456Oct, 16
Magister militum Ricimer defeats Emperor Avitus at Piacenza and becomes master of the Western Roman Empire.
Magister militum (Latin for "master of soldiers", plural magistri militum) was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, the emperor remaining the supreme commander) of the empire. In Greek sources, the term is translated either as strategos or as stratelates.
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Events on 456
- 5Oct
Theodoric II
The Visigoths under king Theodoric II, acting on orders of the Roman emperor Avitus, invade Iberia with an army of Burgundians, Franks and Goths, led by the kings Chilperic I and Gondioc. They defeat the Suebi under king Rechiar on the river Urbicus near Astorga (Gallaecia).