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Valentinian III (July 2, 419, Ravenna - March 16, 455, Rome), WesternRoman Emperor (424 to 455). He was born as the only son of ConstantiusIII and Galla Placidia, daughter of the emperor Theodosius. He waselevated as Caesar on October 23, 424 in Constantinople, and after abrief war in Italy, was installed as Emperor of the West in Rome onOctober 23, 425. He was only six years of age when he received the title of Augustus,and during his minority the conduct of affairs was in the hands offirst his mother, then after 433, Aetius. His reign is marked by thedismemberment of the Western Empire; the conquest of the province ofAfrica by the Vandals in 439; the final abandonment of Britain in 446;the loss of great portions of Spain and Gaul, in which the barbarianshad established themselves; and the ravaging of Sicily and of thewestern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea by the fleets of Genseric. As a set-off against these calamities there was the great victory ofAetius over Attila in 451 near Chalons, and his successful campaignsagainst the Visigoths in southern Gaul (426, 429, 436), and againstvarious invaders on the Rhine and Danube (428-31). The burden of taxation became more and more intolerable as the powerof Rome decreased, and the loyalty of her remaining provinces wasseriously impaired in consequence. Ravenna was Valentinian's usualresidence; but he fled to Rome on the approach of Attila, who, afterravaging the north of Italy, died in the following year (453). In 454 Aetius, between whose son and a daughter of the emperor amarriage had been arranged, was treacherously murdered by Valentinian.On March 16 of the following year, however, the emperor himself wasassassinated by two of the barbarian followers of Aetius. He notmerely lacked the ability to govern the empire in a time of crisis,but aggravated its dangers by his self-indulgence and vindictiveness. Our chief original sources for the reign of Valentinian III areProsper's Chronicles, Jordanes whose Gothic History was written in the6th century, and the poet Sidonius Apollinaris. A modern secondarysource is Oost, Galla Placidia Augusta (Chicago: University Press,1968).
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