| Galla Placidia | |
|---|---|
| Augusta | |
 Tremissis of Galla Placidia | |
| Roman empress | |
| Tenure | 421 |
| Born | 392/93 |
| Died | 27 November 450 (aged 57–58) |
| Burial | |
| Spouse | Ataulf Constantius III |
| Issue |
|
| Dynasty | Theodosian andValentinianic |
| Father | Theodosius I |
| Mother | Galla |
| Religion | Nicene Christianity |
Galla Placidia (392/93 – 27 November 450), daughter of theRoman emperorTheodosius I, was a mother, tutor, and advisor to emperorValentinian III. She wasqueen consort toAtaulf,King of the Visigoths from 414 until his death in 415, briefly empress consort toConstantius III in 421, and managed the government administration as aregent during the early reign ofValentinian III until her death.
Placidia was the daughter ofTheodosius I and his second wife,Galla,[1] who was herself daughter ofValentinian I and his second wife,Justina.[2] Galla Placidia's date of birth is not recorded, but she must have been born either in the period 388–89 or 392–93.[3] Between these dates, her father was in Italy following his campaign against the usurperMagnus Maximus, while her mother remained inConstantinople.[4]
A surviving letter from BishopAmbrose of Milan, dated 390, refers to a younger son of Theodosius named Gratianus, who died in infancy; as Gratianus must have been born in the period 388–89, it is most probable that Galla Placidia was born during the second period, 392–93.[5][6] Placidia's mother Galla died some time in 394, perhaps giving birth to a stillborn son.[7]
Placidia was a younger, paternal half-sister of emperorsArcadius andHonorius. Her older half-sisterPulcheria predeceased her parents according toGregory of Nyssa, placing the death of Pulcheria prior to the death ofAelia Flaccilla, the first wife of Theodosius I, in 385.[8] Coins issued in Placidia's honour in Constantinople after 425 give her name as AELIA PLACIDIA; this may have been intended to integrate Placidia with the eastern dynasty ofTheodosius II.[9] There is no evidence that the name Aelia was ever used in the west, or that it formed part of Placidia's official nomenclature.[10]
Placidia was granted her own household by her father in the early 390s and was thus financially independent while underage. She was summoned to the court of her father inMediolanum (Milan) during 394,[11] and was present at Theodosius' death on 17 January 395. She was granted the title of "nobilissima puella" ("most noble girl") during her childhood.[12]
Placidia spent most of her early years in the household ofStilicho, foremost military officer in the West, and his wife,Serena. She is presumed to have learnedweaving andembroidery. She might have also been given aclassical education.[12] Serena was a first cousin of Arcadius, Honorius and Placidia. The poem "In Praise of Serena" byClaudian and theHistoria Nova byZosimus clarify that Serena's father was an elder Honorius, a brother to Theodosius I.[13][14] According to "De Consulatu Stilichonis" by Claudian, Placidia was betrothed toEucherius, only known son of Stilicho and Serena. Her scheduled marriage is mentioned in the text as the third union between Stilicho's family and theTheodosian dynasty.[15]
Arcadius died in 408 and was succeeded by his sonTheodosius II. In August of the same year, Honorius' courtiers convinced him to depose and execute Stilicho, leading to a weakening of the state.[16] Eucherius, who had sought refuge inRome, was also killed.[14]
In the disturbances that followed the fall of Stilicho, wives and children offoederati living in the cities ofItaly were killed.[17][better source needed] Most of thefoederati, regarded as loyal to Stilicho, joined the forces ofAlaric I, King of theVisigoths.[17] Alaric led them toRome and put it undersiege,[17] with minor interruptions, from autumn 408 to 24 August 410.Zosimus records that Placidia was within the city during the siege. When Serena was accused of conspiring with Alaric, the wholesenate and Placidia sentenced her to death.[14][12]
Placidia was captured by Alaric before the fall of Rome, and accompanied the Visigoths from Italy toGaul in 412. Their rulerAtaulf, having succeeded Alaric, entered an alliance with Honorius againstJovinus andSebastianus, rival Western Roman emperors located in Gaul, and managed to defeat and execute both in 413.[18] After this victory, Ataulf cemented his improved relations with Honorius by marrying Galla Placidia atNarbonne on 1 January 414. The nuptials were celebrated with high Roman festivities and magnificent gifts.Priscus Attalus gave the wedding speech, a classicalepithalamium. The marriage was recorded byHydatius and[19] Jordanes, although the latter states that it was earlier, in 411 at Forum Livii (Forlì) (possibly a more informal event).
Placidia and Ataulf had one son, Theodosius, born inBarcelona by the end of 414, but the child died early in the following year, eliminating an opportunity for a Romano-Visigothic line;[12] years later the corpse was exhumed and reburied in the imperial mausoleum inOld St. Peter's Basilica, Rome. In August or September of 415, Ataulf was killed inHispania. The assassin, a servant identified as "Dubius" or "Eberwolf", was avenging his former masterSarus the Goth, who had died fighting under Jovinus and Sebastianus.[20]
TheAmali faction proceeded to proclaimSigeric, a brother of Sarus, as the next king of the Visigoths. Ataulf's six children from a former marriage were killed, and his widow Galla Placidia was forced to walk more than twelve miles on foot among the crowd of captives driven ahead of the mounted Sigeric. After 7 days of ruling, Sigeric was assassinated and replaced withWallia, Ataulf's relative.[21]
According to theChronicon Albeldense, included in theCódice de Roda, Wallia was desperate for food supplies. He surrendered toConstantius III, at the timemagister militum of Honorius, negotiating terms giving foederati status for the Visigoths. As part of the peace treaty, Placidia was returned to Honorius,[20] who forced her to marry Constantius III on 1 January 417.[12][22] Their daughterJusta Grata Honoria was probably born in 417 or 418. The history ofPaul the Deacon mentions her first among the children of the marriage, suggesting that she was the eldest. Their sonValentinian III was born 2 July 419.[23]
Placidia intervened in the succession crisis following the death ofPope Zosimus on 26 December 418. Two factions of the Roman clergy had plunged the city into tumult by electing rival successors,Eulalius (elected 27 December) andBoniface I (elected 28 December). Symmachus, Prefect of Rome, wrote to the court at Ravenna, requesting an imperial decision on the matter.[24] Placidia and, presumably, Constantius petitioned the emperor in favor of Eulalius.[12] This was arguably the first intervention by an Emperor in the Papal election.
The controversy persisted after Honorius confirmed Eulalius as the legitimate pope, and asynod of Italian bishops, meeting at Ravenna from February to March 419, also failed to reach a conclusion. In the meantime, the two rival popes were ordered to leave Rome. Soon beforeEaster, Eulalius forfeited the imperial favor by making an unauthorized return to the city and attempting to take possession of theBasilica of Saint John Lateran. Boniface was proclaimed the legitimate pope as of 3 April 419, returning to Rome a week later.[24] Honorius called a second synod in May, this time including attendees from Gaul and Africa. Placidia personally wrote to summon the African bishops; three of her letters are known to have survived.[12]
On 8 February 421, Constantius was proclaimed anAugustus, becoming co-ruler with the childless Honorius. Placidia was proclaimed anAugusta. She was the only Empress in the West, since Honorius had divorced his second wifeThermantia in 408 and had never remarried. Neither title was recognised by Theodosius II, the Eastern Roman Emperor. Constantius reportedly complained about the loss of personal freedom and privacy that came with the imperial office. He died of an illness on 2 September 421.[25]
According toOlympiodorus of Thebes, a historian used as a source byZosimus,Sozomen and probablyPhilostorgius, the public grew suspicious of the increasingly scandalous public caresses she was said to have received from her own brother Honorius after her husband's death. However, the siblings' relationship suddenly turned hostile, and around this time, she may have plotted against him. After her soldiers clashed with those of Honorius, Galla Placidia herself was now forced to flee to Constantinople with her children. Despite this setback,Bonifacius, governor of theDiocese of Africa continued to be loyal to her.[26][27][28]
Placidia, Valentinian, and Honoria arrived in Constantinople around 422/423.[29] On 15 August 423, Honorius died ofedema, perhapspulmonary edema.[30] With no member of theTheodosian dynasty present at Ravenna to claim the throne, an official namedJoannes was made Western Roman Emperor without the approval of Theodosius II. Joannes' rule was accepted in the provinces ofItalia,Gaul andHispania, but not in the province ofAfrica.[18]
Theodosius II reacted by preparing Valentinian III to take Joannes' place. In 423/424, Valentinian was namednobilissimus. In 424 he was betrothed toLicinia Eudoxia, his first cousin once removed and the daughter of Theodosius II and Aelia Eudocia.[31] At the same time, forces of theEastern Roman army, under the general command ofArdaburius, invaded Italy by land and sea. Placidia and Valentinian traveled with Ardaburius' sonAspar, commander of the land forces. Along the way, Valentinian was proclaimedCaesar byHelion, amagister officiorum under Theodosius, on 23 October 424.[31] Ardaburius, whose fleet had been dispersed by a storm, was captured by loyalist forces and imprisoned in Ravenna.[18] He convinced some of his captors todefect to Theodosius' side and to summon Aspar, who took the city after a siege. Joannes was publicly executed inAquileia.[18]
Valentinian was officially proclaimed the new Augustus of the Western Roman Empire on 23 October 425, by Helion, in the presence of theRoman Senate, with Theodosius II's support. Three days after Joannes' death, his allyFlavius Aetius belatedly arrived with an army ofHuns from across theDanube. After some skirmishing, Placidia, Valentinian and Aetius came to an agreement and established peace. The Huns were paid off and sent home, while Aetius received the position ofcomes andmagister militum per Gallias (commander-in-chief of theRoman army in Gaul).[18][32]
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Galla Placidia became aregent ofWestern Roman Empire for her son, Valentinian, in 425 until Aetius' rise. Among her early supporters wereBonifacius andFelix.[12][31] The latter was assassinated in 430, possibly by Aetius.[34]
Conflict between Placidia and Bonifacius started in 429.Procopius records that Aetius played the two against each other, advising Placidia that Bonifacius should be recalled to Rome as a dubious character, then writing to Bonifacius, warning him that Placidia was about to summon him for no good reason in order to put him away.[35]
Bonifacius trusted the warning from Aetius and refused the summons; thinking his position untenable, he sought an alliance with theVandals, who crossed from Spain into Libya to join him. Friends of Bonifacius in Rome, finding his apparent act of hostility toward the Empire entirely out of character, traveled to Carthage at Placidia's behest to intercede with him. He showed them the letter from Aetius, whose contents they communicated to Placidia. She did not move against Aetius, as he wielded great influence, and as the Empire was already in danger; but she urged Bonifacius to return to Rome "and not to permit the empire of the Romans to lie under the hand of barbarians."[35]
Bonifacius now regretted his alliance with the Vandals and tried to persuade them to return to Spain.Gaiseric offered battle instead, and Bonifacius was besieged atHippo Regius inNumidia by the sea (Augustine of Hippo was its bishop and died in this siege). Unable to take the city, the Vandals eventually raised the siege. The Romans, with reinforcements under Aspar, renewed the struggle but were routed and lost Africa to the Vandals.[35]
Bonifacius had meanwhile returned to Rome, where Placidia raised him to the rank of patrician and made him "master-general of the Roman armies". Aetius returned from Gaul with an army of "barbarians", and was met by Bonifacius in the bloodyBattle of Ravenna (432). Bonifacius won the battle, but was mortally wounded and died a few days later. Aetius was compelled to retire toPannonia.[35]
With the generals loyal to her having either died or defected to Aetius, Placidia acknowledged Aetius' political role as legitimate. In 433, Aetius was given the titlesmagister militum and "patrician". The appointments effectively left Aetius in control of the entire Western Roman army and gave him considerable influence over imperial policy. Aetius later played a pivotal role in the defense of the Western Empire againstAttila. Placidia continued to act as regent until 437, though her direct influence over decisions was diminished. She would continue to exercise political influence until her death in 450—no longer, however, the only power at court.[12]
During these years, Galla Placidia befriended bishopPeter Chrysologus, both having a shared interest in building churches. She also befriended a certainBarbatianus, whom she met in Rome. He came to Ravenna to be her confessor. According to his later biography, through his intercession she miraculously obtained a sandal ofJohn the Evangelist for the church she had built to honour the saint. When Barbatianus died, Placidia and Chrysologus arranged his burial.[36][37]
Placidia joined the rest of the imperial family in forcing her daughter,Justa Grata Honoria, into an unwanted political marriage. In the spring of 450 Honoria wrote for help to Attila, who chose to interpret the message as a marriage proposal and asked for half of the western Empire asdowry. Valentinian denied the legitimacy of the proposal, and only the influence of Placidia dissuaded him from executing his sister. Instead Honoria was quickly married to FlaviusBassus Herculanus, though this did not prevent Attila from pressing his claim.[38]
Placidia died shortly afterwards at Rome, in November 450, and was buried in the Theodosian family mausoleum adjacent toOld St. Peter's Basilica, later the chapel ofSaint Petronilla.[39]
Being a devoutChristian, she was involved in the building and restoration of various churches throughout her period of influence. She restored and expanded theBasilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls inRome and theChurch of the Holy Sepulchre inJerusalem. She builtSan Giovanni Evangelista, Ravenna in thanks for the sparing of her life and those of her children in a storm while crossing the Adriatic Sea. The dedicatory inscription reads "Galla Placidia, along with her son Placidus Valentinian Augustus and her daughter Justa Grata Honoria Augusta, paid off their vow for their liberation from the danger of the sea."[12]
Another monument in Ravenna, one of theUNESCOWorld Heritage Sites inscribed in 1996, is known as theMausoleum of Galla Placidia. However, the building never served as her tomb, but was initially erected as a chapel dedicated toLawrence of Rome. It is unknown whether thesarcophagi therein contained the bodies of other members of the Theodosian dynasty, or when they were placed in the building.[12]
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| Preceded by | Western Roman empress consort 421 | Succeeded by |
