Sevira, daughter of Maximus

Sevira (a Vulgar Latin spelling of the Classical Latin name Severa) was a purported daughter of the Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus and wife of Vortigern.[1][2] She was mentioned on the fragmentary, mid-ninth century C.E. Latin inscription of the Pillar of Eliseg in the ancient commote of Yale, near Valle Crucis Abbey, Denbighshire, Wales.[3][4]

The inscription was commissioned by Cyngen ap Cadell (died 855), king of Powys, in honour of his great-grandfather Elisedd ap Gwylog (reign 725–755), who is here claimed to be a descendant of "Britu son of Vortigern, whom Germanus blessed, and whom Sevira bore to him, daughter of Maximus the king, who killed the king of the Romans."[3]

The Pillar of Eliseg inscription is the only known source for a daughter of Magnus Maximus specifically named Sevira (or Severa). However, Geoffrey Ashe noted in 1960 that "A letter of St. Ambrose gives us a scrap of information about [Maximus's] daughters. After his fall they were thrown on the charity of Theodosius, who magnanimously provided for their education."[5][6] Both the number and the names of these daughters are unrecorded in surviving sources.[7]

References

  1. ^ Charles-Edwards, Thomas M. (12 July 2022), "Origin Legends in Ireland and Celtic Britain", Origin Legends in Early Medieval Western Europe, Brill, pp. 46–74, ISBN 978-90-04-52066-0, retrieved 10 April 2024{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  2. ^ Bartrum, Peter C. (1993). "Severa daughter of Maximus". A Welsh Classical Dictionary; People In History And Legend Up To About A. D. 1000. Aberystwyth: National Library of Wales. p. 672. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  3. ^ a b Edwards, Nancy (September 2009). "Rethinking the pillar of Eliseg". The Antiquaries Journal. 89: 143–177. doi:10.1017/S0003581509000018. ISSN 1758-5309.
  4. ^ Guy, Ben (8 August 2018). "Constantine, Helena, Maximus: on the appropriation of Roman history in medieval Wales, c. 800–1250". Journal of Medieval History. 44 (4): 381–405. doi:10.1080/03044181.2018.1488150. ISSN 0304-4181.
  5. ^ Ashe, Geoffrey (1960). From Caesar to Arthur. London: Collins. p. 114. ISBN 978-7-270-00620-8. Retrieved 8 April 2025. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  6. ^ Saint Ambrose (1881). "Letter XL, Ambrose to Theodosius, 388 AD". In Walford, Rev. H. (ed.). The Letters of S. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan. London: James Parker & Co. p. 268. Retrieved 8 April 2025. [Y]ou have recalled the daughters of your enemy, you have committed them to be nurtured by their relative, you have bestowed money from your treasury on the mother of your enemy.
  7. ^ Birley, Anthony R. (2005). The Roman Government of Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 450. ISBN 978-0-19-153087-6. Retrieved 14 January 2026.

Further reading

  • Bartrum, Peter C. "Severa daughter of Maximus", in A Welsh Classical Dictionary: People in History and Legend up to about A. D. 1000, p. 236. National Library of Wales, 1993. Emended 2009, p. 672.
  • Charles-Edwards, T. M., Wales and the Britons, 350-1064, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2013, p. 414ff.


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