Flavius Severinus ( 456–461) was a Senator and a politician of 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 ...

Life

He probably was of Italian origin, as attested by an inscription, and held a noteworthy position during the 450s. F. Lotter has speculated that he may be identical to Saint

Severinus of Noricum Severinus of Noricum ( 410 – 8 January 482) is a saint, known as the "Apostle to Noricum". It has been speculated that he was born in either Southern Italy or in the Roman province of Africa. Severinus himself refused to discuss his personal ...

, whose life before he arrived in

Noricum Noricum () is the Latin name for the Celts, Celtic kingdom or federation of tribes that included most of modern Austria and part of Slovenia. In the first century AD, it became a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire. Its borders were th ...

is unknown. As told by

Sidonius Apollinaris Gaius Sollius Modestus Apollinaris Sidonius, better known as Sidonius Apollinaris (5 November of an unknown year, 430 – 481/490 AD), was a poet, diplomat, and bishop. Sidonius is "the single most important surviving author from 5th-century Gaul ...

,''Letters'', I.11.10. Severinus held some offices under Emperor

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 o ...

(455–456), then participated in Emperor

Majorian Majorian ( la, Iulius Valerius Maiorianus; died 7 August 461) was the western Roman emperor from 457 to 461. A prominent general of the Roman army, Majorian deposed Emperor Avitus in 457 and succeeded him. Majorian was the last emperor to make ...

's campaign in Gaul against 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 ...

(458). As Majorian wanted to please the aristocracy of both Italy and Gaul, he chose Severinus as consul for 461. At a banquet at

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 ...

, described by Sidonius, Severinus was the second-most important person, after the emperor.

Bibliography

* Mathisen, Ralph W.
"Julius Valerius Maiorianus (18 February/28 December 457 - 2/7 August 461)"
''De Imperatoribus Romanis''. * Arnold Hugh Martin Jones, John Robert Martindale, John Morris, "Fl. Severinus 5" ''

The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire ''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'' (abbreviated as ''PLRE'') is a work of Roman prosopography published in a set of three volumes collectively describing many of the people attested to have lived in the Roman Empire from AD 260, the date ...

'', Cambridge University Press, 1980 , p. 1001.

Notes

{{end 5th-century Romans 5th-century Roman consuls Imperial Roman consuls