Battle of Pollentia

Date	6 April 402
Location	Pollentia, modern Pollenzo, near Asti, Italy
Result	Minor Roman victory

Belligerents

Western Roman Empire

Visigoths

Commanders and leaders

Stilicho

Alaric I

The Battle of Pollentia was fought on 6 April 402 (Easter) between the Romans and the Visigoths.

Theodosius I, the last emperor of both eastern and western halves of the Roman Empire, died in 395, leaving his sons Arcadius and Honorius emperors of the East and West, respectively. Both new emperors were only boys at their ascension to the thrones, thereby making it necessary for older and more experienced men to step in as consuls.

Flavius Stilicho, son of a Vandal father, though he identified with his maternal Roman heritage, was the magister utriusque militae when Honorius came to power and was able to act as consul and commander-in-chief because of his close relationship to the imperial family. Theodosius I had great trust in Stilicho and their families became formally linked when Stilicho’s daughter was married to Honorius. Zosimus described the concurrent situation: "The empire now devolved upon Arcadius and Honorius, who, although apparently the rulers, were so in name only: complete control was exercised by Rufinus in the east and Stilicho in the west." Even as Honorius grew older (he was ten at his ascension and seventeen at the Battle of Pollentia) “[he] was a feeble nonentity.”

Meanwhile, the disgruntled Visigoths ended their service to the empire as foederati on the charge that they were not being compensated as promised. They began wreaking havoc in land very close to Constantinople and ironically, the city had to buy off the Visigoths to end the threat. This short-sighted policy of bribery proved ineffective and Alaric, king of the Visigoths, devastated the Peloponnese and Balkans in the following year. After he had good control over the Balkan region, Alaric then tried negotiating with the western empire for senior military rank (magister militum) and rations of food and supplies for his troops. He was rebuffed – Roman government thought it was beneath them to make deals with barbarians.

Alaric set his sights on Gaul (historians are not sure why he chose this region) and began marching, invading Italy in early 402 on his way across the western empire. General Stilicho was concurrently occupied at Raetia (modern Austria) and Noricum in the north dealing with Vandal and Alan raids. When he heard of Alaric’s invasion, Stilicho quickly recruited troops from the very people he was fighting in order to gain enough manpower to confront the Visigoths.

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