Roma Renovata est: A Roman TL
- Thread starter FLAYvian1310
- Start date
Amazing work.
I just want to say in advance that for Honorius, I always imagined him as being a chad version of the original Honorius, only not fat.
Well, I do want to bring in some of Studio Mundi style of Chads in the enemy forces as well like how their Immortals in the Byzantium were Chads wearing iron masks and were described as the most powerful agents of the underworld while their eyes glow red.
Ballio Luccius isn't that important as of right now, but I have mentioned him a few times, starting from back in the days when Majorian and his troops were fighting on the Vandal islands. I've started mentioning him more following the War of 471. He will be a key player in Part 2 of this TL.
Part 1 isn't quite finished yet, but it is coming to an end. It'll most likely be finished at or before Chapter 70.
60: One Last Ride
A/N: Hello all, I am finally back again with another Chapter! We are nearing the end of Majorian's story, though not the story as a whole, we are still far from done in regards to that. For now, lets enjoy one last glorious ride with Emperor Majorian.
One Last Ride
474 AD
Majorian spent the early months of 474 preparing for an invasion into Armorica, intent on stabilising the frontier against the threat of a potentially resurgent Hunnic Empire.
Of course, Majorian did not want to fight needlessly if it could be helped. Though he gathered an army, it was only for a worst case scenario. Armorica was made from refugees of Britannia, seeking to avoid the Anglo-Saxons. Majorian hoped that the small state could be peacefully reincorperated into the Roman Empire.
Initially, things seemed to be going ok, as discussion between the two sides moved at a steady pace. Unfortunately, a Romano-Briton by the name of Aelius Valerius took over negotiations in mid June of 474. By August, talks have been shut down completely.
It is not quite known why discussions broke down during this time. It is thought that this came down to Valerius' own prejudice against the original Roman state, not seeing it as "legitimate". It is also likely that the Roman's abandoning of Britannia played into this resentment.
Not helping matters were a number of the Roman negotiators. Though most were willing to co-operate with the Armorican negotiators, a few of them felt Rome was above the Armoricans and did not need to negotiate. These few individuals on both sides stifled much of the discussion between the two sides, leading to developing tensions between the two sides.
Both Riothamus (the Armorican King) and Majorian worked in order to make sure cooler heads prevailed (especially as neither wanted to fight a pointless war). They replaced many of the more troubling members of their staff with more agreeable individuals, though perhaps foolishly on Riothamus' part, Valerius remained on the staff. It is thought by modern historian that Valerius remained on the staff due to his prestige and popularity with the army making him a threat to Riothamus' throne, thus Riothamus needed to keep him on board for the time being.
It was this factor that would prove to be the undoing of the discussions, as Valerius became even more bold in his dispute with the Roman negotiators. Though Riothamus would take the oppertunity to boot Valerius due to his brashness not long after, this would prove be the tipping point, as by September, the negotiations had broken down entirely.
With peaceful reintegration out of the way, the only way forward for Majorian was reconquest. On the 10th September, war was officially declared between Rome and Armorica.
Wanting to keep the provinces secured, Majorian only took the first 3 legions (Legio I Augusta, Legio II Triana and Legio III Aureliana) with him into the war. This force made for a total of 15,000 soldiers, many of them going into a proper war for the first time in their careers, being recruits called into the army to replace the veterans that departed following the War of 471.
Even still, Armorica was unable to match the Roman armies size, being able to pull in around 7,000 soldiers at that point. It is for this reason that instead of engaging the Roman forces in open battle, the Armoricans resorted to mainly using Guerrilla Warfare. They used the terrain in order to launch hit and run attacks. Their goal was to weaken and tired the Roman forces until they could be fought on open terrain.
However, on the 17th October, whilst the Armoricans (led by Riothamus at the time) camped near to the city of Darioritum (modern Vannes), Majorian sprung a surprise on the Armorican forces.
Majorian had been careful, keeping track of the Armorican movements constantly with his veteran scouts (a few of those scouting for Majorian here had been in the army since the Vandal campaign). The head of these were the lauded generals Alphonsus Caudex and Chlotharius Hispallus, the Magister Peditum and Magister Equitum (respectively) of the Legio III Aureliana. Also under this group of scouts was a young soldier (only a few years older than Luccius) named Gnaeus Scipio Gaullus. Majorian was intrigued by the young Scipio, as despite being rather young, he was alresy quite accomplished, having fought in the Roman army since the latter stages of the Great Roman Civil War and making a name for himself in the Frankish campaign of the War of 471, similar to Luccius (though not as prominently). Knowing of his families long and prestigious history, Majorian wondered if the boy could bring his family back to prominence.
The elite soldiers were able to carefully navigate through the Armorican terrain allowing for Majorian to move his soldier s in order into the right position to force and open battle. With no other choice, Riothamus quickly gathered his soldiers for a major battle. The Battle of Darioritum had commenced.
Majorian put the Legio I on the Left wing, the Legio II on the right and the veteran Legio III in the centre. Riothamus saw this and arranged his weakest soldiers in the centre with the stronger soldiers on the wings. cavalries engaged, with Chlotharius leading the charge into the cavalry frontlines. Chlotharius repeatedly drove off the Armorican forces, however they did not persue far, not wanting to go too far from the battle. Majorian led the armies, 12,000 Romans fought 6,000 Armoricans in close quarters.
The Romans began to advance in the centre, whilst the flanks remained locked in a stale mate. As Majorian prepared to make the final push into the weakened centre, he stopped. Riothamus was trying to pull a Hannibal by encircling the Roman forces. Realising what it was the Armoricans had planned. Majorian ordered the centre to halt, not wanting his centre to get trapped by the enemy.
Majorian ordered for the cavalry to send some of their forces to aid in the attack. Majorian had the message delivered by the young Scipio, keeping a copy in case the first message. Legend goes that Scipio Gaullus was almost caught by one of the Armorican generals, but was able to convince the general he was an Armorican soldier, before using th chaos of the fighting to slip out and deliver the message. Regardless of how he did it, the message was successfully retrieved by Chlotharius, who ordered half of his army to turn back on the enemy centre, whilst the rest chased the Armorican cavalry.
As Chlotharius persued the Armorican horsemen with 1,500 of his own, the rest fell upon the rear of the Armorican centre. With this, Majorian resumed his advance, trying to annihilate the centre as quickly as possible. It wasn't long before the centre collapsed under the combined pressure, Riothamus tried to reorganise the army, but was unable to prevent what was at that point inevitable. Those that were not killed fled the field en masse.
With the centre dispersed, Majorian turned his army around and toward both flanks. The flanks held for longer than the centre, but they to broke and fled eventually.
It was a decisive Roman Victory. 1,000 Armorican were killed and another 1,000 captured, with 500 Romans also perishing. Among those captured was Riothamus, though Valerius didn't join him, having fled the field. Riothamus willingly submitted to Majorian, not wanting to fight what he saw as a fellow Roman, as well as seeing that his cause was lost. Seeing this show of surrender, Majorian allowed Riothamus to join his army after the war was over. He was considering letting the Armorican leader retire, but he knew he still needed every man he could get, as whilst Rome was recovering, it was still unstable.
As for Valerius, after he fled, he seized the oppertunity to proclaim himself leader, gathering up the remaining soldier to make a last stand at the city of Gesoscribate (modern Château De Brest). The city was an ideal location, having natural defenses and a good harbour. He sent a message to Britannia, asking for reinforcements from his fellow Romano-Britons. Being more concerned with their own affairs in dealing with the likes of the Saxons and Angles pushing into their lands and not agreeing with the Armoricans decision to fight Rome, sent limited supplies, and no soldiers. In desperation to bolster his army, he then reached out to those same German tribes settling in Britain. In exchange for their help, Valerius promised land and gold. This was more well recieved, and thus 3,000 Germannic warriors comprised of Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians sailed south the port of Gesoscribate. To add to this, Valerius also drafted another 1,000 Armoricans into the army. The Armorican army did not take too well to this, especially the call for the same barbarians that drove them from their original homes, to show up at on their doorstep yet again. Valerius did not care however, he had dug himself into too deep a hole to be worried about the long term ramifications. This would however serve to alienate him from the army that he had once been so popular with.
These preparations would not come soon enough to stop Majorian and his army from arriving to the city however, and in mid November, the city of Gesoscribate would be besieged for 2 weeks. The situation only changed when the Germannic soldiers arrived. Now his army had been bolstered up to 8,000 soldiers, with 5,000 being Armorican and 3,000 being Germannic.
With this, Valerius moved out of the city, and prepared to fight Majorians 14,500 strong army at what is now know as the Battle of Gimonn. Majorian arrayed it similar to how he did at Darioritum, with the major difference being that the Legio II and Legio I had swapped positions. The reason being was that most of the deaths on the Roman side came from the Legio I, so Majorian hoped that Valerius would try to focus on the left wing where the Legio I was at Darioritum. As for Valerius, he placed his Germannic soldiers in the centre and his Armoricans on the wings. He hoped to use his Germannic soldiers to absorb the brunt of the Roman centre whilst his Armorican troops broke through the wings.
With most of the tactical planning coming before the battle, the battle itself came down to a battle of wills, with both sides trying desperately to outlast the other. Eventually, the Roman soldiers were able to gain the upper hand throigh sheer numbers and will, the germannic soldiers beginning to break and flee. Eventually even the Armoricans themselves began to breakdown in cohesion and flee. Victory was nearing closer and closer...
But then, Majorian began to feel... a familiar pain in his head. A pain that kept building and building in his head. The world went blurry, the pain nearly unbearable.
Then he fell from his horse, seizing up and shaking aboit fiercer than he ever had before. Normally, they passed after a couple of minutes, but this one was different, lasting longer and harder than any had before.
"The Imperator, HE'S SEIZING UP!" Was the last thing the emperor heard before pasing out...
A few hours later he woke up, his body left exhaused from the seizure he had just endured. It would be his generals that informed of how the battle played out.
Though Majorian's seized had reinvigorated the Armoricans to some extent, it only served to delay the inevitable, as the Armorican soldiers eventually broke properly. In the chaos, Valerius was stabbed to death, reported to be at the habds of his own soldiers.
The total losses were 1,500 Roman, 1,200 Armoricans and a further 400 Germannic soldiers.
Now Majorian was left to deal with the result. He started by showing clemency to the city and to the soldiers in order to win them over, a tactic that was very successful. Whilst the elites may have considered themselves a seperate entity from Rome, the citizens saw themselves as being Roman, just like that of Majorian's soldiers. He also offered the Germannic troops the chance to settle in the Roman empire, though they would divided up and keep under close surveillance, as was customary in better times. He then appointed Riothamus to govern the Province of Armorica, though now subject to not only Majorian, but also Syagrius (would administered all of Gaul). Riothamus was also "assured" by Majorian that should he lead a rebellion against the emperor that he would not show the same clemency as he did the first time.
Though Majorian was able to walk away from the brief Armorican War with his life, this would prove to be a major turning point in his life. The Battle of Gimonn would turn out to the last battle Majorian would ever take part in. Recognising his slowly failing body, Majorian allowed for others to step up to handle the frontiers themselves. Majorian wasn't fully done yet, as he still had one last massive project left to complete before his time came. With the borders (mostly) secure, Majorian could now finally set about making those plans a reality.
A/N: And that is all for now. I bet some of you thought this would be were he meets his end. Majorians still kicking for now, but he has now officially retired from the soldiers life due to his ailments. What will that project be? You'll have to wait to find out...
Also, this is the 1 Year Anniversary of my account. Exactly 1 earlier, I officially logged on to Alternatehistory.com for the very first time. It has been a wild ride in that 1 year, I look forward to another years of stories and fun with you all! See you next Chapter!
One Last Ride
474 AD
Majorian spent the early months of 474 preparing for an invasion into Armorica, intent on stabilising the frontier against the threat of a potentially resurgent Hunnic Empire.
Of course, Majorian did not want to fight needlessly if it could be helped. Though he gathered an army, it was only for a worst case scenario. Armorica was made from refugees of Britannia, seeking to avoid the Anglo-Saxons. Majorian hoped that the small state could be peacefully reincorperated into the Roman Empire.
Initially, things seemed to be going ok, as discussion between the two sides moved at a steady pace. Unfortunately, a Romano-Briton by the name of Aelius Valerius took over negotiations in mid June of 474. By August, talks have been shut down completely.
It is not quite known why discussions broke down during this time. It is thought that this came down to Valerius' own prejudice against the original Roman state, not seeing it as "legitimate". It is also likely that the Roman's abandoning of Britannia played into this resentment.
Not helping matters were a number of the Roman negotiators. Though most were willing to co-operate with the Armorican negotiators, a few of them felt Rome was above the Armoricans and did not need to negotiate. These few individuals on both sides stifled much of the discussion between the two sides, leading to developing tensions between the two sides.
Both Riothamus (the Armorican King) and Majorian worked in order to make sure cooler heads prevailed (especially as neither wanted to fight a pointless war). They replaced many of the more troubling members of their staff with more agreeable individuals, though perhaps foolishly on Riothamus' part, Valerius remained on the staff. It is thought by modern historian that Valerius remained on the staff due to his prestige and popularity with the army making him a threat to Riothamus' throne, thus Riothamus needed to keep him on board for the time being.
It was this factor that would prove to be the undoing of the discussions, as Valerius became even more bold in his dispute with the Roman negotiators. Though Riothamus would take the oppertunity to boot Valerius due to his brashness not long after, this would prove be the tipping point, as by September, the negotiations had broken down entirely.
With peaceful reintegration out of the way, the only way forward for Majorian was reconquest. On the 10th September, war was officially declared between Rome and Armorica.
Wanting to keep the provinces secured, Majorian only took the first 3 legions (Legio I Augusta, Legio II Triana and Legio III Aureliana) with him into the war. This force made for a total of 15,000 soldiers, many of them going into a proper war for the first time in their careers, being recruits called into the army to replace the veterans that departed following the War of 471.
Even still, Armorica was unable to match the Roman armies size, being able to pull in around 7,000 soldiers at that point. It is for this reason that instead of engaging the Roman forces in open battle, the Armoricans resorted to mainly using Guerrilla Warfare. They used the terrain in order to launch hit and run attacks. Their goal was to weaken and tired the Roman forces until they could be fought on open terrain.
However, on the 17th October, whilst the Armoricans (led by Riothamus at the time) camped near to the city of Darioritum (modern Vannes), Majorian sprung a surprise on the Armorican forces.
Majorian had been careful, keeping track of the Armorican movements constantly with his veteran scouts (a few of those scouting for Majorian here had been in the army since the Vandal campaign). The head of these were the lauded generals Alphonsus Caudex and Chlotharius Hispallus, the Magister Peditum and Magister Equitum (respectively) of the Legio III Aureliana. Also under this group of scouts was a young soldier (only a few years older than Luccius) named Gnaeus Scipio Gaullus. Majorian was intrigued by the young Scipio, as despite being rather young, he was alresy quite accomplished, having fought in the Roman army since the latter stages of the Great Roman Civil War and making a name for himself in the Frankish campaign of the War of 471, similar to Luccius (though not as prominently). Knowing of his families long and prestigious history, Majorian wondered if the boy could bring his family back to prominence.
The elite soldiers were able to carefully navigate through the Armorican terrain allowing for Majorian to move his soldier s in order into the right position to force and open battle. With no other choice, Riothamus quickly gathered his soldiers for a major battle. The Battle of Darioritum had commenced.
Majorian put the Legio I on the Left wing, the Legio II on the right and the veteran Legio III in the centre. Riothamus saw this and arranged his weakest soldiers in the centre with the stronger soldiers on the wings. cavalries engaged, with Chlotharius leading the charge into the cavalry frontlines. Chlotharius repeatedly drove off the Armorican forces, however they did not persue far, not wanting to go too far from the battle. Majorian led the armies, 12,000 Romans fought 6,000 Armoricans in close quarters.
The Romans began to advance in the centre, whilst the flanks remained locked in a stale mate. As Majorian prepared to make the final push into the weakened centre, he stopped. Riothamus was trying to pull a Hannibal by encircling the Roman forces. Realising what it was the Armoricans had planned. Majorian ordered the centre to halt, not wanting his centre to get trapped by the enemy.
Majorian ordered for the cavalry to send some of their forces to aid in the attack. Majorian had the message delivered by the young Scipio, keeping a copy in case the first message. Legend goes that Scipio Gaullus was almost caught by one of the Armorican generals, but was able to convince the general he was an Armorican soldier, before using th chaos of the fighting to slip out and deliver the message. Regardless of how he did it, the message was successfully retrieved by Chlotharius, who ordered half of his army to turn back on the enemy centre, whilst the rest chased the Armorican cavalry.
As Chlotharius persued the Armorican horsemen with 1,500 of his own, the rest fell upon the rear of the Armorican centre. With this, Majorian resumed his advance, trying to annihilate the centre as quickly as possible. It wasn't long before the centre collapsed under the combined pressure, Riothamus tried to reorganise the army, but was unable to prevent what was at that point inevitable. Those that were not killed fled the field en masse.
With the centre dispersed, Majorian turned his army around and toward both flanks. The flanks held for longer than the centre, but they to broke and fled eventually.
It was a decisive Roman Victory. 1,000 Armorican were killed and another 1,000 captured, with 500 Romans also perishing. Among those captured was Riothamus, though Valerius didn't join him, having fled the field. Riothamus willingly submitted to Majorian, not wanting to fight what he saw as a fellow Roman, as well as seeing that his cause was lost. Seeing this show of surrender, Majorian allowed Riothamus to join his army after the war was over. He was considering letting the Armorican leader retire, but he knew he still needed every man he could get, as whilst Rome was recovering, it was still unstable.
As for Valerius, after he fled, he seized the oppertunity to proclaim himself leader, gathering up the remaining soldier to make a last stand at the city of Gesoscribate (modern Château De Brest). The city was an ideal location, having natural defenses and a good harbour. He sent a message to Britannia, asking for reinforcements from his fellow Romano-Britons. Being more concerned with their own affairs in dealing with the likes of the Saxons and Angles pushing into their lands and not agreeing with the Armoricans decision to fight Rome, sent limited supplies, and no soldiers. In desperation to bolster his army, he then reached out to those same German tribes settling in Britain. In exchange for their help, Valerius promised land and gold. This was more well recieved, and thus 3,000 Germannic warriors comprised of Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians sailed south the port of Gesoscribate. To add to this, Valerius also drafted another 1,000 Armoricans into the army. The Armorican army did not take too well to this, especially the call for the same barbarians that drove them from their original homes, to show up at on their doorstep yet again. Valerius did not care however, he had dug himself into too deep a hole to be worried about the long term ramifications. This would however serve to alienate him from the army that he had once been so popular with.
These preparations would not come soon enough to stop Majorian and his army from arriving to the city however, and in mid November, the city of Gesoscribate would be besieged for 2 weeks. The situation only changed when the Germannic soldiers arrived. Now his army had been bolstered up to 8,000 soldiers, with 5,000 being Armorican and 3,000 being Germannic.
With this, Valerius moved out of the city, and prepared to fight Majorians 14,500 strong army at what is now know as the Battle of Gimonn. Majorian arrayed it similar to how he did at Darioritum, with the major difference being that the Legio II and Legio I had swapped positions. The reason being was that most of the deaths on the Roman side came from the Legio I, so Majorian hoped that Valerius would try to focus on the left wing where the Legio I was at Darioritum. As for Valerius, he placed his Germannic soldiers in the centre and his Armoricans on the wings. He hoped to use his Germannic soldiers to absorb the brunt of the Roman centre whilst his Armorican troops broke through the wings.
With most of the tactical planning coming before the battle, the battle itself came down to a battle of wills, with both sides trying desperately to outlast the other. Eventually, the Roman soldiers were able to gain the upper hand throigh sheer numbers and will, the germannic soldiers beginning to break and flee. Eventually even the Armoricans themselves began to breakdown in cohesion and flee. Victory was nearing closer and closer...
But then, Majorian began to feel... a familiar pain in his head. A pain that kept building and building in his head. The world went blurry, the pain nearly unbearable.
Then he fell from his horse, seizing up and shaking aboit fiercer than he ever had before. Normally, they passed after a couple of minutes, but this one was different, lasting longer and harder than any had before.
"The Imperator, HE'S SEIZING UP!" Was the last thing the emperor heard before pasing out...
A few hours later he woke up, his body left exhaused from the seizure he had just endured. It would be his generals that informed of how the battle played out.
Though Majorian's seized had reinvigorated the Armoricans to some extent, it only served to delay the inevitable, as the Armorican soldiers eventually broke properly. In the chaos, Valerius was stabbed to death, reported to be at the habds of his own soldiers.
The total losses were 1,500 Roman, 1,200 Armoricans and a further 400 Germannic soldiers.
Now Majorian was left to deal with the result. He started by showing clemency to the city and to the soldiers in order to win them over, a tactic that was very successful. Whilst the elites may have considered themselves a seperate entity from Rome, the citizens saw themselves as being Roman, just like that of Majorian's soldiers. He also offered the Germannic troops the chance to settle in the Roman empire, though they would divided up and keep under close surveillance, as was customary in better times. He then appointed Riothamus to govern the Province of Armorica, though now subject to not only Majorian, but also Syagrius (would administered all of Gaul). Riothamus was also "assured" by Majorian that should he lead a rebellion against the emperor that he would not show the same clemency as he did the first time.
Though Majorian was able to walk away from the brief Armorican War with his life, this would prove to be a major turning point in his life. The Battle of Gimonn would turn out to the last battle Majorian would ever take part in. Recognising his slowly failing body, Majorian allowed for others to step up to handle the frontiers themselves. Majorian wasn't fully done yet, as he still had one last massive project left to complete before his time came. With the borders (mostly) secure, Majorian could now finally set about making those plans a reality.
A/N: And that is all for now. I bet some of you thought this would be were he meets his end. Majorians still kicking for now, but he has now officially retired from the soldiers life due to his ailments. What will that project be? You'll have to wait to find out...
Also, this is the 1 Year Anniversary of my account. Exactly 1 earlier, I officially logged on to Alternatehistory.com for the very first time. It has been a wild ride in that 1 year, I look forward to another years of stories and fun with you all! See you next Chapter!
Last edited:
Carter I'm Yog
Banned
Hmm, though a campaign neither comparable to the grandeur of the civil war nor the importance of the Vandal campaign, at least Majorian managed to burn and shine one last time on the battlefield. Sadly though, it appears he would die bedridden and infirm.
Finishing the Theodosian Codex perhaps?
Happy anniversary!
You'll have to wait and see what that project is. I'll probably focus on the Eastern Roman Empire next Chapter, as we move into 475. I hope to get that one out on the 17th, which will be the 1 year Anniversary of Roma Renovata est itself.
Thank you!
61: A Shift in the East
A/N: Hello all, I'm back with another Chapter of Roma Renovata est. It has officially been a whole calender year since Roma Renovata est officially began. For this one, we will be looking at the ERE for the first time in almost 20 Chapters. How is the East developing? Let's find out.
A Shift in the East
As Majorian was preparing for his campaign in Armorica, the ERE was dealing with a paradigm shift of it's own. Leo, who had ruled as Majorian's eastern counterpart, had now come down with a bad case of dysentery earlier in the year. Over time, Leo's condition gotten gradually worse as a result.
This had caused a maelstrom of chaos, as people prepared for the worst case scenario. Standing at the outer edge of that maelstrom was none other than Aspar, the East's puppetmaker. Aspar had been careful to keep himself on good terms with Leo after seeing the failure of Ricimer. Despite knowing Ricimer was far less experienced at the game of shadows, his death reminded Aspar that his position was always vulnerable. He had worked to keep himself in control over Leo, taking advantage of his insecurites in order to make sure Leo did not go after him.
Now with Leo potentially on death's door, Aspar now made plans for how he would go about handling Leo's successor. One would expect that Aspar would try to make his son Patricius the next emperor. Instead, Aspar agreed that Leo's son Arcadius should be the next successor to Rome. He knew that trying to get his son in as the next emperor would be looked upon with suspicion, especially as he wasn't the prime candidate for that position. Whilst Patricius certainly had a claim to the throne, being married to Leo's daughter Leontia, Arcadius was Leo's son, which put him above Patricius in the line of succession. For Aspar, the choice was easy. After all, Arcadius was only 10 at that time (turning 11 later that year), therefore Aspar could slide himself into the position of Arcadius' regent. Arcadius was also known to be rather sickly, which meant that it was possibly that Arcadius would pass without an heir, leaving Patricius as the ideal candidate after that. It would require patience, but Aspar had been patient all his life, as long as he still ruled from the shadows it did not matter to him.
Of course, whilst still respected in the Eastern Roman court, Aspar still had his share of political enemies. The most prominent among these was one Procopius Anthemius. Anthemius was initially known for being the grandson of the first Anthemius in the early 400's. However, Anthemius did not become truly important in Eastern Rome until Leo's Dacian Wars, where he established himself as a top general, continuing to grow in importance and prestige due to his role in both the Grand Roman Civil War and the War of 471. By 474, he was one of the few men that could rival Aspar in terms of importance within the imperial court.
Whilst Procopius was in agreement that Arcadius should be the next emperor should Leo pass, Anthemius was also aware that Aspar was trying to use this to solidify his power base. Anthemius, wanting to remove Aspar's base of power, wrote to the western court in Ravenna to end the swap, intending to bring the imperial heir back to Constantinople.
Eventually, on the 26th September, Emperor Leo, Eastern Roman Emperor for more than 17 years, had passed away. With this, the imperial court went into overdrive. With this, Eudocia decided on ending the swap. Anthemius seized on the oppertunity, journeying with Theodosius personally to Ravenna in order to retrieve the new emperor. In doing this, he established himself as the ideal candidate to be regent, with Leo's widow Verina also moved into to act as regent. Aspar, as expected also moved in to act as regent to the new imperator.
In this, the Western Empire was able to hold influence over its Eastern counterpart for the first time in decades. Though they did not debate who would be the new Eastern Emperor, they threw their support behind Anthemius to act as the new regent, knowing he would be most agreeable with the West due to the talks between him and Eudocia when negotiating the returns of Theodosius and Arcadius.
To add to Anthemius' support base were his fellow generals, namely Heraclius of Edessa and Illus, both of whom had also risen to prominence in the Dacian Wars, and had at some point become friends at some point after. By this point in 474, their relationship was compared to the friendship that existed between Majorian, Aegidius and Marcellinus.
With Arcadius returning to Constantinople in on the 23rd of October, it would only be one week later that Arcadius was officially coronated as the new Eastern Roman Emperor, becoming Arcadius II. Arcadius, though still young, was very smart for his age, knowing he needed to surround himself with people that could keep him secure on the throne, especially since he had rival claimants in both Patricius and Zeno. As a result, he alligned himself mainly with Anthemius, naming him as regent and Magister Militum. Arcadius knew that this could potentially draw heat onto Anthemius, as many would see him as trying to leverage control over the young emperor. The promotions kept Anthemius on his side, thus keeping the army on his side (at least for the time being), but would also keep him from being too powerful by levering his age to draw ire onto Anthemius to keep the members of court trying to outdo the other, keeping him secure on his new throne at a time when he needed to be secure, with his rivals waiting in the wings.
474, though not a huge year in terms of battles, saw major development in terms of the society, as this year truly marked the end of the old guard of the 450s and 460s and the dawn of a generation that would define the second half of the decade. With one young boy sitting atop his new throne, beginning his legacy, and two boys stand equal and opposite, waiting to make their own. Here begin the legacies of those that would surpass their own namesakes.
A/N: And that is it for now, the (Eastern) emperor is dead, long live the emperor. Arcadius is now officially Arcadius II. Can he redeem his name? We shall have to wait and see. Thank you all for one year of this, here is to another year of Majorian, of Theodosius, of Honorius, and yes, even of Ballio Luccius, the Blackheart of God himself. See you next Chapter!
A Shift in the East
As Majorian was preparing for his campaign in Armorica, the ERE was dealing with a paradigm shift of it's own. Leo, who had ruled as Majorian's eastern counterpart, had now come down with a bad case of dysentery earlier in the year. Over time, Leo's condition gotten gradually worse as a result.
This had caused a maelstrom of chaos, as people prepared for the worst case scenario. Standing at the outer edge of that maelstrom was none other than Aspar, the East's puppetmaker. Aspar had been careful to keep himself on good terms with Leo after seeing the failure of Ricimer. Despite knowing Ricimer was far less experienced at the game of shadows, his death reminded Aspar that his position was always vulnerable. He had worked to keep himself in control over Leo, taking advantage of his insecurites in order to make sure Leo did not go after him.
Now with Leo potentially on death's door, Aspar now made plans for how he would go about handling Leo's successor. One would expect that Aspar would try to make his son Patricius the next emperor. Instead, Aspar agreed that Leo's son Arcadius should be the next successor to Rome. He knew that trying to get his son in as the next emperor would be looked upon with suspicion, especially as he wasn't the prime candidate for that position. Whilst Patricius certainly had a claim to the throne, being married to Leo's daughter Leontia, Arcadius was Leo's son, which put him above Patricius in the line of succession. For Aspar, the choice was easy. After all, Arcadius was only 10 at that time (turning 11 later that year), therefore Aspar could slide himself into the position of Arcadius' regent. Arcadius was also known to be rather sickly, which meant that it was possibly that Arcadius would pass without an heir, leaving Patricius as the ideal candidate after that. It would require patience, but Aspar had been patient all his life, as long as he still ruled from the shadows it did not matter to him.
Of course, whilst still respected in the Eastern Roman court, Aspar still had his share of political enemies. The most prominent among these was one Procopius Anthemius. Anthemius was initially known for being the grandson of the first Anthemius in the early 400's. However, Anthemius did not become truly important in Eastern Rome until Leo's Dacian Wars, where he established himself as a top general, continuing to grow in importance and prestige due to his role in both the Grand Roman Civil War and the War of 471. By 474, he was one of the few men that could rival Aspar in terms of importance within the imperial court.
Whilst Procopius was in agreement that Arcadius should be the next emperor should Leo pass, Anthemius was also aware that Aspar was trying to use this to solidify his power base. Anthemius, wanting to remove Aspar's base of power, wrote to the western court in Ravenna to end the swap, intending to bring the imperial heir back to Constantinople.
Eventually, on the 26th September, Emperor Leo, Eastern Roman Emperor for more than 17 years, had passed away. With this, the imperial court went into overdrive. With this, Eudocia decided on ending the swap. Anthemius seized on the oppertunity, journeying with Theodosius personally to Ravenna in order to retrieve the new emperor. In doing this, he established himself as the ideal candidate to be regent, with Leo's widow Verina also moved into to act as regent. Aspar, as expected also moved in to act as regent to the new imperator.
In this, the Western Empire was able to hold influence over its Eastern counterpart for the first time in decades. Though they did not debate who would be the new Eastern Emperor, they threw their support behind Anthemius to act as the new regent, knowing he would be most agreeable with the West due to the talks between him and Eudocia when negotiating the returns of Theodosius and Arcadius.
To add to Anthemius' support base were his fellow generals, namely Heraclius of Edessa and Illus, both of whom had also risen to prominence in the Dacian Wars, and had at some point become friends at some point after. By this point in 474, their relationship was compared to the friendship that existed between Majorian, Aegidius and Marcellinus.
With Arcadius returning to Constantinople in on the 23rd of October, it would only be one week later that Arcadius was officially coronated as the new Eastern Roman Emperor, becoming Arcadius II. Arcadius, though still young, was very smart for his age, knowing he needed to surround himself with people that could keep him secure on the throne, especially since he had rival claimants in both Patricius and Zeno. As a result, he alligned himself mainly with Anthemius, naming him as regent and Magister Militum. Arcadius knew that this could potentially draw heat onto Anthemius, as many would see him as trying to leverage control over the young emperor. The promotions kept Anthemius on his side, thus keeping the army on his side (at least for the time being), but would also keep him from being too powerful by levering his age to draw ire onto Anthemius to keep the members of court trying to outdo the other, keeping him secure on his new throne at a time when he needed to be secure, with his rivals waiting in the wings.
474, though not a huge year in terms of battles, saw major development in terms of the society, as this year truly marked the end of the old guard of the 450s and 460s and the dawn of a generation that would define the second half of the decade. With one young boy sitting atop his new throne, beginning his legacy, and two boys stand equal and opposite, waiting to make their own. Here begin the legacies of those that would surpass their own namesakes.
A/N: And that is it for now, the (Eastern) emperor is dead, long live the emperor. Arcadius is now officially Arcadius II. Can he redeem his name? We shall have to wait and see. Thank you all for one year of this, here is to another year of Majorian, of Theodosius, of Honorius, and yes, even of Ballio Luccius, the Blackheart of God himself. See you next Chapter!
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Carter I'm Yog
Banned
Hilarious with the knowledge of OTL Aspar's death.
Are you referring to the first Anthemius here?
See you soon!
1: It most certainly is
2: Thanks, I've now corrected it. Though there is a level of irony that the first Anthemius was helping the first Arcadius, and now the second major Anthemius is helping the second major Arcadius.
3: See you soon, hopefully away after TheWonderer brings us some more beautifully unbiased content.
Hey there, just read it all.
A great narrative and got so many other reads from the thread.
An status updates
or Is the dream of Rome dead?
A great narrative and got so many other reads from the thread.
An status updates
or Is the dream of Rome dead?
I assure you the dream is not dead.
It may take a bit to get up a new update to the story, but it is still very much active.
A short preview...
Majorian was no longer the spring chicken he was when he began his reign. Since he was a young soldier under the command of the great Flavius Aetius he had dreamed of bringing back the former glory of Rome. 18 years ago, he got that oppertunity when he and Ricimer deposed Avitus, and ever since he had run with that oppertunity, reconquering lands in Gaul, Hispania, Illyrica and North Africa. He had implimented major reforms into the system to curb the corruption that had plagued the empire for so long under weak and foolish emperor and had pushed back those that had sought to depose him. His reign had been the first truly stable period in decades, not the most peaceful or prosperous, but certainly and improvement over what had come before. His reign had been the greatest seen since at least Theodosius, perhaps Valentinian or even Constantine himself.
But for all his achievements, Majorian still felt disappointed in himself. He had grand ambitions for reconquest over all of Rome's former territories, perhaps even reunification with the East. Now those would never come to fruition under his sword, as the damage accrewed over his years of service to the empire had taken their toll. Now he could no longer fight. Not effectively. He felt pathetic at this, Emperors like Aurelian were fighting and leading armies well into their 60s, and he was forced to abandon fighting at just 55.
His ability had seen him curb any dissent over his rule, but he knew that it wouldn't be his rule that would truely test if his work could be sustained, but rather those of his successors. His sons, Theodosius and Honorius would have to carry his torch forward. He had trained them for the role of Emperor, even considering making them co-emperor at one point, but did not want to risk further division to the empire at such a dire time. He hoped that with how they were, they would still make for an effective duo, with Theodosius' interest in administration and Honorius' skill for warfare, allowing for them to cover each others weaknesses. Still, Majorian was worried, as even though they we only young, they were already showing who they would be in adulthood. Theodosius was very meek, rarely talking to others unless needed, whilst Honorius was growning up to be rather haughty and arrogant in his skills. Hopefully, he would still have time to fix this. Majorian knew that power was a poisonous thing, and his boys would have to be greater men in order to survive in this cutthroat world.
He was glad that they had the friends needed to give them a chance. He just hoped they would not endure the same fate as him, watching his friends die off or turn their backs on him, until he was the only one left. The last of a generation. Eudocia was great, the best wife he could have ever had, but she had not fought alongside him for decades upon decades, not like Aegidius, or Marcellinus, or Nepotianus, or even Ricimer had. He was one of the last of a dying generation. Of heroes that fought to preserve the light of Rome. Soon, he would have to pass the torch to the next, to let them bring back light to the world, or to let the light fade into the darkness.
Most of what he dreamed of achieving was now lost to him. But not all.
But for all his achievements, Majorian still felt disappointed in himself. He had grand ambitions for reconquest over all of Rome's former territories, perhaps even reunification with the East. Now those would never come to fruition under his sword, as the damage accrewed over his years of service to the empire had taken their toll. Now he could no longer fight. Not effectively. He felt pathetic at this, Emperors like Aurelian were fighting and leading armies well into their 60s, and he was forced to abandon fighting at just 55.
His ability had seen him curb any dissent over his rule, but he knew that it wouldn't be his rule that would truely test if his work could be sustained, but rather those of his successors. His sons, Theodosius and Honorius would have to carry his torch forward. He had trained them for the role of Emperor, even considering making them co-emperor at one point, but did not want to risk further division to the empire at such a dire time. He hoped that with how they were, they would still make for an effective duo, with Theodosius' interest in administration and Honorius' skill for warfare, allowing for them to cover each others weaknesses. Still, Majorian was worried, as even though they we only young, they were already showing who they would be in adulthood. Theodosius was very meek, rarely talking to others unless needed, whilst Honorius was growning up to be rather haughty and arrogant in his skills. Hopefully, he would still have time to fix this. Majorian knew that power was a poisonous thing, and his boys would have to be greater men in order to survive in this cutthroat world.
He was glad that they had the friends needed to give them a chance. He just hoped they would not endure the same fate as him, watching his friends die off or turn their backs on him, until he was the only one left. The last of a generation. Eudocia was great, the best wife he could have ever had, but she had not fought alongside him for decades upon decades, not like Aegidius, or Marcellinus, or Nepotianus, or even Ricimer had. He was one of the last of a dying generation. Of heroes that fought to preserve the light of Rome. Soon, he would have to pass the torch to the next, to let them bring back light to the world, or to let the light fade into the darkness.
Most of what he dreamed of achieving was now lost to him. But not all.