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italian interests and end of the western empire 527
nomic relationship between the city and the rest of the peninsula and
Sicily. 8 Secondly, Geiseric’s success in organizing a fleet opened Italy to barbarian
attack from the south as well as along its traditional frontier in the
north. Vulnerability from north and south was frighteningly realized with
the invasion of Italy by Attila and the Huns in 452, soon followed by the
Vandal sack of Rome in 455.
It is no accident that these events precipitated a series of political crises
in Italy, with emperors and leading generals being chosen and disposed of
according to how their actions pleased Italian opinion, an issue complicated
by the complex and sometimes divergent interests of groups within the
ruling élite. Under Valentinian, the new Vandal threat to Italy prompted the
fortification of Naples and Terracina on the Tyrrhenian coastline. 9 In 454,
the magister militum Aetius was executed, probably a victim of Valentinian’s
need to placate Italian interests. During the Hunnic crisis, Aetius had failed
to defend Italy from Attila, in stark contrast to the energy he displayed in
protecting Gaul; furthermore, he had even suggested that the emperor
should abandon Italy. The next year, Valentinian was himself murdered by
two of Aetius’ former associates. His replacement, Petronius Maximus, did
not last long, and by the time of Geiseric’s attack on Rome, Italian fortunes
were once more in non-Italian hands. With the throne now occupied by a
Gallic aristocrat, Avitus, who failed to defend Rome and Italy against the
Vandal onslaught, the situation was ripe for a violent confrontation between
the two interest groups. At Placentia (Piacenza) in 456, Avitus was defeated
and deposed by the generals Majorian, who subsequently became emperor,
and Ricimer. 10 As emperor, Majorian strove to unite the disparate interests
of Gaul, the Visigoths and Italy against the Vandal threat. Whatever the
initial successes of his enterprise, it ended in the capture of his fleet by
Geiseric, followed by his deposition and execution at Ricimer’s hands at
Dertona (Tortona) in 461. 11
Ricimer’s new choice of emperor, the Lucanian aristocrat Libius
Severus, reveals the extent to which he depended on Italian support to
maintain his supremacy. To be sure, Majorian had also courted the favour
of Italy, but Ricimer – who first came to prominence as a commander
defending Italy against the Vandals – made it the foundation of his regime
and the focus of his policies. For much of the 460s, he devoted his energies
to neutralizing the Vandal threat by diplomacy and military action. 12
When Severus died in 465, Ricimer made no move to replace him, and
for almost two years he dominated Italian affairs without any rival. In the
8 Trade between Africa and Italy after 439 is a vexed problem: Wickham (1988) 190–3 on continuity
(cf. ch. 20 (Cameron), pp. 556,7 below). For other areas: Wilson (1990) 330–1; Arthur (1989) 133–4;
Barnish (1987); Small and Buck (1993) 28–9. 9 Christie and Rushworth (1988) 81–7.
10 Harries (1994) 76–80.
11 For very different appraisals of Majorian, cf. Harries (1994) ch. 4 and O’Flynn (1983) 104–11.
12 O’Flynn (1983) 104–28.
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