The Nicene Age · AD 313–400 · External witness
Emperor Valentinian II
AD 371 – 392 (found hanged at Vienne) · Boy emperor of the West · Loser of the basilica crisis · Milan → Vienne
External witness
Who Emperor Valentinian II was
Augustus at four, ruler in name of Italy under his mother Justina — the Arian court that demanded a basilica of Ambrose in 386 and met the sit-in that invented the ambrosian hymn. Delivered from Maximus by Theodosius, he shed the Arianism with the regency, refused the Senate's petitions for the Altar of Victory in his own voice, and asked Ambrose for baptism — but was found hanged at Vienne at twenty-one, by the Frank Arbogast's hand or his own despair. Ambrose's funeral oration mourned him as a catechumen saved by desire. Typed external per the emperor rule.
Also listed in non-christian witnesses and roman emperors.
Common questions
When did Emperor Valentinian II live?
Emperor Valentinian II is dated AD 371 – 392 (found hanged at Vienne) in the archive, which places Emperor Valentinian II in the Nicene Age (AD 313–400).
What did Emperor Valentinian II write?
Emperor Valentinian II has 1 catalogued writing in the archive: The Edict of Thessalonica (Cunctos populos), co-issued.
Which early sources mention Emperor Valentinian II?
Emperor Valentinian II is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Ambrose of Milan and Theodoret of Cyrus. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Emperor Valentinian II from?
The archive associates Emperor Valentinian II with Milan, Vienne. The sources record more than one location, so the places are listed in the order the record moves through them.
Writings (1)
The Edict of Thessalonica (Cunctos populos), co-issued
The boy Augustus's name closes the superscription of the law of 380It is our will that all the peoples ruled by our clemency should practice that religion which the divine apostle Peter delivered to the Romans.Read the interlinear source text →
Primary-source mentions (3)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Letter 20 of Ambrose (the basilica crisis, reported to Marcellina)
c. AD 386The Emperor is within the Church, not above the Church.Ambrose of Milan · Letter 20 · source text
Ambrose, On the Death of Valentinian (the funeral oration)
c. AD 392[Ambrose preaches over the body of the murdered boy-emperor, and argues that a catechumen who longed for baptism is not lost for want of the rite.]Ambrose of Milan · On the Death of Valentinian
Ambrose's De obitu Valentiniani, the funeral oration delivered at Milan in AD 392 for Valentinian II. Critical text: Otto Faller, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 73 (1955). English translation in Funeral Orations, Fathers of the Church 22 (1953). The oration is not in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers and no public-domain English exists.
Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret V.15 (with Ambrose's memorial)
c. AD 449The young Valentinian was found dead at Vienne… Ambrose, mourning him, testified that the desire of the laver he had asked for stood to him in place of the mystery itself.Theodoret of Cyrus · V.15 · source text
Connected in the archive
People
Named alongside Emperor Valentinian II in the sources
This figure is placed with Emperor Valentinian II by the record — in a council roll, a martyr-act, a letter or a history — without Emperor Valentinian II naming them in return.
Events in this lifetime
- AD 325 · The Council of Nicaea, AD 325
- AD 339 · The persecution of Shapur II, AD 339
- AD 343 · The Council of Serdica, AD 343
- AD 361 · Julian’s pagan restoration, AD 361
- AD 366 · Damasus and the catacomb epigrams, AD 366
- AD 367 · Athanasius lists the 27 NT books, AD 367
- AD 372 · The martyrdom of Sabbas the Goth, AD 372
- AD 378 · Queen Mavia’s revolt, AD 378
- AD 380 · The Edict of Thessalonica, AD 380
- AD 381 · The Council of Constantinople, AD 381
- AD 381 · The Council of Aquileia, AD 381
- AD 384 · The Altar of Victory petition, AD 384
- AD 390 · Thessalonica and the penance of Theodosius, AD 390
Place
Places served
The 2 places the sources put Emperor Valentinian II, in the order the record moves through them. This is what the sources attest, not a reconstructed route.