Galla Placidia

2.1. Birth and Childhood

Galla Placidia was born either in 388-389 or 392-393. She was the daughter of the Roman emperor Theodosius I and his second wife, Galla. Her mother, Galla, was herself the daughter of Valentinian I and his second wife, Justina. Galla Placidia's mother died around 394, possibly during childbirth. Galla Placidia was a younger, paternal half-sister to emperors Arcadius and Honorius. Her older half-sister, Pulcheria, died before their parents. In the early 390s, her father granted her her own household, making her financially independent even as a minor. She was summoned to her father's court in Mediolanum (modern-day Milan) in 394 and was present at his death on 17 January 395. During her childhood, she was granted the title of "nobilissima puella" (most noble girl). After 425, coins issued in her honor in Constantinople referred to her as Aelia Galla Placidia_{Aelia Galla Placidia}^Latin, possibly to integrate her with the Eastern Theodosian dynasty, though there is no evidence this name was used in the West.

2.2. Relationship with the Stilicho Family

Galla Placidia spent most of her early years in the household of Stilicho and his wife, Serena. Serena was a first cousin of Arcadius, Honorius, and Placidia, being the daughter of Theodosius I's brother. Placidia is presumed to have received a classical education and learned skills such as weaving and embroidery. She was betrothed to Eucherius, the only known son of Stilicho and Serena. This betrothal was intended as a third union between Stilicho's family and the Theodosian dynasty, following Stilicho's marriage to Serena and their daughter Maria's marriage to Honorius.

Stilicho, as the magister militum of the Western Roman Empire, held significant power, effectively controlling the Western Roman army. From 394 to 408, he was the only individual known to hold the rank of magister militum in praesenti in both the Western and Eastern Roman Empires. In 408, when Arcadius died and was succeeded by the seven-year-old Theodosius II in the East, Stilicho planned to travel to Constantinople to manage Theodosius II's affairs. However, Olympius, a high-ranking official, convinced Honorius that Stilicho was plotting to depose Theodosius II and replace him with Eucherius. Consequently, Stilicho was arrested and executed on 22 August 408 by Honorius's order. Eucherius, who had sought refuge in Rome, was also arrested and executed. Some historical accounts suggest Galla Placidia may have consented to or at least not objected to Stilicho's execution. The death of Stilicho had a profound impact on the Roman military, as many non-Italian Roman soldiers, who had been loyal to him, subsequently defected to the forces of Alaric I, King of the Visigoths.

3.1. First Marriage (Ataulf)

In the aftermath of Stilicho's downfall in 408, the wives and children of foederati (barbarian allies) living in Italian cities were massacred, leading many of the foederati loyal to Stilicho to join Alaric I's forces. Alaric then besieged Rome from autumn 408 to 24 August 410. Galla Placidia was within the city during this siege. During this period, when Serena, Stilicho's widow, was accused of conspiring with Alaric, the entire Roman Senate and Galla Placidia herself condemned her to death.

Before the fall of Rome, Galla Placidia was captured by Alaric. She accompanied the Visigoths from Italy to Gaul in 412. Following Alaric's death, his successor, King Ataulf, formed an alliance with Honorius against the rival Western Roman emperors Jovinus and Sebastianus in Gaul. Ataulf defeated and executed both usurpers in 413. With relations improving, Ataulf married Galla Placidia at Narbonne on 1 January 414. The wedding was celebrated with grand Roman festivities and extravagant gifts, with Priscus Attalus delivering a classical epithalamium (wedding speech). While this date is recorded by Hydatius, the historian Jordanes places a more informal event in 411 at Forum Livii (modern-day Forlì).

Galla Placidia and Ataulf had a son, Theodosius, born in Barcelona in late 414. However, the child died early the following year, extinguishing the hope for a Romano-Visigothic dynasty. Years later, Theodosius's body was exhumed and reburied in the imperial mausoleum in Old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. In Hispania, Ataulf was assassinated in August or September 415 in his palace in Barcelona by a former follower of Sarus, a Germanic chieftain Ataulf had killed. Reportedly, on his deathbed, Ataulf ordered Placidia to be returned to the Romans.

The Amali faction of the Visigoths then proclaimed Sigeric, Sarus's brother, as king. Sigeric killed Ataulf's six children from a previous marriage and forced Galla Placidia, Ataulf's widow, to walk more than 12 mile on foot among a crowd of captives. After ruling for only seven days, Sigeric was assassinated and replaced by Wallia, a relative of Ataulf.

3.2. Second Marriage (Constantius III)

According to the Chronicon Albeldense, Wallia, desperate for food supplies, surrendered to Constantius III, who was then Honorius's magister militum. As part of the peace treaty, which granted the Visigoths foederati status, Galla Placidia was returned to Honorius in 416. Her brother, Honorius, then compelled her to marry Constantius III on 1 January 417.

Their daughter, Justa Grata Honoria, was likely born in 417 or 418, and their son, Valentinian III, was born on 2 July 419.

Galla Placidia played a significant role in the succession crisis following the death of Pope Zosimus on 26 December 418. Two factions of the Roman clergy elected rival popes, Eulalius and Boniface I, plunging Rome into turmoil. Symmachus, the Prefect of Rome, sought an imperial decision from the court in Ravenna. Placidia and Constantius advocated for Eulalius, marking arguably the first intervention by an emperor in a papal election. Honorius initially sided with Eulalius but, as the controversy continued, called for synods of Italian bishops at Ravenna. When this failed to resolve the issue, a second synod was called with Gaulish and African bishops. Eulalius was ordered to leave Rome but returned during Easter, attempting to seize the Basilica of Saint John Lateran. Imperial troops repelled him, and Boniface I was proclaimed the legitimate pope on 3 April 419. Placidia personally wrote letters to the African bishops, summoning them to the second synod, three of which have survived.

On 8 February 421, Constantius was proclaimed an Augustus, becoming co-ruler with the childless Honorius. Placidia was simultaneously proclaimed an Augusta. She became the only empress in the West, as Honorius had divorced his second wife Thermantia in 408 and had not remarried. However, their titles were not recognized by Theodosius II, the Eastern Roman Emperor. Constantius reportedly resented the loss of personal freedom that came with his imperial office and died of an illness on 2 September 421.

4.1. Return to the Western Roman Empire and Beginning of Regency

Following Constantius's death, the relationship between Galla Placidia and her half-brother Honorius became hostile, with public suspicion arising from reportedly scandalous public caresses he gave her. Ultimately, she was forced to flee to Constantinople with her children around 422 or 423. Despite this setback, Bonifacius, the governor of the Diocese of Africa, remained loyal to her.

On 15 August 423, Honorius died of edema. With no immediate member of the Theodosian dynasty present in Ravenna to claim the Western throne, Theodosius II hesitated to nominate a co-emperor. Taking advantage of this power vacuum, Castinus, a Patrician, declared Joannes, the primicerius notariorum (head of the civil service), as the new Western Roman Emperor. Joannes's rule was accepted in Italia, Gaul, and Hispania, but not in the province of Africa, which remained loyal to Galla Placidia.

Theodosius II responded by preparing Valentinian III for the imperial office. In 423 or 424, Valentinian was named nobilissimus. In 424, he was betrothed to Licinia Eudoxia, his first cousin once removed and a daughter of Theodosius II. At the time, Valentinian was approximately four years old and Licinia only two. The campaign against Joannes commenced in the same year. An Eastern Roman army gathered at Thessaloniki under Ardaburius. The invasion force was divided: Aspar, Ardaburius's son, led the cavalry by land through the Western Balkans to Northern Italy, with Placidia and Valentinian joining this force. Along the way, on 23 October 424, Valentinian was proclaimed Caesar by Helion, a magister officiorum under Theodosius.

Ardaburius and the infantry attempted to reach Ravenna by sea, but their fleet was dispersed by a storm, and Ardaburius and two of his galleys were captured by Joannes's forces. Ardaburius was treated well in Ravenna and used his "courteous freedom" to secretly contact and persuade some of Joannes's forces to defect. These conspirators then beckoned Aspar to Ravenna. A shepherd guided Aspar's cavalry through the marshes of the Po River to the city gates. With the besiegers outside and defectors within, Ravenna was quickly captured. Joannes was captured, his right hand was cut off, and he was paraded on a donkey before being beheaded in the hippodrome of Aquileia.

With Joannes dead, Valentinian was officially proclaimed the new Augustus of the Western Roman Empire on 23 October 425 by Helion, with Theodosius II's support and in the presence of the Roman Senate. Three days after Joannes's death, Flavius Aetius arrived with reinforcements, reportedly sixty thousand Huns from across the Danube. After some skirmishes, Galla Placidia, Valentinian, and Aetius reached an agreement. The Huns were paid off and sent home, while Aetius received the position of comes and magister militum per Gallias (commander-in-chief of the Roman army in Gaul). In 425, Galla Placidia officially became regent for her young son, Valentinian III. However, due to the circumstances of Joannes's overthrow and Valentinian III's installation by the Eastern Empire, Galla Placidia and her son were initially resented by many in the Western Roman Empire. Among her early supporters were Bonifacius and Felix. Aetius, a growing rival for influence, successfully defended Arles against Theodoric I of the Visigoths, securing a treaty that involved Gallic noblemen as hostages. Felix, one of Placidia's key allies, was assassinated in 430, possibly at the instigation of Aetius.

4.2. Conflict with Bonifacius and Aetius

A significant conflict erupted between Galla Placidia and Bonifacius starting in 429. Placidia had appointed Bonifacius as the general of Libya. The historian Procopius records that Aetius cunningly manipulated the situation, playing the two against each other. Aetius sent letters to Placidia, warning her against Bonifacius and advising her to recall him to Rome for punitive reasons. Simultaneously, he wrote to Bonifacius, cautioning him that Placidia intended to summon him for no good reason, with the aim of having him removed.

Trusting Aetius's deceptive warning, Bonifacius refused Placidia's summons. Believing his position was untenable, he sought an alliance with the Vandals in Spain, who subsequently crossed into Libya (North Africa) to join him. To Bonifacius's friends in Rome, this apparent act of hostility seemed uncharacteristic. At Placidia's urging, they traveled to Carthage to mediate. Bonifacius revealed Aetius's letter, exposing the plot. Despite the revelation, Placidia did not immediately move against Aetius due to his immense influence and the precarious state of the Empire. Instead, she urged Bonifacius to return to Rome and prevent the Roman Empire from falling under "the hand of barbarians."

Bonifacius regretted his alliance with the Vandals and attempted to persuade them to return to Spain. However, Gaiseric, the Vandal king, chose battle instead. Bonifacius was besieged at Hippo Regius in Numidia (where Augustine of Hippo served as bishop and died during the siege). Unable to take the city, the Vandals eventually lifted the siege. The Romans, reinforced by troops under Aspar, renewed the struggle but were routed, leading to the devastating loss of the vital province of Africa to the Vandals.

Bonifacius returned to Rome, where Placidia, despite the recent calamities, elevated 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 Bonifacius met him in the bloody Battle of Ravenna (432). Although Bonifacius won the battle, he was mortally wounded and died a few days later. Aetius was compelled to retreat to Pannonia.

4.3. Rise of Aetius and Diminished Influence

With the generals loyal to her either dead or having defected to Aetius, Galla Placidia was compelled to acknowledge Aetius's political legitimacy and growing power. In 433, Aetius was granted the crucial titles of magister militum and "patrician." These appointments effectively gave him control over the entire Western Roman army and significant influence over imperial policy. Aetius would later play a pivotal role in defending the Western Empire against Attila and the Huns.

While Placidia continued to act as regent for Valentinian III until 437, her direct influence over imperial decisions significantly diminished. She continued to exercise some political influence until her death in 450, but she was no longer the sole power at court.

During these years, Galla Placidia developed a close friendship with Bishop Peter Chrysologus, sharing a common interest in church building. She also befriended a confessor named Saint Barbatianus, whom she met in Rome and who later came to Ravenna. According to his biography, through his intercession, she miraculously obtained a sandal of John the Evangelist for a church she had built in the saint's honor. Placidia and Chrysologus later arranged Barbatianus's burial.

A particularly sensitive and politically disastrous episode involved Galla Placidia's daughter, Justa Grata Honoria. The imperial family, including Placidia, attempted to force Honoria into an unwanted marriage with a Roman senator in an effort to curry favor with the Senate, but this attempt backfired and worsened the situation. In the spring of 450, Honoria sent a letter and her engagement ring to Attila, the leader of the Huns, asking him to rescue her. Attila, interpreting this as a marriage proposal, accepted and demanded half of the Western Empire as a dowry. When Valentinian III discovered the plan, he intended to kill Honoria, but only Placidia's influence persuaded him to opt for exile instead. Valentinian wrote to Attila, denying the legitimacy of the supposed marriage proposal. Unconvinced, Attila sent an emissary to Ravenna to declare Honoria's innocence, confirm the legitimacy of the proposal, and assert his claim to her dowry. Honoria was quickly married to Flavius Bassus Herculanus, but this did not deter Attila from pressing his claim.

7.1. Positive Assessment

Galla Placidia's positive contributions include her consistent efforts to maintain stability and preserve imperial authority in the Western Roman Empire during a period of immense internal and external challenges. Despite facing barbarian invasions, usurpations, and profound political instability, she consistently worked to secure the future of the Theodosian dynasty, notably by ensuring her son Valentinian III's ascension to the throne. Her determination in navigating the turbulent political landscape, including her return from Constantinople to secure her son's position, highlights her resilience. Furthermore, her deep Christian faith translated into significant patronage of Christian institutions and architecture. Her involvement in building and restoring churches across the empire, particularly in Ravenna, demonstrated her piety and commitment to the Church, leaving a lasting architectural and religious mark.

7.2. Criticism and Controversy

Galla Placidia's political maneuvers and decisions have attracted considerable criticism and controversy. Her alleged consent to, or at least lack of opposition to, Stilicho's execution in 408 is a point of debate, as Stilicho was a crucial defender of the Western Empire. Her marriage to Constantius III was widely perceived as forced by her half-brother Honorius, highlighting her subordinate position despite her imperial lineage. Furthermore, her role in the overthrow of the usurper Joannes and the subsequent installation of her young son Valentinian III, largely at the behest of the Eastern Roman Empire, led to significant resentment and animosity towards her and her son among the Western Roman populace. The Japanese historical account notes that "Placidia and Valentinian III were hated by the people of the Western Roman Empire" because of the circumstances of their ascension.

Her handling of critical military appointments, particularly the orchestrated conflict between her loyal general Bonifacius and the rising military commander Aetius, is a significant point of contention. Aetius's cunning manipulation of Placidia and Bonifacius led to the devastating loss of the crucial province of Africa to the Vandals, a blow from which the Western Empire never fully recovered. This episode highlights her political vulnerabilities and susceptibility to court intrigues. Later, as Aetius consolidated power, Placidia's direct influence diminished, suggesting her inability to fully control the political landscape. Her attempt to gain favor with the Senate by forcing her daughter Honoria into an unpopular marriage ultimately backfired, leading to Honoria's desperate appeal to Attila and contributing to the Hunnic invasions of Gaul and Italy. These actions collectively paint a picture of a ruler who, despite her efforts, often made decisions that had detrimental consequences for the already fragile Western Roman Empire.