Editing Galla Placidia (section)

==First marriage==
[[File:Galla placidia, solido del 422.JPG|thumb|left|Coin of 422]]
In the disturbances that followed the fall of Stilicho, wives and children of ''[[foederati]]'' living in the cities of [[Italy]] were killed.<ref name=EB1911>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Alaric |volume=1 |page=471 |first=Thomas |last=Hodgkin}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=January 2022}} Most of the ''foederati'', regarded as loyal to Stilicho, joined the forces of [[Alaric I]], King of the [[Visigoths]].<ref name=EB1911/> Alaric led them to [[Rome]] and put it under [[Sack of Rome (410)|siege]],<ref name=EB1911/> with minor interruptions, from autumn 408 to 24 August 410. [[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]] records that Placidia was within the city during the siege. When Serena was accused of conspiring with Alaric, the whole [[Roman Senate|senate]] and Placidia sentenced her to death.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="Ralph W. Mathisen, Galla Placidia"/>

Placidia was captured by Alaric before the fall of Rome, and accompanied the Visigoths from Italy to [[Gaul]] in 412. Their ruler [[Ataulf]], having succeeded Alaric, entered an alliance with Honorius against [[Jovinus]] and [[Sebastianus]], rival Western Roman emperors located in Gaul, and managed to defeat and execute both in 413.<ref name="roman-emperors.org">{{Citation |url=http://www.roman-emperors.org/westemp5.htm |first=Hugh |last=Elton |title=Western Roman Emperors of the First Quarter of the Fifth Century}}</ref>

After the heads of Sebastianus and Jovinus arrived at Honorius' court in [[Ravenna]] in late August, to be forwarded for display among other usurpers on the walls of [[Carthage]], relations between Ataulf and Honorius improved sufficiently for Ataulf to cement them by marrying Galla Placidia at [[Narbonne]] on 1 January 414. The nuptials were celebrated with high Roman festivities and magnificent gifts. [[Priscus Attalus]] gave the wedding speech, a classical [[epithalamium]]. The marriage was recorded by [[Hydatius]] and{{sfn|Riess|2016|p=53}} Jordanes, although the latter states that it was earlier, in 411 at Forum Livii ([[Forlì]]) (possibly a more informal event).

Placidia and Ataulf had one son, Theodosius, born in [[Barcelona]] by the end of 414, but the child died early in the following year, eliminating an opportunity for a Romano-Visigothic line;<ref name="Ralph W. Mathisen, Galla Placidia"/> years later the corpse was exhumed and reburied in the imperial mausoleum in [[Old St. Peter's Basilica]], Rome. In [[Hispania]], Ataulf imprudently accepted into his service a man identified as "Dubius" or "Eberwolf", a former follower of Sarus. Sarus had been a [[Germanic kingship|Germanic chieftain]] killed while fighting under Jovinus and Sebastianus, and his follower harbored a secret desire to avenge the death of his patron. In August/September, 415, in the palace at Barcelona, the man brought Ataulf's reign to a sudden end by killing him while he bathed.{{sfn|Moorhead|Stuttard|2010|p=178}}

The [[Amali dynasty|Amali faction]] proceeded to proclaim [[Sigeric]], a brother of Sarus, as the next king of the Visigoths. Sigeric killed Ataulf's six children from a former wife by taking them away from Sigesar, bishop of the Goths. Galla Placidia, Ataulf's widow, was forced to walk more than twelve miles on foot among the crowd of captives driven ahead of the mounted Sigeric. After 7 days of ruling, Sigeric was assassinated and replaced with [[Wallia]], Ataulf's relative.<ref>Olympiodorus Fragment 26</ref>