Legendary Kings Who Died In Battle

Twenty-eight years after the death of Emperor Maxentius, Constantine II, son of Constantine the Great, was killed in Italy fighting his brothers for control of the empire following their father’s death. Constantine II ruled for only three years.

The last pagan Roman emperor died in a horrendous way: speared through the gut by a Persian soldier in the Battle of Samarra in modern-day Iraq. Emperor Julian of the Eastern Empire attempted to revive old Roman religious practices to slow the spread of Christianity, earning him the name Julian the Apostate.

Fifteen years after the death of Emperor Julian the Apostate, Eastern Roman Emperor Valens died in a battle against the Goths. By one account, he was fatally struck in the face by an arrow. Another account says he was taken off the battlefield wounded and was then burned alive in a hut by enemy soldiers.

The first Western European king to die in battle was Chlodomer, one of the sons of Clovis I – the first Frankish king, who ruled much of what became modern-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany. Chlodomer was killed on his second campaign against the Burgundians at the Battle of Vézeronce in southeastern France.

Constantine I spent much of his 15-year reign battling Norsemen, including Danish king Olaf the White and the Viking chieftain Thorstein the Red. Vikings from Dublin and Yorkshire established a base in Fife to raid settlements on the eastern side of modern-day Scotland. Constantine I died in a battle against the Norse at Inverdovat, located near what is now Newport-on-Tay, a suburb of Dundee.