LEO I
Flavius Valerius Leo, also known as Leo I, served in the military before he was proclaimed emperor on February 7th, 457, after the death of the emperor Marcian. He was already married to Verina before he became an emperor. They had three children, Ariadne, Leontia and a son who died at 5 months.
Ariadne married Zeno, a man who himself became emperor, while Leontia married Marcian, the son of Anthemius. Anthemius was the son-in-law of the emperor Marcian. Leontia's husband was named after his grandfather.
Aspar, the chief of the army had foregone appointing Anthemius, Marcian's own son-in-law and instead appointed Leo I as emperor. Aspar was a very influential man so much so that even after his son Arbadur was found guilty of treachery in 466, Aspar still had much power to wield.
In 457, Leo appointed Majorian as emperor of the western empire. A decade later, in 467, Leo named Anthemius, Leontia's father-in-law as western emperor. During this period, the Goths had advanced toward the Balkans and the Vandals were becoming of serious concern outside of the Balkans.
The following year, Leo launched an expedition against the Vandals which completely failed because of the treachery of Basisliscus, Leo's brother-in-law. Basislicus headed the expedition which involved troops from Egypt and a naval expedition that caused the empire to lose a lot of money and other resources. Not only was the expedition expensive for the empire it also had very little effect in terms of crushing the Vandals.
After the expedition, Aspar was once again able to assert himself to the affairs of the empire. In 470, Aspar convinced the emperor to name his son Patricius as Ceasar or junior emperor. The same year, negotiations with Anagastes who revolted against the emperor revealed that Arbadur encouraged the rebellion.
That was when Leo decided he could not let Arbadur live. Together with Patricius and Aspar, Arbadur was murdered in the palace in 471, subsequently earning Leo the moniker "The Butcher". Arians who supported Aspar were prosecuted shortly after.
During Leo's reign, the peace treaty between former emperor Theodosius I and the Sassanid Persians remained in effect. Only the Balkans, Western Empire, and the Vandals were left as major areas of concern. Goths had pushed forward toward the Balkans. In 459, the Gothic group under Valamir was able to negotiate with the Romans for peace by paying the empire a subsidy.
During the same period, the Transdanubian region was slowly being invaded by three barbaric groups, the Slavs, Avars and Bulgars. The Romans continued their campaign against troops that threatened the empire and fought against the Huns.
Leo died on January 18th, 474 of dysentery at the age of 73. His son-in-law Zeno became the emperor in that year.
Original Authors: Doods Pangburn
Edit Update Authors: M.A.Harris
Updated On: 22/07/2008
