Count Theodosius

Count Theodosius (Latin: Theodosius comes; died 376) or Theodosius the Elder (Latin: Theodosius major),^[a] was a senior military officer serving Valentinian I (r. 364–375) and the Western Roman Empire during Late Antiquity. Under his command the Roman army defeated numerous threats, incursions, and usurpations. Theodosius was patriarch of the imperial Theodosian dynasty (r. 379–457) and father of the emperor Theodosius the Great (r. 379–395).

Theodosius the Elder

376
Carthage, Africa

Thermantia^[1]

Theodosius I
Honorius^[2]
Unnamed daughter^[3]

Theodosian

Appointed comes rei militaris per Britannias (Commander of mobile military forces for the Diocese of the Britains) by Valentinian, Theodosius put down the Great Conspiracy (367–368) and the usurpation of Valentinus.^[5] After restoring order in Britain he returned to continental Europe and fought against the Alemanni; as Valentinian's magister equitum (Master of Horse) he successfully invaded Alemannic territory (371 or 370).^[6] In 372 Theodosius led a successful campaign against the Sarmatians, and within the same year Firmus, a Mauritanian prince, rebelled against Roman rule with the help of African tribes like the Abanni and Caprarienses.^[7] Theodosius was sent to Africa and in two hard-fought campaigns (373–374) put down the insurrection.^[5] In 376, after the death of emperor Valentinian, he was arrested and executed, presumably as he was seen as a threat to the new western emperors Gratian and Valentinian II.^[8]^[9]^[10]

Theodosius's title in Latin was comes rei militaris (viz. "companion [of the emperor] for military affairs"; the word comes is the origin of the medieval European feudal title of count and its homologues.

Roman Britain

Curran, John (1998). "From Jovian to Theodosius". In & Peter Garnsey (eds.). The Cambridge Ancient History XIII: The Late Empire, A.D. 337–425. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-30200-5.

Averil Cameron

Hebblewhite, Mark (2020). . London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315103334. ISBN 978-1-138-10298-9. S2CID 213344890.

Theodosius and the Limits of Empire

Hughes, Ian (5 August 2013). . Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-4738-2863-6.

Imperial Brothers: Valentinian, Valens and the Disaster at Adrianople

; J.R. Martindale & J. Morris (1971). Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. Vol. 1. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-07233-6.

Jones, A.H.M.

Kelly, Gavin (2013). (PDF). Chiron. 43: 357–409. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-06-20.

"The Political Crisis of AD 375–376"

McEvoy, Meaghan (2013). . Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199664818.

Child Emperor Rule in the Late Roman West, AD 367–455

Potter, David S. (2004). . New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-10057-7.

The Roman Empire at Bay: AD 180–395

Rodgers, Barbara Saylor (1981). "Merobaudes and Maximus in Gaul". . 30 (1): 82–105. JSTOR 4435744.

Historia

Treadgold, Warren (2005-01-01). . Mediterraneo Antico.

"Predicting the Accession of Theodosius I"

Williams, Stephen; Friell, Gerard (1994). . Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-07447-5.