Princess Serena

by fljustice | May 14, 2021 | Essays/Research, History, Theodosian Women, Wonderful Women

Roman Princess Serena

Executed for treason.

(b. ?, d. 409)

Theodosius took his niece Serena into his household when his brother Honorius died. She became a powerful influence on him. He called her “daughter” and it’s said she was the only person who could soothe his frequent rages. To keep his best general Stilicho closely allied, he married him to Serena in 384. In spite of Stilicho spending much time in the field fending off invading Goths, they had three children: Maria, Thermantia, and Eucherius.

By all accounts it was a successful marriage between two astute political operators. When Theodosius died, he left his minor children (Emperor Arcadius in the East, Emperor Honorius and Princess Placidia in the West) in their care. Here’s where things get complicated. The noblemen and eunuchs of the Eastern court didn’t want the half-barbarian Stilicho anywhere near their dim-witted Emperor. Stilicho couldn’t run the entire empire as regent without their cooperation, so he retired to the West and left them to fight the Goths on their own.

In the meantime, Serena developed a “wicked step-mother” image—at least in later historian’s eyes. She promoted her own children by marrying her eldest daughter Maria to Honorius when they were just fourteen. When Maria died, she married Thermantia to Honorius and arranged an engagement between her son Eucherius and Princess Placidia. Some historians believed she stifled Honorius and Placidia and shunted them aside at court. Supposedly, they hated her for it which had dire consequences later.

Honorius was only slightly more capable than his older brother. When he came of age, he also came under the influence of an anti-barbarian faction at his court. He executed Stilicho and his son, murdered the Arian wives and children of his barbarian auxiliary troops, and divorced Thermantia. Serena, as his first cousin, was spared and she retired to Rome with her remaining child. The Goths, bolstered by thousands of vengeful Roman-trained auxiliaries invaded Italy and laid siege to Rome while Honorius stayed safe behind the sheltering swamps of Ravenna.

Panic roiled the streets of Rome. Rumors flew that Serena sympathized with the barbarians because of her marriage to Stilicho and she planned to open the gates to the invaders. A delegation of senators appealed to Placidia who also was in residence. She signed her cousin/foster mother’s death warrant. Serena was strangled (the traditional way of executing enemies of the state) in 409.

Most historians agree that the accusations against Serena were false and assumed Placidia’s motives for signing the death warrant were dislike or jealousy. I have an alternative theory which I explore in an upcoming novella Becoming the Twilight Empress.

Coming up next: Empress Aelia Eudoxia, married Theodosius’ son Arcadius.

Cropped image of ivory triptych showing Serena, Stilicho, and Eugenius; in the Public Domain.

Empress Galla

by fljustice | May 13, 2021 | Essays/Research, History, Theodosian Women, Wonderful Women

Roman Empress Galla

Died young, but left a legacy.

(b. 370?, d 394, Empress 387-394)

After Aelia Flacilla’s death, the grieving Emperor Theodosius turned his eyes on a young imperial princess: Galla, the daughter of slain Emperor Valentinian I and sister of the co-emperor Valentinian II. When a usurper named Magnus Maximus decided he wanted young Valentinian’s portion of the empire, Galla’s mother Justina came to the Eastern court to plead for help.

There were several strikes against this match. The usurper Maximus had overthrown Valentinian II’s older brother Gratian four years before and Theodosius had not moved against him. Maximus hailed from Spain, as did Theodosius, and rose through the ranks of the army under the Emperor’s slain father. The armies of Britain and Gaul had acclaimed him in a legitimate way. The topper? Maximus espoused the Nicene faith. Galla and her mother Justina were staunch Arian Christians and the house of Valentinian bore some responsibility for Theodosius’s father’s execution.

But Justina showed off her beautiful teenaged daughter and caught the aging emperor’s attention. When Theodosius asked for Galla’s hand, Justina agreed only on the condition that he take up Valentinian’s cause. Theodosius married Galla in 387, went to war, and destroyed Magus Maximus’ troops at the battle of Frigidus.

It might have been love—historians say Theodosius doted on his beautiful bride. But it’s likely there was also a hefty does of pragmatism and dynastic ambitions to his decision. By invading Italy, Maximus showed a level of ambition that could lead him to attack Theodosius next. Best case scenario Maximus would be a strong ruler and not cooperate with the Eastern court. By marrying Galla, Theodosius allied himself with an existing imperial dynasty and secured a young malleable co-emperor in Valentinian II.

What did Galla think of this? We don’t know. We don’t even have a proven image of her, much less some primary sources on her thoughts and feelings. We do know she fulfilled her imperial duty by giving birth to three children. The middle child, a boy named Gratian, died in infancy. The youngest named John, died at birth with his mother in 394. Galla’s true legacy was in giving birth to her first child, a daughter, who grew up to be the formidable Empress Galla Placidia (protagonist in Twilight Empress: A Novel of Imperial Rome). For that, in an otherwise brief and forgettable life, she will be remembered.

Coming up next: Princess Serena, the niece of Theodosius I and foster mother to his children.

Image is of unknown Roman Empress licensed for Creative Commons by Francisco Anzola. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71266755

Empress Aelia Flacilla

by fljustice | May 12, 2021 | Essays/Research, History, Theodosian Women, Wonderful Women

Roman Empress Aelia Flavia Flacilla

Saint or sinner?

(b. 356, d. 386, Empress 379-386)

Flacilla, as the first wife to Theodosius I “the Great,” is the co-founding mother of six generations of remarkable women who shaped the face of Western Europe and laid the foundation for the Byzantine Empire in the East. Her seven-year reign set the pattern against which all Theodosian empresses were measured, particularly in the East.

Not much is known about Flacilla’s early life: she came from Spanish aristocracy, married General Theodosius in 375 or 376 while he was in “retirement” after his father’s execution, and accompanied her newly made emperor-husband to Constantinople with two small children in 379. Her daughter Pulcheria died at age 7 or 8. Her older son Arcadius became Emperor in the East. In 384 in Constantinople, she gave birth to her third child, a son named Honorius who later became Emperor in the West.

Flacilla brought four things to bolster her husband’s rule: her nomen (family name), fertility, charity, and piety. Her nomen Aelia became a title of female distinction and was passed down as a symbol of dynastic inclusion among the Eastern empresses. As with all spouses of kings and emperors, the ability to bear children—especially male heirs—gave women authority and Flacilla had two sons, both of whom became emperors. The writers of the day especially praised the empress for her hands-on charity work. Theodoret quoted her, “To distribute money belongs to the imperial dignity, but I offer up for the imperial dignity itself personal service to the Giver.”

Which brings us to the titular question: was Flacilla a saint or a sinner? It depends on which Christian church you belonged to at the time. The early Christian Church spent its first few centuries struggling internally with factions, sects, and differing “heretical” beliefs. By this time, two major sects struggled for power: the Nicenes (which developed into the orthodox Catholic Church) who declared Jesus of and equal to God and the Arians who believed Jesus was created by God and therefore not equal to Him. The majority of the barbarian tribes were Arian. Theodosius and Flacilla were both fervent Nicenes and actively suppressed the “heretical” Arian Christians. For her charity and piety Empress Aelia Flavia Flacilla is commemorated as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church. Her feast day is September 14.

Coming up next: Empress Galla, the second wife of Theodosius I and co-founding mother of the Theodosian Women.

Image of coin licensed under Creative Commons by Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=379563