Galla Flavia
370 – 394 · Generation XVIII
Galla (AD 370 – AD 394). Married Theodosius I around AD 387. One of their children is recorded in this archive. Married Theodosius as the price of his war against her brother’s killer; died in childbirth as he marched west again. A daughter of Valentinian I and his second wife Justina, she was sister to the young western emperor Valentinian II. When Magnus Maximus crossed the Alps in 387, she fled with her mother and brother to Thessalonica, where the widowed Theodosius gave them refuge; the wedding, together with her family’s promise to embrace orthodoxy, bound him to their cause, and Maximus was defeated and executed at Aquileia in 388. While Theodosius remained in Italy, Galla lived in Constantinople’s Great Palace with her stepsons, and in 390 Arcadius — or those governing for the thirteen-year-old — drove her out. Her grief was recorded when Valentinian II was found hanged in 392. Of her three children only Galla Placidia reached adulthood; her infant son John died with her in 394.
Place in the family
- The archive records 3 of her descendants, across 3 generations.
Line of descent: Gratianus Funarius → Valentinian I Flavius → Galla Flavia.
Parents
- Valentinian I Flavius (321 – 375)
- Justina Augusta (340 – 388)
Siblings
- Gratian Flavius (359 – 383) (half)
- Valentinian II Flavius (371 – 392)
Partners
- Married Theodosius I the Great (347 – 395) in 387 — one child together
Children
- Galla Placidia (392 – 450)
Life
- 370 — Born
- 387 — Married Theodosius I
- 394 — Died