Tonantius Ferreolus I ~ Prefect of Gaul
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| Father-Biological* | Flavius Afranius Syagrius |
- Family Lines
- Roy Line
Boudreau Line
Last Edited=30 Apr 2023
Tonantius Ferreolus I ~ Prefect of Gaul was the son of Flavius Afranius Syagrius. He was a Gallo-Roman Senator.1
Tonantius Ferreolus I ~ Prefect of Gaul married Papinailla.2,1 Tonantius Ferreolus I served as Prefect of Gaul between 451 and 453.2 He served in 469 at the trial of Arvandus, who had been appointed to two terms as Praetorian Prefect of Gaul, first by Severus (461-465) and then by Anthemius himself. In 468, a commission of influential Gauls traveled to Rome to accuse him of treasonous collusion with the Visigothic court. They produced a letter in which Arvandus encouraged Euric to declare war against Anthemius and to divide Gaul between the Goths and the Burgundians. Arvandus even may have aimed at an imperial throne obtained with barbarian aid. Arvandus' friend Sidonius Apollinaris, as Prefect of Rome, was placed in the awkward position of presiding at Arvandus' trial. Sidonius chose to resign his position instead, and he subsequently reported back to his Gallic friend Vincentius, who was himself in Visigothic service, about the course of Arvandus' trial:
Tonantius Ferreolus I ~ Prefect of Gaul married Papinailla.2,1 Tonantius Ferreolus I served as Prefect of Gaul between 451 and 453.2 He served in 469 at the trial of Arvandus, who had been appointed to two terms as Praetorian Prefect of Gaul, first by Severus (461-465) and then by Anthemius himself. In 468, a commission of influential Gauls traveled to Rome to accuse him of treasonous collusion with the Visigothic court. They produced a letter in which Arvandus encouraged Euric to declare war against Anthemius and to divide Gaul between the Goths and the Burgundians. Arvandus even may have aimed at an imperial throne obtained with barbarian aid. Arvandus' friend Sidonius Apollinaris, as Prefect of Rome, was placed in the awkward position of presiding at Arvandus' trial. Sidonius chose to resign his position instead, and he subsequently reported back to his Gallic friend Vincentius, who was himself in Visigothic service, about the course of Arvandus' trial:
During his first term as prefect his rule was very popular, the second was disastrous... At last the general hate encompassed him like a rampart; before he was well divested of this authority, he was invested with guards, and as a prisoner brought in bonds to Rome... At the Capitol, the Count of the Sacred Largesses, his friend Flavius Asellus, acted as his host and jailer, showing him deference for his prefectship, which seemed, as it were, yet warm, so newly was it stripped from him. Meanwhile, the three envoys from Gaul arrived upon his heels with the provincial decrees empowering them to impeach him in the public name... They brought ... an intercepted letter, which Arvandus' secretary, now also under arrest, declared had been dictated by his master. It was evidently addressed to the king of the Goths [sc. Euric], whom it dissuaded from concluding peace with the Greek emperor, urging that instead he should attack the Bretons north of the Loire, and asserting that the Law of Nations called for a division of Gaul between the Visigoths and Burgundians... Of course the lawyers found here a flagrant case of treason... [at the trial before the Senate] the parties stood up and the envoys set forth their charge. They first produced their mandate from the province, then the already-mentioned latter... He was stripped on the spot of all the privileges pertaining to his prefecture... and consigned to the common jail... He was then condemned to death... We, of course... are doing all we can... We redouble prayers and supplications that the imperial clemency may suspend the stroke of the drawn sword, and rather visit a man already half-dead with confiscation of property and exile...2,3
Child of Tonantius Ferreolus I ~ Prefect of Gaul and Papinailla
Citations
- Weis, Frederick Lewis. Ancestral Roots of Sixty Colonists Who Came to New England Between 1623 and 1650, Fifth Edition. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1982.
- Stuart, Roderick W. Royalty for Commoners, The Complete Known Lineage of John of Gaunt, Son of Edward III, King of England, and Queen Philippa, Fourth Edition. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2002.
- De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors. Online http://www.roman-emperors.org/