The Fall Of The West (COMPLETED)

Part 3: The Great Chaos

When Rome was sacked, word has it that a servant tearfully revealed the news to Honorius. Honorius was thunderstruck and said,"But she was eating corn from my hand not an hour ago!"

It turns out that Honorius reputedly had a hobby of raising chickens, and his favorite was named "Roma". After clarifying the misunderstanding, Honorius was relieved and did not pursue the matter. This story is probably made up, but it shows the increasing irrelevance of the Roman emperor and the condescending attitude of the Romans towards Honorius.

Fearful of Germanic invasion and seeking some stability in a world that was tearing itself up, around the same period of time when the Vandals crossed the Rhine, the British provinces rose up in revolt against the empire, and elevated a man named Constantine to be emperor. Constantine quickly crossed the British Channel into Bononia, taking with him all the troops in Britain.

Romans. Image courtesy of Attila Total War.

By May 408 AD Constantine had forced the imperial forces back into Italy and had obtained control of Gaul, making Arles his capital. In the summer of 408 AD Constantine sent his son Constans to strike at Hispania, where loyalists of the Theodosian dynasty were still strong. After they were defeated, Honorius, now without any significant military power and with Alaric marauding in Italy, recognized Constantine as co-emperor.

However Constantine's luck began to fail him. One of his generals in Hispania, Gerontius, rebelled and raised Maximus as emperor. While Constans prepared to march on Hispania, the barbarians that had been marauding in Gaul now broke through the Pyreenes. Gerontius gained the support of the barbarians and marched against Constantine in 409 AD.

At the same time, the unprotected British provinces were attacked by Saxon and Frisian pirates. Angry that Constantine had forgotten about them, the British rebelled against him and expelled his officials.

Saxons. Image courtesy of Attila Total War.

Constantine's position was precarious. He took a last gamble, and marched on Italy itself with the remnant of his forces. However, in the late spring of 410 AD, he was defeated and forced to retreat back into Gaul.

Constans was captured and killed by Gerontius at Vienne in 411 AD, and Constantine himself was trapped and besieged in Arles. However, a capable general of Honorius, Constantius, came and drove off Gerontius, and took over the siege of Arles. Constantine surrendered himself, as he had no more allies coming to help him any more. Despite the promises of safe passage back to Ravenna, Constantius had Constantine beheaded on the way back in the autumn of 411 AD.

Ataulf, now leading the Visigoths out of Italy, defeated another usurper, Jovinus, and gained friendly terms with Honorius, so much so that he was able to cement those friendly relations by marrying Honorius's sister and a hostage of the Goths, Galla Placidia, in January 414 AD. Priscus Attalus gave the wedding speech.

Visigoths. Image courtesy of Attila Total War.

The Visigoths were then granted land in Gaul, where Ataulf established a kingdom in Narbonne and Toulouse. However Constantius poisoned the relations between the empire and the Goths, and established a naval blockade at Narbonne. His blockade was successful, and the Visigoths had to retreat to northern Hispania in 415 AD. Attalus was captured and killed by Constantius.

Ataulf was murdered in Hispania, and his successor Wallia then signed a treaty with Constantius, pledging to fight as foederati against the Vandals, Alans, and Suebi who were in Hispania.
Galla Placidia was also released, and back in Ravenna she married Constantius, bearing two children, one of them being the future emperor Valentinian III.

In February 421 AD, Constantius was proclaimed co-emperor by Honorius. However the eastern emperor Theodosius II did not recognize this claim. Constantius was preparing to march against Constantinople to legitimize his claim when he died suddenly in September 421 AD.

Honorius might have developed an unnatural attraction to his sister, so Galla Placidia fled to Constantinople with her children. Honorius died of edema in 423 AD.

The reign of Honorius was, to say the least, chaotic. Within 28 years, the Western empire had been eroded by barbarians and usurpers to the point where the only real imperial power was left in Italy and Africa. The historian J.B. Bury wrote, "His name would be forgotten among the obscurest occupants of the Imperial throne were it not that his reign coincided with the fatal period in which it was decided that western Europe was to pass from the Roman to the Teuton." Honorius was one of the most incompetent Roman emperors, but also one of the most fortunate ones, because he managed to live through his entire chaotic reign, and see every single one of his usurpers be defeated.

Honorius's reign revealed the weaknesses of the Roman Empire in stark reality. The Romans were disunited, and the officials were mostly fighting amongst themselves for more power and status. Those who were truly loyal met with a very bad end. Throughout his entire reign, Honorius never really broke free from the control of men behind the throne like Stilicho and Constantius, and as such he never really learned to take things in his hands. This also increased the toxicity in the political climate, as men would kill to be able to have the emperor at his whim.

Trivia: Honorius issued a decree that men in Rome were not allowed to wear trousers. The last gladiator fight occurred during his reign.