Why did Anthemius ally with the Britons?

I wrote The Retreat to Avalon largely to explore the practical application of the theories behind the research of the eminent historian, Geoffrey Ashe, and focused on the core of the premise: the great battle between the Britons and the Visigoths. I found Geoffrey’s thesis entirely cogent, but I wondered about the strategic, tactical and logistical problems faced by a military leader in the 5th century. Was such an expedition even possible? Why would Anthemius, emperor of the Western Roman Empire, ally with a king of the Britons they called Riothamus and who we know as Arthur?

The State of the Empire, 469-470 AD

Anthemius is the Western Roman emperor, while Leo I is emperor in Constantinople. Both are struggling to deal with barbarian pressures: the Huns and Ostrogoths in central Europe, the Vandals in North Africa, Visigoths in Spain and southern Gaul, Franks on the borders of northern Gaul, Burgundians in eastern Gaul, and others, not to mention peasant uprisings like the Bacaudae.

Even Gaul was splintering from the Empire. Even though Rome still claimed all of Gaul and parts of Germania, the empire had very little control beyond the city of Arles. The Burgundians controlled most of eastern Gaul and the Visigoths controlled most of southern Gaul. Three areas were cut off from the empire and operated independently, but remained Roman: the city of Avernis (Clermont-Ferrand), ruled by Ecdicius (brother-in-law of Sidonius Apollinaris– a name deeply associated with Riothamus), the domain of Syagrius, in northern Gaul, and the city of Trier, ruled by Arbogast. The Alans, settled at Orléans by Rome to control Armorica (Normandy), seem to have been under the rule of Syagrius. The Britons of Letavia (Brittany) are essentially independent. Those living in the frontiers between these regions likely were left alone, or paid taxes to whichever ruler could project enough military might to coerce compliance.

All this doesn’t even take into account the internal troubles and political rivalries within the empire, itself. Anthemius became emperor in 467, after five other emperors had been elevated and either murdered, or deposed and killed, within the space of a decade. He was from Constantinople, not Rome, so his detractors called him “that Greek” and claimed he was only appointed to be Leo’s puppet.

Empire politics in the fifth century were notoriously byzantine (the term actually comes from the original name of Constantinople, now Istanbul, and refers to convoluted, confusing, and sinisterly bureaucratic). Leo was preceded by Marcian, who appears to have intended Anthemius to succeed him. Marcian even married his only daughter, Marcia Euphemia, to Anthemius. However, Marcian died before appointing his successor, leaving this opportunity to his magister militum, Aspar.

Treacherous Employees

Aspar, an Arian of Goth and Alan descent, could not become emperor, but his control of the military gave him great power. He wanted a puppet, not an independent emperor, as Anthemius would have been, so he appointed the relatively low-level military leader, Leo. When it turned out that Leo was actually a fairly competent ruler that did not bend to Aspar’s wishes, the resulting conflict led to Leo having Aspar killed.

The western empire had the same troubles with Germanic-Arian magistri militum. In this case, it was Ricimer, a man of Suebic and Visigothic decent. His influence was behind the appointments of five Western Roman emperors, including Anthemius. He also was behind the deaths of at least two, and probably four emperors, including Anthemius.

Ricimer, like Aspar, wanted puppets he could control. Ricimer didn’t want Anthemius. He wanted an aristocrat from Rome named Olybrius. The Vandal king, Gaiseric, also wanted Olybrius to be made emperor, because his son and Olybrius both married the daughters of a former western emperor, and Gaiseric looked forward to immense influence through that relation.

Leo, however, didn’t want the Vandals, who he hoped to drive out of North Africa, to have any more influence in the empire, so he put forth Anthemius as the candidate. Ricimer wasn’t happy about it, but he wanted to repair relations with the eastern empire and have more leverage against the Vandals, so he agreed, and Anthemius became the western emperor.

Anthemius was an effective general and diplomat. If not for internal politics and some plain bad luck, he may have reversed the decline of the Western Empire. He married his daughter, Alypia, to Ricimer in the hopes of gaining his loyalty. After a campaign to retake North Africa from the Vandals ended in a disaster and the permanent loss of that region, Anthemius turned his attention to the second major problem facing the Western Empire: the Visigoths.

In 410, the same year that the Britons expelled the Roman magistrates from Britain, the Visigoths sacked Rome. Such a thing had not happened in 800 years, when Rome was a small city-state sacked by the Gauls. The Visigoths later settled in southern Gaul and formed their own kingdom as federates of the Roman Empire, but eventually expanded their control into Spain.

Fickle Allies

The empire’s relations with barbarian tribes were a muddled mess of warfare, bribery, offering land for protection against other barbarians, making treaties, then violating those treaties when either side found it convenient. The Visigoths were a prime example. Forty-one years after sacking Rome, they helped the Romans defeat Attila the Hun at the famous Battle of the Catalaunian Plains (the apparent inspiration behind J.R.R. Tolkien’s Battle of the Pelennor Fields in The Lord of the Rings).

To make peace with the Visigoths, and enlist their help retaking Iberia (Spain and Portugal) from the Vandals and other Germanic tribes that had taken over the peninsula, Rome settled the Visigoths in southern Gaul as foederati – independent allies sworn to provide Rome military protection. With their capital at Toulouse, they soon expanded control into of most of Iberia. The Visigoths weren’t content with these lands, and had their eyes on the rest of Gaul.

In 453, Theodoric II murdered his brother to take the kingship of the Visigoths. Theodoric suffered several defeats against the Romans, and had to cede territory and submit to being a Roman vassal again. In 461, Ricimer assassinated Emperor Majorian and installed Severus III as emperor. The western Magister Militum, Aegidius, refused to accept Severus, so Ricimer called upon the Visigoths and his Burgundian allies (Ricimer had married the sister of the king of the Burgundians), and waged war on Aegidius. Ricimer and Theodoric were defeated at Aurelianis (Orleans), and this string of failures seems to have led to Theodoric being murdered by his brother, Euric.

With Euric now king of the Visigoths, he consolidated power by defeating other Visigoth chiefs and began retaking Iberia. He certainly still had an interest in expanding his territories in Gaul, and Anthemius had to find a way to stop the bleeding.

Anthemius, however, had very few options. He barely had the funds to field a defense for Italy, and yet had to find a way to bring Gaul fully back into the empire. The 6th-century historian, Jordanes, said that Anthemius allied with “Riothamus, King of the Britons” to bring 12,000 soldiers to Gaul “by way of the ocean”. If you’ve read Geoffrey Ashe’s The Discovery of King Arthur, you will understand why this is the Arthur of history and legend.

Raising, supplying and transporting an army that large would have been a difficult, but not impossible or even unlikely a thing at that time. Especially since this was at a point when the Britons seemed to have won a respite against Anglo-Saxon incursions. If you’ve read The Retreat to Avalon, you’ll see how I describe this endeavor. I’d love to know what you think.

Wrapping Up

The next few articles will talk more about everything leading up and through Arthur’s campaign against Euric. The next article, however, is in response to the most common thing I hear requested regarding the Arthurian Age series. I hope you’ll check it out. And I always love to get comments and questions!