The Gallic Chronicle of 452 is an anonymous chronicle written in Latin, spanning a period beginning with the later years of the rule of the Roman emperor Gratian and ending with Attila the Hun's invasion of Italy in 452 CE. The chronicle focuses in particular on the territories of Gaul (modern-day France) but also includes coverage of events in other parts of the Roman Empire, including Jerusalem, Antioch, Egypt and the Roman region of Africa centred on Carthage in modern-day Tunisia. The Gallic Chronicle of 452 is also an important source on the last years of Roman rule in Britain.
Despite the anonymity, it is clear that the author was a staunch Catholic Christian as this religious perspective informs the chronicle. The author shows a keen interest in bishops and other outstanding religious figures. The author is also interested in the suppression of paganism and the competition between Catholicism and Arianism. The latter, dismissed as a heresy by the author, was a trend in Christianity that posited Christ the Son to be created and subordinate to God the Father, rather than co-equal and co-eternal.
In addition, the author very much identifies as a Roman, lamenting the devastation of the empire's lands by barbarian invaders. Notable events recorded in the chronicle in this regard include the sack of Rome by the Goths under Alaric (410 CE) and the Vandals' capture of Carthage in 439 CE.
The style of the Latin is fairly simple. Some narrative devices used include the common historic present (which makes the narrative more vivid) and the past participle left on its own in a periphrastic construction without the relevant form of esse. For example:
solis facta defectio
Where we would normally expect 'solis facta est defectio'.
The effect here is to make the narrative more concise.
Below is my translation of the Gallic Chronicle of 452, including endnotes to provide context. The version of the original Latin text used for the purpose of translation is that provided by Richard Burgess in 'Society and Culture in Late Antique Gaul.'
Gratianus[i] for six years[ii]
In the first year: Gratianus- having a very small brother as co-ruler[iii]- admitted a man of appropriate age- Theodosius[iv]- into the alliance of rule. Gratianus very much supported the religion[v] and was ready to aid the churches through all matters. Martinus the bishop of the Turonenses[vi] was considered outstanding in apostolic virtues.
In the second year: Theodosius restored the wearied state in the eastern regions.[vii]
In the third year: Maximus[viii] was put in place as rebel ruler in Brittania by the soldiers.
In the fourth year: Maximus overcame strenuously the invading Picts and Scots.
In the fifth year: Ambrosius[ix] wrote the most brilliant books against the perfidy of the Arrians for Gratianus Agustus.
In the sixth year: Maximus crossed over into the Gallic lands and had a conflict with Gratianus. The people of Lugdunum[x] killed the same man[xi] as he was trying to flee.
Theodosius for eleven years[xii]
In the first year: Maximus, fearing Theodosius the princeps of the Eastern Empire, entered into an alliance with Valentinianus. Among the Treveri[xiii] the Manicheans[xiv] were caught and exterminated with the greatest zeal on the part of Maximus.
In the second year: Iustina[xv] the mother of Valentinanus, supporting the Arrians, carried out various kinds of injustices against Ambrosius and all the church of Mediolanum.[xvi] The remains of the martyrs Geruasius and Protasius were first found by Ambrosius in Mediolanum. The hymns of Ambrosius were composed, which were sung in melodies never used before in the Latin churches.
In the third year: Maximus, saying that injustice was being done against the status of the church, found a means of breaking the alliance he had entered into with Valentinianus. Valentininianus, fearing the usurper now overhanging his neck, fled to Theodosius.
Agustinus,[xvii] teaching rhetoric at Mediolanum to the highest degree, laid aside the subject and converted to the correct faith, as he had previously been a Manichean.
In the fourth year: Theodosius, crossing with the army to Italy, killed Maximus and restored Valentinianus to his own realm. Iustina, who had harassed the churches so as not to receive the realm with her son, was overcome by death.[xviii] The religious emperor erased through an outstanding example of repentance the monstrous crime of the extermination of the people carried out at Thessalonica.[xix] The heresy of the Appollinarists was begun by Appollinarus.[xx]
In the fifth year: The Arrians, who had stained almost the whole East and West, were deprived of the churches by edict of the religious princeps.[xxi] They were granted to the Catholics.
In the sixth year: Iohannes the Egyptian monk, who on account of the purity of his life earned the grace of prophecy from the Lord, was considered outstanding.
In the seventh year: After Damasus,[xxii] Siricius[xxiii] undertook rule of the Roman church as the thirty-sixth pope.
At Alexandria, with Petrus[xxiv] dead, Timotheus[xxv] and after this man Theophilus[xxvi] were constituted as bishops.
In Jerusalem after Cirullus, Iohannes received the church.
At Antioch, after Melicius[xxvii] died, Flavianus[xxviii] was put in his place. A huge controversy arose among our people, especially because the bishops, who had been expelled by the heretics, did not want other priests to be put in their place after the these people were cast down by the emperor. A terrible sign in the sky similar to a column through all things appeared.
In the eighth year: At Alexandria the temples were destroyed. Among them the most ancient and noted temple of Serapis,[xxix] because a certain column sustained ongoing idolatry (in the ninth year).
In the tenth year: Valentinianus was killed at Vienna[xxx] by his comes[xxxi] Arbogastes.[xxxii] In his place Eugenius[xxxiii] seized power in a coup.
In the eleventh year: To avenge Valentinianus' death and suppress the coup of Eugenius, Theodosius crossed over into Italy with the open favour of God as the elements were in harmony in that very thing. After Eugenius was defeated, Theodosius died in the seventeenth year of his rule.
Arcadius[xxxiv] and Honorius[xxxv] for thirty-two years.
In the first year: Constantinople feared the overhanging anger of God as a fire glowed terribly over a cloud. Turned with all its mind to repentance, the city escaped punishment. Rufinus Bosforitanus,[xxxvi] when he had reached the peak of military service, could not tolerate Stillico[xxxvii] being preferred over him. He was killed by the same man after the garrison of the Huns, by which he was protected, was overcome.
In the second year: Claudianus[xxxviii] was considered a poet worthy of admiration. Gildo, with Africa stirred up in rebellion, took away from the Romans the usual taxes that were paid to them. Prudentius[xxxix] our Spanish origin lyric poet displayed the illustrious flower of his ingenuity.
In the third year: Stillico the master of soldiers killed Gildo in Mauretania. Africa was restored to its original state of law. Innocentius[xl] held the leadership of the Roman church as the thirty-seventh pope.
In the fourth year: Throughout the Roman world the temples of old superstition[xli] were destroyed. Paulinus Nolanus[xlii]- the bishop after a while- in admirable example sold all his possessions, since he was the master of countless farm estates, and freed from burdens chose the religious life.
In the fifth year: Iohannes the bishop of Constantinople shone in words and deeds. Martinus died after an outstanding life.
In the sixth year: The mad Pelagius tried to stain the churches with his execrable doctrine.[xliii]
In the seventh year: The controversy about Origen's doctrine[xliv] stirred the synod at Alexandria. This was its opinion: that whoso had approved the works of the aforementioned person should be excommunicated from the church.
In the eighth year: There was a solar eclipse.
Agustinus[xlv] discussed very many things in countless books.
In the ninth year: Severus out of the discipline of Saint Martinus wrote that man's biography in three books.
In the tenth year: A savage[xlvi] storm of barbarian motion oppressed Italy.
In the eleventh year: As Radagaisus the king of the Goths crossed the border of Italy intending to lay waste to it.[xlvii]
From this the Arrians, who had been put to flight far from the Roman world, began to be propped up by the protection of the barbarian nations, to whom they had brought themselves.[xlviii]
In the twelfth year: With many cities already devastated, Radagaisus died. The fact his army was divided into three parts through various chiefs opened up some opportunity for the Romans to fight back. In outstanding triumph Stillico wiped out the army of the third part of the enemy after the auxiliaries of the Huns were used to surround them.[xlix] Arcadius who ruled the empire of the East died, leaving his still young son Theodosius[l] as successor of the empire. Caelestinus[li] governed the Roman church as the thirty-eighth pope.
In the thirteenth year: The frenzy of various peoples arose and devastated the Gallic lands, let in as much as possible by Stillico who indignantly bore the fact that the realm was denied to his son.[lii]
In the fourteenth year: At Utica[liii] in the forum of Trajan the ground roared for seven days. Among other things the death of Stillico, who plotted against the emperor's life, was much in the interest of the state. Nesterius[liv] the bishop of Constantinople was turned to the heresy, which separates God from man in Christ.
In the fifteenth year: Iohannes the comes of Africa was killed by the people. Proculus the bishop of Massilia was considered outstanding. With his assent a large inquiry was undertaken about the suspected adultery of the bishop Remedus.
In the sixteenth year: In this storm the forces of the Romans were stretched thin to their foundations beyond their strength.[lv] The British lands were devastated by an incursion of the Saxons. The Vandals[lvi] and Alandi[lvii] laid waste to a part of the Gallic lands. What had remained was besieged by the usurper Constantinus.[lviii] The Suevi[lix] occupied the greatest part of the Spanish lands. Finally Rome itself, the head of the world, was laid open in the most disgraceful manner to the plundering of the Goths.[lx]
In the seventeenth year: Constantinus the usurper was killed.[lxi]
In the eighteenth year: As the Goths, who under their leader Alaric had captured Rome, crossed the Alps, they again plundered the Gallic lands.
In the nineteenth year: Iovinus[lxii] undertook a coup after Constantinus. By the hard work of Dardanus[lxiii] the strenuous man, who alone did not yield to the usurper, Atavulphus, who ruled the Goths after Alaricus, was turned away from an alliance with Iovinus.
Salustius[lxiv] also and Sebastianus[lxv] were killed.
Valentia,[lxvi] the noblest city of the Gallic lands, was stormed by the Goths. In flight, Iovinus had brought himself to it.
In the twentieth year: A huge famine in the Gallic lands. Aquitania[lxvii] was handed over to the Goths.[lxviii] Patroclus the bishop of Arelatum[lxix] dared to sell the priestly rites in a disgraceful transaction. Heraclianus the comes of Africa, who had provided rigorous help in repairing the city of Rome, was killed after contriving certain new things.[lxx]
In the twenty-first year: Placidia[lxxi] the sister of the emperor, for a long time a captive and afterwards also the wife of the king,[lxxii] was joined in marriage to Constantius[lxxiii] after the king was removed through trickery (in the twenty-second year). The Goths mobilized again after Atavulphus was killed, but were driven back in an encounter with Constantius (in the twenty-third year).
In the twenty-fourth year: The heresy of the Predistinati,[lxxiv] which is said to have received a beginning from Augustinus,[lxxv] began to creep in during these times (in the twenty-fifth year).
In the twenty-sixth year: There was a solar eclipse in this year.
Xystus ruled the Roman church.[lxxvi]
In the twenty-seventh year: A wondrous sign appeared in the sky.
Maximus the usurper attained dominance of the Spanish lands by force.[lxxvii]
In the twenty-eighth year: Honoratus, Minervius, Castor, Iovianus- fathers of the individual monasteries- flourished in the Gallic lands.
In the twenty-ninth year: The dignity of the empire was brought to Constantius by Honorius of his own will. He had enjoyed it for scarcely eight months when he died, with Valentinianus[lxxviii] the eight-year-old son left (in the thirtieth year).
Maximus the usurper was deposed from rule and was led to Ravenna. He provided a sublime procession of spectacles for the Tricennalia[lxxix] of Honorius.
In the thirty-first year: Placida, since she had been caught plotting against her brother, was deported in exile to Rome.
In the thirty-second year: Honorius died in Ravenna. Iohannes[lxxx]- from the chief of the notaries- illegally seized the realm. He left the empire wounded with many disasters.
Theodosius for twenty-seven years.
In the first year: Placida sent a plea for help to Theodosius.
Sigisvuldus hastened to Africa against Bonifacius.[lxxxi]
In the second year: In the Gallic lands Exuperantius the prefect was killed by the soldiers. Cartago was surrounded by a wall, which since the time in which the old city was destroyed,[lxxxii] had not been permitted to be fortified with walls by sanction of the Romans, lest it be a fortification for rebellion. After Iohannes was defeated and killed by the army of the East, Ravenna was devastated in plundering. Aetius,[lxxxiii] the son of Gaudentus the comes who had been by the soldiers in the Gallic lands, entered Italy with the Huns intending to bring help to Iohannes.
In the third year: Valentinianus was made emperor at Rome. Arelas[lxxxiv] was freed from the Goths through Aetius (in the fourth year).
In the fifth year: Placidia was finally brought to the desired realm.
In the sixth year: Cassianus expounded the known lives of the fathers in Egypt as well as doctrines and rules in books given to very many.
In the seventh year: Aetius strove for the people of the Ihuthungi[lxxxv] to be destroyed. Almost 20,000 soldiers fighting against the Vandals in the Spanish lands were killed.
In the eighth year: The Vandals crossed over into Africa and inflicted a huge disaster on the Romans as the whole province was lacerated.
In the ninth year: Having attained the consulship,[lxxxvi] Etius,[lxxxvii] evading Bonifacius, who had been summoned by the queen[lxxxviii] from Africa, withdrew to more fortified parts. The harshness of the excess cold persisted as a disaster also for the health of very many people. Bonifacius, having had his struggle against Aetius, was struck despite being the victor,[lxxxix] and died.
In the tenth year: As Aetius had brought himself after the battle to the people of the Huns, of whom Regula was in charge at that time, he got the help he wanted and returned to the Roman soil. The Goths were summoned by the Romans to bring help. Germanus the bishop of Altisiodorum[xc] stood out in virtues and monasticism of life.
In the eleventh year: Aetius was welcomed back. Rugila, the king of the Huns with whom peace was affirmed, died. Bleda succeeded him.
In the twelfth year: Gallia Ulterior,[xci] having followed Tibatto the leader of a rebellion, revolted from Roman rule. With the beginning undertaken by him, almost all the servile elements of the Gallic lands entered into the Bacauda conspiracy.[xcii]
In the thirteenth year: A memorable war against the people of the Burgundians[xciii] blazed, in which almost the whole people with their king were destroyed by Aetius.
In the fourteenth year: After Batto[xciv] was captured and the rest of the leaders of the sedition partly bound and partly killed, the uproar of the Bacaudae came to rest.
In the fifteenth year: The Theodosian book of all the laws of the legitimate principes collected into one was brought out for the first time in this year. Silvius, of somewhat disturbed mind- following the completion of duties of military service in the palace- wrote some things concerning the religion.
In the sixteenth year: Leo undertook leadership of the Roman church as the fortieth pope.[xcv]
In the seventeenth year: With the commotions of the Gallic lands pacified, Aetius returned to Italy. The abandoned countryside of the city of Valentina was handed over to be divided for the Alans, of whom Sambida was in charge.
In the eighteenth year: The British lands, up to this time lacerated with various disasters and events, were subjugated under the rule of the Saxons.
In the nineteenth year: The Alans, to whom the lands of Gallia Ulterior had been handed over by the patrician Aetius to be divided with the inhabitants, subjugated those resisting by arms and after expelling the masters took possession of the land by force.
In the twentieth year: Sapaudia[xcvi] was given to the remainders of the Burgundians to be divided with the indigenous inhabitants.
In the twenty-first year: Carthago, captured by the Vandals along with all of Africa, cast away the power of the Roman Empire in a lamentable disaster and loss. Indeed from this it was seized by the Vandals.
In the twenty-second year: Thracia was shaken by an incursion of the Huns.
In the twenty-third year: Bleda the king of the Huns was struck by the trickery of his brother Attila. That person himself succeeded him.
In the twenty-fourth year: New ruin arose again for the East, in which no less than seventy cities were devastated by the plundering of the Huns, as no help was brought from the western parts.
In the twenty-fifth year: Eudoxius a doctor by training, of crooked but agitated character, took refuge with the Huns after being involved with the Bacauda revolt of that time.
In the twenty-sixth year: Eucerius the bishop of Lugdunum[xcvii] and Hilarius Archatensis[xcviii] came to the end of their outstanding lives.[xcix]
In thw twenty-seventh year: A nefarious heresy was stirred by a certain archimandrite. Theodosius, providing favour to this, died after forty-seven years in power. Marcianus[c] took his place. Placidia also, after an irreprehensible conversion, died in this year, with her son consummating his twenty-fifth year in power.
Valentinianus and Marcianus
In the first year: In this storm the wretched condition of the state became very much apparent, as not even one province was free of barbarian settlement and the evil heresy of the Arrians, which mixed itself in the barbarian nations, was infused in the whole world and took for itself the name of the Catholic faith. Acttila[ci] entered the Gallic lands and demanded a wife[cii] as though she were owed to him by law. But after he inflicted a grave disaster and received one, he withdrew to his own holdings.
In the second year: Very many signs appeared in this year.[ciii]
Attila, enraged by the unexpected disaster he had received in the Gallic lands, sought Italy, which the inhabitants, terrified by fear alone, had left unprotected.
Notes
[i] Gratian, son of Valentinian I (Valentinian the Great) and emperor in the period 367-383 CE.
[ii] i.e. The years 377-383 CE.
[iii] Valentinian II.
[iv] Theodosius I.
[v] i.e. Supporting Catholic Christianity.
[vi] Tours in modern-day France.
[vii] i.e. The eastern regions of the Roman Empire.
[viii] Magnus Maximus.
[ix] St. Ambrose, the bishop of Milan who composed numerous works, including denunciations of Arianism.
[x] Lyon.
[xi] i.e. Gratian.
[xii] i.e. The period 384-395 CE in Theodosius I's reign.
[xiii] The Treveri are mentioned in much earlier Latin works. For instance, in his Germania (ch. 28), Tacitus says that the Treveri and Nervii are very keen on claiming a Germanic origin, 'as though through this glory of blood they are separated from the likeness and inertia of the Gauls' (the Gauls were a Celtic people).
[xiv] Followers of Mani, an Iranian prophet of the third century CE. His religion spread throughout the East and West. Indeed, it had many followers in Gaul. But over the centuries the religion went into decline through persecution.
[xv] Wife of Valentinian I and mother of Valentinian II. As the narrative clearly implies, she was an Arian.
[xvi] Milan.
[xvii] St. Augustine of Hippo.
[xviii] i.e. In 388 CE.
[xix] Referring to the massacre of Thessalonica carried out in 390 CE by Theodosius I's troops against the inhabitants of the city. The massacre attracted widespread condemnation.
[xx] Apollinaris of Laodicea (modern-day Latakia in Syria), a bishop who taught that Christ had a solely divine mind. His teachings on this matter were condemned as heresy. Apollinaris died in 390 CE. It should be noted though that Apollinaris' heresy and its spread began well before his death.
[xxi] i.e. Theodosius I, emperor in the period 379-395 CE. He is notable as the last emperor to rule over a united Roman Empire at the end of his reign.
[xxii] Pope Damasus I, pope in the period 366-384 CE.
[xxiii] Pope Siricius, pope in the period 384-399 CE.
[xxiv] St. Peter II, bishop in the period 373-379 CE.
[xxv] St. Timothy I, bishop in the period 379-385 CE.
[xxvi] St. Theophilus, bishop in the period 385-412 CE.
[xxvii] Bishop of Antioch in the period 360-381 CE.
[xxviii] Bishop of Antioch in the period 381-404 CE.
[xxix] The Serapeum, a temple dedicated to the Graeco-Egyptian deity Serapis.
[xxx] Not Vienna in modern-day Austria but Vienne in modern-day France, located near Lyon.
[xxxi] A late Roman title that can be translated by the English word 'count.' The title refers to a military general.
[xxxii] The name shows he was of Germanic origin.
[xxxiii] A usurper in the Western Roman Empire in the period 392-94 CE.
[xxxiv] Son of Theodosius I and Eastern Roman emperor in the period 395-408 CE.
[xxxv] Son of Theodosius I and Western Roman emperor in the period 395-423 CE.
[xxxvi] Consul in 392 CE and praetorian prefect of the East in the period 392-395 CE.
[xxxvii] Stilicho, a general of partly Germanic origin who attained the senior late Roman military title of magister militum ('master of soldiers'). He served as Honorius' guardian and was thus one of the most powerful figures in the Western Roman Empire for a time.
[xxxviii] The poet Claudian. He most notably composed works in praise of Honorius, while documenting other events such as the revolt of Gildo in Africa that was crushed by Stilicho.
[xxxix] Aurelius Prudentius Clemens.
[xl] Pope Innocent I, pope in the period 401-417 CE.
[xli] i.e. Pagan temples.
[xlii] St. Paulinus of Nola, who had enjoyed a distinguished political career but subsequently became a bishop.
[xliii] The doctrines of Pelagius, who denied that man was tainted by original sin, were condemned as heresy.
[xliv] Origen was a Christian theologian born in Egypt in the late second century CE. The event described here is the 'first Origenist crisis' of the end of the fourth century/beginning of the fifth century CE.
[xlv] i.e. St. Augustine.
[xlvi] The Latin here reads 'seva.' The more usual spelling in Latin is 'saeva.' Perhaps here we see a hint of the ae>e shift that occurred and becomes prevalent in much later Latin texts (cf. the Mozarabic Chronicle of the eighth century CE).
[xlvii] 405-406 CE.
[xlviii] Among the Germanic tribes who moved into Roman lands, Arianism was initially the main form of Christianity.
[xlix] Stilicho had mobilized Hunnic auxiliaries to fight back against Radagaisus' invasion of Italy.
[l] Theodosius II, who was initially co-emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire with his father Arcadius (402-408 CE) and then became sole emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire after Arcadius' death, ruling from 408-450 CE.
[li] Pope Celestine I, pope in the period 422-432 CE. The chronicle has omitted Zosimus and Boniface I, the immediate predecessors of Celestine I.
[lii] Stilicho's son Eucherius. The view towards Stilicho here is hostile despite acknowledging the significant success in defeating Radagaisus' invasion of Italy. A less sinister explanation than deliberately letting the barbarians in is that Stilicho may have withdrawn some troops from the Rhine frontier in order to defend Italy, thus unintentionally weakening the defence of Gaul.
[liii] Town located in modern-day Tunisia.
[liv] Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople in the period 428-431 CE.
[lv] Around 410 CE and onwards.
[lvi] A Germanic tribe that subsequently moved into Spain and then crossed into North Africa, establishing a kingdom based in Carthage.
[lvii] The Alans, a people of Iranian origin who migrated into Western Europe
[lviii] He was initially proclaimed emperor by Roman troops in Britain who revolted. He then crossed over into Gaul. He gained recognition from Honorius as co-ruler for a brief period. His expedition into Gaul drained Britain of defenses against Saxon incursions. This marked the end of Roman rule over Britain.
[lix] Also called the Suebi. A Germanic people long attested in the classical sources. They eventually established a kingdom in western Iberia, which was subsequently absorbed into the Visigothic domain.
[lx] The sack of Rome in 410 CE by the Goths under Alaric.
[lxi] 411 CE.
[lxii] Iovinus, a usurper based in Gaul in the period 411-413 CE.
[lxiii] Claudius Postumus Dardanus, who had served as praetorian prefect of Gaul.
[lxiv] A co-usurper with Iovinus in Gaul.
[lxv] Another co-usurper with Iovinus in Gaul. Sebastianus, Sallustius and Iovinus are described as brothers in other sources.
[lxvi] Valence in modern-day France.
[lxvii] A region corresponding to modern-day southwest France.
[lxviii] In 418 CE.
[lxix] Arles in modern-day France.
[lxx] 413 CE. The phrasing in the original is somewhat vague. One interpretation has been that Heraclianus was a usurper. For a counter-view, see 'The Manufacture of Heraclianus' Usurpation (413 CE)'.
[lxxi] Galla Placidia.
[lxxii] Referring to Athaulf, the king of the Goths.
[lxxiii] Constantius III, a magister militum under Honorius and then proclaimed co-emperor in 421 CE. His reign as co-emperor lasted less than a year.
[lxxiv] i.e. People espousing the doctrine of predestination.
[lxxv] St. Augustine. The point the author makes is that those espousing the doctrine may have gained ideas regarding predestination from St. Augustine's writings, but St. Augustine himself did not espouse predestination as the heretical concept condemned by the author.
[lxxvi] Pope Sixtus III, pope in the period 432-440 CE.
[lxxvii] Likely referring to a usurper in the period 419-421 CE.
[lxxviii] Valentinian III, son of Constantius and Galla Placidia. He was emperor in the period 425-455 CE.
[lxxix] A thirty-year jubilee. This occasion would have derived from the fact that Honorius was elevated as Augustus alongside his father Theodosius I in 493 CE. Thus, although we can assign his reign as Western Roman emperor to the period 395-423 CE, he was technically emperor before 395 CE. Thus, 493-523 CE marks a reign of thirty years.
[lxxx] Iohannes, usurper of the Western Roman Empire in the period 423-425 CE.
[lxxxi] This sentence seems to be out of place in the chronicle. The preceding and following sentences deal with the times of the usurper Iohannes and his deposition by the forces of Theodosius II. Count Boniface, the governor of Africa, supported Placidia and Valentinian III against Iohannes. The incident related here occurred in the period 427-429 CE.
[lxxxii] 146 BCE.
[lxxxiii] Flavius Aetius.
[lxxxiv] Arles.
[lxxxv] A Germanic people.
[lxxxvi] 432 CE.
[lxxxvii] Aetius.
[lxxxviii] Placidia: the use of the term 'regina' ('queen') to describe her indicates the level of her influence in the Western Roman Empire at this point.
[lxxxix] Boniface was wounded in the battle with Aetius' forces.
[xc] Germanus of Auxerre.
[xci] Referring to the area of Gaul beyond the Alps to the west of Italy.
[xcii] The term Bacauda is used here to refer to an internal uprising against Roman rule. This revolt occurred in 435 CE.
[xciii] A Germanic people who came to establish a kingdom occupying lands to the northwest of Italy previously held by the Western Roman Empire. These lands correspond to parts of modern-day France and Switzerland.
[xciv] Tibatto.
[xcv] Pope Leo I, pope in the period 440-461 CE.
[xcvi] The Savoy region lying just to the northwest of Italy. This grant occurred in 443 CE.
[xcvii] St. Eucerius of Lyon.
[xcviii] St. Hilary of Arles.
[xcix] 449 CE.
[c] Eastern Roman emperor in the period 450-457 CE.
[ci] Attila the Hun.
[cii] Honoria, sister of Valentinian III.
[ciii] 452 CE.
-------------------------------------
(Update 4th October 2019): I have added in the annual ordinals for the reigns of various rulers as contained in Burgess' edition of the text. This should aid the reader further in following the chronology.