The Political Crisis of AD 375–376

Abstract

The emperor Valentinian I died of a sudden stroke on 17 November 375; five days later his courtiers elevated his four-year-old son Valentinian II to Augustus in his place, without consulting the two other ruling emperors, Valens and Gratian. This article goes beyond Girardet’s proof that the young emperor was not recognized by his colleagues until March or April 376 to suggest that other events of the period need to be seen as linked to this crisis over the succession. This article identifies and examines in succession three narratives which previous scholarship has treated separately: first, the accession of Valentinian II, where Ammianus Marcellinus’ account is shown to be tendentious by other evidence; secondly, the establishment of Gratian’s regime and his court’s rebuilding of its relationship with the Roman senate, culminating in the fall of his praetorian prefect Maximinus, for which the evidence comes above all from Symmachus, Themistius, and Gratian’s legislation; thirdly the mysterious execution of Count Theodosius, Valentinian I’s most successful general. The link between the first two narratives emerges as particularly important. The conclusion also reflects on some of the broader political implications for our understanding of the fourth century as a whole, including the role of child emperors and the development of regional praetorian prefectures.