Valentinian II Roman Emperor 375-392AD Biography
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Authentic Ancient Coin of:
Valentinian II - Roman Emperor: 375-392 A.D. -
Bronze AE2 Siscia mint: 378-383 A.D.
Reference: RIC 26b.2 (Siscia)
DNVALENTINIANVSIVNPFAVG - Diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right.
REPARATIOREIPVB Exe: BSISC - Valentinian II standing, facing, holding
hand of kneeling
woman and Victory on globe.
Flavius Valentinianus (371 – 15 May 392),
known usually by his
anglicised name, Valentinian II,
was a
Roman Emperor from 375 to 392.
 Early
Life and Accession (371–375)
Flavius Valentinianus was born to Emperor
Valentinian I and his second wife,
Justina. He was the half-brother of
Valentinian’s other son,
Gratian, who had shared the imperial
title with his father since 367. He had three sisters
Galla, Grata and Justa. The elder
Valentinian died on campaign in Pannonia in 375. Neither Gratian (then
in Trier) nor his uncle Valens (emperor for the East) were consulted by
the army commanders on the scene. Instead of merely acknowledging
Gratian as his father’s successor, Valentinian I’s generals acclaimed
the four-year old boy
augustus on 22 November 375. The
army may have been uneasy about Gratian's lack of military ability, and
so raised a boy who would not immediately aspire to military command.
Reign
from Milan (375–387)
Gratian, forced to accommodate the generals who
supported his half-brother, governed the trans-alpine provinces
(including
Gaul,
Hispania, and
Britain), while
Italy, part of
Illyricum, and
Africa were under the rule of
Valentinian. In 378, their uncle, the Emperor
Valens, was killed in battle with the
Goths at
Adrianople, and Gratian invited the
general
Theodosius to be emperor in the
East. As a child, Valentinian II was
under the influence of his
Arian mother, the Empress Justina, and
the imperial court at
Milan, an influence contested by the
Catholic
bishop of Milan,
Ambrose.
Justina used her influence over her young son to
oppose the Catholic party which was championed by Ambrose. In 385
Ambrose, backed by Milan's populace, refused an imperial request to hand
over the
Portian basilica for the use of Arian
troops. In 386 Justina and Valentinian received the Arian bishop
Auxentius, and Ambrose was again
ordered to hand over a church in Milan for Arian usage. Ambrose and his
congregation barricaded themselves inside the church, and the imperial
order was rescinded.
Magnus Maximus used the emperor’s
heterodoxy against him, and even his eventual protector, Theodosius,
cast aspersions on his Arianism. Valentinian also tried to restrain the
despoiling of pagan temples in
Rome. Buoyed by this instruction, the
pagan
senators, led by
Aurelius Symmachus, the
Prefect of Rome, petitioned in 384 for
the restoration of the
Altar of Victory in the
Senate House, which had been removed by
Gratian in 382. Valentinian, at the insistence of Ambrose, refused the
request and, in so doing, rejected the traditions and rituals of pagan
Rome to which Symmachus had appealed.
In 383, Magnus Maximus, commander of the armies in
Britain, declared himself Emperor and established himself in Gaul and
Hispania. Gratian died while fleeing him. For a time the court of
Valentinian, through the mediation of Ambrose, came to an accommodation
with the usurper, and Theodosius recognized Maximus as co-emperor of the
West. However, in 386 or 387, Maximus
crossed the
Alps into the
Po valley and threatened Milan.
Valentinian II and Justina fled to Theodosius in
Thessalonica. The latter came to an
agreement, cemented by his marriage to Valentinian’s sister
Galla, to restore the young emperor in
the West. In 388, Theodosius marched west and defeated Maximus. Although
he was to appoint both of his sons emperor (Arcadius
in 383,
Honorius in 393), Theodosius remained
loyal to the dynasty of Valentinian I.
After the defeat of Maximus, Theodosius remained in
Milan until 391. Valentinian took no part in Theodosius'
triumphal celebrations over Maximus.
Valentinian and his court were installed at
Vienne in Gaul, while Theodoisus
appointed key administrators in the West, and had coins minted which
implied his guardianship over the 17 year old. Justina had already died,
and Vienne was far away from the influence of Ambrose. Theodosius'
trusted general, the
Frank
Arbogast, was appointed
magister militum for the Western
provinces (bar Africa) and guardian of Valentinian. Acting in the name
of Valentinian, Arbogast was actually subordinate only to Theodosius.
While the general campaigned successfully on the Rhine, the young
emperor remained at Vienne, in contrast to his warrior father and his
older brother, who had campaigned at his age. Arbogast's domination over
the emperor was considerable, and the general even murdered
Harmonius, a friend of Valentinian
suspected of taking bribes, in the emperor's presence.
The crisis reached a peak when Arbogast prohibited
the emperor from leading the Gallic armies into Italy to oppose a
barbarian threat. Valentinian, in response, formally dismissed Arbogast.
The latter ignored the order, publically tearing it up and arguing that
Valentinian had not appointed him in the first place. The reality of
where the power lay was openly displayed. Valentinian wrote to
Theodosius and Ambrose complaining of his subordination to his general.
In explicit rejection of his earlier Arianism, he invited Ambrose to
come to Vienne to
baptize him.
However, on 15 May 392, Valentinian was found hanged
in his residence in Vienne. Arbogast maintained that the emperor’s death
was suicide. While our main source,
Zosimus writing in the early sixth
century from Constantinople, states that the Frank had Valentinian
murdered, ancient authorities are divided in their opinion. The young
man’s body was conveyed in ceremony to Milan for burial by Ambrose,
mourned by his sisters Justa and Grata. The bishop's eulogy is the only
contemporary Western source for Valentinian's death. It is ambiguous on
the question of the emperor's death, which is not surprising, as Ambrose
represents him as a model of Christian virtue. Suicide, not murder,
would make Ambrose dissemble on this key question.
At first Arbogast recognized Theodosius's son
Arcadius as emperor in the West, seemingly surprised by his charge's
death. After three months, during which he had no communication from
Theodosius, Arbogast selected an imperial official,
Eugenius, as emperor. Theodosius
initially tolerated this regime but, in January 393, elevated the eight
year old Honorius as augustus to succeed Valentinian II. Civil
war ensued and, in 394, Theodosius defeated Eugenius and Arbogast.
Significance
Valentinian himself seems to have exercised no real
authority, and was a figurehead for various powerful interests: his
mother, his co-emperors, and powerful generals. Since the
Crisis of the Third CenturyDiocletian
and his collegiate system. While
Constantine and his sons had been
strong military figures, they had also re-established the practice of
hereditary succession, adopted by Valentinian I. The obvious flaw in
these two competing requirements came in the reign of Valentinian II, a
child. His reign was a harbinger of the fifth century, when children or
nonentities, reigning as emperors, were controlled by powerful generals
and officials.
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