Constantine III, Western Roman Emperor

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_III_(Western_Roman_emperor)

His full name was Flavius Claudius Constantinus. He was Emperor of Rome (Britain, Gaul and Spain) (407). He was a Roman general who declared himself Western Roman Emperor in 407, abdicated in 411, and was captured and executed shortly afterwards. Some modern scholars speculate he might have been the Constantine who was son of the Roman usurper Magnus Clemens Maximus, executed in 388.

Roman troops in Britain elevated him to the position of Emperor following the deposition and murder of Marcus and Gratian, other British claimants. He was acclaimed Emperor in Britain, crossed into Gaul, established his capital at Arles, and in 408 extended his authority to Spain. In 409, he was recognized as Augustus by Honorius, the Emperor in Rome. In 410, the Visigoths sacked Rome. Constantine's general Gerontius then switched sides and, with the help of another rival emperor, Maximus, took Spain and parts of Gaul. In Britain, the local nobility appealed to Honorius for help, but help was declined and Honorius advised the Britons to defend themselves. Constantine was besieged in Arles. He surrendered and was executed.

Orosius gives an account of events in Spain: "To oppose [his rivals, the brothers Didymus and Verinianus], Constantine sent into Spain his son Constans, who, shameful to say, had been transformed from a monk into a Caesar. With him Constantine sent certain barbarians, who had at one time been received as allies and drawn into military service, and who were called Honoriaci. They were the cause of the first misfortune that befell Spain. After killing the brothers who were trying to defend the Pyrenean Alps with their private forces, these barbarians received permission to plunder the plains of Pallantia as a reward for their victory. Later, after the removal of the faithful and efficient peasant guard, they were entrusted with the defense of the mountains just mentioned and their passes. These Honoriaci, having had a taste of plunder and being allured by its abundance, planned to secure both freedom from punishment for their crimes and a wider scope for their wickedness. Therefore they betrayed their watch over the Pyrenees, left the passes open, and so loosed upon the provinces of Spain all the nations that were wandering through Gaul and even joined them. There, after engaging for some time in bloody raids and inflicting serious damage upon people and property (for which they themselves are now sorry), and after a division had been made of what had been taken, they have remained in possession of their share to the present day." [%C3%99Ci%C3%99DHistories Against the PagansÙC/iÙD, 7.40.]

Gregory of Tours, citing Renatus, gives an account of the final sequence of events: "The usurper Constantine summoned his son Constans, also a usurper, from Spain to consult with him on affairs of state. And so Constans left the paraphernalia of his court and his wife at Saragossa and, entrusting all his interests in Spain to Gerontius, traveled without a pause to meet his father. When they met and a good number of days passed without any bad news from Italy, Constantine gave himself over to gluttony and drunkenness and told his son to return to Spain. Constans had sent his forces on ahead and was staying behind with his father when news came from Spain that one of his dependents, Maximus, had been made emperor by Gerontius and was arming himself with a following of barbarian peoples. Taking fright at this news, Constans and Decimius Rusticus, now prefect but formerly master of the offices, sent Edobech on ahead to the peoples of Germania, and they themselves set out for the Gallic provinces, intending to return right away to Constantine with Franks, Alemanni, and all available soldiers . . . .

[The siege here is that of Arles in 411. Honorius's forces were commanded by Constantius. Jovinus was proclaimed emperor in 411 and beheaded in 412.]

"The siege of Constantine was just entering its fourth month when news suddenly arrived from Farther Gaul that Jovinus had assumed the imperial insignia and was threatening the besiegers with Burgundians, Alemanni, Franks, Alans, and all his forces. Siege operations were expedited, the gates were opened, and Constantine was given up. He was immediately sent to Italy, but he was met by executioners sent by the emperor and beheaded on the river Mincio. . . .

"In those same days Decimius Rusticus, prefect of the usurpers, Agroetius, formerly chief of the secretaries of Jovinus, and many nobles were captured in the Auvergne by the generals of Honorius and cruelly put to death. The city of Trier was plundered and burned by the Franks; this was their second attack."