434

By place

Roman Empire

• Flavius Aetius, Roman general in the service of emperor Valentinian III, begins to hold power in Rome. This will continue for twenty years. He allows the Huns to settle in Pannonia, along the Sava River.
• Justa Grata Honoria, older sister of Valentinian, becomes pregnant from an officer in her household. Circles in the court at Ravenna assume inevitably that Honoria is planning to raise her paramour to imperial rank and challenge her brother. Valentinian then has him executed.
• Summer - The Huns under Rugila devastate Thrace and move steadily towards Constantinople. The citizens prepare themselves for a long siege, depending on the strength of the Theodosian Walls.
• Emperor Theodosius II bribes the Huns to keep the peace in the Eastern Roman Empire.

  Africa

• The Vandals in North Africa defeat the Roman general Aspar and force him to withdraw. He serves as consul at Constantinople.

  Europe

• Attila, king of the Huns, consolidates his power in the Hungarian capital, probably on the site of Buda. He jointly rules the kingdom with his brother Bleda.

  By topic

Religion

• April 12 - Maximianus dies on Great and Holy Thursday. He is succeeded by Proclus, who becomes archbishop of Constantinople.

  Deaths

• April 12 - Maximianus, archbishop of Constantinople
• Helian Chang, emperor of the Chinese Xiongnu state Xia
• Rugila, king of the Huns
• Tao Sheng, Chinese Buddhist scholar