Justa Grata Honoria
Solidus of Honoria
Bornc. 418
Diedbefore June 455
DynastyTheodosian and Valentinianic
FatherConstantius III
MotherGalla Placidia

Justa Grata Honoria (born c. 418 - died around c. 455) was the daughter of Constantius III and Galla Placidia, as well as the sister of Valentinian III. In her life she had seen her family grasp and keep power, however she herself was given little power despite having the title of Augusta. This title meant that she could rule as regent in the case that Galla Placidia was not able to, however it also meant that she must take a vow of virginity and inability to marry. She found herself in many scandals, in which the punishments led her to send a letter to Attila the Hun asking for him to invade on her behalf, which is often interpreted as a proposal.

Family

Honoria was the only daughter of later Emperor Constantius III and Galla Placidia. Her first two names were after her maternal great-aunts, Justa and Grata, the daughters of Valentinian I and Justina, and the third for the emperor who reigned at the time of her birth, her half-uncle Honorius.[1] Her maternal half-brother Theodosius, born in 414 from the first marriage of Placidia to king Ataulf of the Visigoths, died in infancy, before Honoria was born.[2] Her younger brother, Valentinian III, was her full brother.[3]

Biography

The historical record of most of her life is little more than brief mentions of or allusions to her presence. Oost notes that she accompanied her mother and younger brother as they set sail for Constantinople in spring of 423, and that Honoria was with them when they joined the expeditionary force at Thessalonica in the summer of 424 that would restore Galla Placidia and Valentinian to power in the West. She was included in mosaics of the Imperial family, now lost, at the church attached to the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia and in a church dedicated to Saint John the Evangelist in Ravenna. Last is Carmen I of Merobaudes written circa 443, although a fragmentary poem it clearly includes her in a description of the family of Valentinian III. These details have led Stewart Oost to observe that Honoria came to feel "that life had condemned her to a dull and impotent backwater."[4]

Honoria and the Fall of the western Roman Empire

Because many historians attribute Honoria’s actions to causing the fall of the Roman Empire, it is worthy to examine. First: did the fall of the Roman empire occur? If it did, does Honoria take some blame for its date of 474, even though she died in the 450’s? Historians such as Guy Halsall categorize the arguments for the reasons behind the demise of the empire as Movers and Shakers. Movers believe that the fall of Rome is attributed to movement of barbarians into the empire. On the other hand, shakers believed that tensions and changes within the empire were shaking its core, barbarian invasions were just a symptom of these changes.[5] Ultimately, a middle ground approach is necessary to understand the domino effect that led to the alleged “Fall of Rome”. Halsall continues to argue that weak Roman policy contributed to barbarian invasions, not the other way around. Most important to Honoria, the Huns specifically. This helps to contextualize the affair, as the fall of the Roman empire occurred in 476 with the invasion of the Ostrogoths, who overthrew the young emperor. While the Huns certainly weakened the empire earlier on, ultimately there was continuous issues with Roman policy that continued to invite both ‘barbarian’ immigrants and attacks.

           A more likely reason for the downfall of the Roman empire, rather than Attila’s invasion or Honoria’s actions, is the emperors were weak rulers used as puppets for much more powerful people behind the scenes. Historians such as Peter Heather blames this on barbarian invasions, stating that the Hunnic civil war allowed Valentinian III the chance to kill general Aetius.[6] What Heather ignores is the presence of Petronius Maximus pulling the strings in the background, setting the stage for his own rise to power. This power struggle itself, with the death of a powerful general and the emperor, led to more divisions between Roman elites, setting the stage for the fall of the Roman empire.

Scandals

Honoria got herself in many scandals in imperial life. The first was her having relations and impregnated by a man that was working within her household, which was discussed by John of Antioch in the 7th century.[7] Prior to this, Honoria had power as a royal Augusta, however this power was taken away following the affair. Being impregnated presents a problem to the line of succession, if Honoria had a son while her brother had daughters, there was a chance that rule could pass to Honoria’s son, not including a possible struggle with Honoria and her lover.[8] For this reason, her Augusta title was taken away, the man she had relations with was put to death, and she was sent to marry a rich senator who had no further political ambitions.[9] This attempt to curb her power had ramifications that would impact the empire.

           Growing up around powerful women, such as her mother and aunts, gave Honoria the presumption that imperial women like herself should have some power. Rome has had a history of strong imperial women that operate within the gender roles to increase their power, and this history influenced Honoria to attempt to exercise her power. This led her to ask Attila the Hun for assistance when what power she had was taken away, as an attempt to regain her power and more. The emperor was distracted with a multitude of different issues, such as the attack of Britain, North Africa, and Spain, as well as the continuous advance of Attila the Hun. The Western empire is continuously weakened, and Honoria hastened the Huns invasion with her message to Attila the Hun. She sent her eunuch with her signet ring and a message asking for assistance in 450 A.D. Whether she intended this message as a proposal is widely debated, however it was interpreted that way by Attila, and he chose to invade seemingly on Honoria’s behalf.

           Honoria was the main influencer in Attila’s invasion, however she was not the only reason. Attila’s army had been advancing for decades, their fight was reinvigorated by Honoria’s letter, as well as power struggles and changes with diplomacy in the Roman empire. Under Theodosius II, embassies sent to Attila continually denied his requests to send higher ranking officials.[10] The Eastern empire continuously changed their diplomatic strategies, with their highest priority being to make the Eastern emperor look powerful. On the other hand, the Western empire continued the same diplomatic strategies, with little success.[11] Following the death of Emperor Theodosius II, his sister Pulcheria married the military general Marcian while keeping her vow of virginity as an Augusta. This was to keep the eastern empire’s power separate from the weakening western empire. While ruler, Marcian stopped tribute payments to the Huns.[9] Prior to invading, the Huns sent Gothic embassies to both empires, from the east they requested to continue the tribute system, while from the west they requested Honoria. Attila was assuming that women in the Roman empire contained power.[12] Imperial women had power, as we see with Galla Placidia, but technically the Roman empire was based in primogeniture, where the male inherited the throne. Despite this, women still used their skills and worked within the gender norms to uplift their son to the throne for their own power and respect. The Hunnic embassies took note of the stronger military in the east, and they decided to invade the west instead, following the death of Galla Placidia.

           Attila began his attack in Gaul, which was to fight the Goths to win favor with Geiseric.[12] Meanwhile Roman general Aetius convinced Visgothic king Theodoric to aid in their defense. Together, they had a good chance of defeating the Huns and won the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains. During this battle, Theodoric had been killed in battle, and Aetius returned to Rome in shame rather than fight the vulnerable Huns. The writer Jordanes had claimed that Attila fought this battle to kill Aetius, however there is little support for this notion and is disproved by military accounts of the Huns in Priscus.[13]

           Some historians blame Honoria for the fall of the Western empire; however, the fall was already in motion given the continual weakening of the empire. Honoria saw issues within the empire, as well as her lack of power in comparison to her brother and mother, which led her to seek power for herself through Attila. the Huns would have invaded otherwise given their reliance on Roman goods to upkeep their economy.[11] For this reason, rather than finding Honoria guilty of the entire fall of the Western empire, historians should consider her intelligent. Because she was high up in the government, she could see the cracks forming from the palace. Allying herself with the Huns was a political move as she understood that the Huns would demolish the Roman empire given the chance. In addition to this, she would have regained her power as someone higher up in the Hunnic empire than in the Roman empire, from which she now has no chance of raising up in power without her Augusta title.

           Following the affair, little is known of Honoria’s fate. Galla Placidia had to step in to advocate for exile, rather than execution to protect Honoria from Valentinian III. One assumes that she was married to Herculanus, but in concluding his account of this incident, John of Antioch writes, "And so Honoria was freed from her danger at this time."[14] Pointing at the last 3 words of this sentence, Bury asks, "Does this imply that she incurred some punishment afterwards, worse even than a dull marriage?"[15] Lastly, because her name doesn't appear in the list of important persons carried off to Carthage by the Vandals following their sack of the city, the capture of her sister-in-law and her nieces and the murder of her brother in 455, Oost suggests she was dead by then; whether of natural causes or by order of her brother the Emperor, Oost admits "we do not have evidence adequate" to decide.[16]

           Due to Honoria’s nature as a woman in the imperial family, it is difficult to learn about her life outside of the scandals. Writers did not often write about women with whom nothing was happening, and outside of the scandals Honoria seems to have kept to herself taking care of her household. This makes it difficult to understand her lifestyle before and after her scandals, as little is written about her. For this reason, we must infer based on what the primary sources say, but this does not present the entire picture as there was more to focus on at the time. This does not make Honoria unimportant, but instead inhibits the ability for historians to infer the real motivations behind her actions. Despite this, any woman would be angry to have their power taken away, so it is not out of the ordinary to infer that in the time of powerful women, much like her mother, Honoria attempted to gain power for herself through a barbarian leader. While many say that this contributed to the end of the empire, there were plenty of other factors that influenced the fall, such as short-tempered monarchs, ambitious barbarians, and constant affairs.[9] So while Honoria may have further weakened the empire, the cracks were already formed to influence the end of the western empire.

Other Imperial Women

To understand Honoria’s political ambition, we must examine other powerful women in the Roman empire as well. Besides Galla Placidia, there was a history of women rising in power by putting their children on the throne. Agrippina the elder had done it with the third Roman empire, Gaius.[17] She would also pass her own ambition to her daughter, Agrippina the younger, who would raise Nero to the throne using her political moves.[18] While these events happened much better, it is worth noting that even in the male dominated politics of the Roman empire, women were able to gain power for themselves through ascending their sons to the throne. This required political ambition and thought within the construction of gender to achieve the rise in social class.[19] Honoria was attempting to increase her own power, and although her plans to have a child were thwarted, she was still able to seek power for herself through the Huns.

Portrayals

Honoria portrayed by Sophia Loren in the 1954 film Attila

References

  1. ↑ Stewart Oost, Galla Placidia Augusta, pp. 161f
  2. ↑ Mathisen, Ralph W, Galla Placidia, Roman Emperors.
  3. ↑ Olympiodorus, fragment 34. Translated by C.D. Gordon, Age of Attila: Fifth Century Byzantium and the Barbarians (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1966), p. 43
  4. ↑ Boren, Henry C.; Oost, Stewart Irvin (1969). "Galla Placidia Augusta: A Biographical Essay". The Classical World. 62 (7): 283. doi:10.2307/4346858. ISSN 0009-8418. JSTOR 4346858.
  5. ↑ Halsall, Guy (2006), "Movers and Shakers", FROM ROMAN PROVINCES TO MEDIEVAL KINGDOMS, Abingdon, UK: Taylor & Francis, pp. 277–291, doi:10.4324/9780203322956_chapter_11, ISBN 978-0-203-32295-6, S2CID 202954643, retrieved 2023-12-14
  6. ↑ Heather, Peter (1995). "The Huns and the End of the Roman Empire in Western Europe". The English Historical Review. 110 (435): 4–41. doi:10.1093/ehr/cx.435.4. ISSN 0013-8266.
  7. ↑ Antioch, John of (2014). "Excerpts on Plots by Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos". The Fragmentary History of Priscus. Translated by Given, John. Merchantville, NJ. p. 93.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. ↑ Sivan, Hagith (2011). Galla Placidia: The Last Roman Empress. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 154. ISBN 978-0195379136.
  9. 1 2 3 Atkinson, Kenneth (2020). Empress Galla Placidia and the fall of the Roman Empire. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and co. p. 104. ISBN 978-1476682358.
  10. ↑ Becker, Audrey (2020-07-29), "From Hegemony to Negotiation: Reshaping East Roman Diplomacy with Barbarians during the 5th Century", La diplomatie byzantine, de l’Empire romain aux confins de l’Europe (Ve-XVe s.), BRILL, pp. 21–39, doi:10.1163/9789004433380_003, ISBN 978-90-04-43180-5, S2CID 242352968, retrieved 2023-12-14
  11. 1 2 Meier, Mischa (2017). "A Contest of Interpretation: Roman Policy toward the Huns as Reflected in the "Honoria Affair" (448/50)". Journal of Late Antiquity. 10 (1): 42–61. doi:10.1353/jla.2017.0002. ISSN 1942-1273.
  12. 1 2 Priscus (2014). "Exerpts on Foreigner's Embassies to the Romans by Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos". The Fragmentary History of Priscus. Merchantville, NJ: Evolution Publishing. p. 100.
  13. ↑ Kim, Hyun Jin (2015). "Herodetean Allusions in Late Antiquity: Priscus, Jordanes, and the Huns". Byzantion. 85: 138.
  14. ↑ John of Antioch, fragment 199.2; translated by C.D. Gordon, Age of Attila, p. 104
  15. ↑ Bury, "Justa Grata Honoria," Journal of Roman Studies, 9 (1919), pp. 10, 13 JSTOR
  16. ↑ Stewart Oost, Galla Placidia Augusta: A biographical essay (Chicago: University Press, 1968), p. 285
  17. ↑ Wood, Susan (1999). Imperial women: a study in public images, 40 B.C. - A.D. 68. Mnemosyne Supplementum collana. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-11281-0.
  18. ↑ Wood, Susan (1988). "Memoriae Agrippinae : Agrippina the Elder in Julio-Claudian Art and Propaganda". American Journal of Archaeology. 92 (3): 409–426. doi:10.2307/505556. ISSN 0002-9114. JSTOR 505556. S2CID 191368653.
  19. ↑ Halsall, Guy (2004). "Gender and the End of Empire". Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies. 34 (1): 17–40. doi:10.1215/10829636-34-1-17. ISSN 1082-9636. S2CID 144183275.
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