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geoffrey5867 · 8 years ago

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Coin of Flavius Julius Valerius Majorianus, usually known simply as Majorian, Western Roman Emperor from 457 to 461.

Majorian was probably born after 420, as in 458 he is defined a “iuvenis”, that is, a "young man", by the Gallo-Roman aristocrat and poet Sidonius Apollinaris in the panegyric he composed to Majorian and that is the best source for his activities before becoming emperor.

Majorian belonged to the military aristocracy of the Roman Empire. His grandfather of the same name reached the rank of magister militum under Emperor Theodosius I. The daughter of this latter married an officer, probably called Donninus, who administered the finances of Aetius, the next powerful magister militum of the Western Empire. The couple gave the name Majorianus to their child in honour of his influential grandfather.

It was under Aetius that Majorian started his military career. He followed him to Gallia, where he met two officers of barbarian origin who were to play an important role in Majorian's life: the Suevic-Visigoth Ricimer and the Gaul Aegidius. Majorian distinguished himself in the defence of the city of Turonensis (modern Tours) and in a battle against the Franks of king Clodio, near Vicus Helena (447 or 448).

By 454, Majorian had left active service and retired to a country estate. Sidonius attributes this to the jealousy of Aetius' wife, who supposedly feared that Majorian would outshine Aetius.

Following the murder of Aetius in 454, Majorian was recalled to army by the emperor Valentinian III.

After Valentinian's own murder in 455, there was no obvious successor to the throne. The choice finally fell upon the powerful senator Petronius Maximus, who just lasted as emperor for two and a half months in 455, as he was stoned to death by an angry mob on May 31th of that year, during the events culminating in the sack of Rome by the Vandals of king Genseric.

Any hopes that Majorian might have had of forwarding his own pretensions to the throne were preempted by the Gaul Eparchius Avitus, who was named Augustus in Gaul with the support of the Visigoths. Majorian initially supported Avitus, as did Ricimer, now a military “comes” (count), who defeated Vandal raiders in Sicily and off Corsica. But by mid-456 Avitus' popularity in Italy had waned, and Majorian and Ricimer revolted against him.

Avitus' forces were defeated at Piacenza and Ravenna, and he died in early 457, leaving the Western Empire without a successor. It was thus for the Eastern Roman Emperor to choose the successor, but Marcian could do nothing, as he died on January 27, 457. His successor on the Eastern throne was the general Leo I, who did not, however, select a colleague for the West, possibly because he intended to reign alone.

While the situation was in a precarious equilibrium, a troop of 900 Alemanni invaded Italy. They entered from Raetia and penetrated Italian territory down to Lake Maggiore. There they were intercepted and defeated by the troops of comes Burco, sent by Majorian to stop them.

After this victory, Majorian's was acclaimed Western Emperor by the army on April 1, 457, six miles outside Ravenna, at a place called “ad Columellas”, (at the Little Columns).

At first Leo I refused, but then finally gave his approval to Majorian's election and so Majorian was crowned as the new Eestern Emperor on December 28, 457.

The first problems Majorian had to handle were the consolidation of his rule over Italy and the recovery of Gaul, since this province had rebelled after the deposition of the Gallo-Roman emperor Avitus. The recovery of the lost provinces of Hispania and Africa was a project that Majorian had to leave for later.

In summer 458, a group of Vandals, led by the brother-in-law of Genseric, landed in Campania, at the mouth of the Liri or the Garigliano river, and started devastating and sacking the region. Majorian personally led the Roman army to a victory over the invaders near Sinuessa and followed the defeated Vandals, loaded with their booty, as far as their own ships, killing many of them including their commander.

In late 458, with winter coming on, Majorian marched into Gaul. The Emperor personally led the army, leaving Ricimer in Italy and choosing Aegidius and the magister militiae Nepotianus as collaborators.Ricimer never forgot this affront.

The imperial army defeated the Visigoths under king Theodoric II at the Battle of Arelate (modern Arles), forcing the Visigoths to abandon Gaul and relinquish their vast conquests in Hispania to return to federate status. Majorian chose his trusted general Aegidius as the new magister militum per Gallias (military commander of Gaul).

Then, Majorian expanded the territory under his control, advancing up the Rhone valley. The Burgundians were defeated and, after being besieged and captured, the city of Lugdunum (modern Lyon) had a ruinous indemnity imposed upon it.

Following the recovery of Gaul, Majorian turned his attentions to Spain, where the Visigoths had been expanding enthusiastically since 455. He entered Spain in May 459 with two goals, as he not only wished to restore Roman authority in there, but he also wanted to use it as a base for an invasion of Africa, the richest region of the western empire, which was held by Genseric's Vandals.

The campaign started with an operation against the Suebi in North-Western Hispania, lasting the whole of 459, led by the magister militiae Nepotianus. Majorian passed through Caesaraugusta (Saragossa) and reached Nova Carthago (Cartagena), where a fleet for the invasion of Africa had been assembled. Genseric, fearing the Roman invasion, tried to negotiate a peace with Majorian, who rejected the proposal. The Vandal king then decided to resort to bribery and he was successful in this. In fact Majorian’s fleet was destroyed by traitors paid by the Vandals.

The Emperor had no other option than postponing Africa’s invasion and returning to Gaul, where he unwisely dismissed most of his army. Then he went back to Italy with only a hundred or so of soldiers. Meanwhile Ricimer had plotted his death. In fact, Ricimer with a great number of troops met Majorian in Tortona (a town in modern Piemonte, south of Turin) and had him arrested and deposed on August 3, 461.

The Emperor was deprived of his dress and diadem, beaten and tortured and after five days was beheaded near the river Iria (August 7, 461). He was about forty years old and had reigned for four years.

Majorian was the last of the Western Roman Emperors who was able to try to recover the Western Empire with its own forces. He also sought to reform the imperial administration in order to make it more efficient and just.

As a matter of fact he’s considered the last great Roman Western Emperor.

According to British historian Edward Gibbon, Majorian is a "great and heroic character, such as sometimes arise, in a degenerate age, to vindicate the honour of the human species"

#history #Western Roman Empire Majorian

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