RICIMER (d. 472), master of the Roman Empire in the West during part of the 5th century, was the son of a prince of the Suebi and the daughter of Wallia, king of the Visigoths. His youth was spent at the court of Valentinian III., and he won distinction under Aetius. In 456 he defeated the Vandals in a sea-fight near Corsica, and on land near Agrigentum in Sicily. He then gained the consent of the Roman senate to an expedition against the emperor Avitus, whom he defeated at Piacenza on Oct. 16, 456. Ricimer then obtained from Leo I., emperor at Con stantinople, the title patrician, but in 457 set up Majorianus as his own emperor in the West. When, however, Majorianus tried to rule by himself, Ricimer forced him to abdicate and caused his assassination on Aug. 7, 461. The successor whom Ricimer placed upon the throne was Libius Severus, who proved to be more docile than Majorianus. Upon his death in 465—said to be due
to the poison of Ricimer—this emperor-maker ruled the West for eighteen months without an emperor, and then accepted Leo's candidate Anthemius. Before long, however, Ricimer moved to Milan, ready to declare war upon Anthemius. St. Epiphanius, bishop of Milan, patched up a truce, but in 472 Ricimer pro claimed as emperor Olybrius, whom Leo had sent to pacify the two enemies, and after three months' siege captured Rome, on July 1, 472. Anthemius was massacred and Rome was a prey to Ricimer's soldiers. He himself, however, died on Aug. 18, 472, of malignant fever.
The main authorities for this period are collected in Mommsen's Chron. Minora (3 vols., 1892-98). See also Gibbon ed. Bury (London, 1907) p. 15-49. L. M. Hartmann, Geschichte Italiens im Mittelalter, vol. i. (1897).