Gainas the Usurper

[Valentinian Victor]

Gainas appears to have been a Gothic chieftain who attained the office of 'Magister Utriusque Militiae' . During 399AD he appears to have gained the support of the Gothic Count Tribigild and made a bid for the title of the Eastern Roman Empire. He appears to have had both his own troops, which may have been made up of both regular Roman units and large numbers of Goths, plus those under the command of Tribigild.

He laid siege to Constantiople for approximately six months before the army and inhabitants of Constantinople defeated him.

The now destroyed Column of Arcadius was erected to commemorate the 'victory' of Arcadius and Honorius over Gainas.

How this army could be modelled in IB is difficult to imagine? It must have been quite substantial for it to be able to sustain a siege of Constantinople for six months, which also included a naval battle which defeated part of Gainas' forces.

[Magister Militum Flavius Aetius]

An interesting prospect. Pompeius Magnus knows quite a bit about him (as I saw in the Navis Iusoria Prototype thread) and may be able to offer some insight.

[Gäiten]

That can be done by Scripting that event.

[juvenus]

what evidence do we have that Tribigild had any troops at his disposal? he was a court official, i doubt he had command over any troops save for a few of his bodyguards.

as for Gainas, i learned that, once defeated in front of Constantinople, he fled over the Danube into "barbaricum". However, it wasn't meant to be for he and the remnants of his "army" were destroyed in detail by an unknown force of the Huns. Some believe the Romans had contacted the Huns and "asked" for this favor.

btw, Gainas' army was originally stationed in Asia Minor and, although it certainly had many Goths, it may have had some Romans inside too.
I'm especially interested in the nature of his army. Were they limitanei from Asia Minor? Or some mixed up buntch of comitatenses?

[Valentinian Victor]

what evidence do we have that Tribigild had any troops at his disposal? he was a court official, i doubt he had command over any troops save for a few of his bodyguards.

as for Gainas, i learned that, once defeated in front of Constantinople, he fled over the Danube into "barbaricum". However, it wasn't meant to be for he and the remnants of his "army" were destroyed in detail by an unknown force of the Huns. Some believe the Romans had contacted the Huns and "asked" for this favor.

btw, Gainas' army was originally stationed in Asia Minor and, although it certainly had many Goths, it may have had some Romans inside too.
I'm especially interested in the nature of his army. Were they limitanei from Asia Minor? Or some mixed up buntch of comitatenses?

This quote from wiki should help-

Tribigild (fl. 399) was a Ostrogothic general whose rebellion against the Eastern Roman Empire precipitated a major political crisis during the reign of Emperor Arcadius.
Tribigild appears in the historical record as the leader of a colony of Ostrogoths in Phrygia and a military confederate of the Roman state (with the rank of comes or count) during a period when his people lived under the dominance of the Huns. In 399, his honour wounded by an insufficiently extravagant reception at the imperial court in Constantinople, he broke with Arcadius and began to sack the interior of Asia Minor. The resulting population upheavals and rumours of Tribigild's increasing power forced Arcadius's prime minister, the eunuch Eutropius, to send an expeditionary force across the Hellespont. In fact, Tribigild had met with increasing difficulty in fending off peasant militias, but when the imperial legions arrived he was easily able to subvert the loyalty of the fellow barbarians that were the fighting core of the force and scatter the rest.
This left fellow Goth Gainas in control of Constantinople's military fate; sent against Tribigild (who may have been a kinsman), he returned to report that the rebel was insurmountable and that negotiation would be the safest tactic. A demand for the lifeblood of Eutropius, perhaps negotiated in advance by Gainas and Tribigild, was met. But Gainas soon overplayed his hand and allied openly with his rebel cousin, and Tribigild was apparently killed during the combined Gothic army's movement toward Constantinople.

[juvenus]

ok, it explains for Tribigild. still, we don't know much about the siege of Constantinople and latter actions.

[Magister Militum Flavius Aetius]

someone in the vestigia vetustatis forum started a debate about this - it's on page 2 or 3 i believe

EDIT: Here it is: It's like 10 pages too...
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...nas+plundering

[Renatus]

someone in the vestigia vetustatis forum started a debate about this - it's on page 2 or 3 i believe

EDIT: Here it is: It's like 10 pages too...
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...nas+plundering

Yes, but Gainas drops out of the discussion on Page 1!

[juvenus]

what a cool discovery mmfa!well done mate! I rarely visit that Vestigia forum,it seems there are interesting threads out there.

[Magister Militum Flavius Aetius]

well, i haven't read it I just knew it was there, just thought it might be useful

[Renatus]

Gainas appears to have been a Gothic chieftain who attained the office of 'Magister Utriusque Militiae' . During 399AD he appears to have gained the support of the Gothic Count Tribigild and made a bid for the title of the Eastern Roman Empire. He appears to have had both his own troops, which may have been made up of both regular Roman units and large numbers of Goths, plus those under the command of Tribigild.

He laid siege to Constantiople for approximately six months before the army and inhabitants of Constantinople defeated him.

The now destroyed Column of Arcadius was erected to commemorate the 'victory' of Arcadius and Honorius over Gainas.

How this army could be modelled in IB is difficult to imagine? It must have been quite substantial for it to be able to sustain a siege of Constantinople for six months, which also included a naval battle which defeated part of Gainas' forces.

What is the authority for the six-month siege of Constantinople? I can find no reference to it in ancient sources or modern histories. Where should I be looking?

[SeniorBatavianHorse]

Yes, I wondered about that too. Any information would be appreciated.

[Valentinian Victor]

Try these for a start-

Sources

• Zosimus Book V
• Socrates of Constantinople Book VI
• Sozomen Book VIII
• Theodoret Book V
• Alan Cameron and Jacqueline Long, Barbarian and Politics at the Court of Arcadius, Berkeley et Los Angeles, 1993.
• Alexander Kazhdan (éd.), The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, 3 vols., Oxford University Press, 1991 (ISBN 0-19-504652-8)
• (fr) André Piganiol, L'Empire chrétien, PUF, Paris, 1972.

[SeniorBatavianHorse]

Yep, I know all those. But I am interested in this 6 month siege. I can't find a specific reference to it. I read accounts of meetings, devastation of the surrounding countryside to effect political and personal advantage for Gainas - the assumption of military power within the city - and even his retreat out to stage a coup - but nothing of an actual siege of the city itself. Or am I missing something in the finer print here!

[juvenus]

nope, i can't find a reference to "six months" neither...

[Valentinian Victor]

Its a quote in in one of the new books I've recently received, I'll have to search through the new batch and find you the exact quote ok.

[Magister Militum Flavius Aetius]

Pomps also mentions he was defeated in a major naval engagement shortly afterwards, talk to him he may know about the 6th month seige

[Valentinian Victor]

I've found the quote and I should have consulted Zosimos, Sozomen etc. It appears the author used PLRE Vol 1 description of Gainas and misinterpreted whats in there. I consulted my copy of PLRE and unless you check the primary sources it does give the impression that Gainas laid siege to Constantinople. He was going to lay siege to Contantinople but the citizens and the garrison rose up and killed 7000 of Gainas' troops before he fled for safety.

He did attempt the storm the imperial palace in Contantinople but was repulsed.

However, it still begs the question of what troops was he leading, and how large was his army, which must have been fairly substantial if 7000 were killed.

[Renatus]

I've found the quote and I should have consulted Zosimos, Sozomen etc. It appears the author used PLRE Vol 1 description of Gainas and misinterpreted whats in there. I consulted my copy of PLRE and unless you check the primary sources it does give the impression that Gainas laid siege to Constantinople. He was going to lay siege to Contantinople but the citizens and the garrison rose up and killed 7000 of Gainas' troops before he fled for safety.

He did attempt the storm the imperial palace in Contantinople but was repulsed.

However, it still begs the question of what troops was he leading, and how large was his army, which must have been fairly substantial if 7000 were killed.

Synesius states that something like a fifth of Gainas' army was cut off in Constantinople (de Providentia, 2.2) and Zosimus asserts that 7000 Goths took refuge in a church, where they were massacred (Zos. 5.19.4). If these were all soldiers, this would give Gainas an army of about 35,000 men. However, as a proportion of the 7000 is likely to have consisted of civilians and it is not known what that proportion may have been, this is not a very reliable guide.

[Magister Militum Flavius Aetius]

And that number - it could have been exxagerated, like the gothic army at adrianopolis