This post is kind of long, but that's because it covers the next eight years after AD 477. With the exception of the PODs in my first two posts, a lot of what happens in this Timeline also happened (more or less) in the original timeline. Aside from keeping the Western Empire around post-AD 476 (or AD 480), the other purpose of this alternate timeline is to see how the West (down but not out) affects the rest of the late fifth century and early sixth century AD. Starting with the next post, I will be focusing on how other factions (ex: Franks, Burgundians, Ostrogoths, etc.) feature into this Timeline.
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AD 478 – AD 485
Eight years have passed since the Eastern Empire officially recognized the legitimacy of Romulus Augustus as Roman emperor of the Western Empire in AD 477, and so much has happened both within and beyond the diminished borders of the West. If the situation was bad for Rome during the reign of Valentinian III, it unquestionably became worse twenty years after his death. When Orestes seized control of the government from Julius Nepos in AD 475, so little remained of the Empire and so many powerful rivals surrounded them on all sides. It seemed inevitable that the West was ultimately doomed to collapse on what remained of itself, and yet there was still an Augustus in Ravenna more than ten years later.
It has been a long and difficult struggle for Orestes to guide the Empire in a direction that saw relative internal peace over last decade. Sometimes he could hardly believe that he had lived to succeed thus far. Of all the things that he might have done differently, he more certain than ever that the Germanic foederati would have been his undoing, had he made a different choice regarding their desire to become permanent residents in Italy. He had come so close to rejecting their appeal, and was by now so relieved that he did not make such a fatal error in judgment. If they had turned against him, he would not be alive right now, and his son would no longer be emperor. Perhaps another figurehead would have been placed on the throne, or if the rumors were true, then the foederati would have proclaimed Odoacer as their king.
Looking back on the Empire’s recent history, Orestes reflected on the many things that have happened in the West over the last several years:
Shortly after the reconciliation of Constantinople and Ravenna, Orestes made a risky decision to include Odoacer in the higher tiers of the Roman political and military hierarchy. Part of what kept the Roman population satisfied was the fact that both institutions remained mostly composed of Romans. But there were still a number of Germanic officers in the army, and it was unlikely that Odoacer would remain content where he was if the prospect of kingship had once been a viable option for him to take. The land used to settle the foederati may have placated them, but Odoacer was still popular enough with the rank-and-file, and he needed to be kept quiet with “bribes” in the form of greater prestige and authority.
Hence, Orestes granted Odoacer the title of Comes Italiae, giving the latter a military appointment superior to dux, but under the magister militum. The two powerful officials then governed the Western Empire in effect as a duumvirate, sharing leadership over Rome to a certain extent. So while the Romans maintained their monopoly on the administrative apparatus, the promotion of Odoacer gave the barbarians the impression that they were not being utterly excluded from the Roman government in Italy.
The duumvirate was hardly a perfect arrangement, however. Beneath the exterior of this political alliance, Orestes's rivalry with Odoacer almost mirrored the one that existed between Octavian and Marc Antony. Both were always on the lookout to seize greater laurels at the other’s expense. More often than not, Odoacer proved difficult for Orestes to work with. At one point, Odoacer argued in favor of the reclamation of Noricum, by now overrun and controlled by the Rugians. Orestes did want to see some of the West’s former territory restored under Roman rule in his lifetime. The army, a pale shadow of its former self, was arguably still an effective military force, at least enough to maybe recover Noricum. But with several larger and more powerful kingdoms surrounding the Empire, Orestes was adamant that external wars had to be avoided at all costs in the event of an emergency, in which Rome would need every last soldier at her command to defend Italy from insurrection - or worse, invasion. So instead the Magister Militum negotiated an alliance with the Rugian king Feletheus, and even managed to convince him to supply some soldiers to the foederati units. In order to compensate a clearly displeased Odoacer, Orestes had his fellow duumvir appointed consul in AD 479. The office of Roman consul had long since been deprived of any real power, but it remained a great honor nonetheless, complete with a lofty salary.
A year later, Odoacer convinced Orestes to support his initiative to absorb Sicilia back into the Western Empire. The Germanic general, who sometimes boasted that he could have achieved this before Genseric died, was certain that such a goal was even more possible with Huneric as the new king of the Vandals. Thanks to an Eastern Roman envoy and his own personal fear of Constantinople, Huneric had been relatively lenient to his Roman Catholic subjects. In any case, even some of the Romans in Italy were beginning to get restless with Orestes’s cautious approach to foreign policy, and so this time he did not use his superior authority to obstruct Odoacer. After the successful diplomatic coup saw Sicilia (minus the city of Lilybaeum) returned to Roman control, the jubilant people of Italy rejoiced in celebration, feeling a sense of triumph that their generation had only heard of in stories of past greatness.
Officially, it was a victory for the Western Empire and its duumvirate, “acting on behalf” of their emperor of course. But in reality, Odoacer received the greater share of accolades for the direct role that he played. Ironically, it was a victory for Rome, but also a setback for Orestes. He could endure Odoacer’s elevated standing in Italy for now, but not indefinitely.
Unfortunately, not long afterward, Huneric resumed his father's anti-Catholic policies by making martyrs out of those who refused to convert to Arianism, and banishing others to Corsica. Ravenna could only respond with an official protest; Rome outright condemned these actions. Therefore it comes as no surprise that the Romans were quite glad to hear of Huneric's death a year ago in AD 484.
As for his son, the emperor Romulus Augustus was 24 years-old now, but still overshadowed not not only by his father, but Odoacer as well. Not that this was unusual, given how the western court had been the real government for nearly a century, ruling in fact while emperors like Honorius and Valentinian III governed mostly in name. In the collective minds of the people, Roman and Germanic, Romulus Augustus had virtually transcended into something of a “Big Brother” persona, the result of the “name and reputation” being more prominently featured than the actual person himself. To the average civilian, the emperor was an authority figure (in principle, at least) whose presence was transmitted throughout the Empire via various media sources, such as heralds and propaganda tools.
AD 483 was a particularly significant year though, given that Anicia Juliana gave birth to Romulus’s son and heir. They chose the name ‘Olybrius’ for the newborn prince, mainly to highlight Anicia’s prestigious family, including her noble pedigree as the daughter of Western emperor Olybrius and direct descendant of Theodosius I.