04-23-2014, 05:36 PM
In regards to the supposed jealousy of Valens towards his younger western counterpart Gratian. I have always thought this as propaganda used by later Christian writers who loathed Valens for being an Arian & even went so far as to accuse him of being a heretic for supposedly being involved in the wrecking of churches and persecution of Eastern saints ( Alanus mentioned on his thread about Fritigern and the Gothic martyrs so Valens would probably have been blamed for that as well) and being the root of all evil as well as being the cause of the coming of the Huns according to Otto Maenchen-Helfen in his excellent book "The World of the Huns". So whether he was jealous I don't know.
More than likely events beyond his control forced him to meet the Goths on August 9. Although Gratian had promised help, he himself had problems and on the day of battle was still at Castra Martis which was still 400 kms away from Adrianople. According to the book "Child Emperor Rule in the Late Roman West, AD 367-455" by Meaghan McEvoy as well as "Failure of Empire" by Noel Lenski. Gratian's delays had kept Valens waiting for at least a month & a half at his camp at Melanthias which he established in late May but moved towards Adrianople in late July to prevent Goths from cutting off the east-west road between the camp & Adrianople before the battle. So maybe all the talk about jealousy was just that and circumstances worked against Valens who wasn't as bad a commander as made out by history or the Christian writers but just a recipient of extremely bad & negative press.
More than likely events beyond his control forced him to meet the Goths on August 9. Although Gratian had promised help, he himself had problems and on the day of battle was still at Castra Martis which was still 400 kms away from Adrianople. According to the book "Child Emperor Rule in the Late Roman West, AD 367-455" by Meaghan McEvoy as well as "Failure of Empire" by Noel Lenski. Gratian's delays had kept Valens waiting for at least a month & a half at his camp at Melanthias which he established in late May but moved towards Adrianople in late July to prevent Goths from cutting off the east-west road between the camp & Adrianople before the battle. So maybe all the talk about jealousy was just that and circumstances worked against Valens who wasn't as bad a commander as made out by history or the Christian writers but just a recipient of extremely bad & negative press.
Regards
Michael Kerr
Michael Kerr
Michael Kerr
"You can conquer an empire from the back of a horse but you can't rule it from one"
"You can conquer an empire from the back of a horse but you can't rule it from one"
