* 456 – Battle of Placentia: Ricimer, supported by Majorian ( comes domesticorum ), defeats near Piacenza ( Northern Italy ) the Roman usurper Avitus.

* October 17 – Battle of Placentia: Ricimer, supported by Majorian ( comes domesticorum ), defeats near Piacenza ( Northern Italy ) the usurper Avitus.

It is generally accepted that Julius Nepos was son of the comes Nepotianus, a general ( magister utriusque militiae ) who served the Western Roman Empire between 458 and 461 during the reign of Majorian.

To strengthen his position, he obliged Licinia to marry him and promoted Majorian to the rank of comes domesticorum ( commander-in-chief of the imperial guard ).

Both Majorian, comes domesticorum, and Ricimer, comes, initially supported Avitus, but when the Emperor lost the loyalty of the Italian aristocracy, the two generals revolted against him.

Here they were intercepted by the troops of comes Burco, sent by Majorian to stop the invaders, and were defeated:

With the intercession of Majorian ' magister epistolarum Petrus, Sidonius Apollinaris, the son-in-law of Avitus, was allowed to deliver a panegyric in honour of the Emperor ( early January 459 ), receiving in reward the appointment to the rank of comes spectabilis.

It was probably during the preparation of this operation that Majorian sent the comes and patricius Occidentis Marcellinus to Sicily with an army of Huns, to take back the island from the Vandals.

Marcellinus was the comes rei militaris ( governor ) of Illyricum, but he had become practically independent since the death of Aetius, non recognising the imperial authority ; Majorian had convinced him to accept him as Emperor and even to collaborate with his troops with the military recovery of the Empire.

Counting on the popular discontent, on the disbandment of the imperial guard, and on the prestige gained through their victories, Ricimer and the comes domesticorum Majorian rebelled against Avitus ; the Emperor was obliged to leave Rome in early autumn and to move north.

After Petronius, the Gallic-Roman senator Avitus was proclaimed Emperor by the Visigoth king Theodoric II and ruled for two years, then was deposed by Majorian, who ruled for four years, before being killed by his general Ricimer ( 461 ).

A prominent general of the Late Roman army, Majorian deposed Emperor Avitus in 457 and succeeded him.

It is not known if Majorian expected to succeed him ; the new Emperor was, in fact, the Gallic-Roman noble Avitus, who had the support of the Visigoths.

First Majorian and Ricimer killed Remistus, the magister militum entrusted by Avitus with the defence of the capital, Ravenna.

Finally, Majorian caused Avitus ' death, possibly starving him, in early 457.

The first problems Majorian were to handle were the consolidation of his rule over Italy and the recovery of Gaul, after this province had rebelled to the deposition of the Gaul-Roman emperor Avitus.

When the news of the deposition of the Gallic-Roman emperor Avitus arrived in Gaul, the province refused to recognise Majorian as his successor.

Another clue is the fact that at the death of Avitus, the citizens of Lugdunum had allowed the Burgundians of king Gondioc to occupy the city, and that they sent an envoy to Leo, and not to Majorian, to ask for a reduction of the taxation.

Despite the fact that the Gallic-Roman aristocracy had sided with Avitus, however, Majorian wanted a reconciliation, not a punishment.

Avitus, the predecessor of Majorian on the imperial throne, had alienated the Roman senatorial aristocracy support appointing members of Gallo-Roman aristocracy, which he was part of, to the most important offices of the imperial administration.

When Majorian took the power deposing Avitus, the province of Gaul, where Avitus ' power was based, did not recognise the new Emperor.

The fate of Avitus had been marked by the betrayal of Ricimer and of Majorian and by the dismissal of his German guard, so the fate of Majorian himself was decided by the disbandment of his army and a plot organised by Ricimer.

Ricimer went to meet Majorian with a military detachment ; the magister militum met the Emperor near Tortona ( not far from Piacenza, where Avitus had been killed ), and had him arrested and deposed ( August 3 ).

* Ralph W. Mathisen, " Resistance and Reconciliation: Majorian and the Gallic Aristocracy after the Fall of Avitus ," Francia 7 ( 1979 ) pp. 597 – 627.

* Gerald E. Max, " Political Intrigue during the Reigns of the Western Roman Emperors Avitus and Majorian ," Historia 28 ( 1979 ) pp. 225 – 237.

It was Majorian who succeeded Avitus on the throne.

In 457 Majorian deprived Avitus of the empire and seized the city of Lyons ; Sidonius fell into his hands.

* 461 – Majorian is arrested near Tortona ( Northern Italy ) and deposed by the Suebian general Ricimer as puppet emperor.

* 461 – Roman Emperor Majorian is beheaded near the river Iria in north-west Italy following his arrest and deposition by the magister militum Ricimer.

* August 2 – Majorian is arrested near Tortona ( Northern Italy ) and deposed by Ricimer ( magister militum ) as puppet emperor.

The powerful general Ricimer deposed and killed Majorian, who had become unpopular with the senatorial aristocracy because of his reforms.

Majorian played the role of the candidate for the throne of Licinia Eudoxia, Valentinian's widow, and of Ricimer, who reserved for himself a role similar to Aetius '.

On the other hand, Leo rewarded both Majorian and Ricimer: the former was appointed magister militum, the latter patricius and magister militum ( February 28, 457 ).

There were actually two magistri militum to choose between, Majorian and Ricimer, but the barbarian origin of the latter barred him from the throne.

In first year ( 458 ) Majorian reserved the honour for himself, as the Emperors usually did in the first year they started as augusti, while in the second year he appointed his former colleague and powerful magister militum, Ricimer.

After the death of Majorian, Ricimer waited for three months before putting someone on the imperial throne he believed he could manipulate.

Therefore both empires had no Emperor, and the power was in the hands of the Western generals, Ricimer and Majorian, and of the Eastern Magister militum, the Alan Aspar.

As Aspar could not sit on the throne because of his barbaric origin, he opposed Anthemius whose prestige would have made him independent and chose a low-ranking military officer, Leo ; in the West, as his barbaric origin barred Ricimer from the throne, it was Majorian who received the purple.

The new Emperor needed the support of both the civil institutions, the Roman senate and the Eastern Roman Emperor Marcian, as well as that of the army and its commanders ( the generals Majorian and Ricimer ) and the Vandals of Gaiseric.

An ardent supporter of Majorian, Aegidius rebelled when Ricimer deposed Majorian, engaging in several campaigns against the Visigoths and creating a Roman rump state that came to be known as the Domain of Soissons.

Furthermore, as Emperor, Majorian could have led the army by himself, thus freeing him from the dangerous bond with a powerful general, as Valentinian had been obliged to contract with Aetius.

Majorian chose his trusted general Aegidius as the new magister militum per Gallias ( military commander of Gaul ) and sent an envoy in Hispania, to report the victory over the Visigoths and the new treaty with Theodoric II.

The most pointed example of this is the Suebian general Ricimer, who became a " Shadow Emperor " by deposing Avitus, installing and subsequently deposing ( and murdering ) Majorian, installing ( and possibly subsequently murdering ) Libius Severus, ruling the Empire himself during an eighteen-month interregnum, deposing and killing Anthemius, and installing Olybrius.