Dovahhatty – Unbiased History of Rome XVIII: Barbarians at the Gates

(14) MAGNUS MAXIMUS –

USURPER: VALENTINIAN DYNASTY (WESTERN EMPIRE)

(383 – 388: 5 YEARS 3 DAYS)

As per Dovahhatty – “A dude that named himself Magnus Maximus – the best, the greatest – who wasn’t either”

Still, as usurpers go, he wasn’t that bad, usurping the western emperor Gratian similar to Magnentius before him usurping Constans.

What keeps him from crossing the line between good and bad usurpers is firstly, that he usurped Gratian, an emperor I also consider as not that bad, deserving of some rehabilitation of reputation, albeit still somewhat lackluster.

And secondly, that he was defeated by the eastern emperor Theodosius – despite formerly serving in the army with both Theodosius and the father of Theodosius, Count Theodosius or Theodosius the Elder – hence effectively setting up the worst imperial dynasty, the Theodosian dynasty, in both eastern and western empires. I could have forgiven Maximus for everything else if he’d won. At very least, it’s hard to see how he could have done worse for the western empire than what happened with his defeat.

Maximus became a distinguished general in his army service, gaining “the support of his fellow soldiers and the admiration of the Romano-Britons whom he defended” when he defeated an incursion of the Picts and Scots in 381 AD. Interestingly, that admiration persisted in his status in British or Arthurian legend – something the Britons did for other usurpers originating from Roman Britain, although in fairness the province didn’t produce much else for Rome other than usurpers.

Like Constans before him, the western emperor Gratian became vulnerable to an imperial claim by Maximus – and for similar reasons, neglecting the affairs of state and favoring his barbarian soldiers, the latter in a particularly suggestive way albeit perhaps not as suggestive as the accusations against Constans.

And so Gratian’s army deserted to Maximus, who had raised the standard of revolt in Britain and invaded Gaul to advance that competing imperial claim, taking a large part of the Roman garrison and government in Britain with him – so much so that some historians attribute the end of direct Roman imperial presence in Britain to him

Gratian fled, only to be pursued and killed in Gaul by forces loyal to Maximus, leaving Gratian’s half-brother Valentinian II – 12 years of age at the time – as the only other imperial claimant in the western empire.

Indeed, Maximus continued his campaign into Italy and might well have eliminated Valentinian but for being forestalled by a number of factors – the defense of Italy by the Frankish general Bauto as magister militum of the western empire, the intervention of the bishop Ambrose of Milan, and an accord with Theodosius in which Maximus was recognised as augustus or emperor of the western empire while Valentinian II remained in Italy.

Maximus made his capital at Trier in Gaul – ruling Britain, Gaul, Hispania and Africa. The Roman historian Orosius wrote that Maximus was “an energetic and able man and one worthy of the throne had he not risen to it by usurpation, contrary to his oath of allegiance”.

Ultimately, Maximus again turned his attention to Valentinian, forcing the latter (and Valentinian’s mother Justinian) to flee Milan to Theodosius in the eastern empire – prompting Theodosius to campaign against Maximus to restore Valentinian as western emperor, at least in name as a placeholder for the dynastic ambitions of Theodosius in both eastern and western empires.

The forces of Theodosius decisively defeated Maximus at the Battle of Poetovio in 388 AD – Maximus surrendered and was executed at Aquileia.

Shout-out to Victor as son and co-emperor of Maximus, suffering the same fate of defeat and execution as his father – it’s a shout-out because like Marcus as the son of Basiliscus, he does not feature in Wikipedia’s list of Roman emperors other than a brief mention in parenthesis with Maximus.

DID DOVAHHATTY DO RIGHT?

Yes – as per my opening quote, as well as my feature image from Dovahhatty depicting Maximus as wojak.

RATING: 2 STARS**

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