Tetricus I

Tetricus I
Emperor of the Gallic Empire
Coin featuring Tetricus I
Reign	271–274 (with Tetricus II)
Predecessor	Victorinus
Successor	None (Gallic Empire reconquered by Aurelian)
Died	Italia
Issue	Tetricus II
Full name Gaius Pius Esuvius Tetricus

Gaius Pius Esuvius Tetricus was Emperor of the Gallic Empire (Imperium Galliarum), reigning 271-274, succeeding the murdered Victorinus and ending with his surrender on the battlefield to the Roman emperor Aurelian. Tetricus, who ruled with his son, Tetricus II, was the last of the Gallic emperors.

Tetricus was a senator born to a noble family of Gallic extraction. He was appointed to the administrative position of praeses provinciae (provincial governor) of Gallia Aquitania in 270, a position he still held when the murder of Victorinus was announced in early 271.

Victorinus' mother, Victoria, located at Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, managed to keep control of the political situation after her son’s death; through her influence (and a large amount of money), she bribed the army to declare the absent Tetricus emperor. Tetricus accepted the army’s nomination and took the purple at Burdigala in Gaul.

Moving from Burdigala, he was on his way to Augusta Treverorum (Trier) when Tetricus was forced to repel Germanic tribes that took advantage of the confusion following the death of Victorinus to invade Gaul. By the end of 271 Tetricus had made Augusta Treverorum, near the vital Rhine border, his capital, and had celebrated a Victoria Germanica, but was again called out in 272 to deal with a fresh incursion that reached the River Loire. However, continued invasions across the Rhine and along the coasts forced Tetricus to abandon the frontier forts and withdraw the troops to defend the interior of Gaul.

Regardless of his difficulties with the Germanic invasions, Tetricus was recognised as emperor throughout Britain and most of Gaul apart from Narbonensis, where Placidianus had reclaimed some territory under Claudius II Gothicus. Although Tetricus made no move to expand his territorial reach, he did invest time and resources reclaiming some provinces that had been reconquered by the central empire, such as south-eastern Aquitania and the western parts of Narbonensis. Nevertheless, his regime was destabilised by attempts of certain areas to declare their allegiance to the Roman emperor Aurelian, such as the city of Argentoratum in 272.