Marcellinus was a Roman general and patrician who ruled over the region of Dalmatia

Dalmatia

Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....

 in the Western Roman Empire

Western Roman Empire

The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....

 and held sway with the army there from 454 until his death.

Origins

Marcellinus was said to have been of good birth and character and who had a good education, he was also a devout pagan, and is alleged to have been a skilled soothsayer

Fortune-telling

Fortune-telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. The scope of fortune-telling is in principle identical with the practice of divination...

. He was also a patron of culture and a friend of the philosopher Sallustius

Sallustius

Sallustius or Sallust was a 4th-century Latin writer, a friend of the Roman Emperor Julian. He wrote the treatise On the Gods and the Cosmos, a kind of catechism of 4th-century Hellenic paganism. Sallustius' work owes much to that of Iamblichus of Chalcis, who synthesized Platonism with...

.

Nothing is known of Marcellinus in his early life, records first mention his name in 454 when he rebelled against Western Emperor Valentinian III

Valentinian III

-Family:Valentinian was born in the western capital of Ravenna, the only son of Galla Placidia and Flavius Constantius. The former was the younger half-sister of the western emperor Honorius, and the latter was at the time Patrician and the power behind the throne....

 following his murder and assassination of Flavius Aëtius

Flavius Aëtius

Flavius Aëtius , dux et patricius, was a Roman general of the closing period of the Western Roman Empire. He was an able military commander and the most influential man in the Western Roman Empire for two decades . He managed policy in regard to the attacks of barbarian peoples pressing on the Empire...

 who was his friend. He was in Dalmatia at the time and it is believed to have held the title of Comes rei militaris according to the fasti

Fasti

In ancient Rome, the fasti were chronological or calendar-based lists, or other diachronic records or plans of official and religiously sanctioned events...

. He was powerful enough to seize control of Dalmatia for himself and was presumably able to do this because he was commander of the troops there. He appears to have remained ruler of Dalmatia down to 468 and to have preserved his independence except for briefly accepting the authority of the Emperors Majorian

Majorian

Majorian , was the Western Roman Emperor from 457 to 461.A prominent general of the Late Roman army, Majorian deposed Emperor Avitus in 457 and succeeded him. Majorian was one of the last emperors to make a concerted effort to restore the Western Roman Empire...

 and Anthemius

Anthemius

Procopius Anthemius was Western Roman Emperor from 467 to 472. Perhaps the last capable Western Roman Emperor, Anthemius attempted to solve the two primary military challenges facing the remains of the Western Roman Empire: the resurgent Visigoths, under Euric, whose domain straddled the Pyrenees;...

. Sources claim he ruled justly and well and kept Dalmatia independent of the emperor and of barbarian rulers.

Military career

During the dying days of the western half of the empire there remained four main players which participated in the power games revolving around the throne; the Eastern Roman Empire as one continued to play a significant political role as did the western Roman military which made up the other three. The Gallic army was prominent, especially under Aegidius

Aegidius

Aegidius was a Gallo-Roman warlord of northern Gaul. He had been promoted as magister militum in Gaul under Aëtius around 450. An ardent supporter of Majorian, Aegidius rebelled when Ricimer deposed Majorian, engaging in several campaigns against the Visigoths and creating a Roman rump state that...

 in the 460's, the Italian army was the main influence for Ricimer, and the forces of Dalmatia gave a solid base of power and support between 450 and 480 for Marcellinus and later his nephew Western Emperor Julius Nepos

Julius Nepos

Julius Nepos was Western Roman Emperor de facto from 474 to 475 and de jure until 480. Some historians consider him to be the last Western Roman Emperor, while others consider the western line to have ended with Romulus Augustulus in 476...

When Majorian took the throne in December 457 Marcellinus pledged his allegiance to the new emperor and was soon sent to guard Sicily

Sicily

Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

 against the Vandals

Vandals

The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals under king Genseric entered Africa in 429 and by 439 established a kingdom which included the Roman Africa province, besides the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics....

; perhaps at this time he held the title of magister militum

Magister militum

Magister militum was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine. Used alone, the term referred to the senior military officer of the Empire...

. Marcellinus was to take part in a joint attack of Vandal Africa, with him coming from Sicily and Majorian invading from Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, but before Majorian could begin his campaign the Vandals inflicted a severe defeat on the attack fleet and a year later in 461 the emperor was murdered by Ricimer

Ricimer

Flavius Ricimer was a Germanic general who achieved effective control of the remaining parts of the Western Roman Empire, during the middle of the 5th century...

, who soon after tried to bribe Marcellinus' troops who were mostly Huns

Huns

The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...

, attempting to reduce the generals power. This forced Marcellinus to leave Sicily and return to Dalmatia where he would work closely with the Eastern Emperor Leo I

Leo I (emperor)

Leo I was Byzantine Emperor from 457 to 474. A native of Dacia Aureliana near historic Thrace, he was known as Leo the Thracian ....

. In 464 or 465 Marcellinus returned to Sicily to defend the island against the Vandals, this action posed a direct threat to the personal power and prestige of Ricimer who had already appealed to Leo to prevent Marcellinus from acting against him militarily. Leo recognized Marcellinus as magister militum but not by Ricimer and his new puppet emperor Libius Severus

Libius Severus

Flavius Libius Severus Serpentius was Western Roman Emperor from November 19, 461 to his death.A Roman senator from Lucania Severus was one of the last Western Emperors, emptied of any effective power , and unable to solve the many problems affecting the Empire; the sources...

 in the West. His title seems to have changed around this time to that of magister militum Dalmatiae though it is not for certain, only that his nephew who took over for him after held this title. During this time his power seems to have grown and it was possible he could attack Italy, but at the request of the Italians, the eastern court sent an envoy to him and he agreed not to attack.

In the spring of 467 he was one of the comites who accompanied the new emperor of the West, Anthemius

Anthemius

Procopius Anthemius was Western Roman Emperor from 467 to 472. Perhaps the last capable Western Roman Emperor, Anthemius attempted to solve the two primary military challenges facing the remains of the Western Roman Empire: the resurgent Visigoths, under Euric, whose domain straddled the Pyrenees;...

, to Italy with a large army. In 468 we see him with the title of patrician which was given to him by Antheminus. Some explaining needs to be said here, since at this time Ricimer still held magister utriusque militum and patrician according the fasti, and it appears Atheminus wished for Marcellinus to have the similar power held by Ricimer in order to be a counterbalance to him. In the East, it was established practice for both magistri militum praesentales to be equal but in the West it had become common for one magister, (usually the magister peditum), to be superior over the other and so this may have been an attempt by Antheminus to introduce the eastern structure and rule like an eastern emperor using the successful and trustworthy Marcellinus as his second commander.

Death

In 468, Leo organized a grand campaign against the Vandals in Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 in which the East and West would commit substantial forces. Marcellinus was given command of the forces from the western empire and the campaign was to be a three-pronged assault. Marcellinus by this time had expelled the Vandals from Sicily and had also retaken Sardinia

Sardinia

Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...

 and was to be taken by fleet to Africa. Basiliscus

Basiliscus

Basiliscus was Eastern Roman Emperor from 475 to 476. A member of the House of Leo, he came to power when Emperor Zeno had been forced out of Constantinople by a revolt....

, Leo's brother-in-law, with the main army in an armada of over 1,000 ships would land at a distance from Carthage and link up with the comes rei militis Heraclius advancing from Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 and Tripolitana. Marcellinus was supposed to have a command of some 10,000 to 20,000 troops. Marcellinus never sailed for Africa, perhaps due to Ricimer's veto; either he would not spare so many troops to become bogged in a campaign in Africa hoping the East would do the job for him, or he resented the military capabilities of Marcellinus who was obviously the favorite of Anthemius. Regardless of the reason, Marcellinus, not able to participate in the campaign and Basiliscus blundering so terribly after what seemed at first to be a guaranteed victory, assured that the operation would result in failure and the West lost its only chance to regain Africa from the Vandals and possibly stave off its demise.

Marcellinus was murdered in Sicily that same year, possibly by Ricimer's order. After his death, his nephew, Julius Nepos inheirted his uncle's control over Dalmatia and was recorded as having the title magister militum Dalmatiae. Dalmatia would serve Julius Nepos in the same fashion as it had Marcellinus and due to the prestige and ability of Julius Nepos, the Eastern Emperor Leo I would push for him to be the new Western Emperor in 474.

Source of power

A topic of much debate concerns Marcellinus' source of power, mainly the forces under his command. This aspect becomes important in understanding his role as a player in the political and military theater of the Western Empire. A noteworthy comment on his army is that he is said that his troops were said to have always been well-equipped; to say that in an age when the armies in the west were declining this becomes especially important.

As the comes rei militaris Dalmatiae Marcellinus had a substantial fleet at his disposal which was based at Salona, and which would become of great importance in his career. From giving him the necessary means to threaten Italy with invasion, his ability to invade and secure Sicily on two occasions and from whence he accompanied Anthemius with an army from the East as well as forces of his own to install Anthemius as Emperor.

As for his land forces, we know for certain he had Hunnic troops. But it is not clear if these were federate forces or mercenaries. Regardless of which one they are, it not surprising he had Huns in his army since break up of the Hunnic Empire

Hunnic Empire

The Hunnic Empire was an empire established by the Huns. The Huns were a confederation of Eurasian tribes from the steppes of Central Asia. Appearing from beyond the Volga River some years after the middle of the 4th century, they first overran the Alani, who occupied the plains between the Volga...

 came in 454. He also had manpower to draw on from north of the Sava River

Sava River

The Sava is a river in Southeast Europe, a right side tributary of the Danube river at Belgrade. Counting from Zelenci, the source of Sava Dolinka, it is long and drains of surface area. It flows through Slovenia, Croatia, along the northern border of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and through Serbia....

 and from traditional recruiting grounds in the Dalmatian interior. Perhaps most important of all, and the source of the "well-equipped" phrase is that Marcellinus had within his region the Imperial arms factory of Dalmatia and a naval arsenal at Salona and access to mining resources of lead

Lead

Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...

 in Domavia and iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

 in the Sava Valley. Due to the geography of Dalmatia which deterred approach from land, (for the coastal cities), and his control of the Adriatic Marcellinus was quite unassailable which allowed him to become very active in major areas of the West.

Coniuratio Marcellana

Marcellinus may have been the individual of topic in the so-called coniuratio Marcellana in 457; this may have been a movement in Gaul after the death of Avitus

Avitus

Eparchius Avitus was Western Roman Emperor from July 8 or July 9, 455 to October 17, 456. A Gallic-Roman aristocrat, he was a senator and a high-ranking officer both in the civil and military administration, as well as Bishop of Piacenza.A representative of the Gallic-Roman aristocracy, he...

 in late 456/early 457 to put Marcellinus on the throne. Nothing; however, suggests that he himself favored the idea.

There is controversy in the academic world though as to who is really the topic of the machinations of the Gallo-Romano Aristocracy after the death of Avitus who was of Gallic origin and from amongst their own ranks. Many scholars old and new have either read the name of the event Marcellini, Marcelliniana instead of Marcellana. This does not make much sense to place Marcellinus as the person in question for this action of the Gallic aristocracy since he is not Gallic and most likely comes from a wealthy Dalmatian family. The assumption to place Marcellinus as the person being spoken of has only led others to assume then that he is Gallic in origin when there is absolutely no evidence to support this. Mathisen has shown that Marcellinus cannot be the person in question and that Apollinaris Sidonius was speaking of a Marcellus, who was a Gallic aristocrat. He demonstrates why Marcellinus cannot logically be the person in question by comparing other names written by the same author and showing that Sidonius using the same style in writing the names thus giving the support it is Marcellus not Marcellinus he speaks of.