Battle of Faesulae
The battle of Faesulae took place in the summer of 406 near today's Fiesole near Florence between troops of the Western Roman Empire , led by Stilicho , and Gothic troops under Radagaisus .
Radagaisus, like Alaric I in 402, had broken into northern Italy unhindered from the east. Stilicho held position in the west at Pavia and first had to bring in troops again, while the imperial court of Honorius , since 403 in Ravenna , which was protected by swamps, remained unmolested by the invaders who instead chose the direct route to Rome via the Apennines . After they had crossed it, the well-fortified city of Florence lay before them , which was under siege. Unlike the Christianized Alaric, who was familiar with Roman civilization, Radagaisus was considered a savage barbarian, and his men did not adhere to regular warfare, but robbed and looted on their way, thus becoming the terror of the Romans. Stilicho, meanwhile, had managed to amass a sizeable force, largely made up of Visigothic and Hunnic allies. With this army he fell in the rear of the besiegers of Florence coming from the north and overpowered the troops of Radagaisus at Fiesole. Radagaisus himself was captured and a few days after the battle, on August 23, was executed on the orders of Stilichos.
literature
- Alexander Demandt: The late antiquity - Roman history from Diocletian to Justinian, 284-565 AD. 2nd edition, Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-55993-8 , p. 175 ( preview in Google Book search).