Biographies Online

Valentinian was the son of the emperor Valentinian I and his second wife, Justina. On November 22, 375, five days after the death of his father, the four-year-old Valentinian was proclaimed emperor at Aquincum (modern Budapest). The declaration was made without the knowledge or consent of the two reigning emperors, Valens and Gratian, but they later accepted Valentinian and allowed him (through his mother) to rule Italy, Africa, and Illyricum. In 383 Gratian was put to death by the usurper Magnus Maximus. In 384 Valentinian ruled in favour of Ambrose of Milan and against Symmachus, the great pagan orator (and the prefect of the city Rome), in the controversial issue of restoring the Altar of Victory to the Roman Senate House. In 387 Maximus invaded Italy. Valentinian and his mother fled to Thessalonica, Greece, to the dominions of the new Eastern emperor, Theodosius I. After the overthrow of Maximus by Theodosius in 388, Valentinian was restored to his rule. He ruled from Vienna (modern Vienne) in Gaul, which was under the control of Theodosius's former general (now comes [Latin: “count”] and regent) Arbogast. In 392 the young emperor was found dead in his palace at Vienna, perhaps murdered by agents of Arbogast, whom he had sought to dismiss from the regency of Gaul.