Ricimer

Ricimer
Bronze coin with Ricimer's monogram
Born	c. 405
Died	August 18, 472
Occupation	Magister militum
Parent(s)	Rechila

Flavius Ricimer (Classical Latin: [ˈrɪkɪmɛr]; c. 405 – August 18, 472) was a Romanized Germanic general who effectively ruled the remaining territory of the Western Roman Empire from 456 until his death in 472. Deriving his power from his position as magister militum of the Western Empire, Ricimer exercised political control through a series of puppet emperors.

Ricimer's military office and his dominance over the empire led to historians such as J. B. Bury to conclude that he was a link between previous magistri militum, such as the Vandal Stilicho, and the Germanic King of Italy, Odoacer. Odoacer deposed Western Emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476, in an act often considered to mark the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

Ricimer was the son of Rechila, the Suevic King of Galicia. His mother was the daughter of Wallia, King of the Visigoths. It has been surmised that such an alliance between the Suevi and the Visigoths would have been made before Wallia's death in 418, after which Wallia's successors may have become hostile toward the family members of the deceased king. As entry into the Western Empire's military was a frequently-used option for "losers of struggles for leadership among the barbarians", Ricimer's family would have thus entered the service of Rome. Ricimer's younger sister later married Gondioc, the King of the Burgundians.