Liberius, Praetorian of Gaul

Petrus Marcellinus Felix Liberius (c. 465 - c. 554) was one of the longest-serving and most remarkable statesmen of the late Roman and Ostrogothic worlds, his career spanning some six decades and three regimes. Having begun under the last Western emperors, he served Odoacer and then crossed over to Theoderic the Great, who appointed him Praetorian Prefect of Italy and later Praetorian Prefect of Gaul (c. 510-534), administering the reconquered Gallic provinces from Arles and overseeing the famous land-settlement of Goths and Romans that won praise for its fairness. In old age he passed into Justinian's service, holding the prefecture of Egypt and, as an octogenarian, commanding imperial forces during the early campaigns to recover Ostrogothic Italy. He appears in this corpus as a recipient of letters from Ennodius of Pavia and Avitus of Vienne, churchmen who corresponded with him during his Gallic tenure, attesting both his political eminence and his standing with the Catholic episcopate of Gaul and Italy.