Glycerius
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| Glycerius | |
| Emperor of the Western Roman Empire |
|
|---|---|
| Reign | c. March 3, 473 – June 474 |
| Born | c. 420 |
| Died | After 480 |
| Predecessor | Olybrius |
| Successor | Julius Nepos |
Glycerius (c. 420 – after 480) was one of the last Western Roman Emperors (reigned 473–74) and later served as a bishop in the early Catholic Church.
Contents |
[edit] Rise to power
Following the death of Olybrius on November 2, 472, there was a period of about four months during which there was no Emperor in the West, sole legitimacy therefore falling to Leo, Emperor of the East. Leo struggled to find a suitable candidate. Hence, on or around March 3, 473, the western empire's new Magister militum (or Master of Soldiers), the Burgundian Gundobad, simply appointed an emperor himself. Gundobad chose one of his own military men, Glycerius, who was comes domesticorum, the commander of the imperial bodyguard.
The legitimately chosen emperor Anthemius had been murdered by Gundobad. As Gundobad's puppet, Glycerius received no recognition from the Eastern Roman court of Emperor Leo I.
Glycerius may have delayed the final end of the Western Roman Empire for a few years. During his brief reign, the Apennine Peninsula was threatened by both the Visigoths, living in southern Gaul and Spain at the time, and the Ostrogoths, living in Dalmatia. When the Ostrogoths moved into Gaul in 473, Glycerius sent troops to the area, preventing the armies of the two branches of Goths from joining forces against Rome.
[edit] Fall
Leo was unwilling to tolerate Glycerius on the western throne, and appointed his relative Julius Nepos to that position. Nepos, with a powerful force given to him by Leo, sailed from Dalmatia to the port city of Ostia, near Rome, in June 474. At the key moment when Glycerius needed Gundobad, his powerful Magister militum and Patrician, Gundobad left Italy. (By 500, Gundobad had fought and killed his three brothers, Godegisel, Chilperic II, and Gundomar, to become his father's sole heir to the Kingdom of Burgundy.) For whatever reason, Glycerius was at the port instead of at the capital of Ravenna; with Gundobad gone, and no other obvious support, Glycerius simply surrendered to Julius Nepos without a fight.
Glycerius resigned his title and accepted from Nepos ordination as a bishop, perhaps intended as a reward for his cooperation. Several sources report that this was the bishopric of Salona. Ennodius praises a bishop Glycerius of Milan, but Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire states that these lines appear to have been either added or corrupted in an attempt to identify the bishop and the emperor.
[edit] Bishop
A contemporary account by the historian Malchus claims that from Salona, Glycerius in 480 had a leading role in the assassination of Julius Nepos. Accounts of his later life are mixed, some claiming that he died before he could even begin his new role as bishop. His date of death is unknown.
Geoffrey Ashe theorizes that he may have been the basis for the Lucius Hiberius that King Arthur (who Ashe equates with Riothamus) fought against.
[edit] External links
- "Glycerius", De Imperatoribus Romanis;
- Glycerius, http://www.roman-empire.net/collapse/glycerius.html
| Preceded by Olybrius |
Western Roman Emperor | Succeeded by Julius Nepos |
