10 of History's Greatest Kingmakers

On August 19, 472, Ricimer, the Germanic Roman general considered kingmaker in the Western Roman Empire, diedat about the age of 54. An excerpt from the article:

"Ricimer Made and Unmade Roman Emperors at Will
Flavius Ricimer (died 472) was a Romanized German general who acted as kingmaker in the Western Roman Empire from 456 until his death in 472, and effectively ruled the Western half of the Empire. He was born into Germanic tribal royalty, his father a king of the Suebi tribe, while his mother was a daughter of the king of the Visigoths.

He joined the Roman military, and served under Flavius Aetius, the Western Roman Empire’s last great general, who saved Western Europe from Attila the Hun. After Aetius’ murder in 454 by an ungrateful Roman emperor, Valentinian III, a period of chaos followed. Valentinian was murdered in turn, his successor was torn to pieces by a street mob, and Rome was sacked by Vandals in 455.

A Visigothic king then proclaimed the Roman military commander in Gaul, Avitus, emperor. The newly enthroned Avitus promoted Ricimer to a high military rank, and when he demonstrated his ability by defeating the Vandals in 456, Avitus promoted him to the empire’s second highest military rank. Ricimer however used his military position to plot with a friend, Marjorian, to depose Avitus in 457.

The Eastern Roman Emperor, Leo I, then appointed Ricimer the Western Roman Empire’s magister militum – the late Roman Empire’s highest military command position. Ricimer would have liked to become Western Roman emperor himself, but that was not an option, because he was a Germanic barbarian, and because he was considered a heretic.

Ricimer was Christian, but he was an Arian Christian, and that was the wrong kind of Christian, far as the Roman Empire was concerned. By the end of the 4th century, the Roman Empire had officially become a Christian empire. While cementing its hold in the empire, Christianity was also spreading to the Germanic tribes, both within and without Roman frontiers. However, those tribes were converted by missionaries from the Arian sect, whose teachings were deemed heretical by the orthodox Christians of the Roman Empire. Ricimer’s Arianism was thus a serious strike against him, which acted as a glass ceiling, capping his imperial prospects.

In the political and religious environment of the day, even a powerful Arian such as Ricimer, who could make and unmake emperors, nonetheless lacked the necessary religious legitimacy to become an emperor. Since he could not become an emperor, Ricimer set out to become an emperor maker, instead. He decided to use his friend Marjorian as a puppet, and him declared emperor in 457.

Marjorian turned out to be an unsuitable puppet, however, by proving himself a capable ruler and military commander. He subdued the Visigoths in Gaul, and brought the province back under imperial control. He then turned his gaze to Hispania, and marched against the Vandals there, leaving Ricimer behind in Italy. The Vandals defeated Marjorian, however, and while he was gone, Ricimer convinced the Roman Senate to depose him.

When Marjorian returned to Italy, Ricimer had him arrested, tortured, and executed. In his place, Ricimer appointed Libius Severus as Western emperor in 461. He ruled through Severus until the latter’s death in 465, after which the Western Roman throne remained vacant for 2 years. Then Ricimer acquiesced to the Eastern Emperor Leo I’s appointment of Anthemius as Western emperor, in exchange for Ricimer’s marrying Anthemius’ daughter.

However, after Anthemius led a major expedition against the Vandals to catastrophic defeat, Ricimer turned on his father in law, and besieged him in Rome. When the city fell, Anthemius tried to flee, disguised as a beggar, but was caught and beheaded in 472. Ricimer then replaced him with Olybrius, an envoy sent by the Eastern emperor to try and mediate between Ricimer and Anthemius. Ricimer did not enjoy his new puppet for long however, and died only six weeks later from a hemorrhage."