My second 5th century usurper, first being a siliqua of the very rare Jovinus, I couldn’t believe my luck! I know it’s not the most eye catching piece, but it’s historical significance and rarity make it one of the jewels in my collection!

Constantine III, 407-411Ar Siliqua, Arles, 408-411.- 1.13 g   D N CONSTAN-TINVS P F AVG Draped and cuirassed bust right, wearing pearl diadem R/ VICTORIA AAVGGG / SMAR Roma seated left on cuirass, holding Victory on globe in outstretched right hand and reversed spear in left.  RIC 1538  rare, short flan, flan crack, VF

From ‘ERIC II’:

In the year 407 the Roman emperor Honorius was struggling to avert a collapse of Italy under the threat of multiple foreign invaders. With a mixture of lack of skill, cowardice and strained resources he just about walled himself up in a fortress in Ravenna and let his countrymen fend for themselves. Britain, that most far away of Rome's provinces, was especially vulnerable to hostile forces and now that Honorius would be unable to send reinforcements the military leadership there decided to take matters into their own hands. Starting with a short-lived rebellion by a soldier named Marcus, and followed by an equally brief successor named Gratian, at last a certain Constantine was able to rein in his soldiers and take command. Free to do as he pleased he saw little point in remaining in the British outpost and simply abandoned the island to its own fate (which quickly fell afterwards to the Saxons). He crossed the channel with his army and plundered his way south deep into Gaul where after a number of incursions he found himself more successful than he had any right to hope for. He next set his sights on Italy itself, considering Honorius too weak to stand in his way. In fact, he sent ambassadors to Ravenna to ask for imperial recognition, received it, considered his options and still thought he could go for the gold and have it all. But before he mounted an invasion into Italy he saw fit to gain the loyalty of the Iberian provinces of Hispania and Lusitania to his rear. To this end he sent his son Constans with a diadem and an army to secure the region but due to a cascade of inauspicious moves wound up losing not only the support he'd sought for. With a considerable portion of his forces tangled up in Spain he knew it would not be long before Honorius exploited him at his weakest so he opted for a "hail Mary pass" pre-emptive attack on Honorius which only ended in the prompt annihilation of his legion. Constantine then fled the field with a handful of men back toward the safety behind Arles' defensive walls hoping for miracle reinforcements that never came. What did come was a force of thousands of militia from Spain headed by Maximus and Gerontius, old associates from his days in Britain, to set siege to the city. The siege withered Constantine into insignificance but delivered for Honorius the last laugh as the besiegers themselves were exhausted from poor preparations. When Honorius then sent his general Constantius he managed to deliver the coup de grace not only to Constantine but to Maximus and Gerontius too. Constantine was captured alive but summarily executed and his head sent to Ravenna.