Chapter VII: Flavia

„The future is secured, for them, for us, for everyone. “ – Nicomachus Flavianus

Galla: daughter of Nicomachus Flavianus and Galla, soon to marry Honorius, whose sister is named Galla and whose stepmother is also called Galla. Not only because of this potential danger of confusion, but also because of her hair, which, lighter than her younger brother’s, is still not blonde but a shade of brown, she is called Flavia. Sometimes she is also referred to as Galla Minor, Flaviana or Flavianilla.

The emperor marries, a girl of 14 years, a decade younger than him. Honorius was married before, to a granddaughter of his general Saturninus, but the girl died and so did later the general. This time it seems more promising, the bride seems healthy, she is pretty and most important she is from a mighty family - actually two families. Her father is a Nicomachi, her mother a Symmachi. Both are mighty and old clans of Rome. Honorius hopes to gain some popularity among the Roman nobility with this move and also an heir for his throne. Even if he tries to win over the nobility and the senate, so is he too afraid to celebrate the wedding in the city of Rome. He prefers to stay in Arelate, close to his protector Alaric.

Two weeks before the wedding the Goth King appears in the city. Just a few days earlier he was still fighting in northern Gallia but now he is back with some news - good or bad ones; hard to tell. The Alani and Silingi, which crossed the Rhine in 399 with the other tribes, were plundering Gallia for nearly 10 years now. They mostly concentrated on the northwest. Neither did they ally like the other tribes with Mallius, nor did they found an own realm to rule. They went restless to the west, the south, than to the north-east and following the Ligara upwards as Alaric’s troops entered Gallia. They were in Burdigala, Turonum and Lutetia but on none of these places did they establish a kingdom. As they followed the Ligara they even split in several smaller groups. All of them continued their way to the north-west, the area dominated by Sequana and Ligara. Every single group was a little army for itself making it impossible for Alaric to win over them, not because they were too strong but they were too many. He didn’t meet a single big army that he could challenge in a battle. But in 408 the young Silingi Theuderic convinced the leaders of the most groups that they need to work together to secure their freedom and defeat Alaric. Theuderic, now King of Vandals and Alans, led his troops in the beginning of 409 in a Battle against Alaric. The Goth King won but made a pact with the losers.

In Arelate he arrived with this news and proved how powerless Honorius really is. He settled the Vandals and Alans between Ligara and Sequana, without even asking for permission. Alaric justified his decision with the fact that this land was reserved for the Sicilian Vandals, but they refused to settle there, so the land fell to their Silingian cousins, which were already in this area.

The day of the wedding was a cold one, not only because of the weather, but also because of the people who came to witness the event. No one of the senators, which were present in the city liked to see the barbarians, especially because they still remember how Gainas plundered the city in the emperor’s name. The Germanics that arrived also preferred to stay alone. Mistrust poisoned the air in the city. The emperor himself didn’t show any emotion on this day. The bride on the other hand seemed more active, she didn’t love the man she married and she was not excited about being with him, but she knew what power she could gain. Her ancestors were philosophers, scholars and bureaucrats, but she was different. As a boy she would have been a general or emperor, but as a girl she was only a link between Honorius and the senatorial elite. Maybe in future she could be able to prove herself as a leader. As she stood in front of the altar, it was clear to her who was the mightiest man in the room; not her husband, not her father, none of the senators, but the barbarian in the back of the church, who was a bit tipsy and the only one, smiling all the time, King Alaric. She hated him. He was a barbarian and also looked like one, he even stunk like one. His pride seemed like arrogance to the young empress and his power was torture for her. Besides Alaric and his guard were no other Germanics in the church. The Burgundian King and his fellows stayed outside the city and only appeared to compliment the emperor, whereas the Frankish King and Vandal King Godigisel didn’t even appear in Arelate; the latter because he had to fear for his life since he plundered Rome, the first because he had to fight enemies in his own territory. The King of the Pannonian Goths, Himilvin, a man with religious spirit, stayed away from the Trinitarian church, mostly because he thought bad about the Roman way of Christianity, he didn’t like the Romans so much in general, but knew that his people could for now only survive in an alliance with them. On the others side did he like Alaric pretty much and both drunk together the night before – that’s the reason the King appeared a bit tipsy in the church.

The kings would leave the city again a few days later, so did the senators, but Flavia stayed and would become in the following years the strong woman behind Honorius. 

Map 

The Western and parts of the Eastern Roman Empire in 409 AD.

Red=Western Empire; Light Red=Goth; Striped=other foederati; Brown=Vandals

Purple=Eastern Empire
Magenta=Britannian Empire
Yellow=Gepids