Gratian

1. BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS

NAME:
- Flavius Gratianus
GRATIAN’S DATES OF REIGN AS EMPEROR:
- 24 August 367 until 375 CE co-Emperor with his father Valentinian I.
- 375 CE to 25 August 383 CE.
GRATIAN’S DATE OF BIRTH AND DEATH:
- Born: c. 18 April 359 CE. Died: 25 August 383 CE.
PLACE OF BIRTH AND DEATH:
- Born in Sirmium. Died in Lugdunum, Gaul.
GRATIAN’S PREDECESSOR:
- Valentinian I
GRATIAN’S SUCCESSOR:
- Valens in the Eastern Empire.
- Valentinian II in the Western Empire.
HEIR TO THE THRONE BECAUSE:
- Gratian was the son of the Emperor Valentinian I.
DIED PEACEFULLY OR ASSASSINATED:
- Gratian was assassinated during a Rebellion in Gaul.
WHERE BURIED:
- Unknown.
GRATIAN WAS FAMOUS BECAUSE:
- He passed an Edict making the Nicene Creed the dominant form of Christianity within the Roman Empire.
- Gratian was pro German. He surrounded himself with a contingent of Alan soldiers and dressed like a Scythian in public.
- In 382 CE, he gave the Title of Pontifex Maximus to the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.

CAMPAIGNS AGAINST THE ALEMANNI (378 CE)
- In May 378 CE, the Lentienses, a tribe of the Alemanni, were completely defeated at the Battle of Argentovaria. They were forced to send their young men into the Roman Army.
- Gratian then set off to help Valens defeat a large Gothic Invasion in the East, but Valens refused to wait for him.
- As a result, on 9th August 378 CE, Valens was defeated at the Battle of Adrianople, where the Roman Army lost two thirds of its men.

APPOINTMENT OF THEODOSIUS IN THE EAST (379 CE)
- Because of the Gothic Invasions, Gratian was unwilling to rule both the Eastern and Western halves of the Empire. So, on 19 January 379 CE, Gratian appointed Theodosius I as Eastern Roman Emperor.

THE GOTHIC WARS (376-382 CE)
- The two Emperors then pushed the Goths back out of Illyricum during the Gothic Wars (376-382 CE).

CHRISTIANITY
- Gratian allowed Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan to suppress Paganism.
- Gratian passed an Edict obliging the Christian Church to follow the Nicene Creed.
- Gratian passed an Edict banning Arianism and Paganism.
- In 382 CE, Gratian ordered that the income received by Pagan Priests and the Vestal Virgins by reallocated to the Imperial Treasury. The Pagan Senators appealed to Gratian, but he did not retract the Edict.
- Theodosius I was at the same time dismantling Paganism in the Eastern Empire.

REVOLT IN BRITANNIA (383 CE)
- As Gratian became more pro-German, he surrounded himself with a contingent of Alan soldiers and dressed like a Scythian in public. Eventually, the army lost all confidence in him.
- Magnus Maximus rebelled in Britannia and crossed into Gaul with an army. Gratian was in Paris, but his army deserted him, and he was forced to flee to Lyon.