09-06-2010, 06:40 AM
September 5, 394 AD: First day of the battle of the river Frigidus (Vipava/Wippach) between the eastern Roman armies of Theodosius and the Western Roman forces of Eugenius and Arbogast. After the death (May 15, 392) of the weak and powerless Valentinian II (at age 21) his guardian, the Frankish magister militum Arbogast, suddenly elected the official Eugenius as emperor of the West. Eugenius and Arbogast strengthened the position of pagans in the West, promoting the cult of Jupiter and restoring other shrines, which did not earn support from the very religious Christian Theodosius.
In 393 Theodosius decided to back the (8-year old) Honorius and in 394 went on campaign against the usurpers. His army, under his generals Stilicho and Timasius, the Visigoth chieftain Alaric, and a Caucasian Iberian named Bacurios Hiberios, passing through Illyria unopposed and closed upon the Western army within the Claustra Alpium Iuliarum in a pass near present-day Vipava, Slovenia.
Eugenius had a statue of Jupiter placed on the battlefield, hoping to inspire his forces. Theodosius had his Gothic federates bear the brunt of the first charge, which only ended in heavy casualties, with general Bacurius among the dead.
(to be continued...)
In 393 Theodosius decided to back the (8-year old) Honorius and in 394 went on campaign against the usurpers. His army, under his generals Stilicho and Timasius, the Visigoth chieftain Alaric, and a Caucasian Iberian named Bacurios Hiberios, passing through Illyria unopposed and closed upon the Western army within the Claustra Alpium Iuliarum in a pass near present-day Vipava, Slovenia.
Eugenius had a statue of Jupiter placed on the battlefield, hoping to inspire his forces. Theodosius had his Gothic federates bear the brunt of the first charge, which only ended in heavy casualties, with general Bacurius among the dead.
(to be continued...)
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
