| Ricimer | |
|---|---|
Bronze coin with Ricimer's monogram. |
|
| Born | c. 405 |
| Died | August 18, 472 |
| Ethnicity | German |
| Occupation | Magister militum |
| Religion | Arianism |
Flavius Ricimer[1] (c. 405 – August 18, 472; Latin pronunciation: [ˈrɪkɪmɛr]) was a Germanic general who achieved effective control of the remaining parts of the Western Roman Empire, during the middle of the 5th century. His power was based on his military strength as magister militum or Master of the Soldiers, and he exercised political control through a series of "puppet emperors", whom he enthroned and eliminated. In the words of J. B. Bury, "Ricimer was the first German who had become a virtual king of Italy; he is the link between Stilicho and Odovacar."[2]
Ricimer was of a royal lineage, an Arian Christian, the son of Rechila, Suevic King of Galicia; his mother was the sister or daughter of Wallia, king of the Visigoths.[3] Andrew Gillett has argued that the context for such an alliance would have been before Wallia's death in 418. After that event, "the daughter and grandson of Vallia ... may have found themselves unsafe under the new regime. Imperial service was always an option for the losers of struggles for leadership among the barbarians."[4] According to a passing statement by Sidonius Apollinaris, while serving under the magister militum of the western portion of the Roman Empire, Flavius Aëtius, Ricimer became friends with Majorian, the future emperor.[5]
The deaths of Valentinian and Aëtius in 454–55 created a power vacuum in the West. At first, Petronius Maximus attempted to seize control of the Imperial throne, but he was killed when the Vandal king Geiseric sacked Rome in May 455. Avitus was then made Emperor by the Visigoths. Following his arrival in Rome, Avitus appointed Ricimer as commander of the stricken Western Empire (by then reduced to Italy and a part of southern Gaul). He raised a new army and navy from among the Germanic mercenaries available to him.
Ricimer achieved his first important victory in 456, when he defeated the Vandals in a naval battle. Although Priscus writes that Avitus had sent him to Sicily to engage the Vandals, Hydatius states he defeated the Vandals near Corsica.[6] Backed by the popularity thus acquired, Ricimer gained the consent of the Roman Senate for an expedition against the emperor Avitus, whom he defeated in a bloody battle at Piacenza on October 16, 456. Avitus was taken prisoner, forcibly made bishop of Piacenza, and shortly afterwards sentenced to death.[7] Ricimer then obtained from Leo I, the Eastern Emperor at Constantinople, the title of patrician.
Ricimer spent the rest of his life as the de facto ruler of what was left of the Western Empire. However, the way in which he exercised power made him one of the most controversial figures of his time. As a Germanic tribesman, he could not assume the title of Augustus (Emperor) himself; on the other hand, power over the Augustus in Rome gave him prestige and offered him some influence over the other Germanic peoples occupying Gaul, Hispania, and Northern Africa. This left him with two options — dissolve the Western Imperial court and rule officially as a dux, or governor, of a single Emperor in Constantinople, or set up his own figurehead emperors and rule through them. He chose to do the latter, even going so far as to have his name inscribed on the coinage along with the Emperor.
Shortly after Avitus' death, Ricimer made his acquaintance Majorian emperor in the West and induced Leo to give his consent. However, Majorian proved to be a capable ruler and soon became uncomfortably independent. Majorian was defeated (possibly by treachery) by Geiseric near the modern city of Valencia, Spain, while trying to organize an expedition against him, in 461. Ricimer then forced him to abdicate and caused his assassination on August 7, 461.[8] The successor whom Ricimer placed upon the throne was Libius Severus, who proved to be more docile than Majorian, but had to face the disapproval of Leo in the East and rivalry of Aegidius in Gaul. Upon Libius Severus' death in 465 — rumored, according to Cassiodorus, to have been poisoned by Ricimer[9] — this emperor-maker ruled the West for eighteen months without an Emperor.
Finally, after a lengthy debate in which he and Geiseric, now working together, tried to force their own candidate as Emperor upon Leo, Ricimer accepted Leo's candidate Anthemius. He diplomatically married Anthemius' daughter Alypia,[10] and for some time lived in peace with him. They had a son, Comes Aunemundus, born c. 470, who married and had a son Ansemund, born c. 505, vir illustris, advisor to King Sigismund of Burgundy, who married and had a daughter, born c. 540, who married and had Sigonius (c. 570 – aft. 620), Praefectus Galliae c. 610, who married and had issue, later Counts of Razès.[11]
Ricimer commanded a large portion of the Roman forces in an expedition mounted by Leo against Geiseric in 468. His behavior raised suspicions that Ricimer secretly wanted the expedition to fail, which it ultimately did.
Four years later, Ricimer moved to Mediolanum (Milan); relations between him and the Emperor Anthemius had deteriorated to the point that Epiphanius of Pavia, bishop of Milan, was asked to negotiate peace between them. According to Ennodius, Epiphanius' mission had ended by Easter of 472, when he was back in Pavia.[12] Despite the bishop's efforts, open warfare broke out between Ricimer and Anthemius, and Anthemius was besieged in the part of Rome he controlled until his supporters deserted him, and he was caught attempting to flee the city disguised as a supplicant at the church of Santa Maria in Trastavere, where he was beheaded.[13] Ricimer then proclaimed Olybrius as Emperor, who was the candidate for Emperor that he and Geiseric had once favored. After a three months' siege, he took the city, on July 1, 472. Anthemius was killed. Ricimer died less than two months later of the plague. Some sources assert that he died in his palace, alone, in malignant fever, vomiting blood.
Ricimer's "rule" lasted until his death. After this, the Western Roman Empire experienced an even more rapid succession of emperors, none of whom was able to effectively consolidate power. The line of Western Roman Emperors ended (arguably in either 476 or 480), leaving the Eastern Roman Emperors, based in Constantinople, with tenuous claims of reign over the western parts of a "re-united" Empire.
His title of Patricius was assumed by his nephew Gundobad.
Ricimer defended the provinces against the Ostrogoths and the Alani, and decorated the Arian church of Sant'Agata dei Goti in Rome.
| Preceded by Imp. Caesar Iulius Maiorianus Augustus, Imp. Caesar Flavius Valerius Leo Augustus |
Consul of the Roman Empire 459 with Julius Patricius |
Succeeded by Flavius Magnus, Flavius Apollonius |