Short Biography about the life of Valentinian III
Short Biography profile and facts about one of the most famous Romans of all, in the life of Valentinian III, Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.

• Name commonly known as: Valentinian III

• Latin Roman Name: Flavius Placidius Valentinianus

• Reigned as Roman Emperor / Caesar: 423-424 as Caesar in the west and 425 - 16 March 455 as emperor in the west

• Dynasty / Historical Period: Western Empire (394 - 476) which led to the disintegration of Roman authority and the Fall of the Roman Empire

• Place and Date of Birth: 2 July 419 at Ravenna

• Name of previous Emperor: His predecessor or the Emperor before Valentinian III was Honorius and his successor was Petronius Maximus

• Family connections / Genealogy

  • Name of Father: Constantius III

  • Name of Mother: Galla Placidia

  • Married: Licinia Eudoxia

  • Daughters: Eudocia and Placidia, married to Huneric and Olybrius

• Place and Date of Death: Died 16 March 455 aged 35

• For the names of the next Roman emperors in the East and the West of the Empire refer to the Timeline of Roman Emperors

Interesting facts about the life of Valentinian III
Obtain a fast overview of the times of the Roman Emperor Valentinian III from the following facts and information about his life. In 424 the Eastern Emperor Theodosius II elected as emperor his cousin Valentinian III, the son of Constantius III restoring the legitimate dynasty. Why was Valentinian III famous? Accomplishments, achievements and important events.

Valentinian III and the Vandals
The Vandals were coming. They were another tribe of Teutons; tall, strong, fair-haired and much like the Goths. Genseric and his Vandals were on the way, and there was nothing for it but to fight them. Valentinian III, made a treaty with Genseric, and even yielded up to him all rights to the old Roman province of Africa. But Genseric had a strong fleet of ships, and went on attacking and plundering Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, Italy and the coasts of Greece. Britain, at the same time, was being tormented by the attacks of the Saxons by sea, and the Caledonians from the north. Gaul was being overrun by the Goths in the south, the Burgundians in the middle, and the Franks in the north, so that scarcely more than Italy itself remained to Valentinian III. The Eastern half of the Empire was better off, though it was tormented by the Persians in the East, on the northern border by the Eastern Goths or Ostrogoths, who had stayed on the banks of the Danube instead of coming to Italy and to the south by the Vandals from Africa.

Valentinian III and Attila the Hun
The next terrible enemy who was coming against the unhappy Valentinian III and the Roman Empire was the nation of Huns, a wild, savage race, who were of the same stock as the Tartars, and dwelt as they do in the northern parts of Asia. Their leader's name was Attila. An embassy was sent to him at his camp. However, he did not then attack Italy, but turned upon Gaul. So much was he hated and dreaded by the Teutonic nations, that all Goths, Franks, and Burgundians flocked to join the Roman forces under commander Aetius to drive him back. The next year Attila demanded that Valentinian's sister, Justa Grata Honoria, should be given to him, and when she was refused, he led his host into Italy and destroyed all the beautiful cities of the north. The wretched Valentinian at Ravenna was helpless and useless, and Attila proceeded towards Rome. The brave Pope Leo I persuaded Attila to take a great ransom rather than destroying Rome. He also persuaded Attila to accept a dowry instead of Honoria. Attila to his camp on the Danube with all his horde, and soon after his arrival he married a young girl whom he had made prisoner. The next morning he was found dead on his bed in a pool of his own blood, and she was gone - the date was 453.

Valentinian III
Valentinian thought the danger over, and when commander Aetius came back to Ravenna, he grew jealous of his glory and stabbed him with his own hand. Genseric, king of the Vandals then returned. The pillage lasted fourteen days, and the Vandals stripped churches, houses, and all alike, putting their booty on board their ships. The pillage lasted fourteen days, and the Vandals stripped churches, houses putting their booty on board their ships. Sixty thousand captives, among them the Empress Eudoxia were taken prisoner.

Valentinian III
In 454 Aetius, whose son had married a daughter of Valentinian III was treacherously murdered by the emperor. In the following year on March 16 455AD the emperor Valentinian III was assassinated in Rome, by two of the barbarian followers of Aetius.