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Magnus Maximus ((ラテン語:Flavius Magnus Maximus Augustus), (ウェールズ語:Macsen Wledig)) (ca. 335 – August 28, 388) was Western Roman Emperor from 383 to 388. In 383 as commander of Britain, he usurped the throne against emperor Gratian; and through negotiation with emperor Theodosius I the following year he was made emperor in Britannia and Gaul – while Gratian's brother Valentinian II retained Italy, Pannonia, Hispania, and Africa. In 387 Maximus' ambitions led him to invade Italy, resulting in his defeat by Theodosius I at the Battle of the Save in 388. In the view of some historians his death marked the end of direct imperial presence in Northern Gaul and Britain.〔"The New Cambridge Medieval History: c. 500-c. 700" by Paul Fouracre, Rosamond McKitterick (page 48)〕 ==Life== Maximus was born in Gallaecia, on the estates of Count Theodosius (the Elder) to who was a nephew and Flavius Iulius Eucherius son and Marcellinus Brother. Near contemporaries described his dignity as offended when lesser men were promoted to high positions. Maximus was a distinguished general, who served under Count Theodosius in Africa in 373 and on the Danube in 376. It is likely he also may have been a junior officer in Britain in 368, during the quelling of the Great Conspiracy. Assigned to Britain in 380, he defeated an incursion of the Picts and Scots in 381. The western emperor Gratian had become unpopular because of perceived favouritism toward Alans over Roman citizens. The Alans are an Iranian speaking people (see also Sarmatians and Ossetians) who were early adopters of Christianity and migrated both east and west from their homeland. In 383 Maximus was proclaimed emperor by his troops. He went to Gaul to pursue his imperial ambitions, taking a large portion of the British garrison troops with him. Following his landing in Gaul, Maximus went out to meet his main opponent, emperor Gratian, whom he defeated near Paris. Gratian, after fleeing, was killed at Lyon on August 25, 383. Continuing his campaign into Italy, Maximus was stopped from overthrowing Valentinian II, who was only twelve, when Theodosius I, the Eastern Roman Emperor, sent Flavius Bauto with a powerful force to stop him. Negotiations followed in 384 including the intervention of Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, leading to an accord with Valentinian II and Theodosius I in which Maximus was recognized as Augustus in the west. Maximus made his capital at Augusta Treverorum (Treves, Trier) in Gaul, and ruled Britain, Gaul, Spain and Africa. He issued coinage and a number of edicts reorganizing Gaul's system of provinces. Some scholars believe Maximus may have founded the office of the Comes Britanniarum as well. He became a popular emperor; Quintus Aurelius Symmachus delivered a panegyric on Maximus' virtues. He used ''foederati'' forces such as the Alamanni to great effect. He was also a stern persecutor of heretics. It was on his orders that Priscillian and six companions became the first people in the history of Christianity to be executed for heresy, in this case of Priscillianism, by other Christians (though the civil charges laid by Maximus himself were for the practice of magic or "witchcraft", technically spiritual fraud by use of ventriloquism),〔Hans-Josef Klauck, Brian McNeil Magic and paganism in early Christianity: the world of the Acts of the Apostles (2003), p.66〕 and their property was confiscated. These executions went ahead despite the wishes of prominent men such as St. Martin of Tours. Maximus' edict of 387 or 388 which censured Christians at Rome for burning down a Jewish synagogue, was condemned by bishop Ambrose, who said people exclaimed: ‘the emperor has become a Jew’ 〔Ambrose, Patrologia Latina, 16–17 (1845), nos. 40〕 In 387 Maximus managed to force emperor Valentinian II out of Milan, after which he fled to Theodosius I. Theodosius I and Valentinian II then invaded from the east, and campaigned against Magnus Maximus in July–August 388, their troops being led by Richomeres and other generals. Maximus was defeated in the Battle of the Save,〔Pan. Lat. II.34〕 and retreated to Aquileia. Meanwhile, the Franks under Marcomer had taken the opportunity to invade northern Gaul, at the same time further weakening Maximus' position. Andragathius, ''magister equitum'' of Maximus and the killer of emperor Gratian, was defeated near Siscia while Maximus' brother, Marcellinus, fell in battle at Poetovio.〔Pan. Lat. II.35-6〕 Maximus surrendered in Aquileia, and although he pleaded for mercy was executed. The Senate passed a decree of ''Damnatio memoriae'' against him. However, his mother and at least two daughters were spared.〔Ambrose, Ep. 40.32〕 Theodosius' trusted general Arbogast strangled Maximus' son, Flavius Victor, at Trier in the fall of the same year.〔Susan Wise Bauer, "The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade", W. W. Norton & Company, 22 feb 2010 (p.68)〕 What exactly happened to Maximus' family after his downfall is not recorded. He is known to have had a wife, who is recorded as having sought spiritual counsel from St. Martin of Tours during his time at Trier. Her ultimate fate, and even her name (but see the Welsh tradition below), have not been preserved in definitive historic records. The same is true of Maximus' mother and daughters, other than that they were spared by Theodosius I. One of Maximus' daughters may have been married to Ennodius, proconsul Africae (395). Ennodius' grandson was Petronius Maximus, another ill-fated emperor, who ruled in Rome for but 77 days before he was stoned to death while fleeing from the Vandals on May 24, 455. Other descendants of Ennodius, and thus possibly of Maximus, included Anicius Olybrius, emperor in 472, but also several consuls and bishops such as St. Magnus Felix Ennodius (Bishop of Pavia c. 514-21). We also encounter an otherwise unrecorded daughter of Magnus Maximus, Sevira, on the Pillar of Eliseg, an early medieval inscribed stone in Wales which claims her marriage to Vortigern, king of the Britons. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Magnus Maximus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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