The Praetorian Prefecture of Gaul ( la, praefectura praetorio Galliarum) was one of four large

prefectures A prefecture (from the Latin ''Praefectura'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain internationa ...

into which the

Late Roman Empire The Later Roman Empire spans the period from 284 AD (Diocletian's proclamation as emperor) to 641 (death of Heraclius) in the history of the Roman Empire. Evidence Histories In comparison with previous periods, studies on Later Roman history a ...

was divided.

History

The prefecture was established after the death of

Constantine I Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterrane ...

in 337, when the empire was split up among his sons and Constantine II received the rule of the western provinces, with a

praetorian prefect The praetorian prefect ( la, praefectus praetorio, el, ) was a high office in the Roman Empire. Originating as the commander of the Praetorian Guard, the office gradually acquired extensive legal and administrative functions, with its holders be ...

as his chief aide. The prefecture comprised not only

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during R ...

, but also of

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered wa ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, and

Mauretania Tingitana Mauretania Tingitana (Latin for "Tangerine Mauretania") was a Roman province, coinciding roughly with the northern part of present-day Morocco. The territory stretched from the northern peninsula opposite Gibraltar, to Sala Colonia (or Chellah) ...

in Africa Proconsulare. Its territory overlapped considerably with what was once controlled by the short-lived

Gallic Empire The Gallic Empire or the Gallic Roman Empire are names used in modern historiography for a breakaway part of the Roman Empire that functioned ''de facto'' as a separate state from 260 to 274. It originated during the Crisis of the Third Century, ...

in the 260s. After the permanent partition of the Empire in 395 into West and East spheres of control, the prefecture of Gaul continued to belong to the

Western Roman Empire The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period fr ...

. ''

Augusta Treverorum Trier in Rhineland-Palatinate, whose history dates to the Roman Empire, is often claimed to be the oldest city in Germany. Traditionally it was known in English by its French name of Treves. Prehistory The first traces of human settlement i ...

'' (present-day

Trier Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley b ...

in Germany) served as the prefecture's seat until 407 (or, according to other estimates, in 395), when it was transferred to ''

Arelate Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...

'' (

Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...

). The prefecture continued to function until 477, when the last areas under its control were seized by the

Visigoths The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kno ...

after the abolition of the Western imperial government of

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the cap ...

in the previous year. In 510, the Ostrogoth king

Theodoric the Great Theodoric (or Theoderic) the Great (454 – 30 August 526), also called Theodoric the Amal ( got, , *Þiudareiks; Greek: , romanized: ; Latin: ), was king of the Ostrogoths (471–526), and ruler of the independent Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy ...

re-established the prefecture in the small part of Gaul (the

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bo ...

) that he had just conquered, with headquarters again at Arelate. This short lived revival lasted until the area was in turn conquered by the

Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...

in 536, while the

Ostrogoths The Ostrogoths ( la, Ostrogothi, Austrogothi) were a Roman-era Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Gothic kingdoms within the Roman Empire, based upon the large Gothic populations who ...

were occupied by the East Roman invasion of Italy.

List of known ''praefecti praetorio Galliarum''

4th century

* Junius Bassus (318-331) * C. Caelius Saturninus (331-335) * C. Annius Tiberianus (335-337) * Aurelius Ambrosius (337-340) * Aconius Catullinus Philomathius (341, uncertain whether he was prefect of Gaul) * Fabius Titianus (341-350) *

Vulcacius Rufinus Vulcacius Rufinus (died 368) was a Roman politician, related to the Constantinian dynasty. Biography A pagan, Rufinus was the brother of Neratius Cerealis, Galla (the mother of Constantius Gallus), and the mother of Maximus. He was '' ponti ...

(353-354) * Gaius Ceionius Rufius Volusianus Lampadius (354-355) * Honoratus (355-357) * Flavius Florentius (c. 357-360) * Nebridius (360-361) * Decimius Germaniacus (361) * Sallustius (in 363) *

Sextus Claudius Petronius Probus Sextus Claudius Petronius Probus ( 358–390) was a leading Roman aristocrat of the later 4th century AD, renowned for his wealth, power and social connections. The son of the consul Petronius Probinus, he married Anicia Faltonia Proba and ha ...

(366) *

(2nd term, (366-368) * Viventius (368-371) * Maximinus (371-376) Burns (1994), p. 58 * Flavius Claudius Antonius (376-377) *

Ausonius Decimius Magnus Ausonius (; – c. 395) was a Roman poet and teacher of rhetoric from Burdigala in Aquitaine, modern Bordeaux, France. For a time he was tutor to the future emperor Gratian, who afterwards bestowed the consulship on him. ...

(377-378, co-prefect from 376) * Siburius (378-382) * Mallius Theodorus (382-383) * Euodius (c. 384-386) * Constantinianus (389) *

Neoterius Flavius Neoterius (''fl''. 365–393) was a politician of the Roman Empire. He served as Praetorian prefect of the East, of Italy, and of Gaul. In 390 he was co-consul with Valentinian II. Life Probably born in Rome, he was ''notarius'' unde ...

(390) * Hilarius (396) * Theodorus (396/397) * Flavius Vincentius (397-400)

5th century

* Andromachus (c. 401) *

Claudius Postumus Dardanus Claudius Postumus Dardanus was a praetorian prefect of Gaul from the early fifth century AD, who was against Jovinus, considered as a usurper of imperial authority. Dardanus made him suffer the last penalty after he had been defeated in Valencia by ...

(1st term, c. 402) * Romulianus (404-405) * Petronius (402-408) - seat of the prefecture moved to Arelate in 407 * Limenius (408) - assassinated at

Ticinum Ticinum (the modern Pavia) was an ancient city of Gallia Transpadana, founded on the banks of the river of the same name (now the Ticino river) a little way above its confluence with the Padus ( Po). It was said by Pliny the Elder to have been ...

(

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...

) * Apollinaris (408) *

Decimus Rusticus Decimus Rusticus (sometimes Rusticus Decimus) of Treves (then ''Augusta Treverorum'') and Lyon (''Lugdunum'') (c. 370 – before 423) was a Master of the Offices and the praetorian prefect of Gaul between 409 and 410 or 413. He was one of those ...

(409-411) *

(2nd term, 412-413) * Vicentius (413) * Iulius (c. 414) *

Agricola Agricola, the Latin word for farmer, may also refer to: People Cognomen or given name :''In chronological order'' * Gnaeus Julius Agricola (40–93), Roman governor of Britannia (AD 77–85) * Sextus Calpurnius Agricola, Roman governor of the mi ...

(416-418) * Exuperantius (421-424) * Amatus (c. 425) *

Flavius Aetius Aetius (also spelled Aëtius; ; 390 – 454) was a Roman general and statesman of the closing period of the Western Roman Empire. He was a military commander and the most influential man in the Empire for two decades (433454). He managed pol ...

(426-c. 427) * Auxiliaris (435-437) *

Avitus Eparchius Avitus (c. 390 – 457) was Roman emperor of the West from July 455 to October 456. He was a senator of Gallic extraction and a high-ranking officer both in the civil and military administration, as well as Bishop of Piacenza. He ...

(c. 439) * Florentius (439) * Caecina Decius Aginatius Albinus (440) * Marcellus (c. 441-445) * Tonantius Ferreolus (450/451-453) * Priscus Valerianus (before 456) * Paeonius (456-458) * Magnus (459-460) *

Arvandus Arvandus was a Gaul who rose through the hierarchy of Imperial Roman society to twice be appointed Praetorian prefect of Gaul. On the first occasion, 461, he was appointed by Emperor Libius Severus. This appointment ended when Severus died in 46 ...

(461-465, 467-468) *

Magnus Magnus, meaning "Great" in Latin, was used as cognomen of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in the first century BC. The best-known use of the name during the Roman Empire is for the fourth-century Western Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus. The name gained wid ...

(469) * Magnus Felix (c. 470) * Eutropius (c. 471) * Polemius (475-after 477) - the last remnants of the prefecture in the Provence were conquered by the

6th century

* Petrus Marcellinus Felix Liberius (510-536) - Prefect under Ostrogothic rule

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaul Praetorian prefecture 4th century in Roman Gaul 5th century in sub-Roman Gaul 6th century in Francia Hispania Roman Britain Mauretania Tingitana 337 establishments