Valentinian dynasty
The Valentinian dynasty, commonly known as the Valentinianic dynasty, was a ruling house of five generations of dynasts, including five Roman emperors during late antiquity, lasting nearly a hundred years from the mid fourth to the mid fifth century. They succeeded the Constantinian dynasty and reigned over the Roman Empire from 364 to 392 and from 425 to 455, with an interregnum, during which the Theodosian dynasty ruled and eventually succeeded them. The Theodosians, who intermarried into the Valentinian house, ruled concurrently in the east after 379.
The Valentinian dynasty's patriarch was Gratianus Funarius, whose sons Valentinian I and Valens were both made Roman emperors in 364. Valentinian I's two sons, Gratian and Valentinian II both became emperors. Valentinian I's daughter Galla married Theodosius the Great, the emperor of the eastern empire, who with his descendants formed the Theodosian dynasty. In turn, their daughter, Galla Placidia married a later emperor, Constantius III. Their son, Valentinian III, who ruled in the west, was the last emperor of the dynasty, whose death marked the end of dynasties in the western empire. During the interregnum, Theodosius' son Honorius ruled in the west, and concurrently with Constantius III in 421. The dynasty has been labelled as Pannonian, based on the family origin in Pannonia Secunda in the western Balkans.
Under the Valentinians, dynastic rule was consolidated and the division of the empire into west and east became increasingly entrenched. The empire was subject to repeated incursions along its borders, with the Danube frontier eventually collapsing in the northeast and barbarian invasions in the west eventually reaching Italy, and culminating with the sack of Rome in 410 during the Theodosian interregnum, which foreshadowed the eventual dissolution of the western empire in the late fifth century.
Background
The Valentinian dynasty was a ruling house during the Late Roman Empire, in Late antiquity, including the turbulent years of the late fourth century, and the last dynasty of the western empire. The death of Julian was a pivotal point in the history of the empire. The thirty years from the death of Julian, which ended the Constantinian dynasty, to the death of Valentinian II ending the first Valentinian dynasty, were one of the most critical periods in the late Roman Empire, structuring the empire in ways that would have long lasting consequences. The succeeding thirty years from the death of Theodosius I to the death of his sons and ascent of Valentinian III saw the foundations of the Byzantine Empire in the east and the replacement of the western Roman empire with European kingdoms together with a series of events that led to the emergence of the mediaeval Islamic states. The period of the preceding Constantinian age reaffirmed the importance of dynasty in legitimacy and succession. This new dynastic structure would last until 454. The house of Valentinian established continuity and succession from the Constantinians through marriages to a granddaughter and grand-niece of Constantine. This granddaughter, Constantia, the only surviving child of Constantius II, played an important role as a symbol of her dynasty for decades. The Constantinian legacy being described as the "indelible glow of empire". While imperial heirs were relatively rare in this period, the marriages of imperial women raised special concerns, as possibly leading to the raising of pretenders to the throne. A number of them, such as Gratian's half-sisters, took a vow to become dedicated virgins. Yet it was also an era in which women, either as empresses or as emperor consorts, rose to unprecedented power. Another feature of this dynasty was the successive appointment of child emperors, radically changing the traditional image of emperors as men of deeds. With Valentinian's division of the empire in a new way, in 364, the two parts of the empire, east and west would progressively develop their own histories, until the split became permanent on the death of Theodosius I.The Roman Empire had controlled all lands surrounding the Mediterranean, a "Roman lake" surrounded by foreign lands, since the second century, with little loss of territory. These lands stretched from, in the northeast, Hadrian's Wall in the north of England, to the river Euphrates in Mesopotamia in the middle east. The main regions of the empire, from west to east, were Hispania, Gallia, Britannia, Italia, in the Balkans Illyrium and Thracia, Asia, and Oriens. While on the southern Mediterranean shore lay Africa in the west and Aegyptus in the east. However, it faced a number of challenges on its frontiers, including the Sasanian Persians to the east, while to the north, what had been small fragmented incursions of Barbarians was becoming mass migrations of peoples such as the Franks on the lower Rhine, the Alamanni in the former Agri Decumates lands between the Rhine and Danube and the Goths on the lower Danube. This period was one in which the Roman Empire, already divided on an east–west axis, became consolidated as two empires, following the death of Theodosius I. Although both partes continued to cooperate and preserved the constitutional myth of a single jurisdictional unit, and that an emperor rules everywhere, no western emperor would ever rule in the east again, or eastern emperor in the west. The dynasty was relatively short lived in the east, being replaced by the house of Theodosius following the death of the first eastern emperor, Valens, in 378. In the west, following an interlude during which Honorius, a Theodosian, reigned, Valentinian III continued the dynasty until his death in 455. During this period, the empire struggled against both external migratory tribes and internal pretenders and usurpers, with frequent civil war. By the end of the dynasty, the western empire was crumbling and Rome had been sacked. The Valentinian dynasty also saw the reintroduction of Christianity after a brief period during which the emperor Julian attempted to reimpose traditional Roman religions, but tolerance and religious freedom persisted for some time in the west. The dynasty not only saw a struggle between paganism and Christianity, but between two major factions within Christianity, the Nicenes and the homoians.
Julian had died in 363 during an ill-fated expedition against the Sasanian Persian capital Ctesiphon. His successor, Jovian was faced with little alternative than to accept the terms laid down by Sapor, the Sasanian king, ceding a number of provinces and cities to the Persians. The terms of the peace treaty also forbad the Romans from involvement in Armenian affairs to assist Arsaces, the Armenian king who had been Julian's ally during the war. This peace was to last thirty years
Administration
Military administration
The major divisions of the late Roman army included a central force, ready for deployment, and the forces stationed in the provinces and on the frontier under the command of a dux, e.g. dux Armeniae. Of these the comitatenses had the higher status and was also called praesental, i.e. in the presence of the emperor. The third division was the imperial bodyguard, answering directly to the emperor, but under the magister officiorum. These scholae were cavalry units, whose names originally derived from their equipment. The scholae scutariorum refer to their shields. This was the unit from which Valentinian I, the first of the Valentinian emperors, was drawn. In the armies stationed in Thracia and Illyricum the local commander had the title of comes rei militaris, a rank between dux and magister. The organisational structure is outlined in the contemporary document, the notitia dignitatum, a list of all the administrative positions. It became common to append the honorific comes to magistri positions. The Notitia lists six comites, including comes Africae and comes Britanniarum, responsible for the defence of Africa and Britain respectively. Other military comites include the comes et magister utriusque militiae and comites domesticorum.Originally there was a separate command for the infantry under the Master of Foot and cavalry under the Master of Horse, with command in the praesental army specified as e.g. magister peditum praesentalis. Later these posts came under a single command, the Master of the Soldiers As the army became increasingly dependent on recruiting forces from neighbouring peoples, predominantly German, these units were referred to as federate units.
Within the Emperor's palace, a military corps, the protectorum composed of the protectores domestici, under the command of the comes domesticorum. This commander or general was equivalent to the magister officiorum in the civilian branch, but below the magistri militum. Protectores could also be assigned to the magistri or provincial commands. The title protector could also be used as an honorific.
Civilian administration
in Italy, as the empire's nominative capital, had become increasingly irrelevant, the seat of power being where the emperor was at any one time, which military considerations meant was frequently the frontiers, and emperors visited the city infrequently. During the late third century, a number of new imperial cities were established, Mediolanum in northern Italy and Nikomedia in Turkey as the principal residences, while lesser status was awarded to Arelate in Gaul, Augusta Treverorum or Treveri in Germany, Serdica in the Balkans, and Antioch in Syria, while Rome remained the home of the Senate and aristocracy.The founding of Constantinople in 324 had progressively shifted the administrative axis eastwards, while Mediolanum and Aquileia, on the eastern edge of Italy became more important politically. While the eastern empire was centred on Constantinople, the western empire was never ruled from the historic capital of Rome, but from Trevorum, then Mediolanum in 381 and Vienne, Gaul. Finally Honorius, besieged by Visigoths in Mediolanum in 402 transferred to Ravenna, the capital of Flaminia et Picenum Annonarium on the north east coast of Italy. The seat of Government returned to Rome in 440 under Valentinian III. Other imperial residences included the Balkan centres of Sirmium and Thessalonica. With the division of the empire, power became concentrated in two principal cities. Local government was three tiered with provinces grouped into dioceses governed by vicarrii, and finally into the three geographically defined praetorian prefectures. The division by Valentinian and his brother contained one anomaly, with the Balkan Peninsula being initially in the west. The east consisted of a single prefecture, the praefectura praetorio Orientis, while in the west, there was the praefectura praetorio Galliarum and the central praefectura praetorio Italiae, Illyrici et Africae
Officials at the comitatus and bureaucracy included two major groups with similar functions who acted between the court and the provinces. Court officials were known as palatini. Members of the scholae were scholarares ''''. The schola notariorum were the notaries, who were clerks that formed the imperial secretariat and who drafted and authenticated documents. Principal among these were the senior secretaries. The notarii carried out a wide range of imperial missions, including being informants. The other was the schola agentum in rebus. These were the agentes in rebus, or agents of business, answerable to the magister officiorum, who was the head of the palatine administration or Imperial Chancellor, and drew his staff from within their ranks. They could also hold appointments within the central clerical bureaux. The magister officiorum was also responsible for the organisation of the schola notariorum. The primicerius of the schola maintained the notitia dignitatum, and like the magister drew from the ranks of his schola, who could also hold positions in the scrinia.
Three such scrinia were found at the Imperial court, the scrinium memoriae, scrinium epistularum and scrinium libellorum, each under a bureau director, and these magistri scriniorum reported in turn to the magister officiorum.
The palatini included both civilian and military personnel