A Fifth-Century «Gallic Empire»: Hispania as Part of Constantine III’s Usurpation

Abstract

This paper follows the route of the usurper Constantine III since he was made emperor by the troops in Britain in 407 A. D., until his defeat under the magister militum Constantius. Conceived as a whole – and not, as it usually is, in a fragmentary and marginal way –, and providing for the first time a precise chronology, this episode contributes to a better understanding of the developement of political, social and military structures in the western part of the Empire during the first years of the 5th century. Constantine’s usurpation was planned upon the model of the Imperium Galliarum, and its hatching meant great modifications within its territories. In Hispania, a series of landed aristocrats related to Theodosius’s family standed against the usurpers, and with private troops – recruited among their own slaves and clients –, they started a war against the new regime. Despite losing it, this had severe consequences in the province’s politics. After Constantine mastered the ruledom over both Gaul and Spain, as well as Britain, he was betrayed by his general Gerontius. During their confrontation, Suebi, Alans, and Vandals entered the Iberian Peninsula. In the end, Honorius was able to take control again and defeat the usurpers, but the consequences for the Hispanias’s demography would prove themselves to be indelible.

This paper follows the route of the usurper Constantine III since he was made emperor by the troops in Britain in 407 A. D., until his defeat under the magister militum Constantius. Conceived as a whole – and not, as it usually is, in a fragmentary and marginal way –, and providing for the first time a precise chronology, this episode contributes to a better understanding of the developement of political, social and military structures in the western part of the Empire during the first years of the 5th century. Constantine’s usurpation was planned upon the model of the Imperium Galliarum, and its hatching meant great modifications within its territories. In Hispania, a series of landed aristocrats related to Theodosius’s family standed against the usurpers, and with private troops – recruited among their own slaves and clients –, they started a war against the new regime. Despite losing it, this had severe consequences in the province’s politics. After Constantine mastered the ruledom over both Gaul and Spain, as well as Britain, he was betrayed by his general Gerontius. During their confrontation, Suebi, Alans, and Vandals entered the Iberian Peninsula. In the end, Honorius was able to take control again and defeat the usurpers, but the consequences for the Hispanias’s demography would prove themselves to be indelible.