Aegidius (general)

Aegidius († 464/65) was a western Roman army master of the 5th century in Gaul ( magister militum per Gallias ) and after 461 a ruler (" warlord ") in northern Gaul who ruled independently of the western Roman government .

Life

Aegidius possibly came from the Gallo-Roman senatorial family of the Syagrii - the consul of 382, Flavius ​​Afranius Syagrius , could have been his grandfather or great-grandfather - and was friends with the Western Roman emperor Maiorianus , which can only be deduced from circumstantial evidence . with whom he had served in the army. Due to inaccurate information in the sources, the time of Aegidius' assumption of military command in Gaul cannot be precisely determined. The inauguration is likely to fall in the period 456/57, when he was appointed magister militum per Gallias . Gregory of Tours ( Histories 2, 12) reports that Aegidius is said to have been King of the Franks for eight years. This message is fabulously embellished and therefore hardly historical. The core is likely to be the long alliance between Aegidius and the Salian Franks.

However, it is also possible that Aegidius and the Salfrank king Childeric I were political competitors with regard to the control of the last Western Roman army in Gaul (the exercitus Gallicanus ), especially since the sources regarding the relations between Aegidius and Childeric are very sparse. The military equipment for high officers found in Childerich's grave near Tournai can only indicate his appointment as titular magister militum .

Several barbarian tribes tried to exploit the weakness of the Western Roman Empire after the assassination of Aëtius . Aegidius therefore carried out 457 operations against the Ripuarian Franks ( Rhine Franks ) on the Rhine in the summer , with Cologne having to be evacuated. In 458 he recaptured Lyon , previously occupied by the Burgundians , and successfully defended Arles , the seat of the Gallic Praetorium Prefecture, against the Visigoths . Soon after, however, Emperor Maiorian concluded a treaty ( foedus ) with the Burgundians, which guaranteed them their settlement area in the Sapaudia region ; the old treaty with the Visigoths was also renewed. One consequence of this approach was probably the removal of the relevant territories from the Roman military administration.

Nevertheless, Aegidius endeavored to maintain or restore Roman sovereignty in all of Gaul, which ultimately turned out to be a hopeless endeavor. In August 461, the mighty army master Ricimer , in the office of magister militum praesentalis et patricius, had the "gray eminence" killed behind the western Roman imperial throne in Ravenna , Emperor Maiorian. The reason was the emperor's independent but costly policy, the failure of which had shown a failed military operation against the vandals in North Africa ( Battle of Cartagena ). Aegidius then rebelled against Ricimer and even planned the invasion of Italy , whereupon Ricimer mobilized the Visigoths against him. In addition, Agrippinus , an old enemy of Aegidius and before this magister militum per Gallias , was sent to Gaul to replace Aegidius. However, this was able to hold its own.

Aegidius withdrew to Northern Gaul and managed to defend a Gallo-Roman enclave as an area of ​​power in the region around Soissons , especially since he continued to exercise command over most of the Gallic army, in fact its remnants. He also probably allied himself with Childerich, King of Salf Franks. However, there is an opinion that Aegidius and Childerich were competitors (see also above). Aegidius evidently undertook campaigns against the Visigoths; so he besieged (probably 462/63) quinone . In 463 he defeated the Visigoths at Orléans . In 464 he contacted the vandals in order to plan further actions against Ricimer, but he died shortly afterwards. The circumstances of his death are unknown; it is also possible that he only died in 465. It is sometimes suggested that Ricimer had him murdered, but this is unproven.

The successor in his domain may have been the comes Paulus , who was killed shortly afterwards. He was followed by the son of Aegidius, Syagrius , who was able to assert himself until 486/87 before he lost his territory with Soissons to the Franks under Clovis I and was killed.

literature

• Friedrich Anders: Flavius ​​Ricimer. Power and impotence of the Western Roman army master in the second half of the 5th century. (= European university publications. Series 3: History and its auxiliary sciences. Vol. 1077). Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2010, ISBN 978-3-631-61264-4 (also: Berlin, Humboldt University, dissertation, 2009).
• Alexander Demandt : magister militum. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Supplementary volume XII, Stuttgart 1970, Sp. 553-790, here Sp. 687-691 (with discussion of the most important sources).
• David Frye: Aegidius, Childeric, Odovacer and Paul. In: Nottingham Medieval Studies. Vol. 36, 1992, ISSN  0078-2122 , pp. 1-14, doi : 10.1484 / J.NMS.3.200 .
• Guy Halsall: Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West, 376-568. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2007, ISBN 978-0-521-43491-1 .
• Dirk Henning: Periclitans res Publica. Empire and elites in the crisis of the Western Roman Empire, 454 / 5–493 (= Historia . Individual writings. Vol. 133). Steiner, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-515-07485-6 (at the same time: Marburg, University, dissertation, 1998).
• Penny MacGeorge: Late Roman Warlords. Oxford University Press, Oxford et al. 2002, ISBN 0-19-925244-0 , p. 71 ff.
• John Robert Martindale: Aegidius (general). In: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (PLRE). Volume 2, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1980, ISBN 0-521-20159-4 , pp. 11-13.
• Otto Seeck : Aegidius . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 1, Stuttgart 1893, Col. 476 f.
• Ernst Stein : History of the late Roman Empire. Volume 1: From the Roman to the Byzantine state. (A.D. 284-476). Seidel, Vienna 1928, pp. 559-565.

Web links

• Aegidius in the portal Rheinische Geschichte

Remarks

1. ↑ Dirk Henning: Periclitans res Publica . Stuttgart 1999, p. 294.
2. ^ Priscus , fragment 30
3. ↑ Ernst Stein: History of the late Roman Empire. Volume 1. Vienna 1928, p. 559; on the problem of dating the assumption of office cf. Alexander Demandt: magister militum. In: RE supplement volume 12. Stuttgart 1970, Sp. 688f.
4. ↑ See Penny MacGeorge: Late Roman Warlords . Oxford 2002, p. 97.
5. ↑ Guy Halsall: Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West, 376-568 . Cambridge 2007, pp. 303f.
6. ^ Friedrich Anders: Flavius ​​Ricimer . Frankfurt a. M. 2010, p. 424f.
7. ^ Friedrich Anders: Flavius ​​Ricimer . Frankfurt a. M. 2010, p. 421, accepts a maximum of 3000 to 4000 men.
8. ↑ David Frye: Aegidius, Childeric, Odovacer and Paul . In: Nottingham Medieval Studies . Volume 36, 1992, pp. 1-14.
9. ↑ Gregor von Tours reports on this, Liber in gloria confessorum 22.
10. ↑ It is unclear what exactly Aegidius' goals were, especially since he did not proclaim himself the anti-emperor. Cf. Dirk Henning: Periclitans res Publica . Stuttgart 1999, p. 290ff., Especially p. 298f.
11. ^ Friedrich Anders: Flavius ​​Ricimer . Frankfurt a. M. 2010, p. 425.
12. ^ Gregor von Tours, Historien , 2, 18. Several researchers (including Dirk Henning: Periclitans res Publica . Stuttgart 1999, p. 300f., Note 96) do not believe that Paul was the successor of Aegidius. Guy Halsall: Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West, 376-568 . Cambridge 2007, p. 270, considers it possible that Paul was acting on behalf of Childerich. More details can hardly be said, since Gregory does not report anything on Paul's status.