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Avitus
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Avitus
Eparchius Avitus (died 456/7) was Roman emperor of the Western Empire from July 455 to October 456. He was a senator of Gallic extraction and a high-ranking officer both in the civil and military administration, as well as Bishop of Piacenza.
He opposed the reduction of the Western Roman Empire to Italy alone, both politically and from an administrative point of view. For this reason, as Emperor he introduced several Gallic senators in the Imperial administration; this policy, however, was opposed by the senatorial aristocracy and by the people of Rome, who had suffered from the sack of the city by the Vandals in 455.
Avitus had a good relationship with the Visigoths, in particular with their king Theodoric II, who was a friend of his and who acclaimed Avitus Emperor. The possibility of a strong and useful alliance between the Visigoths and Romans faded, however, when Theodoric invaded Hispania at Avitus' behest, which rendered him unable to help Avitus against the rebel Roman generals who deposed him.
Avitus was born in Clermont, in a town now within modern day France, into a family of the Gallo-Roman nobility. His father was possibly Agricola, Roman consul in 421.
Avitus had two sons, Agricola (fl 455 – living 507, a vir illustris) and Ecdicius Avitus (later patricius and magister militum under Emperor Julius Nepos) and a daughter Papianilla; she married Sidonius Apollinaris, whose letters and panegyrics remain an important source for Avitus' life and times.
Avitus followed a course of study typical for a young man of his rank, including law. Before 421 he was sent to the powerful patricius Flavius Constantius (briefly Emperor in 421) to ask for a tax reduction for his own country; this embassy was successful. His relative Theodorus was held hostage at the court of the King of the Visigoths, Theodoric I. In 425–426, Avitus went and met him and the King, who let Avitus enter his own court. Here, around 439, Avitus met the son of Theodoric, Theodoric II, who later became King. Avitus inspired the young Theodoric to study Latin poets.
He then started a military career serving under the magister militum Aetius in his campaign in the Alps against the Juthungi and the Norics (430–431) and against the Burgundians (436). In 437, after being elevated to the rank of vir illustris, he returned to Avernia, where he held a high office, probably magister militum per Gallias. In the same year, he defeated a group of Hunnic raiders near Clermont and obliged Theodoric to lift the siege of Narbonne. In 439, he became Praetorian prefect of Gaul and renewed the friendship treaty with the Visigoths.
Before the summer of 440, he retired to private life at his estate, Avitacum, near Clermont. Here he lived until 451, when the Huns, led by Attila, invaded the Western Roman Empire; Avitus persuaded Theodoric into an alliance with Rome, and the combined forces of Theodoric and Aetius defeated Attila in the Battle of Châlons; Theodoric died in the battle.
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Avitus
Eparchius Avitus (died 456/7) was Roman emperor of the Western Empire from July 455 to October 456. He was a senator of Gallic extraction and a high-ranking officer both in the civil and military administration, as well as Bishop of Piacenza.
He opposed the reduction of the Western Roman Empire to Italy alone, both politically and from an administrative point of view. For this reason, as Emperor he introduced several Gallic senators in the Imperial administration; this policy, however, was opposed by the senatorial aristocracy and by the people of Rome, who had suffered from the sack of the city by the Vandals in 455.
Avitus had a good relationship with the Visigoths, in particular with their king Theodoric II, who was a friend of his and who acclaimed Avitus Emperor. The possibility of a strong and useful alliance between the Visigoths and Romans faded, however, when Theodoric invaded Hispania at Avitus' behest, which rendered him unable to help Avitus against the rebel Roman generals who deposed him.
Avitus was born in Clermont, in a town now within modern day France, into a family of the Gallo-Roman nobility. His father was possibly Agricola, Roman consul in 421.
Avitus had two sons, Agricola (fl 455 – living 507, a vir illustris) and Ecdicius Avitus (later patricius and magister militum under Emperor Julius Nepos) and a daughter Papianilla; she married Sidonius Apollinaris, whose letters and panegyrics remain an important source for Avitus' life and times.
Avitus followed a course of study typical for a young man of his rank, including law. Before 421 he was sent to the powerful patricius Flavius Constantius (briefly Emperor in 421) to ask for a tax reduction for his own country; this embassy was successful. His relative Theodorus was held hostage at the court of the King of the Visigoths, Theodoric I. In 425–426, Avitus went and met him and the King, who let Avitus enter his own court. Here, around 439, Avitus met the son of Theodoric, Theodoric II, who later became King. Avitus inspired the young Theodoric to study Latin poets.
He then started a military career serving under the magister militum Aetius in his campaign in the Alps against the Juthungi and the Norics (430–431) and against the Burgundians (436). In 437, after being elevated to the rank of vir illustris, he returned to Avernia, where he held a high office, probably magister militum per Gallias. In the same year, he defeated a group of Hunnic raiders near Clermont and obliged Theodoric to lift the siege of Narbonne. In 439, he became Praetorian prefect of Gaul and renewed the friendship treaty with the Visigoths.
Before the summer of 440, he retired to private life at his estate, Avitacum, near Clermont. Here he lived until 451, when the Huns, led by Attila, invaded the Western Roman Empire; Avitus persuaded Theodoric into an alliance with Rome, and the combined forces of Theodoric and Aetius defeated Attila in the Battle of Châlons; Theodoric died in the battle.
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