Marcian
392 – 457 · Generation VII · Emperor (r. 450–457) · Valentinian · Theodosian
Marcian (AD 392 – 457). Emperor (r. 450–457). Married Pulcheria around AD 450. Married Pulcheria; convened Council of Chalcedon. Little is recorded of him before the throne beyond fifteen years’ service as aide to the commanders Ardabur and Aspar, whose backing made him a candidate for the purple. As emperor he broke with his predecessor’s policy of buying off the Huns: he revoked the treaties with Attila, stopped the subsidies, and in 452 – while Attila ravaged Italy – struck across the Danube into the Hunnic heartland itself. After Attila’s death he settled Germanic tribes on Roman land as federates owing military service. The council he summoned defined Christ as having two natures, divine and human, a ruling that alienated the miaphysite east of Syria and Egypt. He nonetheless left the treasury with a surplus of seven million solidi – remarkable after decades of tribute and ruin.
One of 13 people of Valentinian · Theodosian (321–460) in this archive. The emperors who saw the western half fall away while the east held.
Partners
- Married Pulcheria (399 – 453) in 450
Children
- Marcia Euphemia (440 – ?)
Life
- 392 — Born
- 450 — Married Pulcheria
- 457 — Died