Arcadius and Honorius, Emperors of Rome. Part 1

When Emperor Theodosius I died in January 395, his young sons Arcadius and Honorius became joint emperors, with Arcadius (then aged 17) taking charge of the eastern empire and 10-year-old Honorius becoming the western emperor. However, Theodosius was well aware that his sons were too young to have full authority, so on his deathbed he appointed Stilicho, his Magister Militum, as their guardian. Stilicho, who had a German father and a Roman mother, thus became the driving force behind the early years of the reigns of the new emperors.

<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/solidus-Byzantine-coin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Source</a>

(A solidus coin of Arcadius)

Another man who would come to have a huge influence on the development of the empire was Alaric, a Gothic general who had been part of the community settled by Theodosius in the Balkans in 382 on the understanding that they would give military service to the Romans when called upon to do so.

Alaric proved to be a less than loyal servant of Rome. Stilicho and Alaric had been active in the force that had defeated Arbogast –Theodosius’s chief rival for power – but Alaric took exception to being forced to use his Goth soldiers against fellow but opposing Goths. This turned his mind to seeking the downfall of Rome, but this ambition would not be realized for some time yet.

(Stilicho)

On the death of Theodosius in 395, Stilicho travelled east, but was not welcomed with open arms by the officers who served the new eastern emperor. Arcadius had been persuaded not to accept Stilicho as his guardian, the main persuader being a eunuch named Eutropius who was effectively his controller.

Stilicho thought he had made a wise move by entrusting negotiations to Gainas, a fellow Goth, who he placed in charge of his eastern army. However, Gainas promptly changed sides and allied himself with Eutropius, thus creating an effective block between the western and eastern empires.

Stilicho’s next problem was Alaric, who saw an opportunity in 399 to mount a raid into the Greek peninsula. Stilicho dealt with the threat effectively enough, but instead of punishing Alaric for his disloyalty he allowed him to escape back to the north. It may well have been the case that Stilicho saw Alaric as a potential ally in any future war between west and east.

<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/enemiesrome_gallery_01.shtml" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Source</a>

(A highly imaginative portrait of Alaric)

Gainas was clearly not a man to be trusted. He firstly engineered a plot to discredit Eutropius, who was executed as a result, and then managed to annoy enough of the people of Constantinple to make them rise in rebellion and force him out of the city. He was caught and killed by Uldin, king of the Huns, who showed his loyalty to Arcadius by sending him the head of Gainas.

In 401 Alaric invaded Italy and drove Emperor Honorius out of his palace at Milan, besieging him for several months at his new headquarters in the city of Asta. Stilicho and Alaric fought a running war well into 402, ending with Alaric’s defeat near Verona. However, once again Stilicho allowed Alaric to escape unscathed and return to the Balkans.

In 406 another tribe invaded the western empire, this being the Alamanni, led by Radagaisus, who crossed the upper Rhine and headed towards Italy. In order to deal with this threat Stilicho called on Uldin of the Huns to augment his army, and the joint forces were able to defeat the Alamanni, many of whom were either forced into the Roman army or sold into slavery.

At the end of 407 an even worse threat was posed by a force of Vandals, Alans and Suevi who swept from central Europe into Gaul. These would prove to be very stubborn migrants, and many of them would never be forced out of the empire. Stilicho’s task was made more difficult by the fact that the commander of the Roman army in Britannia, Constantine (not to be confused with any previous emperors of the same or similar names!), promptly declared himself emperor (as Constantine III) and moved into Gaul, which had the effect of driving the barbarian settlers south and west.

Stilicho’s problems just continued to pile up on each other. Uldin was not willing to help a second time, which left Stilicho too weak to challenge Constantine on his own.

Another difficultly was that Stilicho was finding support draining away on all sides. Emperor Honorius had married Stilicho’s daughter, but had come to detest her. Honorius’s courtiers, who were mostly Romans, had developed a dislike of Germans, who now comprised a large proportion of the army. Stilicho was himself half-German.

Arcadius died in May 408, aged only 31, to be succeeded by his 7-year-old son Theodosius (known to history as Theodosius II). Stilicho was in two minds whether to take an army eastwards or to concentrate his attention on the threat posed by Constantine in the west. Just for good measure, Alaric had popped up once again with an army heading for northern Italy.

Stilicho’s response was to buy Alaric off with a huge tribute and head towards Gaul. However, the anti-German sentiment in the western imperial establishment proved to be too difficult to counter and Stilicho fell victim to a mutiny. He was killed at Ravenna in August 408.

(Continued in Part 2)