Galla Placidia: biography of one of the most powerful women in Rome

Who was Galla Placidia? What do we know about this powerful and determined woman? Daughter, sister and mother of emperors, Galla Placidia took the reins of the Empire at a time of extremely acute economic, political and social crisis. It was the beginning of the fifth century, and the days of the Western Empire were numbered.

What was Gala Placidia's role in the whole process? In this article we invite you to travel through the exciting biography of this very important woman of late Rome, and about whom there is still much of a legend.

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Gala Placidia, a biography full of shadows

Aelia Gala Placidia, as that was the full name of the protagonist of this article, is one of those fascinating and mysterious characters that history gives us. Because the sources that tell us about Gala Placidia are somewhat obscure and, at times, contradictory. Not only in what refers to her vital events, but also in terms of the role she had in the evolution of the Roman Empire.

Was she born in the East or in the West?

The exact date of Galla Placidia's birth is not known, and it is not known for sure where she was born. Some historians favor Constantinople; This hypothesis would be, a priori, the most logical, since the capital founded by Constantine had been the most important city in Europe and the epicenter of Roman power for many years. However, other sources point to Milan as the city where Gala Placidia was born, where her parents are supposed to be at the time of delivery.

daughter and sister of emperors

And who were his parents? None other than Emperor Theodosius I the Great and his second wife Gala. Theodosius I will be one of the crucial emperors in the history of Rome, since the edict that, in the year 380, will establish Christianity as the only official religion of the Empire will be his. With him, the pagan world of Ancient Rome, at least the official one, dies forever.

The golden childhood of little Galla Placidia, spent in Constantinople, was unexpectedly cut short in 395, with the death of her father, the emperor. The death of the great Theodosius represents a before and after in the history of Rome, because, after his death, the Empire is definitively divided into two halves: for her son Honorio will be West; for Arcadio, Orient. From then on, the Roman Empire will never be united again.

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A woman in a man's world

As we have previously commented, the historical sources do not agree with the assessment of the legacy of Galla Placidia. As a general rule, historians contemporary with the empress or, at least, immediately after her death, They describe her as a very capable woman for the government, as well as intelligent and sensible.

Thus, Pablo Orosio, a famous historian and theologian of the fifth century, describes her as "certainly a woman of sharp wit and sufficiently honored thanks to her religious spirit." Orosio emphasizes, in turn, the great influence that Galla Placidia had on the government decisions of her first husband, the Gothic king Ataúlfo. However, it is no less evident that Orosio makes this portrayal of the empress by virtue of her Christian status. Given the suspicion, not to say rejection, that strong and determined women aroused in Ancient Rome, we can think that, if we had Had Galla Placidia been a simple "barbarian" queen and, therefore, pagan or Arian, the historian would not have described her in such a accommodating.

In the following century, with Justinian already in command of the Eastern Roman Empire (the West had already fallen into the hands of the invading peoples), the figure of Galla Placidia darkened again. At that time she is considered one of those responsible for the weakening of the Roman Empire and, therefore, its fall. This accusation is, of course, both exaggerated and meaningless, since a multitude of factors came together in the fall of the Western Roman Empire. However, and as Pablo Fuentes Hidalgo points out in his book Gala Placidia: a sovereign of the Christian Empire, the emperor needed to justify his attempts to recover, by military hand, the already extinct Empire of West. So, accuse Galla Placidia of her downfall It was a very successful propaganda maneuver, in this sense.

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The invasion of the Visigoths

When the Visigoths sack Rome in August 410, Galla Placidia is in the city. She had been transferred there after her father's death, from Constantinople. In the Eternal City she had become a woman, in the care of her cousin Serena hers, who was married to Stilicho, an important magister militum. Such Stilicho was in charge of educating Honorius, Gala's brother and future Western Emperor, who had traveled with her from Constantinople.

But the disorders do not wait. The political instability that the Western Empire is experiencing causes the Visigoths to penetrate northern Italy in 408. and advance dangerously towards Rome. Military disasters cause the fall of Stilicho, apparently instigated by Galla Placidia herself. The young woman (because at that time she must have been around 20 years old) is not content with the overthrow and death of the magister militum, but he also accuses her cousin Serena of treason, for which the Senate sentences her to death. These facts draw us to a Gala Placidia that is not only strong and determined, but also lacking in scruples, and whose hand does not tremble when it comes to condemning.

Where is the truth then? In those who maintain that Galla Placidia was just another pawn in the great political game of Rome, or in those who say that she always held the reins of her own destiny? Probably, and as always, the truth is somewhere in between.

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The kidnapping of Galla Placidia

Be that as it may, In August 410 the Visigoths are at the gates of Rome and sack the city for seven long and tortuous days.. The only thing that seems to remain unscathed are the churches. This has been demanded by Alaric I, the leader of the invaders, who has recently converted to Arianism, one of the main heresies of the Christian religion. During the looting, the Visigoths take innumerable treasures; and not only materials, since, when they finally leave Rome, Galla Placidia travels among her troops, taken hostage by her to use her as a bargaining chip in future negotiations.

to the promised land

After the immense looting, the Visigoths leave for southern Italy. But in the fall of 410 King Alaric falls victim to a fever which, according to some authors, would not be anything other than malaria. The first great king of the Visigoths was buried in the bed of the Busento river; According to the legend, the course of the river was diverted to open the sepulcher of the monarch.

Disoriented, already deprived of the guide they had followed for so long, the Visigoths are in doubt as to what is the next step to take. When Ataúlfo, Alarico's brother-in-law, is elected the new king, the young man does not hesitate to get his people out of Italy as quickly as possible. The Romans are after them; They must find a safe place to settle. Thus, Ataúlfo forgets the conquering dreams of his predecessor and establishes a pact with the Emperor Honorio, the brother of Galla Placidia: the Visigoths will settle in southern Gaul in exchange for providing military aid to the Empire. Since then, Ataúlfo and his family have become foederati (federates) of the Roman Empire. The Visigoths finally had a land where they could settle permanently. That was the germ of the first Visigothic kingdom: the kingdom of Toulouse. But what about Galla Placidia, meanwhile?

Gala Placidia and Ataúlfo, a love story?

The unexpected marriage between the young Roman princess and the Visigothic king has often been presented as a beautiful love story, which was consolidated during the time that Galla Placidia was a hostage of the Visigoths. However, is this so?

There is no proof that supports this version, unless the legend is told. Yes, it is true that it was not a strategic marriage politically speaking: the union of the emperor's sister with a "barbarian" king could only be understood as an affront to Rome. It's more; Given the circumstances, it is very likely that the marriage was a kind of revenge on the part of the Visigoths, since the Emperor Honorius had not fulfilled his part of the deal. Because, despite the fact that Ataúlfo had swept the enemies of Rome from southern Gaul, as established in the foedus, Honorius did not send the agreed compensation for these military services.

In 414, the wedding was ratified in Narbona, in the luxurious villa of a Gallo-Roman named Ingenio. Whether it was out of revenge, disobedience or love, the truth is that the emperor's sister had just married the king of a town enemy of Rome. And this was an insult that Honorius was not willing to forget.

the end of the alliance

The Roman offensive did not wait. The attacks of Constantius, magister militum who, by the way, had aspired in the past to marry Galla Placidia, forced the Visigoths to leave Gaul and take refuge in Hispanic lands. For a brief space of time, Ataúlfo and Gala Placidia establish their court in what for many is the first Spanish capital of the Visigoths, Barcino (the current Barcelona). There, the royal couple have their firstborn, whom they call Theodosius in honor of Gala's father. A call for peace, perhaps?

Princess Galla Placidia in exchange for some wheat

From here, events precipitate. In August 415, some members of the Visigothic aristocracy rebel against Ataúlfo, whom they accuse of being completely dominated by his wife. In the royal stables of Barcino, the king is stabbed in the back. Sigerico, the usurper, is proclaimed the new king of the Visigoths.

The new monarch does not dare to kill Galla Placidia, since the young woman continues to be a very precious asset for future negotiations with Rome. However, she subjects Ataúlfo's widow to one humiliation after another; Degraded to slave status, Galla Placidia is forced to walk around barefoot and in chains alongside the other slaves. The young woman, still in pain from the loss of her husband and her son (who had died a few months after her life), stoically endures all the tortures that Sigerico inflicts on her.

Gala Placidia's suffering comes to an end when Walia, Ataúlfo's brother, deposes the traitor Sigerico and proclaims himself the new king of the Visigoths. Not knowing very well what to do with her, Walia offers Honorio a deal: her sister in exchange for wheat. Honorio agrees, and in the year 416 Galla Placidia returns to Rome. In her place, she leaves six hundred thousand modius of Roman wheat, which will alleviate for a time the atrocious hunger suffered by the Visigothic people.

A town that will never again be her town. Because Galla Placidia has returned to Rome and, therefore, is once again a Roman princess. Her allegiance must be and will be, from now on, Rome and only Rome.

The second Roman stage

Let's see what happened to Galla Placidia in her second Roman stage.

the second marriage

In reality, her loyalty to Rome never wavered. Because, if we follow what some historians have stated, her influence on Ataúlfo was always guided by a sincere desire for concord between the two peoples and, in truth, that she called her eldest son Theodosius seems that way she confirm it.

However, from then on, as the emperor's reborn sister, she will be asked to forget her past as queen of the Visigoths. So, Gala Placidia finally agrees to marry Constantius, the magister militum who always wanted her of her (to her, or to the power that the young woman represented); this time, most likely, against her own will.

Silvia Casasola and Juan Antonio Cebrián maintain in the book El valor es cosa de mujeres (where they collect interesting biographies of women of Hispanic origin) that Gala Placidia He knew how to make very good use of her love, or her obsession, that Constantius felt towards her, and that he threatened to divorce her when the magister militum did not satisfy any of his requirements.

Honorius raises Constantius to the rank of Augustus in 421 as a reward for his favors, which in practice meant being named co-emperor. Gala Placidia is also proclaimed august, for which she finds herself closer and closer to the epicenter of power. Constantius died soon after and, barely two years later, the Emperor Honorius followed him without leaving any heirs on earth. Imperial power then passes to Valentinian, the son of Gala and Constantius., that she is still a minor. And here comes the great moment of Gala Placidia.

the reins of power

Galla Placidia managed the regency of her son as if she were the true empress, although technically she was just that, the regent. It seems that his policies were correct; among other things, he always maintained very good relations with the East, then governed by Theodosius II, and she respected the expansionist policies of the so-called "barbarians", perhaps in memory of her years as queen of the Visigoths.

Her political aspirations did not end with her son's coming of age, since, after the rise to the throne of Valentinian III, she continued to interfere in state affairs. Meanwhile, she still had time to protect the still young Church and beautify Ravenna, the most important city in the Roman West at the time. There she ordered the construction of the famous mausoleum that bears her name, destined to house the bodies of her loved ones. loved ones and her own, and which is a beautiful example of architecture from the last centuries of the Empire.

Gala Placidia's life continues to offer many contradictions and legends; but what is certain is that she is one of the most important female characters of the late Roman Empire.