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HONORIUS, FLAVIUS (384-423)

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 662 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HONORIUS, FLAVIUS (384-423) , son of See also:Theodosius I., ascended the See also:throne as " See also:emperor of the See also:West " in 395. The See also:history of the first thirteen years of the reign of Honorius is inseparably connected with the name of See also:Stilicho (q.v.), his See also:guardian and See also:father-in-See also:law. During this See also:period the revolt of the See also:African See also:prince Gildo was suppressed (398); See also:Italy was successfully defended against See also:Alaric, who was defeated at See also:Pollentia (402) and See also:Verona (403); and the See also:barbarian hordes under the Goth Radagaisus were destroyed (406). After the downfall and See also:murder of Stilicho (408), the result of See also:palace intrigues, the emperor was under the See also:control of incompetent favourites. In the same See also:year See also:Rome was besieged, and in 410, for the second See also:time in its history, taken and sacked by Alaric, who for a See also:short time set up the See also:city See also:prefect Attalus as a See also:rival emperor, but soon deposed him as incapable. Alaric died in the same year, and in 412 Honorius concluded See also:peace with his See also:brother-in-law and successor, See also:Ataulphus (See also:Adolphus), who married the emperor's See also:sister Placidia and removed with his troops to See also:southern See also:Gaul. A number of usurpers laid claim to the throne, the most important of whom was See also:Constantine. In 409 See also:Britain and See also:Armorica declared their See also:independence, which was confirmed by Honorius himself, and were thus practically lost to the See also:empire. Honorius was one of the feeblest emperors who ever occupied the throne, and the dismemberment of the West was only temporarily averted by the efforts of Stilicho, and, later, of See also:Constantius, a capable See also:general who overthrew the usurpers and was rewarded with a See also:share in the See also:government. It was only as a supporter of the orthodox See also:church and persecutor of the See also:heathen that Honorius displayed any See also:energy. In 399 the exercise of the See also:pagan cult was prohibited, and the revenues of the temples, which were to be appropriated for the use of the public or pulled down, were confiscated to defray the expenses of the See also:army. Honorius was equally severe on heretics, such as the See also:Donatists and Manichaeans.

He is also to be credited with the abolition of the gladiatorial shows in 404 (although there is said to be See also:

evidence of their existence later), a reduction of the taxes, improvements in criminal law, and the reorganization of the defensores civitatum, municipal See also:officers whose See also:duty it was ;.a defend the rights of the See also:people and set forth their grievances. Honorius at first established his See also:court at See also:Milan, but, on the See also:report of the invasion of Italy, fled to See also:Ravenna, where he resided till his See also:death on the 27th of See also:August 423. See See also:Gibbon, Decline and Fall, chs. 28-33 ; J. B. See also:Bury, Later See also:Roman Empire, i. chs. 1-5, ii. chs. 4, 6; E. A. See also:Freeman, " Tyrants of Britain, Gaul and See also:Spain" in Eng. His'. See also:Review (See also:January 1886); T.

See also:

Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders (See also:Oxford, 1892), i. chs. 13, 15-18.

End of Article: HONORIUS, FLAVIUS (384-423)

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