26 Facts About Valentinian III

Valentinian III was Roman emperor in the West from 425 to 455.

Valentinian III 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.

Valentinian III himself killed Aetius, and in response Aetius's bodyguards assassinated Valentinian III.

Valentinian III's reign was marked by the ongoing collapse of the western empire.

Valentinian III's mother was the younger half-sister of the western emperor Honorius, while his father was at the time a patrician and the power behind the throne.

Valentinian III had a full sister, Justa Grata Honoria, who was probably born in 417 or 418.

Valentinian III's 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.

When Valentinian III was less than two years old, Honorius appointed Constantius co-emperor, a position he would hold until his death seven months later.

In either 421 or 423, Valentinian III was given the title of nobilissimus by Honorius, although this title was not initially recognized in the eastern court of Theodosius II.

Concerned by this turn of events and determined to hold onto the African provinces at all costs, the court at Ravenna sought reconciliation with Bonifacius, who agreed in 430 to affirm his allegiance to Valentinian III and stop the Vandal king Gaiseric.

Galla Placidia's regency came to an end in 437 when Valentinian III travelled to Constantinople to marry his fiancee, Licinia Eudoxia.

Valentinian III enjoyed initial success against the Franks and the Burgundians, as well as putting down a revolt by the Bagaudae by 437.

Therefore, in 442, Aetius and Valentinian III were forced to acknowledge the Vandal conquests of Proconsular Africa, Byzacena, and western Numidia, in exchange for which Rome was returned the now devastated provinces of Tripolitana, Mauretania Sitifensis, Mauretania Caesariensis, and part of Numidia.

Consequently, sometime before 446, he convinced Valentinian III to agree to a marriage between his eldest daughter, Eudocia, and Gaiseric's son, Huneric.

Sometime before 449, Valentinian III granted the honorary title of magister militum of the western empire upon their chieftain, Attila the Hun, and the western court was relieved when he concentrated on raiding the eastern empire's provinces in the Balkans from 441 through to 449.

In 449, Attila received a message from Honoria, Valentinian III's sister, offering him half the western empire if he would rescue her from an unwanted marriage that her brother was forcing her into.

Valentinian III sacked and destroyed Aquileia and took Verona and Vincentia as well.

Valentinian III sent Pope Leo I and two leading senators to negotiate with Attila.

The ancient historian Priscus reported that Aetius was presenting a financial statement before the Emperor when Valentinian III suddenly leapt from his throne and accused him of drunken depravity.

Valentinian III held him responsible for the empire's tribulations and accused him of plotting to take the empire away from him.

Valentinian III then drew his sword and together with Heraclius, rushed at the weaponless Aetius and struck him on the head, killing him on the spot.

The assassination occurred as Valentinian III rode his horse on the Campus Martius.

Valentinian III was not as prepared as he thought to take over and stabilize the depleted empire, however; after a reign of only 11 weeks, Maximus was stoned to death by a Roman mob.

Valentinian III's reign is marked by the dismemberment of the Western Empire; by the time of his death, virtually all of North Africa, all of western Spain, and the majority of Gaul had passed out of Roman hands.

Valentinian III is described as spoiled, pleasure-loving, and heavily influenced by sorcerers and astrologers, yet devoted to religion, contributing to churches of Saint Lawrence in both Rome and Ravenna.

Valentinian III was consumed by trivialities: during the 430s, he began expelling all Jews from the Roman army because he was fearful of their supposed ability to corrupt the Christians they were serving with.