The son of the Valentinian I, Valentinian II was elevated to Emperor at the age of four, and never enjoyed true power. Most of the West was controlled by the usurper Magnus Maximus, and in Italy, where he lived, his mother Justina was the de facto ruler. Frankish insurgents led by Arbogast strangled to death the 21-year-old Emperor in 392. While his mother was alive, Valentinian II had sympathies for Arianism, but upon her death, he adopted Nicene Christianity as the true faith. He died before St. Ambrose could baptize him, leading Ambrose to endorse the baptism of desire in his funeral oration.