Watch List notes:

THE VISIGOTHS
Leovigild, 572-586

Ricimer. Patrician and Master of Soldiers, 457-472. Nummus, Roma (?) 465-467 Æ 0.79 g. Rosette- diademed, draped and cuirassed bust r. Rev. Monogram of Recimer; all within wreath. LRBC 871. Lacam G. 1988, "Le monnayage de Ricimer", in SNL, pp. 222-223, pl. 1-1. RIC 2715.
Green patina and fine


Ricimer, son of Rechila the Suevic king of Galicia, was a Romanized Germanic general who effectively ruled the remaining territory of the Western Roman empire from 456 until his death in 472. He fought against the Vandals in Sicily and Corsica under the emperor Avitus but soon turned against him and after having defeated him (17 October 456), Ricimer remained the only ruler of the Western Empire. Leo I granted Ricimer the title of patrician and the rank of magister militum on February 28, 457. In the same year he declared emperor his friend, Maioranus, with whom he had served under the Roman general Aetius, but in 462, after Maiorianus' defeat by the Vandals, Ricimer had him imprisoned and killed. In 461, he brought to throne Libius Severus, a weak figure, but after his death, in 465, he ruled for two years until 467 when Anthemius became emperor in the West. This was the beginning of a troubled period that led first to the death of Anthemius and later to the death of Ricimer.