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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Magnus Maximus, post: 2243957, member: 73473&quot;]Flavius Valentinianus accepted the offer of Emperor of the Roman Empire on 26 Feb. 364 after his predecessor Jovian had ruled for the long and eventful reign of 8 months.</p><p><br /></p><p>One of the first acts he did as Emperor was to appoint a Co-Emperor to manage the Eastern portion of the Empire. He appointed his brother Valens to the job and then set off for the capital of the Western Empire, Mediolanum. Unfortunately trouble soon arouse with a barbarian tribe called the alamanni. The barbarians were used to receiving a nice lump sum of cash each year from the Emperor in exchange for the good will of the two peoples, an incentive for increased trade and blah blah blah. To be terse, it was tribute money.</p><p>Valentinian I &quot;insulted&quot; the barbarian envoys and gave them much less than what they were accustomed to receiving. The alamanni promptly began overrunning northern Gaul in retaliation. News of this reached Valentinian the same time that news of Procopius&#039;s revolt against Valens had. Valentinian decided not help Valens and focused his efforts on retaking northern Gaul. This decision ended up saving a lot of lives and strengthened his position in Gaul. Valentinian wanted to send a message to Romans in the west that he was not going to abandon them, and to do this he issued number of coins with the phrase <i>RESTITVTOR REIP </i>(Restorer of the Republic).</p><p><br /></p><p>Valentinian and his generals were eventually successful and by 367 the barbarians had been beaten back across the Rhine. Valentinian was about to launch a massive counter attack against them when he received troubling news from Roman Britain; the Caledonians, Hibernians, and Saxons had completely overrun the entire island except a few cities in the south. Valentinian was forced to postpone his planned punitive expedition until the situation in Britain was resolved.</p><p>After numerous failed attempts, Count Theodosius managed to swiftly retake the island and restore order.</p><p><br /></p><p>In the absence of an Imperial attack during 367, the alemanni sacked Mogontiacum (Mainz). This enraged Valentinian and the next year he personally led a massive army across the Rhine to teach the barbarians a lesson; he quickly scattered them and burned their stored food and villages. Surprisingly the alemanni regrouped and counter attacked Valentinian. The Battle of Solicinium was a bloody affair that lasted for hours and Valentinian himself was almost himself killed in the fighting. The Roman Legions eventually got the upper hand and defeated the barbarians but not without sustaining casualties themselves. Realizing that his army was too seriously depleted to push on, he made a temporary truce with the alamanni and returned to his HQ at Trier. The next few years saw bitter and inconclusive fighting across the Rhine. Valentinian was able to inflict heavy casualties against the barbarians but never could kill their chieftain.</p><p>In 374 both sides came to agreement of peace and Valentinian left the Rhine frontier to deal with an invasion of quadi on the Danube. He would never return. In 375 he suffered a burst blood vessel in his skull that killed him while he was berating a quadi peace envoy for insolence and dishonesty.</p><p><br /></p><p>Valentinian I was a military man who drastically improved the condition of the Legions and restored order and stability to the Western Empire. Though he had to raise taxes very high to pay for this. The fact that he even chose the West should be applauded. The Western Empire at this point in time was much poorer than the East and was beset by many more problems.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here is a my first Siliqua of Valentinian I!</p><p>Valentinian I AR Siliqua</p><p>Antioch mint</p><p>364-367 CE</p><p>2.1 grams.</p><p>Price-$120!!!</p><p>[ATTACH=full]442934[/ATTACH]</p><p>You would not believe how long it took me to get a Siliqua of his!</p><p><br /></p><p>What a Legionary in Valentinian&#039;s army would have looked like.</p><p>&nbsp; [ATTACH=full]442941[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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