Flavius Stilicho (359-22 August 408) was the Magister Militum of the Western Roman Empire and the regent for Roman emperor Honorius. Stilicho was a half-Vandal, half-Roman who adhered to Arianism, and his influence over Honorius marked the height of Germanic influence over the empire. He successfully defended Rome against several threats until he was murdered following a political intrigue in 408.
Biography[]
Flavius Stilicho was the son of a Vandal cavalry officer and a Roman provincial mother, and he rose in the ranks of the Roman Army during the reign of Theodosius I. In 383, he was sent as an envoy to King Shapur III in Persia, negotiating the partition of Armenia. Impressed by Stilicho's success, Theodosius made him Magister Militum (general) and married him to his adopted niece Serena. After the death of Valentinian II in 392, Stilicho helped to raise an army which Theodosius led to victory at the Battle of the Frigidus, and Stilicho fought alongside the Visigoth king Alaric I, an ally of Theodosius. Theodosius entrusted Stilicho with the future of the Western Roman Empire by giving him regency powers for his son Honorius upon his death in 395. Honorius married Stilicho's daughter Maria, who became empress.
Stilicho was caretaker to Honorius, becoming the de facto commander-in-chief of the Roman armies in the West. In 395, Alaric broke his treaty with Rome and raided into Thrace, and Stilicho defeated his forces in Macedonia in 397. Later that year, he quelled Gildo's rebellion in North Africa, and he was appointed Consul in 400. In 398, a war with the Picts of Britain went badly, but, in 402, he saved Italia from Alaric after defeating him at the Battle of Pollentia, earning him a triumphal parade. In 406, he defeated Radagasius' Gothic invasion at Ticinum (Pavia). However, the crossing of the Rhine by the Vandals, Ostrogoths, Alans, and Suebi that same year overshadowed his successes. At the same time, it was rumored that Stilicho planned to place his son on the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire following the death of Arcadius, and, on 13 August 408, the Roman army at Ticinum mutinied and killed seven senior imperial officers. Stilicho was arrested in Ravenna, and he was executed on 22 August 408, followed by his son.