Augustus since 393, after the death of his father, Theodosius, Honorius became Western Emperor in 395; although he had little influence one vents. He was dominated by his regent, Stilicho, and then by his general, Constantius III, whom Honorius made Augustus in 421. Failure to pay Alaric the Visigoth for his military services led to the sack of Rome in 410. The usurpation of Constantine III resulted in the loss of Britain. Honorius died childless in 423, the few political interventions he made during his reign being generally disastrous.

Proclaimed Emperor by the army in Britain, he crossed to Gaul, and conquered Spain. He was, for a time, recognised as co-Emperor by Honorius. He unsuccessfully invaded Italy, and quarrelled with his general, the Briton Gerontius. He fled before Constantius III and was executed.

The eldest son of Constantine III. His father sent him, with the general Gerontius, to settle affairs in Spain. He was recalled to deal with an invasion over the Rhine, but was killed by an alliance of Gerontius and the barbarians.

Gerontius, commanding the troops of Constantine III in Spain, revolted and proclaimed one of his followers, Maximus, as Emperor.

Installed in 409 at Rome as a puppet-Emperor by Alaric the Visigoth. Alaric removed him again in 410. He claimed the purple again in 414, but abandoned by the Visigoths, he was captured by Honorius and exiled.

A Gallo-Roman senator set up as puppet-Emperor in Gaul by the Burgundians and the Alans. He appears to have ruled between 411 and 413.

The brother of Jovinus, he was an aristocrat from southern Gaul. Made co-Emperor by his brother, he was captured by the Visigoths and turned over to Honorius and executed.

The daughter of Theodosius I and half-sister to Honorius. She was captured during the sack of Rome by Athaulf the Goth, and forced to marry him. After his murder, she was returned to the Romans and married Constantius III, and had a son, Valentinian III.

After successfully supressing the usurper Constantine III in 411, Constantius became effectively the ruler of the West. Then, after recovering Galla Placidia from the Visigoths, he married her, and she bore him a son, Valentinian III. Recognised as Augustus by Honorius in February 421, he died just seven months later.

On the death of Honorius, Johannes, a palace official, secured his own proclamation as Emperor. From the beginning his control over his empire was uncertain: his Praetorian Prefect was killed by a military uprising, and the governor of Africa withheld the grain fleet from Rome. His reign ended in 425 when Theodosius II, the Eastern Emperor, sent an army to install his cousin, Valentinian III, as Western Emperor.

The son of Constantius III and Galla Placidia, on the death of Honorius he was expelled by the usurper Johannes, but was restored to his throne by forces sent by his cousin, the Eastern Emperor, Theodosius II, whose daughter, Licinia Eudoxia, he had married. Weak and unmilitary, his reign was dominated first by his mother, and then by his general Aetius who campaigned vigorously in Gaul. In 454 Valentinian murdered Aetius with his own hands, but was himself killed by two of Aetius’ followers in 455.

The sister of Valentinian III, she was one of the smartest and most ruthless women of the age. She even attempted to form a marriage alliance with Attila the Hun. Valentinian felt safer marrying her to an aging senator.

The daughter of Theodosius II, she became the wife of Valentinian III in 437.

Following the assassination of Valentinian III in 455, Petronius Maximus secured his proclamation as Emperor, and attempted to consolidate his hold on power by marrying Licinia Eudoxia, the widow of Valentinian. But, after a reign of only seventy-eight days, and with news that the Vandals were marching on Rome, he was stoned to death by an angry mob. Three days later, the Vandals under Gaiseric sacked Rome.

After enlisting Visigothic support against the incursions of Attila the Hun, and hearing of the death of Petronius Maximus and the Vandals’ sack of Rome, Avitus was proclaimed Emperor in Gaul by the Visigoths under Theodoric II and the Gallic aristocracy. After his arrival in Italy, he failed to gain the recognition of the Eastern Emperor, and in the end he fell foul of the Goth Ricimer, who had him murdered.

The last Western Roman Emperor of any ability, Majorian was elevated by Ricimer. He instigated a legislative programme to restore the state, combined with a systematic reintegration into the empire of parts of Gaul and Spain. He launched a much-heralded expedition against the Vandals, which came to grief in Spain. He was killed by Ricimer soon afterwards.

After the murder of Majorian, the Western throne lay vacant for several months before Ricimer put forward Libius Severus as replacement. Severus was never recognised by the Eastern Emperor Leo I, whilst, with Britain, Spain, and Africa already lost, and facing a revolt in Gaul, the new Emperor ruled little more than Italy. He ruled for just four years before his death at Rome, probably from natural causes.

After the death of Libius Severus, Ricimer was forced to accept, and cooperate with, an Emperor nominated by the Eastern Emperor Leo I. Anthemius, however, generally lacked support in the West, and the defeat of the Imperial fleet by the Vandals in 468 totally undermined his position. Ricimer turned against him, and he was besieged in Rome before being defeated and beheaded.

The daughter of Marcian and wife of Anthemius. She bore him one son.

Married to Placidia, the younger daughter of Valentinian III and Licinia Eudoxia, Olybrius came from the Italian senatorial aristocracy. He was made Emperor by Ricimer, possibly before Anthemius was even dead. However, Ricimer was dead by 18th August, and Olybrius followed shortly afterwards, dying of the dropsy after a reign of barely seven months.

The deaths of Ricimer and Olybrius left a power vacuum in the West, it was filled when Gundobad, the nephew of Ricimer, succeeded to his position of Master of the Soldiers and raised Glycerius to be Emperor of the West. Glycerius had some success in dealing with barbarian threats by both diplomatic and military means, including persuading the Ostrogothic king Vidimer, to invade Gaul rather than Italy. Meanwhile, Julius Nepos, who had been appointed by Leo I, the Eastern Emperor, to campaign against Glycerius, landed in Italy. Nepos captured Glycerius without a fight and deposed him. Glycerius, after a reign of just eight months, ended his career as the bishop of Salona.

Appointed by Leo I as general of an expedition against Glycerius, Julius Nepos landed in Italy and deposed him, and was himself acclaimed as Emperor. Seen in the East as the direct successor of Anthemius, little is known of his reign, though he may have made some attempt to regain control of Gaul. He launched a diplomatic offensive against the Goths. The advancement of Orestes, the former secretary to Attila the Hun, to be his Master of the Soldiers brought about disaster. Orestes turned on Nepos and drove him out of Italy and into Dalmatia. He lived on in Dalmatia, a shadow pretender to the no-longer extant Western Empire, until 480, when he was finally killed by his own supporters.

The son of the Master of the Soldiers Orestes, Romulus, known as‘Augustulus’ – the little Augustus – has been acknowledged since antiquity to be the last ruler of the Western Empire. A mere youth when he ascended the throne, he was really a puppet for his father’s rule. A mutiny among the soldiers escalated, and they turned to the barbarian chieftain Odoacer to grant their requests. He agreed in return for being made King. Orestes was captured and killed by Odoacer near Piacenza. The young Romulus was deposed from rule, but granted his life and an income of 6,000 solidi, and sent to Campania to live freely with his relatives. After Romulus’ fall the last scanty Imperial possessions were under the control of the Visigoths. After five hundred and twenty-two years the reign of the Emperors in the West came to an end.