09-21-2014, 12:49 PM
Justin 1 wrote:
Quote:In 395 A.D., Stilicho marched east to confront Alaric in the Balkans. According to Claudian, Stilicho had Alaric on the brink of defeat when the order came from Constantinople to immediately send the Eastern units of Stilicho's army back to Arcadius. Claudian claims that the troops were so angry they spontaneously lynched Rufinus, the Eastern emperor Arcadius' regent, on the parade ground upon their return. In a way, this has a veneer of plausibility; a distant politician ordering the army to divide itself in the face of the enemy for the sake of political axe-grinding is obviously very dangerous, and would likely cause outrage among the troops. But Claudian, of course, was Stilicho's official spokesman. This was the best possible spin on an ugly situation.Don't really know too much about the history of Stilicho but Wolfram in his book History of the Goths writes that in the winter of 394/395 the Danube froze over around the delta region enabling small Hunnic groups to cross quite easily and conduct raids into Lower Moesia. Although after these raids they recrossed to the other bank and had no intention of staying in Moesia when the ice melted, I am sure that there would have been a bit of panic in the Eastern capital and pressure for the return of the eastern troops who were used to fight Eugenius the previous year. In regards to the killing of Rufinus, rather than Stilicho maybe the eunuch Eutropius had a bit to do with that in combination with the Goth Gainus as Rufinus planned to marry his daughter to Arcadius. Another little known factor about 395AD is that due to the eastern provinces being stripped of manpower to fight Eugenius that there was a massive Hunnic army in the East through Armenia, Cappadocia before splitting into two forces with one wing invading Roman Syria and the other wing attacking Sassanid Mesopotamia and they are reported by Syriac sources to have taken up to 18,000 Roman prisoners before being defeated by the Persians. So destroying Alaric in 395 might not have been an Eastern priority and maybe they planned on using Alaric to fight any Hunnic attacks from north of the lower Danube. Apparently Eutropius had a small victory over the remnants of the Hunnic invaders in Armenia in 398 and became the first eunuch to be made consul but his former ally Gainus engineered his downfall a little later. Interestingly enough the two leaders of the 395 raid Basich and Cursich, who Priscus claimed were Hunnic royalty, later signed a treaty with the Western Roman empire and probably gave troops to Stilicho as part of the deal so maybe there were a lot more political games going on between both East and West in 395AD. Stilicho probably needed Hunnic troops to replace his Alan troops in Northern Italy as there is no more mention of Alan troops serving in Northern Italy for the Romans after late 402. Walter Goffart and Otto Maenchen-Helfen both mention that there may have been a severe falling out and disagreement between Huns and Alans serving in the Roman army which came to a fight with quite a few casualties on both sides and Goffart even says that these disgruntled Alan troops led the Alan/Vandal/Suevi crossing of the Rhine into Gaul and onto Spain. Only guessing here but maybe Respendial or Goar took over the Alan troops after their king Saul was killed in the battle of Pollentia in 402AD. So if Alaric seemed to get off the hook a few times I think it was because Stilicho was hard pressed maintaining his army and stamping out all the spot fires appearing throughout the empire from Africa, Northern Italy, the middle Danube,Gaul and Britain. But I am sure he still maintained more than a keen interest in Eastern affairs because if either of the two young emperors were childless then his son being the son of Theodosius's niece and adopted daughter might possibly have some claim to the throne. So when he fell you just knew that his family would follow. :? :?
Regards
Michael Kerr
Michael Kerr
Michael Kerr
"You can conquer an empire from the back of a horse but you can't rule it from one"
"You can conquer an empire from the back of a horse but you can't rule it from one"