Valentinian II Flavius
371 – 392 · Generation XVIII · Western emperor (r. AD 375–392) · Valentinian · Theodosian
Valentinian II (AD 371 – AD 392). Western emperor (r. AD 375–392). Proclaimed at four, dead at twenty-one — found hanged in his palace at Vienne. His nominal rule was a study in powerlessness. As a boy in Milan his court became the arena of the struggle between Nicene and Arian Christians — his Arian mother Justina on one side, bishop Ambrose on the other, who once stood in a basilica doorway to face down Gothic troops. Yet when pagan senators petitioned in 384 for the return of the Altar of Victory, he refused them. Driven from Italy by the usurper Magnus Maximus, he was restored by Theodosius only to be handed to the Frankish general Arbogast, who ruled through him at Vienne; when the emperor tried to dismiss him, Arbogast publicly tore up the order. Whether his death was suicide or murder divided writers ancient and modern alike.
One of 16 people of Valentinian · Theodosian (321–462) in this archive. The last house to rule both halves of the empire at once.
Line of descent: Gratianus Funarius → Valentinian I Flavius → Valentinian II Flavius.
Parents
- Valentinian I Flavius (321 – 375)
- Justina Augusta (340 – 388)
Siblings
- Gratian Flavius (359 – 383) (half)
- Galla Flavia (370 – 394)