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Rewrite of an old TL.

1. The Death of Ricimer and the Glory of Majorian

In the month January of the Year of Our Lord four-hundred-and-fifty-nine, Ricimer, Patricius and Imperator Majorian I’s magister miilitum, took ill. The illness was a sudden one, and many historians have wondered what exactly it was that took hold of him, but it could have been anything – sudden, lethal illnesses were not an unknown thing in the period. Regardless, after six months of excruciating agony and debilitating sickness, Ricimer, puppet-master of Emperors, was dead, laid low by what must have seemed to be the hand of God. Without being shackled to Ricimer, Majorian was free to rule as he planned. In the year 460, he began his campaign to finish the Vandals once and for all. At Carthageniensis, some traitors tried to burn down his fleet, but were stopped. With the absolute defeat of the Vandals and the reconquest of Mauretania, Majorian’s campaign was concluded in victory.

His triumphal procession through the Eternal City in 461 AD was concluded, appropriately enough, by a Senatorial assassination plot. To this day, there remains some controversy over whether Majorian was aware of the plot and waited so he could use it to weaken the power of the Senate, or if his survival was luck and his reaction to it unplanned. Regardless, Majorian was cautious, and survived the assassination attempt. His troops marched into the Senatorial chamber, and, under his instructions, killed the rebellious Senators, decimating the Senate. The land of the Senators killed was confiscated, broken up and distributed it to his cavalry to ensure their loyalty – it would pass to their descendants when they died, but they were obliged to remain loyal, creating a sort of semi-feudal [1] system. The Senators killed were replaced with easily pliable puppets.

Perhaps Majorian was shaken and given some kind of awareness of his mortality by the assassination attempt, for in 462 he made the Emperorship hereditary. He made it clear – the legitimate firstborn son of the Emperor would be the next one. If there were no legitimate sons, the Emperor would choose and the one chosen would marry one of the Emperor’s daughters. Majorian then, from 463 to 470, began reforms of the Empire. He had the military reformed, but it remained weak, and Majorian could only do so much. Nevertheless, from the beginning of his reign onwards, Rome was relatively secure, in contrast to the frontier areas.

Majorian was an excellent administrator as well, and reformed the civil service of Rome immensely. He also survived a number of assassination attempts.

From 476 to 478, the fortifications of Rome were massively improved. The Majorianic Walls, as they are known, still stand (albeit having been heavily damaged during the Popular Wars of the 16th Century) in places today. During Majorian’s reign, Rome’s economy and general health improved heavily, and the state was, if not looking towards a bright future, definitely with a better prognosis.

Majorian’s actions also changed the course of Frankonian history, for in AD 486 (one year before Majorian’s death and succession by Valerian II), King Ludwig I of Frankonia [2] was baptised into the Apostolic [3] Church and agreed to fight for Rome against the Visigoths in Southern Gaul, in exchange for being given a large area of Gaul north of the Liger River as a personal dominion, which became the Kingdom of Frankonia.

In early A.D 487, Majorian, having reigned for an unprecedented 30 years, died and was succeeded by his heir Julian III.
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