Roman Emperors

Marcus Aurelius Mausaeus Carausius and during Maximians campaign in Gaul, was chosen to command the Classis Britannica which was a large fleet situated in the English channel. The purpose of the fleet was to eliminate Saxon and Frankish pirates who had been terrorising the region but Maximian would soon find out that he was allowing the pirates to continue raids, then capture them and keep a large amount of the captured loot for himself. Maximian sentenced him to death and upon hearing about this sentence Carausius declared himself emperor of both Britain and northern Gaul. he had not only his fleet to support him but also three legions stationed in Britain, a legion seized in Gaul along with a group of barbarian mercenaries who were loyal only because of the promise of loot.

In 288, Maximian set about preparing his army to invade Britain but they failed. In 293 though, Carasius was defeated by Constantius Chlorus who was the western Caesar at the time, when he reclaimed Gaul.

With his power dwindling, Allectus who was Carausius’s treasurer saw this as a prime opportunity to take power and murdered him and took the power for himself.

Flavius Claudius Iovianus was born in 332 and was the son of the commander of the imperial bodyguards at the time of Constantius II. He himself was a member of the guard and rose to the positions held by his father by 363.

He accompanied Julian on his campaign to defeat the Sassanid’s but after Julian was mortally wounded Jovian stepped up and claimed power.

As the army continued their retreat Jovian was forced to draw up a peace treaty in exchange for the safe exit of his army. This was seen as a weak choice and his popularity quickly declined.

During his rule Jovian set about setting up Christianity as the state religion but after a rule of only 8 months Jovian was found dead in his tent in 364, the cause of death but down to carbon monoxide fumes from his fire.

Flavius Claudius Iulianus born in 331 was the son of Julius Constantius.

In 337 following the death of Constantine, Julian’s cousin Constantius II led a massacre killing nearly all remaining male’s in his family in order to retain his power as sole emperor. Julian and his half brother Gallus along with Constantius’s two brothers were hot harmed.

Much of Julian’s early life was spent studying and among his many tutors were the Arian Christian Bishop of Nicomedia, a Gothic eunuch and the Christian bishop George.

While Constantius II set out to defeat usurper Magnentius who had killed his brother Constans in the west, he promoted Gallus to Caesar of the western empire. Gallus did not last long and was soon executed and Julian was elevated to take his position in 355.

During his reign he had many victories over invading armies and also set about preventing tax increases for the roman people.

In 360 the people of Paris proclaimed Julian as emperor and following the death of Constantius II it was revealed that Julian was recognised as his successor in his will.

He is known for instigating a huge religious reformation of the state and heavily supported the restoration of the old roman faith which was based on polytheism.

In 363 a campaign against the Sassanids began in which Julian intended on retrieving roman cities previously taken over by the Sassanids during Constantius II reign.

He was successful until he was unable to retrieve the Persian capital and led his army back to safety. It was while the army was retreating that Julian was mortally wounded by a spear.

Much of Vetranio’s early life is unknown but he served much time in the military and was an experienced soldier when approached by the sister of Constantius II, Constantina, and asked to nominate himself as Caesar in 350. Her eldest brother Constantine I had been killed while battling with his brother Constans over land and power, Constans had been killed by the usurper Magnentius and Constantius was about to battle with Magnentius. Her reasons for approaching Vetranio were probably for increased support for her remaining brother and protection for what was left of their family. Constantius at first accepted Vetranio as Caesar but changed his mind soon after and stripped him of the title. Vetranio was granted a state pension for the rest of his life and permitted to live as a private citizen, in 360 however, it is thought that he committed suicide.

Flavius Julius Constans was born in 320 and was the youngest son of Constantine I.

In 337 he was a joint ruler of the western empire with his older brother Constantine II but when his brother tried to take advantage of his age and assumed military inexperience a battle between them ensued. It was Constantine however who was defeated and killed and Constans became sole ruler of the west.

In 350 while his remaining brother was busy fighting in the east, military general Magnentius rose up and declared himself emperor and unfortunately had the support of both the army and in not to short a time, the entire western empire.

The battle was over quickly as Constans lacked the support he needed and fled the region but was cornered in Gaul and killed.

Flavius Iulius Constantius was born in 317 and was the second of Constantine’s three sons and was immediately named Caesar by his father.

Following the death of his father in 337 he instigated a massacre of all male relatives descending from his grandfather Constantius Chlorus, sparing his two brothers and two cousins Gallus and Julian.

In accordance with their fathers will, the three sons divided the empire between them. Constantius ruled the east while the western regions were divided between Constans and Constantine II.

While Constantius was in battle with the Sassanid’s, Constantine II was killed while trying to overthrow Constans and as a result Constans became sole ruler of the western half of the empire. This once again changed when Constans was killed in battle in 350, while fighting against Magnentius who had declared himself emperor. As Constantius was still in battle at this stage he decided to elevate his cousin Gallus to the position of Caesar to continue the battle with the Sassanid’s so he could take care of matters in the west.

The army led by Magnentius was crushed by Constantius in 351, and Magnentius committed suicide two years later. Gallus was eventually killed by Constantius but he soon realised he would not be able to handle the whole empire and was forced to elevate Julian to the position of Caesar in 355.

In 361, Julian was declared Augustus by his army in Gaul and as Julian and Constantius went to battle, Constantius fell ill with fever and soon died.

Julian became emperor of the entire empire.

Flavius Claudius Constantinus was born in 316 and was the eldest son of Constantine I. In 317 Constantine made his child Caesar at age one and later led him into battle against the Sarmatians at age 7.

After the death of his half brother Crispus, he took over the role of commander of Gaul at age 10 and in 332 his father elected him as commander of the army in their battle against the Goths.

When his father died in 337, he became co-emperor along with his two brothers Constantius II and Constans and after they divided the empire among them he regained rule over Gaul along with Britannia and Hispania.

Along with his rule of these regions he was also designated guardian of Constans, his younger brother, who had rule over Italia, Africa and Illyricum but even when Constans came of legal age Constantine refused to release guardianship and in 340 declared battle against his brother.

Constantine II was killed and Constans gained control over regions previously ruled by his brother.

Sextus Marcius Martinianus came to power during the second civil war but originally he started out as a “magister officiorum” in Licinius’ court.

In 324 Licinius and Constantine were once again fighting for power during the second civil war and because Licinius was losing he decided to replace Constantine as Augustus and instead replace him with Martinianus as co-emperor.

Martinianus was sent by Licinius to intercept and attack Constantine as he crossed the Bosporus to arrive in the Dardanelles but was unsuccessful as weeks later Licinius was defeated by Constantine and both Martinianus and Licinius were placed under house arrest with the promise that both their lives would be spared. 6 months later Constantine had them both executed.

Aurelius Valerius Valens originally went by the title “Dux Limitis” meaning a person of authority over a particular region. Knowing that the truce between Constantine and Licinius would not last after the civil was of 314, Licinius appointed Valens as co-emperor as a message to Constantine that he had lost patience with him as co-emperor.

After a second battle in which Licinius was defeated, Constantine forced Licinius to execute Valens to protect any future uprising.

During the second civil war Licinius once again chose another co-emperor for similar reasons and appointed Martinianus.

Gaius Valerius Galerius Maximinus was born in 270 and was the nephew of Galerius though this did not change the fact he was born a peasant. After joining the army he rose through the ranks to a position of great distinction after which he was adopted by Galerius and promoted to Caesar. Once Licinius rose to Augustus, both Maximinus and Constantine were declared “sons of the augusti” which didn’t hold much more rank than Caesar and it is believed that in 310 Maximinus promoted himself to Augustus during an expedition against the Sassanid’s.

Following the death of Galerius in 311, Maximinus took it upon himself to divide the empire between himself and Licinius. Upon discovering that Licinius and Constantine had joined together in power, he and the usurper Maxentius (a Caesar at the time) entered into an alliance with each other that was kept secret.

In 313 when war was raged between Licinius and Maximinus, Maximinus was defeated and fled towards Tarsus where he later committed suicide.