens and Gratian: Valentinian best general was a Hispanic name Flavius Theodosius , the father of the future emperor Theodosius I . He succeeded in stopping the attacks of the Picts and Scots in Britain and restoring peace on the island; he also reorganized the local civil and military administration. Soon afterwards Flavius ​​Theodosius also took action successfully against the Alamanni. The Germanic army master Flavius ​​Merobaudes , who later played a key role in the proclamation of Valentinian's son Valentinian II as emperor, was also of importance.

When a rebellion finally broke out in Africa in 372 under the leadership of the Firmus , Flavius ​​Theodosius put it down too. The uprising, however, was certainly a warning signal for Valentinian, because Roman troops had also joined the rebels. The province had long had to contend with raids from tribes like the Austorians ; Valentinian had not had the means or the time to take care of this economically very important province beforehand, since all his attention was on the Rhine border.

Death and succession

Valentinian occupied territories of the allied Quadi and Sarmatians and drove the expansion of military bases there - in particular the large fortress Göd-Bócsaújtelep - which ultimately led to the war of 374 through the complicity of his commander-in-chief in the province of Valeria, the Dux Marcellianus . From June 374 on, Valentinian intervened personally in the battles of the Quadi and Sarmatians advancing across the Danube to Pannonia . The Romans were able to achieve a great victory, but the Limes Sarmatiae , the construction of which Valentinian's predecessors had already promoted, was abandoned. This also led to the premature end of the construction project in Göd-Bócsaújtelep. Valentinian had set up his headquarters in the Brigetio legionary camp (today Komárom - Szőny ), where he died during the peace negotiations with the Quads. The cause of death was probably a stroke , which was triggered by a violent outburst of anger on the part of the emperor. It was said that the insolent behavior of Germanic negotiators caused the stroke; they claimed that the building of the imperial outpost on their bank was reason enough for them to attack the Romans. The emperor is said to have become so angry about this statement that he collapsed. However, this assumption cannot be proven and an infectious disease is also a possible cause of death. Valentinian died on November 17, 375 after several hours of agony. His body was brought to Constantinople and buried there.

The dynasty founded by Valentinian was to last in the west until the death of his son Valentinian II in 392, in the east until the death of his brother Valens in the battle of Adrianople in 378. In a broader sense, the rule of his descendants even continued until 455: Emperor Theodosius I , the son of Flavius ​​Theodosius, married Valentinian's daughter Galla for the second time and thus founded the last dynasty in the west of the empire, which is sometimes also known as the Valentinian-Theodosian dynasty referred to as. Because from the marriage between Theodosius and Galla the daughter Galla Placidia emerged, who was the half-sister of the emperors Arcadius and Honorius (395 to 423), wife of the emperor Constantius III. and mother of the emperor Valentinian III. (425 to 455), a great grandson of Valentinian I. The brief emperor Olybrius (472) was with a daughter Valentinians III. married, and the Vandal King Hilderich (523 to 530) was a great-great-great-grandson of Valentinian I.

rating

Memorial stone on the Basilica di Santo Stefano Maggiore in Milan in memory of four courtiers who were executed on the orders of Valentinian I in 367; they are venerated as martyrs in Milan .

In the sources (especially Ammianus Marcellinus and Zosimos ) Valentinian's competence was rated as high; this is largely followed by modern research. Valentinian achieved remarkable achievements, especially in the military area, especially in view of the situation of the empire after the reigns of Julian and Jovian, which had been overshadowed by the catastrophe of the failed Persian War. Valentinian stabilized the Rhine border and won several victories over the Teutons.

Valentinian's character is said to have often revealed harsh traits, especially since he had a rather poor education; nevertheless he is said to have been interested in culture (see also Ausonius ). Domestically, he had a rather bad relationship with the Senate of Rome, which resented the emperor's absence, but did not interfere in religious issues either and, as mentioned, seems to have been tolerant of paganism .

literature

  • Jan den Boeft, Jan Willem Drijvers, Daniel den Hengst, Hans C. Teitler (Ed.): Ammianus after Julian. The Reign of Valentinian and Valens in Books 26-31 of the Res Gestae (= Mnemosyne Supplementa. Volume 289). Brill, Leiden et al. 2007, ISBN 978-90-04-16212-9 .
  • Bernhard Gutmann: Studies on Roman foreign policy in late antiquity (364–395 AD) (= Habelt's dissertation prints . Alte Geschichte series, issue 31). Habelt, Bonn 1991, ISBN 3-7749-2347-7 (also dissertation, University of Bonn 1985).
  • AHM Jones : The Later Roman Empire. 284-602. A Social Economic and Administrative Survey. 2 volumes. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 1986, ISBN 0-8018-3284-5 (reprinted 1964 edition).
  • André Piganiol : L'Empire Chrétien (325-395). 2nd Edition. Presses Universitaires de France, Paris 1972 (first published 1947).
  • Sebastian Schmidt-Hofner : React and create. The style of government of the late Roman emperor using the example of the legislation Valentinians I. CH Beck, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-406-57268-5 (reviews at Sehepunkte and H-Soz-u-Kult ).
  • Sebastian Schmidt-Hofner: The imperial regests of the years 364 to 375 AD In: Journal of the Savigny Foundation for legal history . Romance Department, Volume 125, 2008, pp. 498-600.

Web links

Commons : Valentinian I.  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ However, in modern research there are also certain doubts as to whether a belief in Christianity actually resulted in disadvantages for Valentinian and Valens and Jovian. Compare with Noel Lenski: Were Valentinian, Valens and Jovian Confessors before Julian the Apostate? In: Journal of Ancient Christianity. Volume 6, 2002, pp. 253-276.
  2. ↑ Marie Theres Fögen : The expropriation of fortune tellers. Studies on the imperial monopoly of knowledge in late antiquity . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1993, ISBN 3-518-58155-4 , p. 26 ff.
  3. ↑ CTh. 16,5,7, anno 381; CTh. 16,5,9, anno 382; CTh. 16,5,11, anno 383.
  4. ↑ Zsolt Mráv : Archaeological research 2000–2001 in the area of ​​the late Roman fortress of Göd-Bócsaújtelep (preliminary report) 2002. In: Communicationes archeologicae Hungariae 2003. Népművelési Propaganda Iroda. Budapest 2003. pp. 83-114; here: p. 99.
  5. ^ Konrad Bund: overthrow and deposition of rulers in the early Middle Ages. Bonn Historical Research 44.Bonn 1979, ISBN 3-7928-0417-4 , p. 127.
  6. ↑ Zsolt Mráv: Archaeological research 2000–2001 in the area of ​​the late Roman fortress of Göd-Bócsaújtelep (preliminary report) 2002. In: Communicationes archeologicae Hungariae 2003. Népművelési Propaganda Iroda, Budapest 2003, p. 101.
  7. ^ Ferdinand Peter Moog and Axel Karenberg : Investigations into the death of Valentinian I in the description of Ammianus Marcellinus and other authors. In: Würzburg medical history reports. Volume 22, 2003, pp. 113-134.
  8. ↑ On the funeral of Valentinian see: Mark J. Johnson: On the Burial Places of the Valentinian Dynasty. In: Historia . Volume 40, No. 4, 1991, pp. 501-506, here p. 501 f.
predecessor Office successor
Jovian Roman emperor
364–375 		Valens , Gratian and Valentinian II.
personal data
SURNAME Valentinian I.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Flavius ​​Valentinianus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman emperor in the west (364–375)
DATE OF BIRTH 321
PLACE OF BIRTH Cibalae (uncertain: Mikanovici), Pannonia
DATE OF DEATH November 17, 375
Place of death Brigetio near Komárom in today's Hungary