32 Facts About Valentinian I

Valentinian I, known as Valentinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 364 to 375.

Valentinian I ruled the Western half of the empire, while his brother Valens ruled the East.

Gratianus was promoted to comes Africae in the late 320s or early 330s, and the young Valentinian I accompanied his father to Africa.

Valentinian I joined the army in the late 330s and later probably acquired the position of protector domesticus.

Valentinian I extricated his soldiers from Persian territory by agreeing to a humiliating peace treaty, then started back to Constantinople.

Valentinian I reassured them that the army was his greatest priority.

Valentinian I retained the services of Dagalaifus and promoted Aequitius to Comes Illyricum.

Valens resided in Constantinople, while Valentinian I's court was situated in Milan.

Valentinian I succeeded in arranging the assassination of Vithicabius, an Alemannic leader, but wanted to decisively end the conflict by bringing the Alemanni under Roman hegemony.

Valentinian I spent the entire winter of 367 gathering a massive army for a spring offensive.

Valentinian I summoned the Comes Italiae Sebastianus, with the Italian and Illyrian legions, to join Jovinus and Severus, the magister peditum.

Finally, Valentinian I fought the Alemanni in the Battle of Solicinium; the Romans were victorious but suffered heavy casualties.

Valentinian I campaigned unsuccessfully for four more years to defeat Macrian, who in 372 barely escaped capture by Theodosius.

Meanwhile, Valentinian I continued to recruit heavily from Alemanni friendly to Rome.

In 374 Valentinian I was forced to make peace with Macrian because the Emperor's presence was needed to counter an invasion of Illyricum by the Quadi and Sarmatians.

Valentinian I received reports that a combined force of Picts, Attacotti and Scots had attacked the province, killing the Comes litoris Saxonici Nectaridus and Dux Britanniarum Fullofaudes.

Valentinian I set out for Britain, sending Comes domesticorum Severus ahead of him to investigate.

Valentinian I then sent Jovinus to Britain and promoted Severus to magister peditum.

In 368 Valentinian I appointed Theodosius as the new Comes Britanniarum with instructions to return Britain to Roman rule.

Valentinian I did not receive news of these crises until late 374.

Valentinian I replied that he would investigate what had happened and act accordingly.

Valentinian I was accompanied by Sebastianus and Merobaudes, and spent the summer months preparing for the campaign.

Enraged, Valentinian I began yelling abuse at the envoys and suffered a fatal stroke.

Valentinian I appointed the Latin scholar Ausonius as tutor for his son Gratian, showing an appreciation for the kind of classical education which he himself had been denied.

Valentinian I founded schools, and provided medical attendance for the poor of Rome by appointing a physician for each of the fourteen districts of the city.

Valentinian I reissued an edict of Constantine I condemning abandonment of infants.

Valentinian I often had servants and attendants executed on trifling charges, and was reportedly accustomed to feed his victims to two bears, known as Mica Aurea, and Innocence, whose iron cage was transported wherever the emperor went.

Valentinian I was a Christian but permitted liberal religious freedom to all his subjects, proscribing only some forms of rituals such as particular types of sacrifices, and banning the practice of magic.

Valentinian I accordingly framed a law, and caused it to be published throughout all the cities, by which any man was permitted to have two lawful wives.

Barnes believes this story to be an attempt to justify the divorce of Valentinian I without accusing the Emperor.

Valentinian I was a superb soldier and a conscientious worker, endowed with ferocious energy.

Valentinian I felt a strong duty to the state, and, much more unusual, a strong duty to the poor, an emotion which he combined with a considerable distaste for the Roman upper class.