![]() The senate still met there, and after all, three imperial princesses now have been captured in Rome by Visigoths or vandals. ![]() ![]() And while it’s true that Milan became the main administrative capital in the 4th century, and that Ravenna was used as a safe haven after the Visigoths invaded, Rome itself remained by far the most populated city in the west, and after 450, emperors began to spend more time back in the eternal city. (Real quick digression, much is made of the decline of the city of Rome in importance in the later century of the empire. And of course Gaiseric the Vandal still sat in Africa, by now the elder statesman of the Roman world, and his pirates made regular visits to the Italian coasts to remind them of his presence and power. Southern Gaul had been divided up between the Burgundians and Visigoths, those same Visigoths were steadily extending their control over Spain, Illyria and Northern Gaul were ruled by Romans, but both those Romans had rejected Libius Severus and operated as semi-independent warlords. On paper, Ravenna still could claim dominion over northern Gaul, Illyria, and Spain, but only Italy really remained. Essentially, Ricimer chose to throw away all the good work Majorian had done stitching the empire back together in return for personal power over Italy. Last time, we talked about the consequences of Ricimer’s betrayal of Majorian and appointment of the puppet Libius Severus. ![]() Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 “The Britons” by Kevin MacLeod at Free Music Archive ![]()
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