[3] Between these dates, her father was in Italy following his campaign against the usurper Magnus Maximus, while her mother remained in Constantinople.

He was also titled magister equitum et peditum ("Master of the Horse and the Foot"), placing him in charge of both the cavalry and infantry forces of the Western Roman Empire.

Stilicho planned to proceed to Constantinople and "undertake the management of the affairs of Theodosius", convincing Honorius not to travel to the East himself.

Shortly after, Olympius, magister scrinii, attempted to convince Honorius that Stilicho was in fact conspiring to depose Theodosius II, to replace him with Eucherius.

[14] In the disturbances that followed the fall of Stilicho, wives and children of foederati living in the cities of Italy were killed.

Their ruler Ataulf, having succeeded Alaric, entered an alliance with Honorius against Jovinus and Sebastianus, rival Western Roman emperors located in Gaul, and managed to defeat and execute both in 413.

The marriage was recorded by Hydatius and[19] Jordanes, although the latter states that it was earlier, in 411 at Forum Livii (Forlì) (possibly a more informal event).

Sarus had been a Germanic chieftain killed while fighting under Jovinus and Sebastianus, and his follower harbored a secret desire to avenge the death of his patron.

Galla Placidia, Ataulf's widow, was forced to walk more than twelve miles on foot among the crowd of captives driven ahead of the mounted Sigeric.

He surrendered to Constantius III, at the time magister militum of Honorius, negotiating terms giving foederati status for the Visigoths.

As this failed to put an end to the controversy, Honorius called a synod of Italian bishops at Ravenna to decide the matter.

As Easter approached, however, Eulalius returned to the city and attempted to seize the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in order to "preside at the paschal ceremonies".

Imperial troops managed to repel him, and on Easter (30 March 419) the ceremonies were led by Achilleus, Bishop of Spoleto.

The conflict cost Eulalius the imperial favor, and Boniface was proclaimed the legitimate pope as of 3 April 419, returning to Rome a week later.

[30] With no member of the Theodosian dynasty present at Ravenna to claim the throne, Theodosius II was expected to nominate a Western co-emperor.

He declared Joannes, the primicerius notariorum "chief notary" (the head of the civil service), to be the new Western Roman Emperor.

Forces of the Eastern Roman army gathered at Thessaloniki, and were placed under the general command of Ardaburius, who had served in the Roman-Persian War.

Aspar, son of Ardaburius, led the cavalry by land, following the coast of the Adriatic from the Western Balkans to Northern Italy.

[31] Ardaburius and the infantry boarded ships of the Eastern Roman navy in an attempt to reach Ravenna by sea.

A shepherd led Aspar's cavalry force through the marshes of the Po to the gates of Ravenna; with the besiegers outside the walls and the defectors within, the city was quickly captured.

Joannes was taken and his right hand cut off; he was then mounted on a donkey and paraded through the streets, and finally beheaded in the hippodrome of Aquileia.

Three days following Joannes' death, Aetius brought reinforcements for his army, a reported number of sixty thousand Huns from across the Danube.

The Huns were paid off and sent home, while Aetius received the position of comes and magister militum per Gallias (commander-in-chief of the Roman army in Gaul).

[37] Bonifacius, trusting the warning from Aetius, refused the summons; and, thinking his position untenable, sought an alliance with the Vandals in Spain.

[37] Bonifacius had meanwhile returned to Rome, where Placidia raised him to the rank of patrician and made him "master-general of the Roman armies".

The appointments effectively left Aetius in control of the entire Western Roman army and gave him considerable influence over imperial policy.

[12] During these years, Galla Placidia befriended bishop Peter Chrysologus, both having a shared interest in building churches.

[40] Placidia died shortly afterwards at Rome, in November 450, and was buried in the Theodosian family mausoleum adjacent to Old St. Peter's Basilica, later the chapel of Saint Petronilla.

She built San Giovanni Evangelista, Ravenna in thanks for the sparing of her life and those of her children in a storm while crossing the Adriatic Sea.

The dedicatory inscription reads "Galla Placidia, along with her son Placidus Valentinian Augustus and her daughter Justa Grata Honoria Augusta, paid off their vow for their liberation from the danger of the sea.