Constantius III

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Constantius III
Emperor of the Western Roman Empire
Constantius on a solidus. The reverse shows Constantius as a general, holding Victory in one hand and a captive enemy in the other.
Reign	421 (7 months, as co-emperor in the west with Honorius)
Full name	Flavius Constantius
Born	Naissus
Died	2 September 421(421-09-02)
Predecessor	Honorius (alone)
Successor	Honorius (alone)
Wife	Galla Placidia
Issue	Justa Grata Honoria (417/418), Valentinian III (419)

Flavius Constantius (died 2 September 421), commonly known as Constantius III, was Western Roman Emperor for seven months in 421. A prominent general and politician, he was the power behind the throne for much of the 410s, and in 421 briefly became co-emperor of the Western Empire with Honorius.

Life

Early life and rise to the throne

Consular diptych of Constantius III, produced for his consulate in 413 or 417.

Constantius was born in Naissus (modern-day Niš, Serbia^[1]) and was probably a career soldier, who reached the rank of magister militum under Honorius.

In 411 he defeated Gerontius, the general of usurper Maximus, and Constantine III, another usurper, in Arles. Constantine had revolted against Honorius (407), but then he had broken his relationship with general Gerontius, who had proclaimed Maximus Emperor in opposition to both Honorius and Constantine (409). Gerontius had then besieged Constantine in the city of Arles (411), but the arrival of the troops of Constantius from Italy had put him in serious trouble, being at the same time a besieger and a besieged. Gerontius was abandoned by his troops and then killed in Hispania.

The able general having been disposed of, Constantius besieged the city for three months until the general of Constantine, Edobichus, who had been sent across the border to find allies, did return with a large army of Franks and Alamanni. Before the walls of Arles, Constantius confronted and defeated Edobichus, who was later betrayed and killed by a friend. Constantine was forced to surrender to Constantius when his troops on the Rhine left him for another usurper, Jovinus. Constantius granted a safe conduct to Constantine, who had become an ordained priest, but later he captured and killed him.

In 412 he expelled from Italy the Visigoths under Ataulf. In 413 he held his first consulate. In 414 he began a military offensive against the Visigoths. In response, Ataulf appointed as emperor Priscus Attalus, who had already been a usurper against Honorius in 410. The blockade imposed by Constantius on Gallic ports was so effective that the Visigoths fled from Gaul to Hispania in 415. Attalus too tried to flee but was captured by the forces of Constantius and sent to Ravenna.

With the death of Ataulf and his successor Segeric, that same year Constantius signed a treaty with the new Visigothic king Wallia: in exchange of 600,000 bushels of wheat and the territory of the region of Aquitaine, from the Pyrenees to the Garonne, the Visigoths pledged to fight on behalf of the Romans, as allies official or vassal state of the Empire (foederati), the Vandals, Alans and Suebi who in 407 had crossed the Rhine River and were stationed in the provinces of Hispania. The agreement also provided for the release of Galla Placidia, Honorius' sister, captured during the sack of Rome in 410.

Constantius was appointed patricius and in 417, the year of his second consulate held with Honorius as colleague, he married Galla Placidia, tying himself to the House of Theodosius. The couple had two children, Justa Grata Honoria (born 417/418) and the future Emperor Valentinian III (born 419). In 420 he was appointed consul for the third time, with the Eastern Emperor Theodosius II as colleague.

Brief reign and death

On February 8, 421, Constantius was appointed co-emperor with his ineffectual brother-in-law, Honorius, becoming the real master of the West. Curiously, he complained of loss of personal freedom implied by the new role. The elevation of Constantius, however, was not recognized by his colleague in the East, Theodosius II, who was the nephew of Honorius.

It is said that Constantius was organizing a military expedition to the East to have his rights recognized, when he died suddenly on September 2, 421, after just seven months as emperor, the archetype of able soldier and politician that the Western Roman Empire desperately needed at the time. "A struggle to replace Constantius swiftly erupted, with some open fighting. Galla Placidia fled with her son Valentinian to Constantinople. Her brother Honorius, still childless, died in 423."^[2]

Constantius' success in rising from head of the Roman army to Imperial rank obviously influenced the actions of later holders of the patrician office, a list that includes Flavius Aëtius and Ricimer; however, only Petronius Maximus ever made the same leap, and his reign was even shorter than that of Constantius.

References

↑ Roman Empire, Constantius III
↑ Adrian Goldsworthy, The Fall of the West:The Slow Death of the Roman Superpower, Orion Books Ltd, Paperback Edition 2010, London, p.305.

Sources

Bury, John Bagnall, History of the Later Roman Empire Macmillan & Co., 1923, p. 193.
Burns, Thomas Samuel, Barbarians Within the Gates of Rome, Indiana University Press, 1994, ISBN 0-253-31288-4, p. 250.
Elton, Hugh, "Constantius III (421 A.D.)", De Imperatoribus Romanis
Elton, Hugh, "Constantine III (407–411 A.D.)", De Imperatoribus Romanis
Kulikowski, Michael, Late Roman Spain and Its Cities, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-8018-7978-7, pp. 157–160
C.E. Stevens, "Marcus, Gratian, Constantine", Athenaeum, 35 (1957), pp. 316–47

External links

Media related to Constantius III at Wikimedia Commons

Political offices
Preceded by Honorius	Western Roman Emperor 421 Served alongside: Honorius	Succeeded by Honorius
Preceded by Heraclianus, Fl. Lucius	Consul of the Roman Empire 414 Served alongside: Fl. Constans	Succeeded by Imp. Caesar Honorius Augustus X, Imp. Caesar Flavius Theodosius Augustus VI
Preceded by Imp. Caesar Flavius Theodosius Augustus VII, Fl. Iunius Quartus Palladius	Consul of the Roman Empire 417 Served alongside: Imp. Caesar Honorius Augustus XI	Succeeded by Imp. Caesar Honorius Augustus XII, Imp. Caesar Flavius Theodosius Augustus VIII
Preceded by Fl. Monaxius, Fl. Plinta	Consul of the Roman Empire 420 Served alongside: Imp. Caesar Flavius Theodosius Augustus IX	Succeeded by Fl. Iulius Agricola, Fl. Eustathius
Military offices
Preceded by Stilicho In 408	Supreme Commander of the Western Roman Army 411-421	Succeeded by Flavius Felix In 425

v t e Roman emperors

Principate 27 BC – 235 AD	Augustus Tiberius Caligula Claudius Nero Galba Otho Vitellius Vespasian Titus Domitian Nerva Trajan Hadrian Antoninus Pius Marcus Aurelius with Lucius Verus Commodus Pertinax Didius Julianus Septimius Severus Caracalla Geta Macrinus with Diadumenian Elagabalus Alexander Severus

Crisis 235–284	Maximinus Thrax Gordian I and Gordian II Pupienus and Balbinus Gordian III Philip the Arab Decius with Herennius Etruscus Hostilian Trebonianus Gallus with Volusianus Aemilianus Valerian Gallienus with Saloninus Claudius Gothicus Quintillus Aurelian Tacitus Florianus Probus Carus Carinus Numerian

Dominate 284–395	Diocletian Maximian Constantius Chlorus Galerius Severus Maxentius Maximinus Daia Licinius with Valerius Valens and Martinianus Constantine the Great Constantine II Constans I Constantius II with Vetranio Julian Jovian Valentinian I Valens Gratian Valentinian II Theodosius I

Western Empire 395–480	Honorius with Constantine III Constantius III Joannes Valentinian III Petronius Maximus Avitus Majorian Libius Severus Anthemius Olybrius Glycerius Julius Nepos Romulus Augustulus

Eastern/ Byzantine Empire 395–1204	Arcadius Theodosius II Marcian Leo I the Thracian Leo II Zeno Basiliscus Anastasius I Justin I Justinian I Justin II Tiberius II Constantine Maurice Phocas Heraclius Constantine III Heraklonas Constans II Constantine IV Justinian II Leontios Tiberios III Philippikos Anastasios II Theodosios III Leo III the Isaurian Constantine V Artabasdos Leo IV the Khazar Constantine VI Irene Nikephoros I Staurakios Michael I Rangabe Leo V the Armenian Michael II the Amorian Theophilos Michael III Basil I the Macedonian Leo VI the Wise Alexander Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos Romanos I Lekapenos Romanos II Nikephoros II Phokas John I Tzimiskes Basil II Constantine VIII Zoe Romanos III Argyros Michael IV the Paphlagonian Michael V Kalaphates Constantine IX Monomachos Theodora Michael VI Bringas Isaac I Komnenos Constantine X Doukas Romanos IV Diogenes Michael VII Doukas Nikephoros III Botaneiates Alexios I Komnenos John II Komnenos Manuel I Komnenos Alexios II Komnenos Andronikos I Komnenos Isaac II Angelos Alexios III Angelos Alexios IV Angelos Alexios V Doukas

Empire of Nicaea 1204–1261	Constantine Laskaris Theodore I Laskaris John III Doukas Vatatzes Theodore II Laskaris John IV Laskaris

Eastern/ Byzantine Empire 1261–1453	Michael VIII Palaiologos Andronikos II Palaiologos Michael IX Palaiologos Andronikos III Palaiologos John V Palaiologos John VI Kantakouzenos Matthew Kantakouzenos Andronikos IV Palaiologos John VII Palaiologos Andronikos V Palaiologos Manuel II Palaiologos John VIII Palaiologos Constantine XI Palaiologos

Persondata
Name	Constantius Iii
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death	2 September 0421
Place of death

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