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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Pellinore, post: 2800167, member: 74834&quot;]Finally, I acquired a coin of Magnus Maximus (my 81th emperor on the Eric II list). I wanted a nice one because of this emperor&#039;s ties to Wales. </p><p><br /></p><p>He was born about 335 AD in Galicia (Spain). <a href="http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/FeaturesBritain/BritishMagnusMaximus.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/FeaturesBritain/BritishMagnusMaximus.htm" rel="nofollow">According to some</a>, he was of Welsh descent, whereas others say he was a grandson of Constantine the Great. Raised by an important officer, Count Theodosius, young Maximus became a leading officer, too, to whom important assignments were entrusted in the 370s. In 380 he was made top general of the field army in Britain, <i><a href="http://www.roman-emperors.org/madmax.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.roman-emperors.org/madmax.htm" rel="nofollow">comes Brittannicus</a></i>. A year later, he defeated an incursion of Picts and Scots. Two years later, he was made an emperor by his army. Possibly he was an unwilling emperor (like there were so many before him - and well they might, for usurpator is a taxing occupation and also a guarantee for a short and violent life), but there he was. </p><p><br /></p><p>Magnus Maximus was not the first British emperor; Carausius had been an emperor a century earlier, and you might discuss the Roman emperors who visited Britain. </p><p>Maximus was married several times and had influential offspring. Flavius Victor was his eldest son and caesar, perishing on the same day in 388 AD. But according to <a href="http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/FeaturesBritain/BritishMagnusMaximus.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/FeaturesBritain/BritishMagnusMaximus.htm" rel="nofollow">this article by Peter Kessler</a> his three eldest sons were to become kings of North, Mid and South Wales, whereas the fourth was a saint: St. Peblig ap Macsen. And his two daughters were married to Tudwal, king of Dumnonia, and Vortigern, king of Powys. So - an emperor well rooted in British early history. </p><p><br /></p><p>Had Maximus stayed in Britain, things might have gone different, but he tried to enlarge his territory by engaging the emperor Gratian, and thereafter the other lords of the Roman realm. After a promising beginning, where he proved to be an apt administrator of his part of the empire: Britain, Spain, Gaul and North Africa, in 388 the tide turned and he was defeated and executed by the Eastern emperor Theodosius, the son of Maximus&#039; benefactor Count Theodosius. </p><p><br /></p><p>I wanted an attractive coin and decided on this one, a larger AE with nice details. Issued in Lyons. Obv.: Diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right. D N MAG MAXIMVS P F AVG. Rev.: Magnus Maximus standing left, holding crowning Victory on globus and extending hand to Fortuna kneeling right. REPARATIO REIPVB / LVGS. 23 mm, 5.02 gr. RIC 32. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]652583[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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