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VALENTINIAN III

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 852 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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VALENTINIAN III ., See also:

emperor of the See also:West from 425 to 455, the son of See also:Constantius and Placidia, daughter of the See also:great See also:Theodosius. He was only six years of See also:age when he received the See also:title of See also:Augustus, and during his minority the conduct of affairs was in the hands of his See also:mother, who purposely neglected his See also:education. His reign is marked by the dismemberment of the Western See also:Empire; the See also:conquest of the See also:province of See also:Africa by the See also:Vandals in 439; the final See also:abandonment of See also:Britain in 446; the loss of great portions of See also:Spain and See also:Gaul, in which the barbarians had established themselves; and the ravaging of See also:Sicily and of the western coasts of the Mediterranean by the fleets of Genseric. As a set-off against these calamities there was the great victory of See also:Aetius over See also:Attila in 451 near Chalons, and his successful See also:campaigns against the Visigoths in See also:southern Gaul (426, 429, 436), and against various invaders on the See also:Rhine and See also:Danube (428-31). The See also:burden of See also:taxation became more and more intolerable as the See also:power of See also:Rome decreased, and the See also:loyalty of her remaining provinces was seriously impaired in consequence. See also:Ravenna was Valentinian's usual See also:residence; but he fled to Rome on the approach of Attila, who, after ravaging the See also:north of See also:Italy, died in the following See also:year (453)• In 454 Aetius, between whose son and a daughter of the emperor a See also:marriage had been arranged, was treacherously murdered by Valentinian. Next year, however, the emperor himself was assassinated by two of the See also:barbarian followers of Aetius. He not merely lacked the ability to govern the empire in a See also:time of crisis, but aggravated its dangers by his self-See also:indulgence and vindictiveness. Our See also:chief See also:original See also:sources for the reign of Valentinian III. are Jordanes, Prosper's See also:Chronicles, written in the 6th See also:century, and the poet See also:Apollinaris Sidonius. See also See also:Gibbon Decline and Fall, chaps. 33—35; J. B.

See also:

Bury, Later See also:Roman Empire, bk. ii. chaps. 6—8; E. A. See also:Freeman, " Tyrants of Britain, Gaul and Spain " (Eng. Hist. See also:Review, See also:January 1886), and Aetius and See also:Boniface " (ibid., See also:July 1887).

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