ARBOGAST

died Sept. 8, 394 barbarian general of the Roman Empire, the first to establish a Roman nominee of his own as a puppet emperor. Probably of Frankish descent, he rose to the rank of magister equitum (master of the cavalry) in the Western Roman army and was sent by the emperor Gratian, in 380, to assist the Eastern ruler Theodosius against the Goths in Thrace. He remained in the service of Theodosius. In 388, after the defeat in Italy of the usurper Magnus Maximus by Theodosius, Arbogast recovered Gaul for the Western emperor Valentinian II from Maximus' son, Flavius Victor. The following year Arbogast pacified the Rhine frontier, imposing a treaty on the Frankish leaders Marcomer and Sunne, who had invaded Gaul in 384. By 391 the general had become all-powerful in Gaul as comes (count) and regent. When Valentinian attempted to dismiss him, Arbogast declared that only Theodosius possessed the power to do so. On May 15, 392, Valentinian died at Vienna (modern Vienne, Fr.) in circumstances suggestive of murder instigated by Arbogast. Proclaiming Eugenius, a professor of rhetoric, as emperor in the West, Arbogastwho admired the Roman Republic and despised the quarrels between Roman Catholic and Arian Christiansset about restoring paganism. In the winter of 393394, he conducted a successful campaign against the Ripuarian Franks, the Chamavi, and along the Rhine, but the following May, Theodosius marched west to suppress the pagan revolution. A two-day battle ended in victory for Theodosius. Eugenius was beheaded; Arbogast committed suicide.