General Notes

1  NAME Flavius /Valentinianus/


Valentinian was one of Rome's last great warrior emperors.[[1]] There was a power vacuum after the death of Julian, last ruler of the Neo-Flavian line. His immediate successor Jovian did not really survive long enough to leave his stamp on late Roman society. In general terms, Valentinian’s challenge was to hold together an empire that had experienced sixty years of internal unrest, something which was of major import. His provincial origins and Nicene Christianity put him at odds with the senatorial nobility in the west. Furthermore, he had to deal with the increasing regionalism of the empire, especially in Gaul, Britain, and Africa.
Early Life
Valentinian, whose full name was Flavius Valentinianus, was born in A.D. 321 at Cibalis (modern Vinkovci) in southern Pannonia.[[2]] His father Gratian was a soldier renowned for his strength and wrestling skills. Gratian had an illustrious career in the army, rising from staff officer to tribune, to comes Africae, and finally comes Britanniae. He was suspected of graft while comes Africae, but nothing was ever proven. After he retired, Constantius II (337-60) confiscated his estates because he was suspected of having been a supporter of Magnentius.[[3]] Gratian’s alleged affiliation with Magnentius apparently did not keep Valentinian or his younger brother Valens from being able to enter the military, but it may have contributed to some early trouble for Valentinian. Valentinian embarked upon a military career, and, like his father, became a victim of imperial politics. In 357 he was tribune of cavalry under Julian, Constantius II's Caesar in the west. In the intrigues surrounding Julian and Constantius, Valentinian and a colleague were accused of undermining operations, and Constantius dismissed them from the service.[[4]] Valentinian was married twice. His first wife, Severa, died some time after giving birth to Valentinian’s first son Gratian in 359, and Valentinian married Justina, by whom he had Valentinian II, and two daughters, Galla and Justa.[[5]]
When Julian died, Valentinian was recalled to military service by Jovian. Upon his accession, Jovian sent Procopius, a notarius, and Memoridus to Gaul and Illyricum to install his father-in-law Lucillianus, in retirement at Sirmium, as magister equitum et peditum. Lucillianus in turn was to journey to Milan and secure Jovian’s power in Italy and Gaul. Jovian supposedly gave Lucillianus secret instructions to handpick a select cadre of supporters.[[6]] Two of these men were Valentinian and Seniauchus.[[7]] One of this group’s missions was to displace Jovinus, Julian’s magister armorum per Gallias, with Malarichus, a retired soldier and supporter of Jovian living in Italy. In addition they were to visit as many governors and military commanders as possible and announce the successful end of the Persian campaign and Jovian's succession.[[8]] Malarichus, however, refused his commission, and Lucillianus traveled on to Rheims where he began examining the accounts of one of Julian’s officials. The official (not named in extant sources) fled to the army in Gaul and spread rumors that Julian was still alive and that Lucillianus was a rebel. In the riot that broke out, Seniauchus and Lucillianus were killed, and Valentinian barely escaped through the help of his friend Primitivus. By this time, Jovian had sent some additional soldiers who secured peace in Gaul. As a result Valentinian was promoted to command of the second Scutarii division.[[9]]

Valentinian's Accession
Jovian died on 17 February 364, apparently of natural causes, on the border between Bithynia and Galatia.[[10]] The army marched on to Nicaea, the nearest city of any consequence, and a meeting of civil and military officials was convened to choose a new emperor. The names of Aequitius, a tribune of the first Scutarii, and Januarius, a relative of Jovian’s in charge of military supplies in Illyricum, were bandied about. Both were rejected, Aequitius as too brutal, Januarius because he was too far away. The assembly finally agreed upon Valentinian, and sent messengers to inform him, as he had been left behind at Ancyra with his unit. While awaiting the arrival of Valentinian, Aequitius and Leo, another Pannonian in charge of distributing supplies to the soldiers of Dagalaifus, magister equitum, managed to keep the “fickle” (mobilitas) soldiers from choosing another emperor.[[11]]
Valentinian arrived in Nicaea on 24 February 364, the bisextile day. This day was used every four years by the Romans to balance the calendar much as we use the modern leap year day: the sixth day (counting inclusively) before the first of March was counted twice. According to Ammianus, this day was considered an ill-omened day to begin any new proceedings, so Valentinian put off his official acceptance until the day after the bisextile.[[12]] Furthermore, the prefect Salutius declared that no official business could be conducted on the repeated day. The holiday would have prevented any attempt to name another emperor before Valentinian.[[13]]

On 26 February 364, Valentinian accepted the office offered to him. As he prepared to make his accession speech, the soldiers threatened to riot, apparently uncertain as to where his loyalties lay. Valentinian reassured them that the army was his greatest priority. Furthermore, to prevent a crisis of succession if he should die prematurely, he agreed to pick a co-Augustus. According to Ammianus, the soldiers were astounded by Valentinian’s bold demeanor and his willingness to assume the imperial authority.[[14]] His decision to elect a fellow-emperor could also be construed as a move to appease any opposition among the civilian officials in the eastern portion of the empire. By agreeing to appoint a co-ruler, he assured the eastern officials that someone with imperial authority would remain in the east to protect their interests.

After promoting his brother Valens to the rank of tribune and putting him in charge of the royal stables on March 1, Valentinian selected Valens as co-Augustus at Constantinople on 28 March 364, though this was done over the objections of Dagalaifus.[[15]] Ammianus makes it clear, however, that Valens was clearly subordinate to his brother.[[16]] The remainder of 364 was spent dividing up administrative duties and military commands. Valentinian retained the services of Jovinus and Dagalaifus, and promoted Aequitius to comes Illyricum. In addition, he promoted Serenianus, a retired soldier and fellow Pannonian, to command of the domesticorum scholae.[[17]] Several sources mention the division of administrative spheres between the two brothers, but Ammianus is the most specific.[[18]] According to Ammianus, Valens was given the Prefecture of the Orient, governed by Salutius, while Valentinian gained control of the Prefecture of the Gauls and the Prefecture of Italy, Africa, and Illyricum. These latter three areas were put together as one administrative unit under control of the prefect Mamertinus. Valens resided in Constantinople, while Valentinian’s court was at Milan.[[19]]

Roman Society under Valentinian
Ammianus and Zosimus as well as modern scholars praise Valentinian for his military accomplishments.[[40]] He is generally credited with keeping the Roman empire from crumbling away by “. . . reversing the generally waning confidence in the army and imperial defense . . ..”[[41]] Several other aspects of Valentinian's reign also set the course of Roman history for the next century. Valentinian deliberately polarized Roman society, subordinating the civilian population to the military. The military order took over the old prestige of the senatorial nobility. The imperial court, which was becoming more and more of a military court, became a vehicle for social mobility. There were new ideas of nobility, which was increasingly provincial in character. By this it is meant that the imperial court, not the Senate, was the seat of nobility, and most of these new nobles came from the provinces. With the erosion of the old nobility, the stage was set for the ascendancy of Christianity. At the same time, the empire was becoming more and more of a bureaucracy, with the emperor delegating authority to a chain of officials. These officials did not always perform their job well and, as a result, the provincial populations became increasingly alienated from the imperial government. They were crushed under the increasing burden of taxation, and often the emperor, through his delegates, failed to provide the security for which the provincials' tribute was paying.[[42]]
Valentinian, Christianity, and Legislation
Unlike his brother Valens, Valentinian refused to become embroiled in the religious controversies of the time. Ammianus praised Valentinian for his religious neutrality.[[43]] Valentinian refused to get involved in the Arian controversy of the east, dismissing a deputation of eastern Nicene bishops who appealed to him to control Valens.[[44]] Valentinian did, however, take a harsh stand against two of the heretical movements that had grown during the past century in the west. In 372 he forbade gatherings of Manichees in the city of Rome. Such assemblies were to result in the death of the leaders, the exile of the others, and confiscation of the property of all involved.[[45]] In addition he officially condemned Donatist bishops in Africa in 373.[[46]]
The ecclesiastical sources for this period generally have a favorable opinion of Valentinian. Jerome speaks in glowing terms, saying “Valentinian was an excellent emperor in most cases and similar in character to Aurelian, save only that certain people interpreted his excessive strictness and parsimony as cruelty and greed.”[[47]] Socrates and Orosius took the story of his dismissal from the military by Constantius II and turned him into a martyr of sorts. According to Sozomen, Valentinian was dismissed from the military by Julian, instead of Constantius II, for refusing to perform a pagan ritual at a pagan shrine.[[48]] Less accurately, Theoderet, Sozomen, and Socrates praised Valentinian for installing Ambrose as bishop of Milan. Ambrose’s predecessor, Auxentius, had been an Arian.[[49]]

Valentinian, however, was not uniformly friendly towards Christianity. For example, he ordered Symmachus, praefectus urbi of Rome in 365, to put to death and confiscate the property of any Christians who became custodians of temples.[[50]] It seems, however, that much of his legislation concerning Christians was driven by fiscal motives, rather than any real concern with religious doctrine. Any Manichees caught under the law contributed their property to the fisc, and the condemnation of the Donatists could really be seen as a condemnation of those who inhibited the collection of taxes from the African provinces. In other examples, Valentinian addressed a law to Damasus, Pope of Rome in 370, which forbade ecclesiastics to marry widows or female wards of the state. The purpose of this law was to stop churchmen from obtaining the wealth of such women through inheritance.[[51]] On the other hand, Valentinian appears to have given Christians special privileges. For example, in 370 he upheld a law of Constantius II that exempted professed Nicene Christians in the African provinces from obligatory municipal duties.[[52]] Similarly, a law was passed in 371 that those in the city of Rome who could prove that they were ecclesiastics before the accession of Valentinian were exempt from municipal services.[[53]]

Revenues lost by these measures had to be made up from other sources, and Valentinian sought them from the senatorial order. In a law promulgated on 18 October 365 in Paris and reaching Carthage on 18 January 366, Valentinian ordered Dracontius, vicarius Africae, to send out men to collect taxes from those African estates which were owned by Roman senators.[[54]] This law was in keeping with Valentinian’s general hostility to the senatorial order.

Initially, it seemed that Valentinian actively sought to pacify the pagan aristocracy at Rome by retaining the title pontifex maximus and by passing legislation confirming toleration of the pagan practice of divination.[[55]] In 371, however, he sanctioned a purge of the nobility by the praefectus annonae Maximinus, whom he temporarily elevated to the office of urban prefect for this purpose. Members of the aristocracy were brought before Maximinus and Valentinian’s old friend Leo on charges such as using magic, using poison, and adultery.[[56]] Punishments ranged from exile to death. Ammianus cites many such cases, including those of the senators Cethegus, killed for adultery, and Paphius and Cornelius, prosecuted and executed for using poison.[[57]] The scale of Maximinus’ prosecutions was such that even children were tried. One Alypius, whom Ammianus describes as nobilis adulescens, was exiled for an offense Ammianus does not specify (and thus implies was trumped up), while Lollianus, son of the ex-prefect Lampadius, was sentenced to exile for writing a book concerning the destructive use of magic (noxiarum artium). Lampadius appealed to Valentinian, who turned the case over to Phalangius, governor of Baetica, who sentenced Lollianus to death.[[57]]

Ammianus makes it clear that actions such as these were part of a systematic plan by Valentinian to erode the power and prestige of the senatorial aristocracy. It was at the request of Maximinus that Valentinian abrogated the right of persons of senatorial rank to appeal cases to the emperor, a right that had already been strictly curtailed during the reign of Ampelius, Maximinus’ predecessor as urban prefect. He did this by treating as treasonous such acts as adultery, use of magic, and poisoning. He also empowered Maximinus to use torture to extract confessions from the accused.[[59]] As with Lollianus, the appeals that were heard often resulted in a harsher punishment than the original sentence.

Several pieces of extant legislation seem to confirm Ammianus’ allegations that Valentinian was eroding senatorial prestige. In a law of 364, Valentinian decreed that the equites now ranked in prestige only behind the senatorial order. In addition, these equites were exempt from the more onerous forms of compulsory service and senatorial taxes.[[60]] Furthermore, a second law issued in 367 gave members of the imperial court the same privileges as senators. This law also established that discharged comites and tribunes could become senators.[[61]]

In July of 372, Valentinian sent several pieces of legislation to Ampelius, praefectus urbi of Rome, putting members of the imperial court and the military on equal footing with those who occupied places in the civil administration. First, magistri peditum and magistri equitum were to be of equal social prestige to praetorian prefects. In addition, quaestors, magistri officiorum, the comes sacrarum largitionum, the comes rerum privatarum, comites rei militaris, and magistri equitum outranked proconsular governors. Finally, any member of the imperial court outranked vicarii.[[62]]

Ammianus also observes that Valentinian’s main goal was to raise the prestige of the military. Zosimus confirms this by stating that Valentinian promoted many officers, and modified the system of tax collection so that the army got its supplies more quickly. Valentinian issued several laws expressly intended to make the collection of taxes easier. In 367, Valentinian instructed Probus that tax payments in kind could now be made in three installments per annum or all at once.[[63]] In addition, Valentinian raised the standard exactions. This increase in taxation alienated the provincials.

The African provinces illustrate this effect of Valentinian’s tax policies. When Romanus, as the military representative of the imperial government, came to power in 363, he began exploiting the provincials in the African diocese. When they refused to meet his exorbitant demands, he left them to the vagaries of such peoples as the Austoriani. In addition, when Valentinian sent Palladius, a tribune and notarius, to investigate, Romanus split the stolen tax revenue with him to prevent Palladius from reporting his misconduct to Valentinian.[[64]] As a result of Romanus’ actions, the provincials balked at paying any taxes. The fact that Valentinian had to resend the law directly to Dracontius, the vicarius of Africa in 367, confirms that the government was having a hard time in collecting its tribute.[[65]] Valentinian was very distressed by the situation, dispatching the notarius Neoterius, the protector domesticus Masaucio, and Gaudentius, a tribune of the Scutarii, to Africa in 365.[[66]] Theodosius took steps to ameliorate the situation upon his arrival, declaring that the provincials did not have to supply his army. He would take any supplies he needed from the supporters of Firmus.[[67]]

In addition, when Valentinian came to Pannonia in 375, the provincials took the opportunity to complain bitterly about the oppression they had suffered under Probus, praetorian prefect for the region. According to Ammianus, the taxation was so onerous in Pannonia that many of the leading nobles fled, were imprisoned for debt, or killed themselves.[[68]] There may have been similar unrest in Gaul, for Ammianus reported that there was an outbreak of civil unrest among the provincials there in 369, although he gives no details.[[69]] Scholars such as Raymond Van Dam see such provincial outbreaks as signs that the imperial system was devolving to the local level.[[70]]

Assessment of Valentinian's Reign
Valentinian's reign affords valuable insights into late Roman society, civilian as well as military. First, there was a growing fracture between the eastern and western portions of the empire. Valentinian was the last emperor to really concentrate his resources on the west. Valens was clearly in an inferior position in the partnership. Second, there was a growing polarization of society, both Christian versus pagan, and civil versus military. Finally there was a growing regionalism in the west, driven by heavy taxation and the inability of Valentinian to fully exercise military authority in all areas of the west. All of these trends would continue over the next century, profoundly reshaping the Roman empire and western Europe.

Valentinian I , 321–75, Roman emperor of the West (364–75). He held high military rank under Julian and Jovian. After the death of Jovian, Valentinian was proclaimed emperor; he appointed his brother Valens  coregent in the East. Valentinian defeated the Alemanni several times, and his general Theodosius  successfully defended the empire in Britain and in Africa. To protect the frontiers of his empire, Valentinian ordered the construction of fortresses on the Rhine and the Danube rivers. He reduced taxation and promoted education. Although he was an orthodox Christian, he allowed religious freedom to Arians and to pagans. He was succeeded by his sons Valentinian II and Gratian
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VALENTINIANUS I  (Cibalae, Pannonië, 321 - Brigetio, Pannonië, 375), Romeins keizer van 364 tot 375, onder Julianus tribuun van de lijfwacht, werd na de dood van Jovianus door het leger tot keizer uitgeroepen. Zijn broer Valens benoemde hij tot medekeizer voor het oostelijk deel van het Romeinse Rijk. Zelf bestuurde hij het westelijk deel, waar hij aan de Rijn vestingwerken bouwde tegen de invallen van Germaanse volken. Hij werd opgevolgd door zijn zoon Gratianus. Valentinianus gaf veel wetten ten gunste van de christenen, maar tegen gewelddadige onderdrukking van het heidendom verzette hij zich.
"Valentinianus," Encarta - Encyclopedie 2000 - Winkler Prins.  1993-1999 Microsoft Corporation/Elsevier. Alle rechten voorbehouden.