Anyway, Petronius Maximus entered the Senate
through
the position of praetor c. 411 and continued to have
a most illustrious senatorial career. He served as
urban prefect of Rome on several occasions, leader of
the Roman nobility, Praetorian prefect of Italy, and
twice served as consul (433 & 443). In 445 he
attained the rank of patrician. By this time, he was
the leading noble of Rome.
It has been suggested, and seems probable, that
he
was behind the assassination of the Emperor
Valentinian III in 455, and it is certain that he
befriended those responsible for this murder. Upon
the removal of the Emperor, Maximus usurped his
position making himself Western Roman Emperor with
the support of the Senate. In a move designed to
shore up his legitimacy, he forcibly married
Valentinian III's widow,
Licinia Eudoxia. Likewise, he named his son
Palladius to the position of Caesar and had him marry
one of
Valentinian's daughters, most likely,
Eudoxia.
Within the few months of his reign, he appears to
have had a degree of success in getting himself
recognized as Emperor in the West, though he was not
recognized by the Eastern Emperor
Marcian. Soon, however, he learned that that the
Vandal King of Africa,
Gaiseric was approaching the city. Though the
exact circumstances of the panic are unknown, it is
known that Maximus did indeed panic, giving leave to
those who wished to flee the city and planning to do
so himself as well. With the arrival of the Vandals,
Maximus tried to flee the city, but was captured by
his fellow Romans, killed, and tossed without
ceremony into the Tiber. It would appear that many
believe that the Vandal invasion was a direct result
of Maximus' forcible marriage to
Licinia Eudoxia though this appears to be very
unlikely.
Some of the secondary sources I have reviewed
seem to suggest that Petronius Maximus was not only a
member of, but the leader of, the Anicii in Rome
during this time. This can possibly be explained by
one of three ways. Firstly, this would be true if
Petronius Maximus was born into the gens Anicii, but
as of yet, I have found no evidence to this effect.
Secondly, it could be explained if Maximus married
into the Anicii, but again, I have nothing suggesting
this. It is known that Petronius Maximus was married
before his forcible marriage to
Licinia Eudoxia and that by this marriage his
son, Palladius, was born. However, as the Anician
name was universally recognized as the very apex of
the Roman nobility, virtually everyone who married
into the Anicii opted to give their children Anician
names, and Pallidius is, most assuredly, not an
Anician name.
The third, and at present most likely,
explaination regards Anician support of Maximus. At
this time, the Anicii were still the richest and most
august family in the city of Rome which means that
they inevitably still held a great deal of political
clout. It would seem unlikely that Maximus, a man of
undistinguished or at least obscure origins, would
have advanced as high as he did without the support
of the Roman Anicii. In this sense, Maximus, could
have been the de facto leader of the Anicii,
without actually being a member of the family. In
support of this, the Cambridge Medieval History
says,
"The assassination of Valentinian himself was
followed by the accession of Maximus, a member of the
great senatorial family Anicii; and it has been
suggested that the accession of Maximus perhaps
indicates an attempt of the Anicii to establish a new
government in the West, independent of Constantinople
and resting on the support of the Senate."[vol.1,
p.397]
And later on the same book says,
"The assassination of Valentinian III had been
followed by the accession of Maximus. The head of the
great family of the Anicii, Maximus was the leader of
the Senatorial and Roman party; and his accession
would seem to indicate an attempt by that party to
institute a new government, independent at once of
the magister militiae at home and the Eastern Emperor
at Constantinople. But it was an age of force and in
such an age such a government had no
root."[Vol.1, p.420-421]
The correlation between the "Senatorial and Roman
Party" and the Anicii appears quite clear here, as
does the suggestion that Maximus was the head of this
party. From this perspective, Maximus may very well
have been leader of the Anicii, though not actually
related to the family.
Anyway, for an excellent online biography of Petronius Maximus, visit the DIR site.
