Tonantius Ferreolus (418 – 476) Praetorian Prefect of Gaul

Post author By Steven Wood Collins
Post date November 17, 2021
184 Comments on Tonantius Ferreolus (418 – 476) Praetorian Prefect of Gaul

“The discomfiture of the mighty attempt of Attila to found a new
anti-Christian dynasty upon the wreck of the temporal power of
Rome, at the end of the term of twelve hundred years, to which
its duration had been limited by the forebodings of the
heathen.”—Hebert

Tonantius Ferreolus served as one of the last Gallo-Roman praetorian prefects at the time Attila and his Hunnic army invaded Gaul. Before the invasion, he was instrumental in allying independent Gallic barbarian armies, including those led by Merovech Meroving (412 – 458; grandfather of Clovis I Meroving (466 – 511) 1st King of Franks, 1st Christian Ruler of Gaul) and Theodoric I (393 – 451) King of the Visigoths, under the banner of Roman General Flavius Aetius (391 – 454) for the successful defense of the Roman territory at the Battle of Châlons in 451.

Atilla’s decisive defeat at the Battle of Châlons marks a major turning point in human history since his victory might have spelled the end of Western Civilization. Accordingly, it’s ranked as the 6th most decisive military battle ever fought in Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy’s book, entitled The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World: from Marathon to Waterloo (1851). The following excerpt opines as to its relative significance:

“Attila’s attacks on the Western empire were soon renewed; but never with such peril to the civilized world as had menaced it before his defeat at Chalons. And on his death, two years after that battle, the vast empire which his genius had founded was soon dissevered by the successful revolts of the subject nations. The name of the Huns ceased for some centuries to inspire terror in Western Europe, and their ascendency passed away with the life of the great king by whom it had been so fearfully augmented.”

The maternal grandson of Emperor Avitus (397 – 457), Tonantius descended from a family of Roman nobility that flourished in recorded Roman history since the first century A.D. His mother was a clarissima femina and daughter of Flavius Afranius Syagrius, Consul in 382. Individual members of the lineage regularly served as senators and praetorian prefects. For instance, Flavius Eparchius (295 – 340) was Augustus Prefect of Egypt twice, initially between 335 and 337, and subsequently between 338 and 340 during Constantine the Great’s ruler of the Roman Empire.

Before the ascendency of Constantine the Great I (279 – 337) First Christian Emperor of Rome, Saint as the Emperor of Rome, Praetorian Prefects commanded the Praetorian Guard. During his reign, he began the appointing Prefects to govern one of the four Roman prefectures that comprised the Roman Empire after he divided it into two parts – the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire. In that capacity, the prefect held the highest administrative position within the prefecture itself, wielding about the same amount of political responsibility and power as a modern U.S. state governor.

Just before his ascendency as Emperor, Titus Caesar Vespasianus (39 – 81) served as his father’s Praetorian Prefect under the ancient regime whereby Praetorian Guards were responsible for the emperor’s security. Sometimes, however, the Praetorian Prefect performed exactly the opposite function in staging coups d’état. This was likely one of Constantine’s primary motives in stripping the “Imperial guard” function from the office.

The defeat of Flavius Afranius Syagrius, Tonantius’s maternal grandfather and last Roman Prefect of Gaul, at the Battle of Soissons (486) marked the official end of Roman Gaul. Though Clovis I Meroving (466 – 511) later had him assassinated following his capture, he reinstated the Syagrius kingdom to Syagrius’ heirs.

The first historical mention of the Syagrius’ bloodline, known as gens Afrania, comes during the second century BC with the advent of Gaius Afranius Stellio as Roman praetor of Egypt in 185 BC. The family tree goes back more ancient times to Greece, the most notable regions in and around Sparta and Troy (today’s southwestern Turkey).

Tonantius was the agnatic forebear of Saint Arnulf of Metz (582 – 640) Bishop of Metz, Patron Saint of Brewers, and a direct descendant of Marcus Aurelius Annius Verus (121 – 180) ) Emperor of Rome.

By Steven Wood Collins

I spent most of my life unaware of my ancestral heritage. Sure, I knew of the personal history of my more immediate relatives; but beyond that, I never had any inkling as to my ancestral heritage. Then one day many years ago my sister said to me, “I sometimes wonder about our family background.” And so my quest to discover our genealogical roots commenced.

I started building my family tree with the very basic relationships, going back in time from my grandparents, one ancestor at a time. That initial effort proved to be the hardest part of the pursuit, mainly due to my lack of expertise as a novice genealogical researcher. As I gained familiarity with the databases and how to efficiently mine them, my progress gained ever-increasing momentum. Today, The Patricians! tree (Ancestry.com) contains nearly 120,000 individuals, stretching over 135 generations, 5,800 of which are my direct ancestors in a genealogical sense.

During this trek back in time, I encountered fascinating figures in both history and obscurity. This blog contains many stories about their genealogical relationship to me (and many of you). By far and away, as a student of history, the historically obscure individuals are of particular interest to me. I cite Baron “Blue Beard” Montmorency-Laval de Rais (1405 – 1440) as an example of a historically maligned personage whose real contribution to history, as both a playwright and hero of France, has yet to be properly recognized. Another example is Earl Edward de Vere (1550 – 1604), who’s yet to gain widespread recognition as the actual author of the body of literary work wrongly ascribed to William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616).

My life-long interest in international economics and finance continues unabated. I primarily demonstrate this professional involvement as a contributor to the Long Room, the members-only international finance professionals' forum hosted by the Financial Times of London.

I'm an avid recreational scuba diver who enjoys traveling to exotic dive sites. My love of the sea and marine life gives me an unbounded appreciation and support of “green” issues, especially those devoted to the conservation of endangered species and coral reefs.

He continually posts results of his personal genealogical research to his Goodreads Authors Blog. Entitled The Patricians - The Ancestral Heritage of Steven Wood Collins, the work represents thousand of hours of his research efforts and related commentary.

View Archive

184 replies on “Tonantius Ferreolus (418 – 476) Praetorian Prefect of Gaul”

[…] Tonantius Ferreolus (418 – 476) Roman Praetorian Prefect of Gaul 6GGF […]

Share this:

Related

By Steven Wood Collins

184 replies on “Tonantius Ferreolus (418 – 476) Praetorian Prefect of Gaul”

Leave a comment