Valentinian III, AD 425-455, issued copper coins that are almost all small AE4s, ill struck, and ugly. Nevertheless, you might want to see what he issued. Here is my web page on his copper type-set: http://esty.ancients.info/ricix/ValentinianIII.html This one is type 67, AE4 CONCORDIA AVG Victory facing with two wreaths Struck 425-435 12 mm. 1.37 grams. 1:00. in ex: SMKA RIC X 438 page 274, discussed page 92f. "R3"
I have an AE4 space-filler coin of his. I will be upgrading to a facing-bust solidus when funds allow - the solidi are the only decent looking coins of the last emperors. This guy ruled for 30 years (425-455AD), which is remarkable for any Roman emperor, let alone a 5th century emperor presiding over a disintegrating empire. So i have two questions: (a) How was he able to rule so long? (b) Why are his coins so rare?
I think the real question is, why was he allowed to rule so long before being murdered when he has to be one of the worst excuses for an Emperor to ever occupy the throne. The guy was a joke. Maybe the Romans kind of figured the Empire was doomed anyway and just resigned themselves to that useless meat bag sitting on the throne.
I really doubt that was the case. I think it had more to do with his legitimacy and his direct connection to the famed and celebrated Theodosian dynasty that kept Valentinian on the throne. I don't think the Western Romans wanted to risk reprisal from the Eastern Roman Empire for deposing a relative of the eastern emperor. Neither was Valentinian III some horrible tyrant that everyone wanted to see go. He did do some good deeds with regards to religion but overall he was just lazy with ruling and too interested in having fun.
He may not have been a tyrant, but he was next to useless as the Empire crumbled around him, and he killed the most experienced military commander and advisor he had, Flavius Aetius. With that single act of murder, he put the final nail in the coffin for the Roman Empire.
RIC X is an excellent read on Valentinian III, as regards his history, and his coinage. I suspect the rarity of his coins has more to do with survival rates than lack of quantities minted.
I agree with everything except for the last part. There was still some hope after the killing of Aetius. Read up on Emperor Majorian and his attempts to reconquer the lost territories. He was well on his way to bringing the empire back from the brink. Also the joint attempt by both empires to take back North Africa from the Vandals was another way in which they tried to reverse the Western Empire's fortunes. I'd say the failure of this joint attack was the "final nail in the coffin" since afterwards there were no further serious attempts to reclaim lost lands and no one the likes of Aetius or Majorian came to power.
The murder of Aetius was what led to Valentinian's assassination, wasn't it? Val was doing well (in terms of staying alive) up until that point. And he was neither crazy nor a megalomaniac - he was certainly no Caligula or Max Thrax. He just didn't have any aptitude for rule - management of imperial policy was in the hands of Galla Placidia and later Aetius. Although this period is dismissed as the era of shadow emperors, the truth is, as ValiantKnight says, there were some capable emperors towards the very end. Majorian and Anthemius weren't exactly incompetent, and both made decent attempts to recapture lost territory. Unfortunately by this stage, the Germanic Masters of the Soldiers (Ricimer, then Odoacer) were the real power behind the throne - and they could depose and create emperors at will. How are we going with collecting the last emperors btw? I have Johannes, Val III, Libius Severus. And I thought I had Nepos - but a renowned expert (whom you've all heard of) believes my Nepos AE4 is a tooled Libius Severus. Judging by the availability in auctions, it's possible (on a budget of <$2000 per coin) to obtain examples of all the late emperors except Romulus Augustus, Olybrius, Glycerius and Petronius Maximus.
BTW not sure if you saw my recent thread about it @Valentinian but here is a nice CASTRA type I recent picked up (instead of CAS it is misspelled as CRA on mine).
I have Johannes, Val III, Galla Placidia (not emperor but still ruled for some time and very rare), Majorian, and Libius Severus. I have several rare Germanic kings as well from the next century (6th cent).
Wonderful example 'Val" !!! Historically, I agree with the consensus: the final nail may have been struck with the murder of Aetius by Val III, but it wasn't hammered in until the failure of the joint attack mentioned by 'V-K'....... Alas, I am missing all of those LATE emperors from Constantine III on....except Theodosius II.
The Cherson Val III is probably the scarcest. It's also the most interesting as it was quite likely issued for local circulation in Crimea only, similar to how Maximus of Spain had his AE2's and AE4's issued at Barcino (see my post about a Maiorina AE2 minted probably under his rule here: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/a-maiorina-of-maximus-of-barcino.269168/) for circulation in the area he briefly controlled between 410 and 411. Both are interesting examples of how the Roman world becomes fragmented both politically and economically. But back to Val from Cherson, as far as I have learned his coins for the issue are considerably rarer than the ones of Theodosius II. I had a couple a years ago a fragment of one of his Maiorinae (maybe 1/3 of a coin) that sold at auction for about 50$)
