Page "Roman Emperor (Late Empire)" Paragraph 24

Petronius Maximus was killed trying to flee Rome – presently under imminent threat of attack by Geiseric's Vandals – eleven weeks after donning the purple ; Rome was plundered (" Vandalised ") but spared a full-fledged sacking due in large part to the intervention of the Bishop of Rome, Pope Leo I, who had previously averted an attack on Rome by Attila the Hun in 452.

Petronius Maximus was succeeded by his master of the soldiers, Avitus, who was acclaimed at Tolosa with the backing of the Visigothic king, Theodoric II.