450-469 Attila the Hun & Gaiseric the Vandal Sacks Rome

In this 20 year period Theodosius, Emperor of the east, died and Attila (pictured) murdered his brother Rugila and became King of the Huns.

Valentinian III was emperor in the west, and because Theodosius had no heir he was replaced by general Marcian who married Pulcheria, Theodosius's sister.

Marcian died in 457, no male hier, and the new emperor was selected by Aspar, a senior Germanic general who was barred from the position because of his ethnicity and Arian faith. He chose Leo who set about weakening German power in the east by founding an army of Isaurian warriors and marrying his daughter to their chieftain, Zeno.

Both emperors staged a massive campaign against the Vandals in 468, but Gaiseric, King of the Vandals, prevailed.

The Huns had been helpful to the empire but things changed when Attila murdered his brother Rugila and became King of the Huns.

Attila not only demanded a marriage with Valentinian III's older sister, Honoria, but also half the territory of the western empire as her dowry!

Valentinian III refused and Attila, the new King of the Huns, responded by invading Gaul in co-operation with Gaiseric, King of the Vandals. Faced with a massive army that Aetius had put together -- including the Franks, Burgundians, Celtics and Theoderic of the Visigoths -- Attila withdrew but Aetius pursued and was victorious at the Battle of Chalons-sur-Marne in 452. Theoderic died.

Attila was allowed to leave in peace, only to return in 452 to invade Italy but was stopped by plague. In 453 Attila died, and the Huns were finally defeated in 454.

Valentinian III resented Aetius' prestige, and in conspiracy with the senator Petronius Maximus murdered Aetius, but then they fell out and Valentinian III was assassinated in 455.

Petronius Maximus then declared himself emperor, married Valentinian's widow and betrothed her daughter to his son.

King Gaiseric seized the opportunity of imperial chaos to sieze more land in Africa, take Sardinia and land a fleet at Rome. Petronius Maximus got killed while fleeing.

The Bishop of Rome persuaded Gaiseric to refrain from murder -- which he did -- but for 10 days the Romans had to suffer the Teutonic Vandals ransacking their city.

430-449 St Patrick Converts the Irish, Vandals & Huns

In this twenty year period St Patrick (pictured) returned to Ireland in 432 to convert the Irish to Christianity and, by legend, rid Ireland of snakes.

Patrick was the son of a town councilor living on the west coast of Britain who had been kidnapped by raiders at aged 16 and suffered 6 years of slavery in Ireland before escaping. He later became the inspiration for a group of Celtic monks who lived on the island of Iona, off the shore of western Scotland. Considering that it would be another 167 years before Augustine set off to convert the Anglo-Saxons in England, Patrick was way ahead of his time.

Theodius II was emperor of the east and Valentinian III was emperor of the the west.

In the year 430, the Roman general Boniface -- with the help of King Gaiseric of the Vandals -- had control of Africa. Realizing that Rome needed the grain from Africa to survive, Galla (Valentinian III's mother) made peace with Boniface but King Gaiseric disagreed, besieging Boniface in Hippo until an army arrived from Italy in 431.

The army was defeated but Boniface managed to escape to Italy. King Gaiseric continued to secure territory in Numidia and Aetius negotiated peace with him -- allowing him to retain Numidia and Mauritania in return for Africa -- but Gaiseric double-crossed Aetius by taking Carthage in 439 and Sicily in 440.

Both Theodius II in the east and Valentinian III in the west now submitted to Gaiseric's terms -- reversing the previous territorial arrangement and adding the betrothal of Valentinian III's daughter to Gaiseric's son.

Despite his treachery, Galla favored Boniface over Aetius and as a result the armies of the two men battled. Boniface won but later died, his son taking over, but Aetius prevailed with the help of King Rugila of the Huns and was restored to power in 434.

The Huns also helped Aetius with another Bergundian revolt, but when Attila murdered his brother Rugila and became King of the Huns, the situation changed dramatically.

In the East, Theodius II and his four sisters had no military crises thanks to the able government of the prefect Anthemius and were able to devote their lives to theology.

The Roman church had been appalled by the domination of the Alexandrian church, particularly its deposition of bishops who adhered to the western notion of the coexistence of two natures of Christ (divine and human) - but Theodius II ignored all complaints.