Maximin I

JULIUS VERUS, Roman emperor, was a native of Thrace, and a shepherd in his youth. His fine figure, great height, and strength attracted the notice of the emperor Severus, who enrolled him in his guards. Maximin advanced rapidly, but did not serve under either Miacrinus or Hieliogabalus. During the reign of Alexander Severus he came to Rome, was made senator and chief of a newly-formed legion, took an active part in the wars against the Persians and Allemans, and soon gained great influence over the soldiers. When Alexander Severus was killed at Mayence, March 19, 235, the troops appointed Maximin his successor, and the senate, frightened, confirmed the election. He remained, however, with the army, and made several expeditions into Germany. His disposition was naturally cruel, and he gave full scope to it when on the throne. Two conspiracies against him which were discovered led to fearful massacres; in the first, it is said, over four thousand persons were executed. He also opposed Christianity, and particularly persecuted the bishops who had been most favored by Alexander. About the same time some earthquakes occurred in the empire, particularly in Cappadocia, and the people became enraged against the Christians, whom they accused of being the cause of all the evils which befell them, and the emperor allowed free scope to all barbarities the people chose to inflict on them. The persecution, indeed, broke out only in some parts of the empire, so that Christians could flee before it; but as the Christians had of late become used to toleration, this sudden visitation of persecution fell severely upon their heads, and caused much suffering (comp. Eusebius, Eccles. Hist. 6:28; Firmilian, in Cypr. Ep. 75; Origen, Comment. in Matthew 24:9). Finally his soldiers, tired of his tyranny and cruelty, murdered him, together with his son, at Aquileia, March, 238. Maximin was only regretted by the inhabitants of Thrace and Pannonia, who were proud of having an emperor of their own; the other parts of the empire rejoiced over his death. The legendary poesy of the 10th century assigns to the reign of Maximin the fabulous martyrdom of St. Ursula, a British princess, and her company of eleven thousand (according to others, ten thousand) virgins, who, on their return from a pilgrimage to Rome, were murdered by heathens in the neighborhood of Cologne. "This incredible number has probably arisen from the misinterpretation of an inscription, like Ursula et Undecimilla' (which occurs in an old missal of the Sorbonne), or 'Ursula et XI M. V., i.e. Martyres Virgines, which, by substituting millia for martyres, was increased from eleven martyrs to eleven thousand virgins. Some historians place the fact, which seems to from the basis of this legend, in connection with the retreat of the Huns after the battle of Chalons, 451" (Schaff). See Herzog, Real-Encyclop. 9:207; Smith, Dict. of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 2:983; Schaff, Church Hist. 1:170; Gieseler, Ecclesiastical History, 1:115.