Odoakr's coup

In 474, Julius Nepos became Roman emperor. He successfully fought against the Vandals , and also commanded a fleet that defended the shores of the Adriatic Sea from pirates.

Impressed with the success of the new commander, the Byzantine emperor Leo I Makela , inviting Nepota to Constantinople , gave him the title of patrician , and also married his wife's niece. Before leaving, Julius Nepos received a military squadron led by Domitian from Leo.

However, soon after the death of Leo, a fierce struggle for power began at the imperial court, and to maintain his position, the new emperor, Flavius ​​Zeno, withdrew the granted squadron.

A similar situation developed at the court of the Roman emperor: Nepos was forced to defend his throne from attempts by hostile groups to overthrow him. To this end, Nepos urged the mercenaries from Pannonia to protect him from an attempt at military rebellion, and also hoping to improve his position among the common people by victories over the barbarians, saving the empire from capture. However, these measures did not help him to extend his power beyond Italy , since the Franks were the masters of North-Western Gaul , and the Burgundians - of the South-East. In addition, the Visigoths again intensified attacks on the borders of the empire from Spain . In such a situation, the emperor decides to appoint the master (commander-in-chief) of the Roman army in Gaul, Flavius ​​Orestes , a native of Pannonia, who was secretary of Attila and later enlisted in the service of Rome.

Declaring a campaign against the Spanish Visigoths, Orestes led an army of Pannonian mercenaries from Rome and headed for Ravenna , which was the residence of the Roman emperors at that time. Reaching the gates of the city, Orestes announced that he intended to besiege the city and overthrow the emperor. He, instead of organizing a proper defense, fled to his hereditary possessions in Dalmatia , to the Salon. After the flight of Nepos, Orestes declared his infant son Romulus emperor. Later he was given the nickname Augustus ( lat. "Augustuska").

After the erection of a new “emperor” to the throne, the mercenaries demanded land plots in Italy from Orestes, as the federals who had taken service in Rome should have received the land. However, instead, Orestes began to recruit new mercenaries for the massacre of the former army. At the same time, Odoacer , the son of Oresta's friend from the time of Attila's service, was appointed head of the Oresta Guard. Odoakra was sent to Pannonia to form a new army.

While in Pannonia on the instructions of Orestes, Odoacer recruited many mercenaries, immigrants from the Herul, Rugi and Siri tribes (he himself was a tribesman of the latter). Having such a large army under his command, he could now claim the supreme power himself. After bringing on his side also the guard of Orestes himself, Odoacer began to plan a military coup. In addition, he increased his strength by promising land plots to other mercenaries from the Italian garrisons at the end of his service.

By the time Orestes learned about the impending military coup, the insurgent army possessed very significant forces, so Orestes fled Ravenna to Pavia , leaving the defense of the capital to his brother Pavel.

Odoacre's scouts told him that Orestes had fled, and he moved his army after him, capturing and plundering Pavia, and also executing his former commander on August 28, 476. Then, with a quick march, the rebellious commander reached Ravenna, which fell on September 4 of the same year. The captured emperor Romulus Augustus was exiled to the former estate of Lucullus in Campania near Naples on September 5, where he lived until the end of his days, receiving a lifetime pension as an important prisoner.

Recognition

The Senate of Rome sent a letter to Odoacra, recognizing the coup as legitimate, and also sent legates to Constantinople so that the Byzantine emperor Zeno recognized Odoacer as the legal ruler and allowed him to rule Italy and the western part of the empire in patrician status. However, at about the same time, however, Ambassadors Nepos arrived at the same time seeking help from Constantinople in returning the throne to the fleeting emperor. Zeno eventually sent a letter to Odoakru, where he recommended that Neposta be recognized as emperor, and also to accept patrician status from him. But at the same time, Zeno there also calls Odoakra a patrician. After reading the letter, Odoacer decided that he had received the approval of the Eastern Emperor and is now the legitimate ruler. However, Nepot decided the same thing, retaining a purely formal authority over Italy, as evidenced by the coins with his image issued at that time. But in 480, Julius Nepos was killed by his own guards. There is a possibility that the assassination was organized by his enemy Glyceria, who later received from Odoakr the status of bishop in Mediolan .

It is assumed that it was in the year 476 that the Western Roman Empire ceased to exist, since from that moment the policy of the Italian state was completely changed. Now, the rulers no longer called themselves emperors (although Odoacer still proclaimed his son, the Body, the emperor before death), since signs of imperial dignity ( diadem and purple mantle ) were sent by Odoacer to Constantinople, and the great-power policy was replaced by a policy of preserving the integrity of Italy. In addition, Odoacer did not use pseudo-Roman origin to justify his own status as a ruler. And from this time on, the Byzantine emperor was considered the formal ruler of the entire Roman Empire , which, however, did not prevent the newly-minted kings from pursuing their own policies, regardless of the opinion of Constantinople.

Marcellin Comit :

The western empire of the Roman people, which in 709 from the founding of the City (Rome) began to rule Octavian Augustus, the first of the emperors, fell to 522 the year of the emperors' rule with this Augustus. Since that time, the power in Rome in the hands of Gothic kings. ^[one]

Original text (lat.)

Hesperium Romanae hepis imperium

At the same time, state administration in Italy remained the same: after the brief abolition of the institution of the consulate at the very beginning of the reign of Odoacer, everything returned to the same forms (by the year 480) as before the coup. Titles, posts and courts are preserved. The Senate also survived, but now it has lost even the opportunity to intervene in the affairs of Italy, becoming, in fact, an ancient revered body, authorized only in the city of Rome .

Land device

His army of mercenaries Odoacer, as promised, settled on the territory of Italy according to the rules of military standing in the manner of the Gallic federates. In addition, the new ruler abolished the current procedure for the periodic relocation of mercenaries from one province to another, depriving those donated sites (as was the case with the Alans in the V century). Now plots of federates were considered their property, which laid the foundations of feudalism in Italy.

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