Victorinus (? - 271 AD)
Emperor: 269 - 271 AD
Marcus Piavonius Victorinus had a successful career under the first emperor of the so-called Gallic Empire, Postumus. This able military leader had been seen by many as the natural successor to Postumus. He served as tribunus praetorianorum in 266 and 267 AD and then share the consulship with Postumus in 267 and 268 AD. The troops in Augusta Treverorum proclaimed him emperor of the Gallic Empire in the year 269 AD . He was recognized in Gaul and Britain but not in Hispania. The capital and the mint of his reign were in Colonia Agrippinia.
Most of his reign as Gallic Emperor he spent trying to recover territories lost to the Central Empire. Victorinus faced trouble in Gaul, namely Claudius Gothicus who started a rebellion in Augustodunum Haeduorum. It took Victorinus seven months to capture the city. After this success he returned in triumph to Colonia Agrippinia and took residence there. In early AD 271 Victorinus was killed, after one of his officials learned that the emperor had an affair with his wife. Victorinus' mother Victoria held enough authority, among the troops of the Gallic Empire, after the murder to decide the question of his succession. She apparently bribed the troops in order to arrange their support for the successor of her choice, the governor of Aquitania, Tetricus.
