Battle of Soissons (486)
The battle of Soissons in Picardy in the north of France took place in 486 (or 487) and was a crucial stage on the way of the Frankish Empire under Clovis I to a great power.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, there was still a Gallo-Roman enclave in northern Gaul in the area between Loire and Somme under the rule of Syagrius , the son of the master Aegidius . The central location within Gaul with a largely intact infrastructure of roadways and administration ensured this remaining empire a certain stability in the turmoil of the great migration , but at the same time challenged the expansionist urge of the northern Sal-Franconian neighbor Clovis. The extent of this “empire”, if you want to call it that, is completely unclear, since the sources actually do not report anything about it.
Soon after the death of the powerful King of the Visigoths, Eurich (484), Clovis considered the time ripe to dare to attack the kingdom of Syagrius, which he undertook in 486 or 487. He received support from his relative Ragnachar , but not from the Sal-Franconian petty king Chararich , although he had also asked him to participate. Gregory of Tours ( Historiae 2, 27), the only source for these events, tells of Clovis' declaration of war and that, apparently following a Frankish custom, he demanded the place of battle, whereupon Syagrius fearlessly faced the military conflict. Gregor does not specify where the battle took place, but the area around Soissons is usually assumed to be the place of the battle. Nor does Gregory give details of the course of the battle, only remarking that Syagrius' troops were defeated.
Syagrius fled to Alaric II in the Visigothic kingdom in the hope that he would grant him asylum. Instead, Alaric delivered Syagrius (at a time that was not precisely defined) to Clovis, who had him executed immediately. Clovis profited considerably from the defeat of Syagrius and was able to expand his sphere of rule quite considerably, although details have not been handed down.
swell
- Gregory of Tours , Historiae , 2, 27
literature
- Penny MacGeorge: Late Roman Warlords . Oxford 2002, pp. 122-124.