Italy: Valentinian II (371-392), 68th Roman emperor, from the book Icones imperatorvm romanorvm (Icons of Roman Emperors), Antwerp, 1645

Valentinian II (371-392) was the son of Emperor Valentinian I and half-brother to Emperor Gratian. When his father died in 375 CE, the army generals declared the four-year-old Valentinian II as emperor, forcing Gratian to accommodate them and declare his half-brother co-emperor. As he was still just a child, his portion of the empire was effectively ruled by his mother, Empress Justina, from the imperial court at Milan.

Valentinian's brother Gratian died in 383 while fleeing from the usurper Magnus Maximus, whom both Valentinian and fellow co-emperor Theodosius were forced to recognise. However, in 386 Maximus crossed into Valentinian's lands, forcing him to flee with his mother to Theodosius' court. After marrying his sister Galla to Theodosius, together they marched west and defeated Maximus in 388.

After that Valentinian moved his court to Vienne in Gaul, with Theodosius acting as his guardian from Milan, appointing his trusted Frank general Arbogast as effective caretaker of Valentinian. Arbogast theoretically acted in the name of Valentinian, but answered only to Theodosius, campaigning in the Western provinces while Valentinian stayed in Vienne. Valentinian was eventually killed by Arbogast in 392, found hanging in his residence and made to look like a suicide.

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