Valentia (Latin for "Land ofValens") was probably one of theRomanprovinces of theDiocese of "the Britains" inlate Antiquity. Its position, capital, and even existence remain a matter of scholarly debate.[1] It was not mentioned in theVerona List compiled around AD 312 and so was probably formed out of one or more of the other provinces established during theDiocletian Reforms. Some scholars propose Valentia was a new name for the entire diocese,[1] but theList of Offices names it as aconsular-rank province along withMaxima Caesariensis and the otherequestrian-ranked provinces.[2] Hypotheses for the placement of Valentia includeWales, with its capital atDeva (Chester);[1]Cumbria south ofHadrian's Wall, with its capital atLuguvalium (Carlisle),[3] the lands between theAntonine Wall and Hadrian's Wall, possibly with a capital atHabitancum (Risingham),[citation needed], although the latter is dismissed by some modern scholars due to the absence of archaeological evidence for a Roman re-occupation of southern Scotland in the fourth century.[1][3][4]
Its name properly refers theEasternemperorValens but some also hold it to have honouredValentinian.[6] Some researchers such as S. H. Rosenbaum,[citation needed] who place Valentia in far northern Britain also believe the name included wordplay with theLatinvallum ("wall"), cf. the islandMunitia (wordplay onmunitio) ofAethicus Ister'sCosmography.
Ammianus Marcellinus records that, after dealing with thePannonian rebelValentine,Count Theodosius
This occurred in AD 369. It represented the Roman recovery from theGreat Conspiracy, which overran northern and western Britain in 367, alongsideGermanic attacks on the Roman shores.
Ammianus speaks of the establishment of Valentia as the renaming of a recovered province (or possibly all of the territory in Britain), but theList of Offices names Valentia's governor separately alongsideall four of the British provinces known from earlier sources. It is possible a new province was conquered or formed at some time after the composition of theVerona List. TheList of Offices also lists two sets of troops under theDuke of the Britains (Dux Britanniarum). One covered the island's eastern shore while the second guarded the northwest coast and formed garrisons listed east to west alongHadrian's Wall. Scholars who place Valentia in Cumbria point to emendations of the surviving text's references to the western units as evidence that the area had been thoroughly overrun during the Great Conspiracy and so formed a prime candidate for Theodosius's reconquest and new command.
Ammianus also noted that the province was named "as if celebrating a minortriumph" (velut ovans). This was a lesser celebration held for unspectacular victories, as overslave revolts, and unusual for the destruction of a barbarian horde. One explanation is that the mutinous soldiers or even rebellious governors may have been involved, as full triumphs were never celebrated in victories overRoman citizens. Theodosius's lenient treatment of the conspirators involved with the rebelValentine suggests discontent was already uncomfortably widespread.
Describing themetropolitan sees of theearly British church established bySS Fagan and "Duvian",Gerald of Wales placed Valentia inScotland[8][9] and improbably fixed its bishop's seat (and thus provincial capital) atSt Andrews.[8]William Camden, looking at Ammianus, considered it the recaptured northern portion ofMaxima Caesariensis, which he placed aroundEboracum (York).[5] This was generally accepted after the appearance ofCharles Bertram's highly-influential 1740sforgeryThe Description of Britain, which placed the province between the two walls and even named the area north of the Antonine Wall as a separate province ofVespasiana.[10] His work was, however, debunked over the course of the mid-19th century.