A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Placidia
PLACIDIA,
A daughter of Theodosius the Great, sister to Honorius and Arcadius, was born about the year 388, and was brought up in the palace of Constantinople. At the third siege and sack of Rome by Alaric, in 410, Placidia was one of the captives carried away by him; she was treated with the respect due to her rank; and Ataulphus, Alaric's successor, married her in 414. She bore him a son who soon died. In 415, Ataulphus was murdered by Singeric, who usurped the Gothic throne, and treated the royal widow with great ignominy, obliging her to walk twelve miles before his chariot. Singeric was soon after assassinated, and Placidia was ransomed by the Romans for 600,000 measures of wheat, and returned to Italy.
In 417, Honorius compelled Placidia to marry his general, Constantius, as a reward for his services. She became the mother of Valentinian the Third, and Honoria. By Placidia's instigation, Constantius urged Honorius to admit him to a partnership in the empire, by which elevation she obtained the title of Augusta; their titles, however, were not acknowledged at the court of Constantinople. Placidia again became a widow in 421. When her son, Valentinian the Third, was declared emperor, in 426, Placidia assumed the reins of government during his minority. Her administration was neither wise nor vigorous. She died at Home in the year 450.