Valens

  • Valens (364-378 CE) was a Roman Emperor of the East who died at the Battle of Adrianople (378 CE).
  • The size of the Roman Defeat has led Historians to date the Fall of the Western Empire from this Battle.

1. BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS

2. BRIEF SYNOPSIS

  • THE REVOLT OF PROCOPIOUS (365-366 CE)
    • Procopious was a cousin of the Emperor Julian, and a member of the Constantinian Dynasty, as well as one of Julian‘s senior officers.
    • When Jovian replaced Julian as Emperor, Procopious retired to Caesarea Mazaca, in central Anatolia.
    • In February 364 CE, when Valentinian I and his brother Valens, became co-Emperors, they were concerned that Procopious represented a threat from the Constantinian Dynasty and arrested Procopious. However, Procopious escaped his captors and hid himself and his family on the Black Sea.
    • In February 365 CE, Procopious, unable to conceal himself safely, came out of hiding and paid two Legions to join his rebellion against Valens in the East. He then ruled Constantinople, Thracia and Bithynia.
    • Eventually, in 366 CE, Valens confronted Procopious’ army and defeated him at the Battle of Thyatira, Lydia. Procopious was executed on 27 May 366 CE.
  • THE GOTHIC WARS (367-378 CE)
    • In the Spring of 367 CE, Valens crossed the Danube and attacked the Goths, but met with no resistance.
    • In 369 CE, at the Battle of Noviodunum, Valens crossed the Danube from Noviodunum and attacked and defeated the Thervingi, led by their king Athanaric. Athanaric was forced to sign a peace treaty.
    • However, in 375 CE, the Huns invaded the Gothic lands and displaced them.
    • In 376 CE, Fritigern, leader of the Goths, proposed to Valens that they be given land to settle in Illyria. Ancient sources suggest the Goths numbered 200,000 with around one million followers. Valens knew Fritigern as an ally who had fought with him earlier against the Thervingi. He granted Fritigern and his tribe permission, but not for the other Gothic tribes. When Fritigern arrived, the other tribes followed, and the Roman officers were unable to control the mass settlement.
    • In 377 CE, a dispute occurred between the Roman officers and the Goths, which led to a Revolt by the Goths who were now joined by the Ostrogoths, the Huns and the Alans. They occupied most of Thracia.
    • Valens had been preoccupied by events in Persia and was unable to meet the threat immediately.
  • THE PERSIAN EMPIRE
    • By 367 CE, Shapur II was attempting to bring Armenia into the Persian orbit. He captured the Armenian King and then attacked Caucasian Iberia and besieged the fortress of Artogerassa. Papas the son of the Armenian King, fled to Valens for support.
    • Valens sent a Roman army to restore Papas to the Armenian throne. Shapur II decided to reinvade and Papas was forced to flee to Valens a second time.
    • In 370 CE a much larger Roman army restored Papas in Armenia, and refortified Iberia.
    • In 371 CE, Shapur II invaded again, but the Roman Generals defeated his armies, and Shapur II was forced to sign a peace treaty with Valens. However, a series of rebellions prevented Valens from consolidating his grip in the East.
    • Valens was obliged to execute Papas and replace him with another Armenian King, after the latter threatened to change sides.
    • Then in 375 CE, soldiers were diverted from the East by a Revolt in Cilicia, and soldiers were again diverted in 377 CE by an invasion of the Levant by the Saracens under Queen Mavia.
    • In 377 CE, Valens was reluctant to divert soldiers again when Fritigern brought his army and followers into Illyria. By 378 CE, however, the Gothic uprising left him no choice, and he withdrew his units from the East to challenge Fritigern.
  • BATTLE OF ADRIANOPLE (9 Aug 378 CE)
    • After withdrawing units from Persia, Valens was in a position to confront the Goths.
    • His Advisers and Generals suggested he await his nephew Gratian, who had just won a big victory against the Alemanni, and was bringing his victorious Gallic armies over to join him. Jealous of Gratian‘s success, Valens decided to attack before they arrived, a decision he would come to regret.
    • The Battle of Adrianople, also known as the Battle of Hadrianopolis, was part of the Gothic Wars (376-382 CE) which is considered to have brought about the final collapse of the Western Roman Empire.
    • On the 9th August 378 CE, the Army of Valens met the Gothic army led by Fritigern, at Adrianople.
    • The Gothic cavalry is reported to have split the ranks of the Roman Army, whereupon the Roman cavalry withdrew. Fritigern also caused strategic delays with his continued negotiations for peace, whilst the heat on the battlefield took its toll.
    • The Roman Army under Valens was defeated, with two thirds of its men being killed. Valens’ body was never found.
    • The Defeat marked the turning point for the Roman Empire.
    • Although the Empire recovered, from then on, the Goths were accepted as Foederati under their own Commanders, settling within the Borders of the Empire.
    • This resulted in a dangerous situation whereby a very large hostile army inhabited within the borders of the Eastern Roman Empire.
    • Ironically, it was the Western Roman Empire that was to be eventually overrun and defeated by this army.

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

  • CLASSICAL SOURCES:

 

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