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VALENS
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VALENS , See also:East See also:Roman See also:emperor from 364 to 378, owed his See also:elevation in the See also:thirty-See also:sixth See also:year of his See also:age to his See also:brother Valentinian, who See also:chose him to be his See also:associate in the See also:empire, of which a formal See also:division into East and See also:West was now once for all definitively arranged (see VALENTINIAN I.). Valens had been attached to See also:Julian's bodyguard, but he did not inherit the military ability of his See also:father, See also:Gratian of See also:Pannonia, who had risen from the ranks to a high position. A revolt headed by See also:Procopius in the second year of his reign, and backed up by the public See also:opinion of See also:Constantinople and the sympathy of the See also:Gothic princes and chiefs on the See also:Danube, seemed so alarming to him that he thought of negotiation; but in the following year the revolt collapsed before the firmness of his ministers and generals. In the year 366 Valens at one stroke reduced the taxes of the empire by one-See also:fourth, a very popular measure, though one of questionable policy in the See also:face of the threatening attitude of the Goths on the See also:lower Danube. Before venturing on a See also:campaign against them, Valens received See also:baptism from See also:Eudoxus, the See also:bishop of Constantinople and the See also:leader of the Arian party. After some small successes over the Goths, won by his generals (367-9), Valens concluded a See also:peace with them, which lasted six years, on a See also:general understanding that the Danube was to be the boundary between Goths and See also:Romans. On his return to Constantinople in 369–70 Valens began to persecute his orthodox and See also:Catholic subjects, but he lacked the See also:energy to carry out his edicts rigorously.
In the years 371 to 377 Valens was in See also:Asia See also:Minor, most of the See also:time at the Syrian See also:Antioch. Though anxious to avoid an Eastern See also:war, because of danger nearer See also:home from the restlessness of the Goths, he was compelled to take the See also: Between 374 and 377 we read of grievous complaints of injustice and See also:extortion perpetrated under legal forms, the result probably of the See also:recent panic, and pointing to an increasing weakness and timidity at headquarters. Although preparations were made for following up the war with Persia and securing the frontier, a truce was patched up, rather to the disadvantage of the empire, Armenia and the adjacent See also:country being See also:half conquered and annexed by Shapur. The armies of See also:Rome, in fact, were wanted in another See also:quarter. The See also:Huns, of whom we now hear for the first time, were beginning in 376 to See also:press the Goths from the See also:north, and the latter asked leave of the emperor to See also:cross the Danube into Roman territory. This they were allowed to do, on the See also:condition that they came unarmed, and their See also:children were transported to Asia as hostages. The conditions, however, were not observed by the imperial generals, who for their own profit forced the new settlers to buy See also:food at See also:famine prices. Accordingly, the enraged Goths, under their See also:chief Fritigern, streamed across the Balkans into See also:Thrace and the country See also:round See also:Adrianople, plundering, burning and slaughtering as they went. They were driven back for a time, but re-turned in the See also:spring of 378 in greater force, with a contingent of Huns and Alans; and again, after some repulses, they penetrated to the neighbourhood of Adrianople. Valens, who had now returned to Constantinople, See also:left the See also:capital in May 378 with a strong and well-officered See also:army. Without awaiting the arrival of his See also:nephew Gratian, emperor of the West, who had just won a See also:great victory over one of the barbarous tribes
'Amm. Marc. See also:xxix. 1; the narrative is brief and not very clear.of See also:Germany in See also:Alsace, Valens attacked the enemy at once, although his troops had to go into See also:action heated and fatigued by a See also:long See also: The See also:battle, which was fought on confined ground in a valley, was decided by a See also:cavalry See also:charge of the Alans and Sarmatians, which threw the Roman See also:infantry into confusion and hemmed it in so closely that the men could scarcely draw their swords. The slaughter, which continued till the See also:complete destruction of the Roman army, was one of the greatest recorded in antiquity. Valens either perished on the field, or, as some said, in a cottage fired by the enemy. From the battle of Adrianople the Goths permanently established themselves See also:south of the Danube. See See also:Ammianus See also:Marcellinus, bks. 26—31; E. See also:Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (ed. See also:Bury, See also:London, 1896), chs. 25—26; W. Judeich in Deutsche Zeitschrift See also:fur Geschichtswissenschaft (1891), pp. 1-21. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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