Flavius Valerius Severus

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Severus
Caesar then Augustus of the west

Flavius Valerius Severus as caesar (305-306)
Reign	305-6 (as Caesar in the west under Constantius Chlorus); 306-7 (as Augustus in the west, in competition with Constantine and Maxentius)
Full name	Flavius Valerius Severus
Died	16 September 307
Predecessor	Constantius Chlorus
Successor	Maxentius, & Licinius

Flavius Valerius Severus (died 16 September 307) was a Western Roman Emperor (306).

He was a soldier from the Illyrian provinces before his associate Galerius requested that Maximian appoint him caesar of the Western Roman Empire in 305. He thus served as a junior partner to Constantius Chlorus, Augustus of the Western Roman Empire.

On the death of Constantius Chlorus in 306, Severus was promoted to augustus by Galerius himself, in opposition to the acclamation of Constantine by his own soldiers. When Maxentius, the son of the retired emperor Maximian, revolted at Rome, Galerius sent Severus to suppress the rebellion. Severus moved from his capital, Mediolanum, towards Rome, at the head of an army previously commanded by Maximian. Fearing the arrival of Severus, Maxentius offered to his father the co-rule of the Empire, allowing him to get back his title of augustus; Maximian accepted, and when Severus arrived under the walls of Rome and besieged it, his men deserted him and passed under Maximian. Severus fled to Ravenna, in an impregnable position, and Maximian offered him safety, and Severus surrended, being imprisoned in Tres Tabernae, near Rome.