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Majorian

Majorian (420-7 August 461) was Western Roman Emperor from 1 April 457 to 2 August 461, succeeding Avitus and preceding Libius Severus. Majorian was the last great Western Roman empire, reconquering Gaul from the Visigoths and Burgundii and Hispania from the Vandals, and winning the support of both the Roman Army and the Roman Senate. However, his administrative reforms lost him the support of the Senate, while his disbanding of his Germanic bodyguards earned him the ire of the powerful general Ricimer, who had him murdered on 7 August 461.

Biography[]

Flavius Julius Valerius Majorianus was born in the Western Roman Empire in 420 to the Roman military aristocracy. He served under Flavius Aetius in the Roman Army, distinguishing himself in the defense of Turonensis (Tours) and in battle with the Franks in 448. Aetius' wife triggered Majorian's early retirement, as she feared that he would eclipse her husband as a great general. He returned to power after Aetius' murder in 454, and Emperor Petronius Maximus appointed him comes domesticorum. He initially supported Avitus on his rise to power, but the Gallo-Roman emperor became unpopular due to his cronyism and misrule, and Majorian and the Germanic general Ricimer overthrew Avitus in 456. Majorian became Western Roman emperor in 457, starving Avitus to death. Eastern Roman emperor Leo I gave Majorian the title of magister militum, intending to rule over a united Roman Empire, but Majorian defeated an Alemannic invasion of Italia and won the army's support. In 457, he destroyed a Vandalic army at the Garigliano, and he recruited large numbers of foederati mercenaries from the Gepids, Ostrogoths, Rugii, Burgundii, Huns, Bastarnae, Suebi, Scythians, and Alans and rebuilt two fleets at Miseno and Ravenna. In 458, he invaded Gaul and defeated King Theodoric II of the Visigoths at Arelate, forcing them to retreat to Gallia Aquitania. He then forced the Visigoths to hand over Hispania to the Romans and return to foederati status. Majorian then recaptured Lugdunum (Lyon) from the Burgundii and forced the Bagaudae to join the empire. In 460, at the head of a 300-ship fleet, he reconquered Hispania from the Vandals. His fleet was destroyed by traitors at Elche, forcing him to return to Italy, but he made peace with the Vandals and allowed them to remain in Mauretania. He won the favor of the senatorial and noble families by promoting them to public service posts, and he also preserved public buildings in Rome. However, he alienated his Germanic allies by disbanding his Germanic guard upon his return to Arelate from Hispania, and he then set out for Rome. Ricimer intercepted him with an armed party and arrested him at Tortona, and he had Majorian stripped, beaten, and tortured for five days and then beheaded at the River Iria on 7 August 461.

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