Sevira, daughter of Maximus
Purported daughter of the Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus
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Sevira (a Vulgar Latin spelling of the Classical Latin name Severa) was a purported daughter of the Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus and wife of Vortigern.[1][2] She was mentioned on the fragmentary, mid-ninth century C.E. Latin inscription of the Pillar of Eliseg in the ancient commote of Yale, near Valle Crucis Abbey, Denbighshire, Wales.[3][4]
The inscription was commissioned by Cyngen ap Cadell (died 855), king of Powys, in honour of his great-grandfather Elisedd ap Gwylog (reign 725–755), who is here claimed to be a descendant of "Britu son of Vortigern, whom Germanus blessed, and whom Sevira bore to him, daughter of Maximus the king, who killed the king of the Romans."[3]
The Pillar of Eliseg inscription is the only known source for a daughter of Magnus Maximus specifically named Sevira (or Severa). However, Geoffrey Ashe noted in 1960 that "A letter of St. Ambrose gives us a scrap of information about [Maximus's] daughters. After his fall they were thrown on the charity of Theodosius, who magnanimously provided for their education."[5][6] Both the number and the names of these daughters are unrecorded in surviving sources.[7]
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