Tonantius Ferreolus (prefect)

Tonantius Ferreolus (405 or ca 420 – 475) was the praetorian prefect of Gaul (praefectus praetorio Galliarum) from 451.

He was either "personally related to" or "connected through (...) relatives" with Sidonius Apollinaris, and was associated with Thaumastus in the impeachment of Arvandus. He was the son of Ferreolus, born c390, and wife Syagria, clarissima femina (?), born c.390, and thus maternal grandson of Flavius Afranius Syagrius, Consul in 382. He married Papianilla, clarissima femina, born ca 415, a niece of Emperor Avitus and the first cousin of another Papianilla, wife of Sidonius Apollinaris, and they had many children, among whom Tonantius Ferreolus. She was a partner who shared his troubles, according to Sidonius.

Sources and citations

• Sidonius Apollinaris, The Letters of Sidonius (Oxford: Clarendon, 1915), pp. clx-clxxxiii