Person:Valentinian III (1)

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Valentinian III (; 2 July 41916 March 455) was Roman emperor in the West from 425 to 455. Made emperor in childhood, his reign over the Roman Empire was one of the longest, but was dominated by powerful generals vying for power amid civil wars and the invasions of Late Antiquity's Migration Period, including the campaigns of Attila the Hun.

He was the son of Galla Placidia and Constantius III, and as the great-grandson of Valentinian I he was the last emperor of the Valentinianic dynasty. As a grandson of Theodosius I, Valentinian was also a member of the Theodosian dynasty, to which his wife, Licinia Eudoxia, also belonged. A year before assuming the rank of augustus, Valentinian was given the imperial rank of caesar by his half-cousin and co-emperor Theodosius II. The augusta Galla Placidia had great influence during her son's rule. During his early reign Aetius, Felix, and the comes africae, Bonifacius all competed for power within the western empire. Eventually Aetius would defeat Felix and Bonifacius. Aetius would go on to campaign against the many Germanic tribes invading the empire.

During Valentinian's reign the Huns invaded the Roman Empire. Eventually Aetius would defeat the Huns at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains. Once the Huns returned, Pope Leo I and two other senators convinced Attila to leave. Valentinian himself killed Aetius, and in response Aetius's bodyguards assassinated Valentinian. Valentinian's reign was marked by the ongoing collapse of the western empire.

Family

Valentinian was born in the western capital of Ravenna in 419. He was the only son of Galla Placidia and Flavius Constantius. The former was the younger half-sister of the western emperor Honorius, and the latter was at the time Patrician and the power behind the throne.

Through his mother, Valentinian was a descendent both of Theodosius I, who was his maternal grandfather, and of Valentinian I, who was the father of his maternal grandmother. It was also through his maternal side that he was the nephew of Honorius and first cousin to Theodosius II (the son of Honorius' brother Arcadius), who was eastern emperor throughout most of Valentianian's life. Valentinian had a full sister, Justa Grata Honoria, who was probably born in 417 or 418 (the history of Paul the Deacon mentions her first when mentioning the children of the marriage, suggesting she was the eldest^[2]). His mother had previously been married to Ataulf of the Visigoths, and had borne a son, Theodosius, in Barcelona in 414; but the child had died early in the following year, thus eliminating an opportunity for a Romano-Visigothic line.^[3][4]

When Valentinian was less than two years old, Honorius appointed Constantius co-emperor, a dignity he would hold until his death seven months later. As a result of all these family ties, Valentinian was the son, grandson, great-grandson, cousin, and nephew (twice over) of Roman Emperors.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Valentinian III, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
2. ↑ Profile of Constantius III in "Medieval Lands" by Charles Cawley
3. ↑ Profile of Ataulf in "Medieval Lands" by Charles Cawley
4. ↑ Ralph W. Mathisen, "Galla Placidia"