Franco-Roman War of 486

Frankish-Roman War of 486
Part of Fall of the Western Roman Empire
Northern Gaul
Date 486 Location Northern Gaul Result Frankish victory
Belligerents
Franks	Roman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Clovis I Ragnachar Chararic	Syagrius Arbogast
Strength
6.000-12.000	6.000-12.000

The Franco-Roman War of 486 was a military conflict between the Franks led by Clovis I and a "Roman army" under Syagrius. The war took place in the provinces Gallia Lugdunensis with the exception of Gallia Lugdunensis I (present-day Burgundy), Belgica Prima and Germania Prima. The war is the first in the series of wars that Clovis fought to establish his hegemony over the territory of the Romans in Gaul. The victory of the Franks was a milestone in his attempt to become the main power.

Background

In a sense, this conflict is also the struggle for power between the sons of two Roman generals who played an important role in the Late Roman period. The territory of the former Western Roman Empire at that time fell under the jurisdiction of Emperor Zeno in Constantinople, but his authority was minimal. The Roman army in the West had broken up into separate parts and local warlords and barbarian leaders had become the actual rulers. Zeno lacked adequate resources to impose his authority on them.

From the scarce sources it can be concluded that in the period before, the Roman army in Gaul was led by Aegidius, the father of Syagrius, until his death in 464 or 465. He was supported by the Frankish general Childeric, father of Clovis, who operated as Dux Belgica II north of the Somme, . He also received support from Arbogast, the comes Argentoratensis who defended the Rhine border near Trier.

After the fall of Emperor Majorianus in 461, a Civil War broke out, in which Aegidius resisted Ricimer who had elevated Libius Severus (461-465) to emperor in Ravenna. This civil war did not end in a victory, but in a fragmentation of the empire into autonomous territories. It is unclear whether Northern Gaul retained this independent position after Aegidius' death, because Paul, an army leader who was active afterwards, and died at Angers around 470, may well have acted again on behalf of the emperor. Under Anthemius (465-472) who became emperor after Libius Severus, the western emperor seems to have gained more authority again. During this period, Childeric was the most important player in Gaul who operated between the Loire and the Somme in the final phase of his rule. Nevertheless, there were more war leaders which had to be taken into account, Arbogast in Trier, in Cologne rex Sigobert and rex Ragnachar reigned in Camberabia. In this force field, the city Paris enjoyed an autonomous status. It is unknown what kind ot contacts they had with Ricimer.

Course of the war

Start

Shortly after the death of the important Gothic king Euric (484), Clovis saw opportunities to attack the Romans south of the Somme. The bishop of Tours Gregory reports that in the fifth year of Clovis' reign, a war broke out with Syagrius. Clovis declared war on Syagrius and demanded that the battlefield be chosen, after which Syagrius faced the military conflict fearlessly, according to the historian. However, Gregory did not indicate where the battle took place, but the Soissons area is usually seen as the place of the battle.

Size of the armies

Regarding the composition and numerical strength of the armies, we are largely in the dark. The bishop of Tours does not mention numbers, but based on comparable armies from that time it is estimated that Clovis' army was between 6,000 and 12,000 men strong. Syagrius' army was similar to this and consisted soldiers of both Frankish and Gallo-Roman descent in addition to bucellari.

Battle of Soissons

Main article: Battle of Soissons (486)

With an army large enough to go to war, Clovis arrived at Soisson where Syagrius resided. He challenged him to fight and on the plain outside the city the armies lined up. Gregory mentions that Chararic, a relative of Clovis, stood aside with his troops at the battlefield, hoping to become an ally of the winner. In the battle of Soissons, the army of Clovis prevailed during the battle. Syagrius, who saw that his army was losing, fled and sought shelter from King Alaric, Eurik's successor, in Toulouse.

Conquest of Northern Gaul

Syagrius flight did not mean that the entire area between the Loire and Somme suddenly fell into Clovis' hands. He had to take into account other leaders in the region and there must have been cities that kept their gates closed to him. It is clear that Trier was not conquered without a fight. Hans Hubert Anton emphatically connects the rise of Clovis with the end of Arbogastus. Historians assume that he also appropriated his territory. According to him, Arbogast fled to Chartres.

The death of Syagrius

Gregory of Tours further informs us that Clovis sent messengers to Alaric with the ultimatum to deliver Syagrius under penalty of war. The reality was whole different. Although Clovis had defeated Syagrius and conquered northern Gaul, in the eyes of Alaric, whose hegemony stretched over almost the entire area between the Strait of Gibraltar and the Loire to the Alps in the east, he was a political dwarf. The most likely course of events was that Alaric did not want problems in his border areas during his intervention in Italy against Odoaker in 490, and according to historians is that the most likely reason he delivered Syagrius to Clovis. Clovis eventually had Syagrius secretly murdered.

Epilogue

After his victory over Syagrius, Clovis tried to bind his defeated soldiers to himself, regardless of their origin. Procopius reports to us in his History of the Wars that there were large groups of border soldiers stationed in Gaul who, cut off from Rome, refused to submit to Euric. According to Wijnendaele, Clovis thus strengthened his military reserve with them and he succeeded in uniating the different factions within his army. This Roman-Frankish army is the engine of his success in conquering the Gallic provinces.

Sources

• Gregory of Tours, Historia Francorum (History of the Franks), (ca. 573)
• Remigius of Reims, Epistulae Austrasicae, collection of letters
• Procopius, History of the Wars
• Candidus of Fulda, Vita Aegili Abbatis Fulda

Bibliography

• Anton, Hans Hubert (1973). "Arbogast comes in Trier". Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde [Dictionary of Germanic archaeology]. Vol. 1. De Gruyter.
• Anton, Hans H. (1995), "Franken § 17. Erstes Auftauchen im Blickfeld des röm. Reiches und erste Ansiedlung frk. Gruppen", in Beck, Heinrich; Geuenich, Dieter; Steuer, Heiko (eds.), Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 9 (2 ed.), De Gruyter, pp. 414–419, ISBN 978-3-11-014642-4
• Halsall, Guy (2007). Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West 376–568.
• James, Edward (1988). The Franks. The Peoples of Europe. Oxford, UK; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Basil Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-17936-4.
• Lanting, J.N.; van der Plicht, J. (2009–2010). "De ¹⁴C-chronologie van de Nederlandse Pre- en Protohistorie. VI: Romeinse tijd en Merovingische periode, deel A: historische bronnen en chronologische schema's". Palaeohistoria. 51–52: 67. ISBN 978-90-77922-73-6.
• MacGeorge, Penny (2002). Late Roman Warlords. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191530913.
• Wijnendaele, Jeroen W.P. (2024). De wereld van Clovis, De val van Rome en de geboorte van het Westen [The World of Clovis, The Fall of Rome and the Birth of the West] (in Dutch). Ertsberg.