An Chlann Mhic Cárthaigh Riabhaigh
~
The MacCarthy Reagh Clan

It has been estimated that Magnus Maximus was born circa 355 in Gallaecia on the estate of Count Theodosius, to whom he claimed to be related, and that his mother was on tour in Gaul with her husband Julian (at the time heir presumptive to the empire) when she was then next reported to be pregnant and subsequently gave birth to her purportedly assassinated son. Given the lore that surrounds the circumstances, it is very possible that in fact, whilst on tour in Gaul with Julian, Helena’s child wasn’t killed by the midwife, but was rather born and taken away by an empathetic midwife to be raised by a local noble who, being the founder of what would become the Theodosian Dynasty, was almost certainly well connected to the imperial family. The years of the reported stillbirth and the birth of Maximus are the same, Maximus is recorded in non-Roman records (albeit several centuries after the fact) as being a grandson of Constantine, he mysteriously was born on Theodosius’ estate but was not a member of his (immediate) family, and then in 383 his soldiers and those of Emperor Gratian declared him Augustus. Even Theodosius I recognized him as the “true Western Emperor”. Why would Theodosius recognize this, if he was simply another general turned usurper? If true, then Maximus would have been about 12 when he was a military officer under Count Theodosius in 368, 18 years old at the time of his service in Africa, and a general at the age of 20 when he was dux (commander of two legions) in Thrace in 376. Even by late Roman standards, this timeline would make Maximus too young at the time of beginning is military service, and assuming his son Victor was also of age in 383 when he became emperor (rather than a caesar) then Maximus would have needed to fathered him in 363 and would still have been a child. So Helena and Julian are almost certainly not Maximus' parents. So if Magnus Maximus was Constantine’s grandson, and it wasn’t by Helena and Julian, then that would leave only Crispus as the father. This would make Maximus 66 at the time of his war against Theodosius, 61 at the time of his ascent as Augustus, 51 at the time of his service under Count Theodosius in Africa, and an officer at the age of 46 in 368 when he accompanied Count Theodosius to Britain during the Great Conspiracy. This timeline would make Maximus a little aged at the time of completing his military service but it is possible that Maximus was simply an aged military commander and emperor – eager to establish his son as a co-ruler to ensure continuity of a would-be dynasty.

Given the preponderance of evidence, it seems Maximus’ parents were most likely a woman named Helena and Flavius Julius Crispus. Then Magnus Maximus was the great-grandson of Emperor Constantius Chlorus, who is documented in the notoriously inaccurate 'Historia Augusta' as being the son of Claudia, the daughter of a Crispus, a third brother of the emperors Claudius Gothicus and Quintillus. However, as the editor of Loeb Classical Library edition of the Historia Augusta makes note, “the accepted official version, found in the Panegyrics addressed to Constantine [the Great] and in the inscriptions of both the emperor himself and his sons, in which Constantine [the Great] appears as Claudius' grandson, presupposes the theory that Constantius [Chlorus] was Claudius' son.” Constantius Chlorus was born circa 250 and so Claudius Gothicus (born on 10 May 214) would have been 36 years old. If the Historia Augusta was correct, then Crispus, being Claudius’s brother, would have been born around 215 or 220 and Claudia would have likely been born around 235 or 245, and so would likely need to have been either 15 or 5 years old at the birth of Constantius. Assuming Claudia and Crispus even existed at all, Constantius is almost certainly not Claudia’s son. Claudius Gothicus is reported in the 4th century history, Epitome de Caesaribus, to have been a bastard son of Emperor Gordian II. This is consistent with Gordian II's birth in circa 192.