Avitus Eparchius Avitus ( c . 385 – after 17 October 456 or in 457 ) was Western Roman Emperor from 8 or 9 July 455 to 17 October 456 . He was a senator and a high - ranking officer both in the civil and military administration , as well as Bishop of Piacenza . A Gallo - Roman aristocrat , he opposed the reduction of the Western Roman Empire to Italy alone , both politically and from an administrative point of view . For this reason , as Emperor he introduced several Gallic senators in the Imperial administration ; this policy , however , was opposed by the Senatorial aristocracy and by the people of Rome , who had suffered from the sack of the city by the Vandals in 455 . Avitus had a good relationship with the Visigoths , in particular with their king Theodoric II , who was a friend of his and who acclaimed Avitus Emperor . The possibility of a strong and useful alliance between the Visigoths and Romans ended , however , when Theodoric invaded Roman Hispania and then refused to help Avitus against the rebel Roman generals who deposed him . Biography . Origins and early career . Avitus was born in Clermont to a family of the Galllo - Roman nobility . His father was possibly Flavius Julius Agricola , consul in 421 . Avitus had two sons , Agricola ( 440 – after 507 , a " vir inlustris " ) and Ecdicius Avitus ( later " patricius " and " magister militum " under Emperor Julius Nepos ) and a daughter Papianilla ; she married Sidonius Apollinaris , whose letters and panegyrics remain an important source for Avitus ' life and times . Avitus followed a course of study typical for a young man of his rank , including law . Before 421 he was sent to the powerful " patricius " Flavius Constantius ( briefly Emperor in 421 ) to ask for a tax reduction for his own country ; this embassy was successful . His relative Theodorus was hostage at the court of the King of Visigoths , Theodoric I . In 425 / 426 Avitus went and met him and the King , who let Avitus enter his own court . Here , around 439 , Avitus met the son of Theodoric , Theodoric II , who later became King . Avitus inspired the young Theodoric to study Latin poets . He then started a military career serving under the " magister militum " Aetius in his campaign against the Juthungi and the Norics ( 430 – 431 ) and against the Burgundians ( 436 ) . In 437 , after being elevated to the rank of " vir inlustris " , he returned to Avernia , where he held a high office , probably " magister militum per Gallias " . In the same year he defeated a group of Hunnic raiders near Clermont and obliged Theodoric to lift the siege of Narbonne . In 439 he became Praetorian prefect of Gaul and renewed the friendship treaty with the Visigoths . Before the summer of 440 , he retired to private life at his estate , " Avitacum " , near Clermont . Here he lived until 451 when the Huns , led by Attila , invaded the Western Roman Empire ; Avitus persuaded Theodoric into an alliance with Rome , and the combined forces of Theodoric and Aetius defeated Attila in the Battle of Châlons ; Theodoric died in the battle . Rise to the throne . In the late spring of 455 , Avitus was recalled to service by emperor Petronius Maximus and was elevated to the rank of " magister militum " , probably " praesentalis " ; Maximus sent Avitus in an embassy to the court of Theodoric II , who had succeeded to his father , at Toulouse . This embassy probably confirmed to the new king and his people the condition of " foederati " of the Empire and asked for their support for the new Emperor . While Avitus was at Theodoric ' s court , news came of the death of Petronius Maximus ( 31 May ) and of the sack of Rome by the Vandals of Gaiseric . Theodoric acclaimed Avitus Emperor in Toulouse ; on 9 July , the new Emperor was acclaimed by the Gallic chiefs gathered in " Viernum " , near Arelate ( Arles ) ; and later , around 5 August , before Avitus reached Rome , he received the recognition of the Roman Senate . Avitus stayed in Gaul for three months , to consolidate his power in the region that was the center of his support , and later went to Italy with a Gallic army , probably reinforced with a Gothic force . He probably travelled to Noricum to restore the imperial authority in that province , and then passed through Ravenna , where he left a Gothic force under the new " patricius " and " magister militum " Remistus , a Visigoth . On 21 September , finally , he entered Rome . Consolidation of power . The effective power of Avitus depended on the support of all the major players in the Western Roman Empire in the mid - 5th century . The new Emperor needed the support of both the civil institutions , the Roman senate and the Eastern Roman Emperor Marcian , as well as that of the army and its commanders ( the generals Majorian and Ricimer ) and the Vandals of Gaiseric . On 1 January 456 , Avitus took the consulate , as traditionally the Emperors always held the consulate in the first year upon assuming the purple . However , his consulate " sine collega " ( without a second Consul ) was not recognised by the Eastern court , which nominated two consuls , Iohannes and Varanes . The fact that the two courts did not agree on a couple of consuls but each nominated its own means that despite the efforts of Avitus to receive the recognition of the Eastern Emperor , the relationship between the two halves was not optimal . Foreign policy . Treaties under Marcian and a treaty of 442 between emperor Valentinian III and the Vandal king Gaiseric had failed to reduce Vandal incursions and raids along the Italian coast . Avitus ' own efforts secured a temporary winter truce with them ; but in March 456 , Vandals destroyed Capua . Avitus sent Ricimer to defend Sicily , and the Romans defeated the Vandals twice , once in a land battle near Agrigento and another in a naval battle off Corsica . During the reign of Avitus , the Visigoths expanded into Hispania , nominally under Roman authorisation but actually in their own interests . In 455 Avitus had sent an ambassador , " comes " Fronto , to the Suebi and then to Theodoric II to ask them to formally recognise Roman rule . When the Suebi invaded the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis , the Visigoths attacked and defeated them 5 October 456 at the Campus Paramus , twelve miles from Astorga , on the banks of the Órbigo ( Urbicus ) , subsequently occupying the province as nominal " foederati " of the Empire . Fall . In the meantime , resentment amongst the population of Italy against the foreigner Avitus grew . The Gallic - Roman Emperor had given to other members of the Gallic - Roman aristocracy many key offices of the public administration usually filled by Romans . Furthermore the population of Rome , devastated by the sack of Rome , suffered from food shortages due to the Vandal control of the naval routes , aggravated by the requirements of the foreign troops that had arrived with Avitus . The imperial treasury was almost empty and , after disbanding his Visigoth guard because of popular pressure , Avitus was obliged to pay their huge wages by melting down and selling the bronze of some statues . Counting on the popular discontent , on the disbandment of the imperial guard , and on the prestige gained through their victories , Ricimer and the " comes domesticorum " Majorian rebelled against Avitus ; the Emperor was obliged to leave Rome in early autumn and to move north . Ricimer had the Roman Senate depose Avitus and ordered the murder of the " magister militum " Remistus in the " Palatium " at Classe , ancient port of Ravenna , on 17 September 456 . Avitus decided to react . First he chose Messianus , one of his collaborators in his embassy to the Visigoths ordered by Petronius Maximus , as the new " magister militum " ; then he probably went to Gaul ( Hydatius says to Arelate ) to collect all the available forces , probably the Visigoth guard he had just disbanded ; finally he led his forces against the troops of Ricimer , near Piacenza . The Emperor and his army entered the city and attacked the huge army led by Ricimer , but after a great massacre of his men , including Messianus , Avitus fled on 17 or 18 October 456 . In the immediate aftermath Ricimer spared his life , but forced him to become Bishop of Piacenza . Death . Avitus ' Gallic supporters may still have recognised him as emperor , despite his deposition . Sidonius Apollinaris tells of a failed " coup d ' etat " in Gaul organised by one Marcellus and probably aimed at bringing Avitus back on the throne . The contemporary historian Hydatius , who lived in Spain , considered the year 457 the third of Avitus ' reign ; Avitus ' own intentions are not known ; nor are the manner and date of his death , of which there are several versions . In some , he was told that the Roman Senate had condemned him to death , and tried to flee to Gaul , officially travelling there to bring donations to the basilica of Saint Julian in Avernia , his homeland ; according to Gregory of Tours , he died during this journey . Other sources have him strangled or starved to death , by order of his successor . Avitus died in 457 , or late in 456 , very soon after his deposition , and was buried at Brioude , next to Saint Julian ' s tomb . Bibliography . Primary sources . Major source for Avitus ' life until his rise to the throne is the panegyric written in occasion of his consulate by Sidonius Apollinaris ( 431 – 486 ) : For the history of his reign , the major sources are the Spaniard historian Hydatius ( 400 c . – 469 c . ) and the Byzantine chronicler John of Antioch ( first half of the 7th century ) :