Valentinus (usurper)

[3][2] He was initially a member of the retinue of the sakellarios Philagrius, and was tasked in early 641 by Emperor Constantine III (r. February–May 641) to distribute money to the troops in order to secure their loyalty to his infant son Constans, and not the faction of Heraclius's empress-dowager Martina.

[3] In the event, however, on Emperor Constantine's death in May 641, Martina and her son Heraclonas seized power, whilst the loyalists of Constans, most prominently Philagrius, were banished.

At this point, Valentinus, who had carried out his assignment and secured the support of the army, led the troops to Chalcedon, across the Bosporus from Constantinople, and demanded that Constans be made co-emperor.

Nevertheless, according to Sebeos's account, it was Valentinus who engineered the final fall and mutilation of Martina and Heraclonas a few months later, and imposed Constans as sole Byzantine emperor.

His bid for the throne, however, failed, since both the capital's populace and the leading men of the state, Patriarch Paul II foremost, rejected his claim.