HonoriusOV

Honorius 395 - 423 A.D.

By clicking on the pictures you'll be linked to a more complete description of the coin. At the bottom of this page there is a more elaborate biography of the emperor.

	Obverse: DN HONORIVS PF AVG
	Reverse: VIRTVS EXERCITI
	Fieldmarks: -
	Exergue: ANTΓ

Honorius 395 - 423 A.D.

Flavius Honorius was born on the 9th of September 384 AD at Constantinople as the son of Theodosius I and Aelia Flavia Flaccila he had one older brother named Arcadius. Honorius was made consul in 386 at the age of two and was made co-augustus by his father in 393 AD. When Theodosius died in 395 Honorius and his brother jointly succeeded him, Arcadius was given the eastern and Honorius the western part of the empire to rule. Because of their young age they were both put in the care of guardians and because both brothers weren't very strong-minded these guardians became the real power behind their throne. Also there had been both an eastern and a western emperor since the time of Diocletian, but the empire had always been ruled as if it had been one empire with two halves. And one of the two emperors had always enjoyed seniority over the other. But from 395 on, the empire was permanently divided into an eastern and a western half. Honorius' guardian was the magister militum Stilicho who was half Vandal half Roman and married to Theodosius' niece Serena. Stilicho was a loyal and very capable general and statesman, making him a very wise choice of Theodosius I. Stilicho had two daughters, Maria who was married to Honorius in 395 and Thermantia who was married to Honorius in 408 when Maria died quite untimely.

Stilicho claimed that Theodosius had made him guardian of both Honorius and Arcadius, true or not Arcadius' guardian Rufinus had no intention of surrendering any power putting a serious strain on relations with the east. Stilicho was also quite ambitious and he wanted to add Illyricum to the western empire but Illyricum fell under Arcadius' part of the empire and these claims put an even more serious strain on the already shaky relationship. When the Visigoths under Alaric rebelled in the Balkan provinces Stilicho saw his chance and moved his troops to Greece under the cover of helping Arcadius. Rufinus ordered Stilicho and his troops to leave, Stilicho complied but left a few legions behind to be transferred to Rufinus' control to aid him. The troops marched to Constantinople but when Rufinus came out to greet them they killed him, a plot obviously concocted by Stilicho. This action put relations below freezing of course but in 397 Eutropius (the successor of Rufinus and the new power behind Arcadius' throne) was forced to formally ask Stilicho for his help to deal with the still marauding Visigoths. Stilicho once again moved to Greece and managed to corner Alaric but for one reason or other he let him escape and Eutropius was forced to pay a bribe to Alaric and make him magister militum of the Balkan. Eutropius blamed Stilicho for this fiasco and declared him a public enemy. Soon after the province of Africa revolted and declared allegiance to the eastern empire. The revolt was led by Africa's magister militum Gildo and it meant the loss of the valuable African grain supply. Stilicho suspected Eutropius of course but he didn't want to risk open warfare so he started to put diplomatic pressure on Eutropius this in combination with an Ostrogoth revolt saw Eutropius discredited and exiled in 399 AD, in the mean time Gildo's soldiers rebelled and Stilicho quickly regained Africa.

Honorius didn't interfere with military business but unlike his brother he took a slight interest in matters of the state and especially religion. In 399 AD he ordered the closure of all pagan temples in Africa and in Rome Stilicho burnt the Sibylline books and extinguished the eternal flame in the temple of the Vestal virgins. Honorius also issued an edict that made it illegal for any pagan to serve in the army, but he had to retract that edict quite quickly since large parts of the army consisted of Germanic pagans. Honorius was also the man who closed the last remaining gladiator schools in Rome and in 404 AD he forbade all gladiatorial games and combat.

The successor of Eutropius was Eudoxia, Arcadius' wife and new power behind the throne. She managed to persuade Alaric to leave Constantinople alone and to focus his attentions on the west. In 401 Alaric took advantage of an invasion of Vandals and Alans into Raetia, he crossed the Iulian Alps right into the heart of the empire. Stilicho gathered troops from all over the country he recalled most of the legions from Britannia and almost all the border guards who defended the Rhine, he also made peace with the Vandals and Alans and enlisted them into his armies. With these re-enforcements he managed to drive Alaric back into the Balkans. Honorius got so unnerved by this invasion that in 404 AD he moved his court from Mediolanum to the much better defensible city of Ravenna, surrounded by the marshy ground at the mouth of the Ronco river. This wasn't such a bad move because in 405 AD a huge horde of Alans, Suevi, Vandals and Burgundians commanded by Radagaisus drove the last Romans from the province of Pannonia moved across the Alps along the river Po and across the Apennines. Once again Stilicho managed to avert the invasion, his troops were strengthened by Huns and Goths who fought under their own banner. Stilicho surrounded the horde north of Faesulae and Florentia where he slowly starved them. Eventually Stilicho destroyed one third of the army and beheaded Radagaisus, the remains of the invading horde were driven back across the Alps. Stilicho then started to plan an invasion of Illyricum to defeat Alaric on his own turf but his plans where cut short when a huge alliance of Alans, Suevi, Vandals and Burgundians crossed the frozen Rhine in the last few days of 406 AD. Mostly these barbarians were the same ones driven back across the Alps a year earlier. They had followed the Danube and went up along the Rhine until they where stopped by the Franks. Moguntiacum and Treviri surrendered without a fight and the invaders spread into Gaul in a huge wave of destruction. While Stilicho made plans to stop the invading horde the troops in Britannia rebelled and a series of usurpers pronounced themselves emperor but one after they other were killed until eventually Constantine III came out on top and proclaimed himself emperor. He crossed the channel with his British legions to drive out the invading barbarians and to add the land to his own empire. The Alans, Suevi and Vandals didn't want to wait around and fight Constantine and crossed over the Pyrenees where they moved plundering into southern Spain. The Burgundians however were apparently left alone and they remained in the northern parts of Gaul along the middle Rhine where they founded their own kingdom (with their capital at Worms). Constantine III made his way towards the north of Spain and with his success he forced Honorius to acknowledge him as co-Augustus To make matters worse for Honorius, Alaric and his Visigoths once again seized the Iulian Alps and took control of Noricum he demanded 4000 pounds of gold from Honorius to buy his retreat. Stilicho who was in a real jam, with Constantine III controlling Britannia and Gaul and Alaric once again threatening Italy, more or less forced Honorius and the senate to agree to these terms as he saw it as the only way to save the empire.

In 408 AD Honorius' brother Arcadius died and left the throne to his six year old son Theodosius II. Honorius started to move towards Constantinople to regulate young Theodosius' affairs but the senate already upset with Stilicho's last action feared that he would try and take over the eastern court and they started to take measures to prevent this. At the court of Ravenna, Olympius one of Honorius' chancellors, had been winning his trust and had become Honorius new favorite. Olympius and the senate accused Stilicho of treason and said that he planned to kill the emperor (Stilicho would be in cahoots with the barbarians and would want to put his own son Eucherius on the throne). Olympius had Stilicho's closest friends and allies murdered at Pavia however Stilicho couldn't believe what was happening and hesitated to act which proved fatal. He narrowly escaped assassination and then moved to Ravenna where he sought protection in a church. Olympius couldn't murder Stilicho in a church so he send a trusted general named Heraclian to the church, he tricked Stilicho in leaving the holy grounds and captured him. Stilicho didn't resist and told his followers to back down and calmly offered his neck to Heraclian's sword and was beheaded in 408 AD. Heraclian was rewarded and became the dux Africa. Honorius immediately divorced his wife Thermantia and started to persecute the rest of Stilicho's followers also an already simmering Roman hatred towards all barbarians came to a boil and many barbarians and their families were killed. This caused large segments of the western army to defect and join Alarics troops because they also feared for their lives and their families.

Alaric who no longer hoped for bribes, with Honorius' new pro-roman policies, saw his opportunity and invaded Italy once more this time to the gates of Rome themselves. Only another huge bribe saved the city. For a short period of time Alaric and Honorius maintained a precarious peace with Alaric occupying Ostia (Portis August). Alaric even set up his own puppet emperor in 409 AD, the prefect Priscus Attalus who was even rectified by a scared senate with this formidable enemy only a few miles away. But Attalus wasn't pleased with his position and Alaric retired him (alive) in 410 AD. Then Alaric was attacked by a rival Visigoth leader named Sarus, he suspected this was Honorius doing and broke of all negotiations and marched on Rome. The aurelian wall surrounding the city had saved the city before but this time the gates were opened by traitors inside the city. On the 24th of Augustus 410 AD Rome the eternal city was conquered for the first time since the Celts plundered it in 390 BC. Most Romans saw this as the end of their history, the city was plundered for 3 days and the invaders took everything they could lay their hands on but only a few buildings were burnt or destroyed and very few people were killed. Then Alaric left with his Visigoth troops and marched to the south of Italy were he planned to cross the Mediterranean Sea and conquer Africa (the provinces). As part of his spoils he had taken Honorius' half-sister Aelia Galla Placidia with him. Alaric's plans were cut short when he died in 410 AD.

In 411 AD a new power behind Honorius' throne emerged, the very capable general Constantius he first dealt with Constantine III who's empire (extending from Britannia to northern Spain) was collapsing mainly due to the revolt of one of his officers in Spain, Gerontius. Gerontius was besieging the city of Arelate where Constantine III resided when Constantius intervened, Gerontius withdrew to Spain where he was murdered and Arelate was taken together with Constantine III, who was executed. Constantius next returned to Italy where he managed to expel the Visigoths (now led by Alaric's brother-in-law Athaulf) towards Gaul in 412 AD. Troubles weren't over when a new usurper rose up in Gaul by the name of Jovinus. Honorius and Constantius however weren't able to deal with him because in 413 AD the dux Africa, Heraclian (the same guy that executed Stilicho) proclaimed himself emperor. He formed a big threat because he had amassed a huge army and fleet with which he set sail to Italy. Luckily for Honorius this invasion was one huge fiasco and Heraclian was captured and executed in the summer of that same year. In the mean time Constantius had made a deal with Athaulf to get rid of Jovinus. Athaulf was very successful and crushed him. However Jovinus' allies the Burgundians proved much to strong and Honorius struck a deal with them acknowledging their own kingdom (upper Germany along the Rhine) within the empire where they would act as allies to the emperor. Meanwhile Honorius half-sister Placidia was still in the hands of Athaulf, Constantius had always had an eye on her and wanted her back (not to mention the stain on Honorius' honor that his half-sister was kept hostage by barbarians). Her return was part of the deal with Athaulf for crushing Jovinus but the Romans couldn't keep up with their end of the bargain which was a large supply of grain. This was prevented by Heraclianus' revolt, as revenge Athaulf didn't return her but married Placidia himself in 414 AD at Narbo. This was to much for Constantius who marched into Gaul and managed to drive Athaulf over the Pyrenees into Spain. When he wasn't pursued Athaulf set out to conquer Spain but he was assassinated. His successor Wallia struck a deal with Honorius returning Placidia and made a promise that he would make war with the other barbarians in Spain. These barbarians (the Alans, Suevi and Vandals who had crossed into Spain after their big insurgence in 406 AD ,see above) now faced a double threat and were defeated bringing Spain fully back into the roman empire. In exchange the Visigoths were allowed to return to Gaul where they set up a capital at Tolosa and got their own kingdom (Aquitania) just like the Burgundians they gained self-rule but had to supply the empire with troops. As a reward for saving the empire Constantius was made CO-Augustus in 421 AD and his new wife Galla Placidia was made Augusta. Theodosius II the ruler of the east didn't accept him as CO-Augustus and the relations between east and west cooled of once again and threats of war were uttered but after only 7 months Constantius III died. After his death Honorius started to make advances towards his widowed half-sister Placidia even caressing her in public this caused a huge public outrage and drove Placidia away from him, she fled to Constantinople with Constantius III's two sons. Soon after at the 15th of august 423 AD Honorius fell ill and died at Ravenna.

For this biography I've used the texts from the following websites:
http://www.imperiumromanum.com/
http://www.roman-emperors.org/
http://www.roman-empire.net/
And from: Gibbon's Decline and fall of the Roman empire.