Editing Stilicho (section)

==Serving Honorius==
Following the death of Theodosius, Honorius became emperor of the [[Western Roman Empire#Theodosian dynasty (392–455)|Western Roman Empire]] while his brother [[Arcadius]] was placed on the [[Eastern Roman Empire|Eastern]] throne in Constantinople. As both were underage, Stilicho remained the caretaker for Honorius until he came of age.<ref>Mitchell, 89.</ref> He would claim to have been given a similar role in regards to Arcadius, although no independent verification of this exists.{{sfn|Blockley|1998|p=113}}  Neither proved to powerfully assert themselves as leaders, and Stilicho came to be the ''de facto'' commander-in-chief of the Roman armies in the west while his rival [[Rufinus (consul)|Rufinus]] became the power behind the throne in the east. To strengthen his hold over the emperor, he gave Honorius his daughter Maria's hand in marriage in 398, and after her death, Thermantia's in 408. Both of these marriages did not produce any children.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Doyle |first=Chris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=johnDwAAQBAJ&dq=stilicho+zosimus+distaste&pg=PT132 |title=Honorius: The Fight for the Roman West AD 395–423 |date=2018-08-06 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-27807-8 |language=en}}</ref> Stilicho used his military leadership as well as Honorius' youth and inexperience to consolidate his authority over the empire, though he acquired many rivals and enemies in the process, both in the West and East.

=== Balkans Campaign===
{{Main|Revolt of Alaric I}}
His first brush with such court politics came in 395. After the Battle of Frigidus the Goths, under their new king Alaric, were returning to their allotted lands in [[Lower Moesia]] when they decided to raid the countryside. By doing so Alaric effectively broke his treaty with Rome. Unfortunately for the Romans, the armies of the Eastern Empire were occupied with [[Huns|Hunnic]] incursions in [[Asia Minor]] and [[Roman Syria|Syria]]. Rufinus, Praetorian Prefect of the East, attempted to negotiate with Alaric in person. Officials in Constantinople suspected Rufinus was in league with the Goths. Stilicho led the army, which had been victorious at the Frigidus and was still assembled in Italy, into the Balkans to confront the Goths, eventually surrounding them somewhere in Thessaly.<ref>Hughes, ''Stilicho'', p. 81.</ref> According to [[Claudian]], Stilicho was in a position to destroy them, but was ordered by Arcadius to return the Eastern Empire's forces and leave [[Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum|Illyricum]].<ref>Hughes, ''Stilicho'', pp. 81–85.</ref> Stilicho resented the orders, for he was in a position to defeat Alaric's Goths, but he obeyed them anyway.<ref>Hughes, ''Stilicho'', pp. 82–85.</ref> When the Eastern Empire's forces arrived at Constantinople, Arcadius and Rufinus rode out to meet them. At this meeting Rufinus was murdered by the troops. Many historians suspect the involvement of Stilicho in the assassination/murder of Rufinus.<ref>Hughes, ''Stilicho'', pp. 85–87.</ref>

In 396 Stilicho campaigned against the Franks and other Germanic tribes in Gaul. He used the campaign to boost the morale of the western army – which had suffered three consecutive defeats in the civil wars against Theodosius – and to recruit Germanic auxiliaries to bolster its depleted ranks.<ref>Hughes, ''Stilicho'', pp. 93–95.</ref> The next year, in 397, Stilicho defeated Alaric's forces in [[Macedonia (Roman province)|Macedonia]], but Alaric himself escaped into the surrounding mountains. [[Edward Gibbon]], drawing on [[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]], criticizes Stilicho for being overconfident in victory and indulging in luxury and women, allowing Alaric to escape.<ref>Gibbon, 245</ref> Contemporary scholarship disagrees, and finds a variety of possible explanations, including an order from Arcadius directing him to evacuate the Eastern Empire, the unreliability of his mostly barbarian troops, the revolt of Gildo in Africa or the possibility that he simply was never as close to Alaric as Claudian suggests.<ref>Blockley, 113f. Emma Burrell. "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/4436726#:~:text=It%20is%20the%20contention%20of,revolt%20later%20in%20the%20year. A Re-Examination of Why Stilicho Abandoned His Pursuit of Alaric in 397]." ''Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte''. Vol. 53, No. 2 (2004): 251–256.</ref>

===Revolt in Africa===
{{Main|Gildonic War}}
Later that year, [[Gildo]], the ''comes et magister utriusque militiae per Africam'' (the commander of all troops in Africa), [[Gildonic War|revolted]]. He declared his intention to place the African provinces, the critical source of Rome's grain supply, under the control of the Eastern Empire.  Stilicho sent [[Mascezel]], the brother of Gildo, into Africa with an army, which quickly suppressed the rebellion.  However, upon his return to Italy, [[Mascezel]] was drowned under questionable circumstances, perhaps on the orders of a jealous Stilicho.<ref>Gibbon, 233–235.</ref> The year 400 also saw Stilicho accorded the highest honour within the Roman state by being appointed consul.<ref>Albrecht, M. von and Schmeling, G. L., ''A History of Roman Literature: From Livius Andronicus to Boethius: with Special Regard to Its Influence on World Literature'', Brill, 1996. {{ISBN|978-9004107113}} p. 1340</ref>

===Pictish Campaign===
{{Main|Stilicho's Pictish War}}
Stilicho also fought a war in Britain in this time period, likely in the year 398, dubbed [[Stilicho's Pictish War]]. The campaign against the Picts is highly disputed. The troops defending the British provinces probably defeated an invasion by the Picts without any support from Stilicho – who is never recorded to have left Italy in 398. Claudian refers to Stilicho providing Britannia with forts and a legion to protect it from incursions by Picts and Scots.<ref>Reid, John H. (2023), ''The Eagle and the Bear: A New History of Roman Scotland'', Birlinn Ltd., Edinburgh, p. 199, {{isbn|978-1780278148}}</ref> However, a critical analysis of his panegyric suggests that things went badly.<ref>M. Miller  "Stilicho's Pictish War." Britannia. Vol. 6, (1975), 141–144</ref>

===The Gothic War ===
{{Main|Gothic War (401-403)}}
In 401 Stilicho led the praesental army from Italy into [[Raetia]] and [[Noricum]] in response to an invasion by Vandals and Alans. Sensing an opportunity [[Alaric I|Alaric]] invaded Italy and lay siege to Mediolanum (Milan) where Honorius was residing.  In 402 Stilicho returned to Italy and hastened forward with a selected vanguard in advance of his main body, breaking the siege of Mediolanum and rescuing the besieged emperor. One of his chieftains implored him to retreat from Italy, but Alaric refused. In a surprise attack on Easter Sunday in 402, Stilicho defeated Alaric at the [[Battle of Pollentia]], capturing his camp and his wife. Alaric himself managed to escape with most of his men. This battle was the last victory celebrated in a triumphal march in Rome, which was saved for the time being. At [[Verona]], Stilicho again bested Alaric, who managed to escape with a diminished force.<ref>Gibbon, 256</ref> A truce was made and [[Alaric I|Alaric]] went to [[Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum|Illyricum]] where he and his men were settled in the border provinces of [[Noricum]] and [[Pannonia]] (probably ''Pannonia Secunda'').<ref>Hughes, ''Stilicho'', pp. 143, 148–149.</ref>

===Campaign in North Italy===
{{Main|War of Radagaisus}}
In 405 [[Radagaisus]], the king of one of the Gothic tribes north of the Danube, led a combined force of Goths, Alans, Sueves, and Vandals across the Danube and the Alps and into Italy. This disrupted Stilicho's plans to re-take Illyricum from the Eastern Empire with the help of Alaric. Stilicho, scraping together a force of c. 20,000 men (thirty ''numeri'' of Roman troops with supporting units of federates of Alans and Huns) through a variety of desperate methods, including efforts to enroll slaves in the army in exchange for their freedom, at [[Ticinum]] (Pavia) led this force at the beginning of the campaigning season in 406 against Radagaisus. Fortunately for Stilicho, Radagaisus had split his forces into three divisions; two were pillaging the Italian countryside while the largest contingent – under Radagaisus himself – was laying siege to Florentia. Stilicho marched his entire army against Radagaisus at Florentia, managed to surprise him and captured almost his entire force.<ref>Blockley, 121</ref><ref>Gibbon, 263–267. David Potter. [[iarchive:ancientromenewhi0000pott|Ancient Rome: A New History]]. (New York: Thames & Hudson, 2009)  288. {{ISBN|978-0-500-28786-6}}</ref> Stilicho executed Radagaisus and enrolled 12,000 of his warriors in his army. The rest were sold off as slaves.<ref>Hughes, ''Stilicho'', p. 165.</ref>

In late 406, Stilicho demanded the return of the eastern half of Illyricum (which had been transferred to the administrative control of Constantinople by Theodosius), threatening war if the Eastern Roman Empire resisted. The exact reasons for this are unclear, but there are several theories: 1) Stilicho wanted Illyricum as a recruiting ground for his army (recruiting troops in the western provinces proved difficult because most able bodied men were employed by the western elite which he could not afford to antagonize). 2) Stilicho feared that Italy could be invaded from Illyricum if he did not control the Diocese himself (directly or indirectly through Alaric). 3) Stilicho planned to neutralize Alaric as a threat by employing him and his battle-hardened troops in the Western Empire's defences and made him ''comes et magister militum per Illyricum'' (Stilicho and Alaric would take Illyricum from the Eastern Empire, Alaric would defend Illyricum, leaving Stilicho free to concentrate on the north). A combination of all three is also a possibility.<ref>Hughes, ''Stilicho'', pp. 169–175.</ref><ref>Heather, Peter, ''[[iarchive:fallofromanempir0000heat|The Fall of the Roman Empire]]'', Oxford University Press, 2007 {{ISBN|978-0195325416}} p. 219</ref>