Valentinian III (Latin: Placidus Valentinianus; 2 July 419 – 16 March 455) was Roman emperor in the West from 425 to 455. Made emperor in childhood, his reign over the Roman Empire was one of the longest, but was dominated by powerful generals vying for power amid civil wars and the invasions of Late antiquity's Migration Period, including the campaigns of Attila the Hun.
He was the son of Galla Placidia and Constantius III, and as the great-grandson of Valentinian I (r. 364–375) he was the last emperor of the Valentinianic dynasty. As a grandson of Theodosius I (r. 379–395), Valentinian was also a member of the Theodosian dynasty, to which his wife, Licinia Eudoxia, also belonged. A year before assuming the rank of augustus, Valentinian was given the imperial rank of caesar by his half-cousin and co-emperor Theodosius II (r. 402–450). The augusta Galla Placidia had great influence during her son's rule. During his early reign Aetius, Felix, and the comes africae, Bonifatius all competed for power within the western empire. Having defeated Felix and Bonifatius, Aetius went on to campaign against the many Germanic tribes invading the empire.
During Valentinian's reign the Huns invaded the Roman Empire. Eventually Aetius would defeat the Huns at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains. Once the Huns returned, Pope Leo I and two other senators convinced Attila to leave. Valentinian himself killed Aetius, and in response Aetius's bodyguards assassinated Valentinian. Valentinian's reign was marked by the ongoing collapse of the western empire.
^Statue. Louvre
^Lenaghan, J. "http://laststatues.classics.ox.ac.uk, LSA-591 (J. Lenaghan). Discussion: Portrait head of Emperor with diadem (Valentinian III?). From Rome or its environs. Mid-fifth century". laststatues.classics.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
ValentinianIII (Latin: Placidus Valentinianus; 2 July 419 – 16 March 455) was Roman emperor in the West from 425 to 455. Made emperor in childhood, his...
of Valentinian I. Their daughter was Galla Placidia. The last emperor in the West belonging to the dynasty was Galla Placidia's son ValentinianIII. The...
Valentinian I (Latin: Valentinianus; 321 – 17 November 375), sometimes called Valentinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 364 to 375. He ruled the Western...
Western Roman magister militum, Aëtius, and the Western Roman emperor, ValentinianIII. After the assassination of the Western Roman magister militum, Aëtius...
Galla Placidia married a later emperor, Constantius III (r. 421–421). Their son, ValentinianIII (r. 425–455), who ruled in the west, was the last emperor...
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ValentinianIII. She was queen consort to Ataulf, king of the Visigoths from 414 until his death in 415, briefly empress consort to Constantius III in...
Maximus. Olybrius married Placidia, younger daughter of western augustus ValentinianIII (r. 425–455) and his wife Licinia Eudoxia, thus creating a bond between...
died c. 455) was the daughter of Constantius III and Galla Placidia, as well as the sister of ValentinianIII. In her life she had seen her family grasp...
Valentinian II (Latin: Valentinianus; 371 – 15 May 392) was a Roman emperor in the western part of the Roman empire between AD 375 and 392. He was at...
optimal. Treaties under Marcian and a treaty of 442 between emperor ValentinianIII and the Vandal king Gaiseric had failed to reduce Vandal incursions...
Joannes was able to recruit thousands of Huns for his army against ValentinianIII in 424. It was Aëtius, later Patrician of the West, who managed this...
in Ravenna. Valentinian III: 425–455 ValentinianIII was killed on 16 March 455, by Optila, a friend of Aetius, whom Valentinian had killed. The following...
in Ravenna. Honorius ruled alone until his death in 423, whereupon ValentinianIII, Constantius' son, assumed the throne, with Galla Placidia serving...
the Western Roman Emperor ValentinianIII considered the possibility of marrying his daughter Placidia to Majorian. Valentinian had two daughters but no...
between the Romans and the Vandals in 435 through a treaty between ValentinianIII and Gaiseric, giving the Vandals control of coastal Numidia and parts...
Rome; in 455, the last western emperor of the Theodosian dynasty, ValentinianIII (r. 425–455), was deposed and murdered. That same year, Rome was sacked...
Western Roman Empire during the 5th century. The murder of Roman Emperor ValentinianIII, who had betrothed his daughter to Gaiseric's son Huneric, led the...
her protests) in 417. The couple soon had two children, Honoria and ValentinianIII. Constantius was elevated to the position of Augustus in 420. This...
Rome and in 455, the last western emperor of Theodosius' dynasty, ValentinianIII (r. 425–455), was deposed and murdered. That same year, Rome was sacked...
and which was used by emperors thereafter including the co-augusti ValentinianIII (r. 425–455), Marcian (r. 450–457) and the augustus Anastasius Dicorus...
Emperor Theodosius II. Her husbands included the Western Roman Emperors ValentinianIII and Petronius Maximus. Eudoxia was born in 422, the daughter of Theodosius...
but when Theodosius II elevated the young ValentinianIII to caesar (undoubtedly influenced by Valentinian's mother Galla Placidia), he knew he could only...
Theodosius' daughter Licinia Eudoxia was betrothed to Valentinian. She married ValentinianIII later on 29 October 437, and became empress of the western...
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