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Stilicho recalled one of the two British legions to assist with the defense of Italy against Alaric and the Visigoths. The recalled legion, known as the Sixth Victrix, was said by Claudian (in “De Bello Gallico,” 416) to be “that legion which is stretched before the remoter Britons, which curbs the Scot, and gazes on the tattoo-marks on the pale face of the dying Pict.” The barbarians were defeated, this time, at battle of Pollentia.
Battle of Pollentia
Date: 6 April 402
Location: Pollentia, modern Pollenza, near Asti, Italy
Result: Minor Roman victory
Belligerents
(1)Roman Empire
(2)Visigoths
Commanders
(1)Stilicho
(2)Alaric I
The Battle of Pollentia was fought on 6 April 402 (Easter) between the Romans and the Visigoths. A city about 20 miles inland from the Adriatic coast of central Italy. Bythe autumn of 401, Alaric I [1] felt confident enough to mount an invasion of Italy with the hope of inducing Emperor Honorius to surrender large sections of the Danubian frontier. With his host of Visigoths, Alaric passed over the Italian Alps, probably captured Aquileia and moved toward Milan, where a terrified Honorius demanded that Stilicho [2] come to his aid. Stilicho was busy that winter, defeating another barbarian ruler, Radagaisus, before moving to Italy in February of 402.
From February, the Visigoths, had been besieging Mediolanum, the capital of Roman Emperor Honorius, defended by Roman Gothic troops. The arrival of Stilicho and his army had forced Alaric to relieve the siege and move towards Hasta (modern Asti) in western Italy.
Stilicho reached the Visigoth army at Pollentia (modern Pollenzo, part of the commune of Bra), and attacked it on Easter, since the Visigoths, who were Arians, were busy celebrating the holiday. Stilicho captured Alaric’s familiars, while the Alan Saul, general of the Roman army, captured Alaric’s camp.
Stilicho offered to return the prisoners in exchange for the Visigoths returning to Illyricum; but upon arriving at Verona, Alaric stopped his retreat, and was defeated in the Battle of Verona. With many of his generals going with Stilicho, Alaric was forced to leave Italy.
While he could claim that Rome was saved, Stilicho knew that Pollentia was only a temporary reprieve.
Serena, wife of Stilicho, paid for a musive floor in the basilica of the Apostles, in Mediolanum, as an ex-voto for Stilicho’s victory.
[1]Alaric I
The Goths whom Theodosius had settled south of the Danube remained loyal to him during his lifetime. But their chief, Alaric, who had commanded a Gothic contingent during the Italian campaign, aspired to a higher appointment, and after Theodosius’ death he led his people in revolt. Under Alaric’s leadership, the Goths from the Danube settlement (Lower Moesia), after briefly threatening the walls of Constantinople, marched southward through Thrace and ravaged Macedonia and north Greece. They were checked, however, by the very able Western commander-in-chief, Stilicho, the only officer who was able to cope with Alaric. As a result of political intrigue, the Emperor Arcadius at Constantinople ordered Stilicho off Eastern territory. Stilicho obeyed, and Alaric was then free to continue his march southwards. Athens paid the Goths to go away, but they invaded the Peloponnese. Arcadius, having had time to think again, appealed to Stilicho to come back-and Stilicho came. He reached Corinth with his army by sea, outmaneuvered the Goths in the Peloponnese and forced Alaric to make peace. By a new treaty, the Goths received land to the east of the Adriatic, and Alaric was proclaimed king of Illyria. It was not a solution which was expected to last, and it did not.
Alaric’s attitude seems to have been in some ways ambiguous. He had at first been ambitious for promotion in the Roman army, but when disappointed had eagerly espoused the cause of nationalistic Gothic independence, which enjoyed a considerable vogue among the Balkan Visigoths over whom he ruled. The agreement which he reached with Stilicho seems temporarily to have satisfied both his Roman and his Gothic aspirations, for while recognized as king by the Gothic population, he was also granted the title of Master of the Armed Forces in Illyricum-a top Roman appointment.
“Master of the Armed Forces” was a title which had become important under Theodosius. In the time of Constantine the Great, the Master of the Horse (Magister Equiturn) and Master of Foot (Magister Pediturn) had been separate appointments. But Theodosius combined the two into a single command (Magister utriusque militiae). Officers so ranking might be attached to the emperor’s staff or given authority over specified regions, as Alaric was in Illyricum. In the West, the divided command of horse and foot persisted until a later date, but under an emperor like Theodosius’ son Honorius, who was no soldier himself, the need for a unified command became imperative, and the commander- in-chief, who automatically received patrician social status on appointment, came to be known, curiously, as the Patrician. The old term patricius, originally applied to aristocratic members of the early Republic, had been revived by Constantine as an honorary title, but in the 5th century it was often held by successful barbarian officers and indicated supreme military command.
[2] Stilicho (?–408)
Stilicho, the great general of Vandal descent, who defended the Western Empire against Alaric’s Goths. Alaric was himself a high-ranking “Roman” officer.
Master of the Soldiers, Flavius Stilicho effectively ruled the West during the reign of Honorius, son of Theodosius the Great. The son of a Vandal soldier and Roman lady, Stilicho advanced through the military. In 383 he became ambassador to Persia. He served under Theodosius I successfully as Master of Households (comes domesticorum) where he amassed power and prestige from 385 to 392; then Master of the Troops in Thrace in 392, and general against Eugenius. In 394, Theodosius made him Master of the Soldiers in the West and guardian for Theodosius’ younger son Honorius. His ties to Theodosius were made even closer with a marriage in 385 to Serena, Theodosius’ niece.
Stilicho’s power increased more after Theodosius’ death in 395, when he declared himself guardian for both Honorius and his elder brother Arcadius. He centralized the Western bureaucracy under his control and nearly annihilated Alaric and the Visigoths. Arcadius declared him an enemy of the state in 397, prompting Gildo in Africa to rebel. After Gildo’s defeat in 398, Stilicho increased his control in the West by holding the consulship in 405.
Successful on the battlefield, he defeated Alaric in 401 at Pollentia. In 406, using Alaric and the Visigoths as allies, he defeated the Burgundian Radagisus. He then elevated Alaric to Master of the Soldiers and planned to march east to take the Balkans away from Arcadius. A rebellion in Gaul, however, thwarted his plans, and with the rebellion Alaric demanded 4,000 pounds of gold from Rome which Stilicho forced the senate to pay. After Arcadius’ death in 408 Stilicho desired to control Constantinople but was accused of wanting his own son to be put on the throne. Weakened by Alaric’s double dealing, Stilicho was arrested and executed on August 22, 408. Both Stilicho and his wife Serena had remained unpopular at both Rome and Constantinople. Their daughters Maria and Thermantia were married to Honorius.
Stilicho’s reputation was generally damaged by his dealings with Alaric. Alaric’s siege and capture of Rome in 408 and 410 further blackened Stilicho since he had not only allowed the Visigoths to survive but had promoted Alaric. Stilicho nevertheless was a capable general who defeated the invading barbarians. As an avid Christian he further promoted Christianity at the expense of paganism.
