Libius Severus
Libius Severus, sometimes enumerated as Severus III, was Western Roman emperor from November 19, 461, to his death on November 14, 465. A native of Lucania, Severus was the fourth of the so-called "Shadow Emperors" who followed the deposition of the Valentinianic dynasty in 455. He ruled for just under four years, attaining the throne after his predecessor, Majorian, was overthrown by his magister militum, Ricimer. Severus was the first of a series of emperors who were highly dependent on the general, and it is often presumed that Ricimer held most of the de facto power during Severus's reign.
Severus's reign was marked by diplomatic tension and an erosion of Rome's control over the non-Italian provinces. Diplomatically, Severus failed to secure the eastern emperor Leo's recognition, and the alliance Majorian had made with Vandal king Gaiseric crumbled as the Vandals raided Italy. In Gaul and Dalmatia officials loyal to Majorian refused to submit to Severus's rule, and Northern Italy was invaded by the Alans.
Severus remains an extremely obscure figure. The ancient sources are almost completely mute on his life and character. Because of the size of Ricimer's influence, no single imperial action can be definitively attributed to Severus; thus the [|extent of Ricimer's control] over imperial affairs during the reign of Severus remains a point of contention among scholars.
Name
Modern scholars are in agreement that Severus's first two names are Libius Severus. However, in Late Latin, the interchanging of b and v became common, and thus Severus's cognomen is sometimes rendered incorrectly as Livius.In addition to these two names, Severus is sometimes referred to by a third [|name], Serpentius. The Chronicon Paschale uses only this name for the emperor, and the chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor uses both Severus and Serpentius. Modern scholars are divided as to the authority of this attribution: some say the text is corrupt and its meaning uncertain, while others argue it was a signum or supernomen deriving from the word for serpent. Among those who accept the name, its source—whether it is of Eastern or Western origin—is also disputed.
Background
Geopolitical background
By the time of Severus, the Roman Empire's governance had been firmly split between two centers of power: one in the East centered at Constantinople and one in the West centered at either Rome or Ravenna. During the late fourth and early fifth century the East saw a period of relative peace. The West on the other hand underwent a series of invasions, major political upheavals, and losses of important provinces. By the early 460s, Britain had been abandoned, Africa had been conquered by the Vandals, and Hispania was occupied by the Suebi and the Visigoths.During this time, in both the Eastern and Western courts, barbarian generals became increasingly influential; at times, these generals' power rivaled even the emperors'. Of these figures, the most prominent in the West were Stilicho and Aëtius. After Aëtius's assassination in 454, the western empire entered a downward spiral. Valentinian was deposed, his surviving family was taken captive by Gaiseric, and the replacement emperor was killed while Rome was sacked.
Out of this political chaos, the magister militum Ricimer and general Majorian were able to quickly seize power. Ricimer was a popular and successful military commander, but because he was of non-Roman origin, he was not an acceptable candidate for emperor in the minds of the Senate and people of Rome. Thus, Majorian became emperor with Ricimer still retaining significant political and military authority.
Majorian's reign proved to be an active and healthy one. Recognized by the eastern emperor Leo I, Majorian's reign saw political reform and the strengthening of Roman control over Gaul and Hispania. However, in 461, Ricimer had Majorian killed. Though the ancient sources are almost unanimous on that Majorian was assassinated by Ricimer, it remains unclear why Ricimer carried out this act. One reading suggests that Ricimer wanted absolute power from the outset, and that Majorian proved too independent and capable for Ricimer to effectively control. Whatever his motives, Majorian's death cemented Ricimer as the most powerful man in the Western empire.
Personal background
Almost nothing is known about the person of Severus; perhaps the only definitive piece of personal information that has come down to us, aside from his name, is a single line in the Chronica Gallica of 511: "and Severus, from the Lucanian lands, was elevated as emperor and consul." One other source notes that Severus "lived religiously." Modern scholars speculate that he was a high-ranking member of society and very likely a senator. He seems to have spent most of his rule in Rome rather than Ravenna, but whether this was out of personal preference, political expediency, precedent set by Valentinian, or Ricimer's prerogative is unknown.Reign
After the death of Majorian, a three-month interregnum followed, where the title of Western Emperor remained unclaimed. During this interregnum, a political struggle for the succession ensued between Ricimer, eastern emperor Leo I, and Gaiseric, the King of the Vandals. Eventually, however, on 19 November 461, Severus was acclaimed augustus by the senate in Ravenna.Contested legitimacy
Throughout his reign, Severus's legitimacy proved to be a major political issue. Immediately after the death of Majorian, the western court faced three political obstacles:- Gaiseric, after capturing many of the women of Valentinian's family during the sack of Rome in 455, married them to his son Huneric and Italian nobleman Olybrius. Olybrius was now one of the senior male members of the Valentinian Dynasty and also Gaiseric's nephew-in-law. After the murder of Majorian, some ancient sources report that Gaiseric began raiding the Italian coast in an attempt to pressure Ricimer to depose Severus and elevate Olybrius.
- The eastern emperor Leo refused to recognize Severus, either as an augustus or as a consul. It seems that the official line in the east was that Severus's rule was invalid—the eastern historians who mention him, namely Marcellinus Comes and Jordanes, describe him as a usurper of the Western throne. This lack of recognition severely impeded cooperation between the two courts, and requests from the West for ships to relieve the besieged Italian coastlines were rejected. The eastern court did, however, recognize the western-appointed consul of 463, Caecina Decius Basilius, whose appointment some historians characterize as the result of negotiations between the two courts.
- Severus's reign was explicitly rejected by the magister militum per Gallias Aegidius and the semi-autonomous ruler of Illyricum Marcellinus. The revolt of these two commanders, formerly loyal to Majorian, meant the effective loss of two additional western provinces.
Provincial unrest
At the time of the ascension of Severus, Marcellinus, an important military official in Dalmacia, was in Sicily in command of an army of ‘Scythians’—tribesmen from beyond the Danube—likely recruited by Marcellinus personally. Marcellinus, closely aligned with the eastern court, seems not to have recognized Severus. The size of the army so close to Italy alarmed Ricimer, who used a combination of political pressure on the eastern court and bribery of the soldiers under Marcellinus's command to force Marcellinus back across the sea: According to two fragments of Priscus's History of Byzantium, Ricimer bribed all the soldiers under Marcellinus's command to switch sides, and convinced the eastern court to send a man named Phylarchus to Marcellinus to persuade him not to attack the West.In Gaul, Aegidius, though in revolt against Severus, was unable to cross the Alps as he was tied down defending against the Visigoths. Nevertheless, he maintained his independence in the north of Gaul for several years. To oppose Aegidius, Severus appointed Agrippinus to the office of magister militum per Gallias. Agrippinus asked for support from the Visigoths, and with their help moved against Aegidius and his Frankish allies, led by King Childeric I. However, in exchange for their support, in 462 the Visigoths received the city of Narbonne, thus gaining access to the Mediterranean Sea and separating Aegidius from the rest of the empire. After the death of Aegidius, Arvandus was appointed as Praetorian prefect of Gaul in 464.
In Northern Italy, there seems to have been an invasion of Alans under a king named Beorgor. The invasion culminated in the defeat of Beorgor at the Battle of Bergamo on 8 February 464. Little information is preserved about the invasion, but its presence in multiple sources including the Fasti Vindobonenses indicates that the invasion was a major one.
Conflict with the Vandals
After Severus's ascension, Gaiseric led the Vandals on a series of raids of the Italian coast. According to a fragment of John of Antioch's Historia Chronike, Gaiseric justified the raids by arguing that he was the rightful inheritor of Valentinian's and Aëtius's estates, as his son had married Valentinian's daughter Eudocia. Despite not pressing for Olybrius's enthronement explicitly, Gaiseric never relinquished his claim.Vandal raids deeply affected the economy of the Italian landowners. Priscus reports that at some point during Severus's reign, some representatives of the Italian aristocracy went to the Emperor to plead for a reconciliation with Gaiseric. Severus sent the patrician Tatian on an embassy to the king of the Vandals, but Gaiseric rejected the terms outright.