174- The Sack of Rome Part II

Hello, and welcome to the History of Rome. Episode one seventy four, the Sack of Rome part two. Last time, we left off with the assassination of Valentinian the third, last of the Theodosians, and the subsequent elevation of Petronius Maximus. First of the so called shadow emperors, Those pale imitations who bickered over an ever shrinking imperial pie in the last days of the Western Empire. Petronius Maximus would get this terminal phase started in fine style by reigning for just seventy seven days in April. His major accomplishment, provoking the Vandals to sack Rome. We are indeed a long way from the golden age of the Antonines. Maximus's problem was that he didn't really have any inherent imperial legitimacy. He had killed the previous emperor and had spread some bribes around, but that was really all he had going for him. So as I mentioned last week, he forced the emperor's widow, Licinia Eudoxia, to marry him. After all, she was not just the wife of the late Western emperor Valentinian the third, she was also the daughter of the late Eastern Emperor Theodosius the second. So she was just oozing legitimacy. And marrying her was not only practical, it was kind of necessary given the circumstances. But Maximus was not content to stop there. He wanted to firmly intertwine his own family with the Theodosians and spawn a new dynasty. So Maximus named his son Caesar, and then married the boy to Valentinian and Licinia Eudoxia's eldest daughter, the now 15 year old Eudoxia the younger. Except that if you'll recall, her hand had already been promised to the vandal prince, Huneric. This wedding had not yet taken place, but neither had it ever been called off. Maximas obviously thought that with Valentinian dead, he could start rearranging dynastic marriages as he saw fit. But, well, king Genseric did not take kindly to the change in plans. After all, he was about to marry his son into the Roman imperial family, and that is not something you just let slip away. So how did Ginterik find out that the engagement was canceled and that Eudoxia was going to be married off to some usurping senator's son? He was alerted by the mother of the bride and recently widowed Licinia Eudoxia. She knew darn well that Maximus had killed her husband. And so, taking a page from the playbook of her, let's see, what would she be, cousin slash sister-in-law Honoria, Lysuni Eudoxia wrote a letter to Genseric begging the Vandals to come save her and her family from the brute Maximus. When this letter arrived, Genseric blew his top and mustered an invasion force almost immediately. Whoever this Maximus character was, he was going to rue the day that he had messed with the Vandals. Back in Rome, Maximus was settling comfortably into his new role as emperor, ready to enjoy all the powers and luxuries that came with being the supreme leader of a mighty what's …