Honoria

Justa Grata Honoria was the sister of the western emperor Valentinian III and the daughter of the Augusta Galla Placidia. Her appeal to Attila gave him a claim to her hand and to a share of the western empire. It stood at the beginning of his wars in the West.

The appeal to Attila

Honoria had been raised to the rank of Augusta. She kept an establishment of her own within the palace, managed by a steward named Eugenius. In 449 her intrigue with him was discovered. Eugenius was put to death. Honoria was driven from the palace and betrothed against her will to Flavius Bassus Herculanus, a rich senator whom no one could suspect of designs on the throne.^[1]^[2] In the spring of 450 she sent a trusted eunuch, Hyacinthus, to Attila with her ring and a sum of money. She asked him to save her from the marriage.^[3]^[2] Rumours from Constantinople said that she had secretly offered herself to Attila, to escape a marriage her brother had arranged.^[4] Jordanes writes that it was said she had secretly sent a eunuch to summon Attila, so that she might have his protection against her brother’s power.^[5]

Hyacinthus was tortured to reveal his mistress’s plans and then beheaded. Theodosius II advised Valentinian to hand Honoria over to Attila. Placidia persuaded her son to spare her daughter’s life and took her into her own keeping. What became of Honoria afterwards is not known.^[3]^[6]

Attila’s claim

Attila took the ring for a proposal of marriage.^[3] When he heard what had happened to her, he sent envoys to the western emperor. They said that Honoria, whom he had destined for his own marriage, had done nothing wrong. They said that Attila would come to her aid unless she also received her share of the sovereignty. The western court answered that she could not marry him, because she had already been given to another. It added that the empire did not belong to her, “for the Roman empire belongs to men, not to women”.^[7] Attila demanded half the western empire as her dowry. The emperor refused.^[4]

Before he set out on his campaign in the West, Attila sent again to Italy to demand Honoria. His envoys said that she had pledged herself to marry him. As proof they were to show the ring she had sent him. They added that Valentinian owed him half the empire, since her father’s kingdom belonged to her by right and her brother’s greed had deprived her of it.^[8] In 452 Attila invaded Italy, claiming the right to marry Honoria and with her to inherit the Roman empire.^[9] When he withdrew, he threatened to do worse in Italy unless Honoria was sent to him with her due share of the royal wealth.^[10]

The story

Priscus and those who copied him told the story of the affair with gusto.^[11] Some scholars dismiss it as having all the marks of Byzantine court gossip. No western writer shows any knowledge of it. The western chronicle of 452 says only that Attila entered Gaul demanding a wife as if she were his by right.^[12] Others hold that Attila welcomed the opening Honoria had given him and at once claimed her as his wife. They hold that her appeal strengthened his position immeasurably.^[6] A third group finds it illogical that Attila should have made a great campaign in the West for a damsel in distress. They see geopolitical motives behind it.^[4]

References

^ Bury 1923, p. 288–289
^ a b Thompson 1948, p. 132
^ a b c Bury 1923, p. 290
^ a b c Yavuz 2025, p. 99
^ Jordanes; Mierow 1915, § 224, p. 114
^ a b Thompson 1948, p. 133
^ Priscus; Müller 1851, fr. 15, p. 98
^ Priscus; Müller 1851, fr. 16, p. 99
^ Yavuz 2025, p. 102
^ Jordanes; Mierow 1915, § 223, p. 113–114
^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 457
^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 130, 456–457

Sources

Priscus
Jordanes (after Priscus and Ammianus Marcellinus)

Literature

Karl Müller (ed.), Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, Bd. IV (darin: Menandri Protectoris fragmenta, griechisch mit lateinischer Übersetzung) (1851)
Charles Christopher Mierow, The Gothic History of Jordanes in English Version, with an Introduction and a Commentary (1915)
J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian, vol. I (1923)
Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen, The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture (1973)
E. A. Thompson, A History of Attila and the Huns (1948)
Emre-E. Yavuz, The Gokturk Empire: 2nd Edition (2025)