nds the kingdom of Kent.

455. Maximus murders Valentinian III and usurps the throne of the
Western Empire; at the end of three months Maximus is killed by the
people.

The Vandals pillage Rome. Avitus is proclaimed emperor of the West.

456. Ricimer, commander of the Barbarian mercenaries in the West,
destroys a Vandal fleet near Corsica; he declares against Avitus, who
abdicates.

457. Majorian placed on the throne of the West by Ricimer and the
senate.

Leo I ascends the throne in the East.

460. Genseric destroys Majorian's fleet at Carthagena. Peace is made
between them.

461. Majorian is assassinated by Ricimer, who places his puppet Severus
on the throne, exercising the Imperial power himself.

465. Death of Severus; Ricimer still wields the supreme power in Rome.

467. Anthemius made emperor of the West.

The Vandals ravage the coasts of Italy and Sicily.

468. Leo I, Emperor of the East, aided by the Western Empire, makes an
earnest but ineffectual effort against the Vandals under Genseric.

472. Ricimer besieges and storms Rome; death of Ricimer and of
Anthemius; Olybrius and Glycerius are emperors successively.

473. Invasion of Italy by the Ostrogoths diverted to Gaul. Glycerius
emperor of the West.

474. Julius Nepos becomes emperor of the West. Zeno rules the Eastern
Empire.

475. Romulus Augustulus emperor of the West. Zeno and his wife flee to
Isauria.

476. Odoacer, a leader of German mercenaries, dethrones Augustulus and
puts an end to the Western Empire for three centuries. The title of king
of Italy assumed by Odoacer.

486. Clovis founds the kingdom of the Franks. He defeats Syagrius at
Soissons, and thus puts an end to Roman dominion in Gaul. See "CLOVIS
FOUNDS THE KINGDOM OF THE FRANKS," iv, 113.

488. The Eastern Emperor commissions Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths,
to invade Italy.

489. Theodoric defeats Odoacer at Verona.

490. Odoacer is again defeated; he retires to Ravenna.

491. Anastasius becomes emperor of the East by marrying the widow of
Zeno, who had recently died.

The South Saxons capture Anderida.

492. Anastasius grants liberty of conscience and remits oppressive
taxes.

493. Theodoric besieges Odoacer in Ravenna; he is captured and murdered;
Theodoric becomes king of the whole of Italy.

494. An earthquake overthrows the cities of Laodicea, Hierapolis, and
Tripolis.

Pope Gelasius makes the distinction between the canonical and apocryphal
boo