Patricians and Emperors

The assassination of Valentinian III in 455 opened two decades in which Western Roman emperors rose and fell under the pressure of military commanders, eastern intervention and rival regional powers. Hughes begins with the final consequences of Aëtius’s death and follows the careers of Avitus, Majorian and the generals who attempted to preserve authority in Gaul, Italy, Spain and Africa. Particular attention is given to Ricimer, whose control of the army allowed him to support, constrain and depose successive emperors.

The later sections examine Anthemius, the failed expedition against Gaiseric, the ascendancy of Gundobad and Orestes and the deposition of Romulus Augustus by Odoacer in 476. Rather than treating the end of the West as a single event, the book reconstructs a sequence of shrinking resources, broken coalitions and disputed legitimacy. It also explains how Roman institutions and political identities continued within the kingdoms that replaced imperial government.