Clovis - Towards a New Chronology Part Nine

Clovis, King of the Franks - King by right of war and defender of the faith.

Conclusions

In the introduction to this work I discussed the problems inherent with Chlodovean Chronology. As we have seen an effort was made to interpolate extra dating mechanisms into Gregory of Tour's Histories to extend Clovis' reign to 518. Take away these interpolations and we are left with Gregory's authentic dating statements, which were five years to the battle of Soissons, ten years to the battle against Thuringians and that he died five years after Vouille. Hence, there is no pattern and no lustra scheme. Just bare facts as Gregory knew them. He was in fact quite accurate. He placed Clovis' accession in the late 480's and by removing the seven year interpolations to Clovis' age and reign length we are able to see that Clovis began to reign in 488, age 15 and was therefore born in 473. His father though had died in around 481. Gregory's statements now make perfect sense when amalgamated with the letters from Remegius and the words of Procopius describing Clovis' exploits from 493 onwards against the Visigoths and Thuringians. The fifth year from 488 would place the battle of Soissons in 492. I have suggested 491/2. The tenth year would place the battle against the Thuringians to 498, I have suggested 499. With the interpolated seven years removed, we could now accurately report Clovis' age when he mounted his offensives, about eighteen onwards.

In the second part of this work I discussed the life of Clovis' father Childeric, placing Clovis' birth in the context of that life, meaning Clovis was probably born in Paris. I suggested that Childeric had occupied Paris from 466-476, marrying Basina sometime in this period and that Clovis was born in 473. We then looked at Childeric's exploits in Noricum Ripense when he was called by Odoacer to help with the frequent interruptions of the Alamanni into the province. Using coin evidence to support the dating, the battle against the Alamanni (as reported by Gregory) I have associated with the Battle of Batavis in around 478/9, which agrees with Gregory's sychronisms. Childeric was to return to Tournai and die shortly after this battle, possibly at the hands of Syagrius who at this time had made a play for power in the west in opposition to Odoacer. Zeno though had supported Odoacer forcing Syagrius to set up his rump state with support from the Visigoths, this statement supported by archaeology.

In part three of this work we moved onto Clovis' battle for Soissons against the Romans and Visigoths of Syagrius in 491/2. This answered the question that many scholars had asked. Why did Syagrius flee to the Visigoths when he was defeated? It was, I suggested from archaeological evidence, because the Visigoths had supported his rump state. Clovis had become king in 488 but he did not have a kingdom, so he could not acquire a wife. This was, I suggested, one of the reasons for Clovis' war against the last of the Romans. I followed this with Clovis' subsequent marriage to Clotilda, a Burgundian Catholic Princess in around 492 and at which time, I would suggest, Clovis also became a Christian, but had not chosen which form to be baptised as. The evidence for this came from the letter of Remigius, the words of Procopius and Clovis' allowance for his children to be baptised as Catholics by Clotilda.

In part four I discussed the first Visigothic war which was begun in 493 to force the Visigoths to hand over Syagrius. This at odds with Gregory's testimony that Syagrius was handed over immediately. If he had been then there would have been no obvious reason for Clovis to pursue a war. Clovis appears to have moved against the cities of the Loire, ousting the nominal Visigothic Lordship where it existed. Some independent cities held out against the Franks such as Nantes and western Armorica, forcing him to form an alliance with the Armorici. There was a hint here that Clovis was already Christian due to the words of Procopius who said the Armoricans preferred the Franks because they were Catholic rather than Arian. Procopius also confirmed the chronology by stating it was after the death of Odoacre in 493 that the Visigoths and Thuringians feared the power of the populous Franks, forcing them into marriage alliances with Theoderic, the new Princeps of Italy.

I also discussed here the first letter of Bishop Remigius to Clovis, congratulating him on his 'second military campaign' where he had started retaking the cities on the Loire. This letter has been much discussed but I place it early in his reign and it also confirms that Clovis had a 'first campaign' – i.e. the battle for Soissons. The battles and sieges along the Loire took us up to 495/6, with an episode at the siege of Nantes which may have persuaded Clovis to be baptised a Catholic.

In part five of the series I discussed the important Baptism of Clovis in 496 and in so doing dissected Danuta Shanzer's unchallenged 1998 work where she sought to move the baptism much later in time to 508. Overcoming Shanzer's arguments I suggested that the Princeps she had so much difficulty in finding from the letter of Avitus, was Theoderic the Great himself, the new King of Italy in 493. In 497 the new Emperor of the east Anastasius sent him the imperial regalia confirming him as Princeps of the Western Roman empire. This then made sense of the words of Bishop Avitus in his letter to Clovis in 497 congratulating him on his baptism and comparing him to Theoderic. Further evidence for the date of 496 came from the letter of Bishop Nicetius of Trier who wrote to Clotsinda, granddaughter of Clovis trying to get her to convert her husband, the Lombard King Alboin to Catholicism. He wrote that Clovis had been baptised before the Burgundian war of 500. There can be no doubt then that Clovis was baptised as a Catholic in 496.

In part six I discussed the problems Clovis faced due to taking time out to be baptised with his army and losing his sister Albofled. During this time Alaric's Visigoths had retaken Saints in 496. During his time of mourning in 497 the Visigoths continued their offensive and retook Tours as well. Following a consoling letter from Bishop Remigius Clovis was encouraged to keep his kingdom intact and so moved westward again and took Bordeaux in 498, suggesting he would have needed to re-acquire Saints on the way and possibly Tours.

Around 499 the Thuringians, probably encouraged by Theoderic, threw a spanner in the works and Clovis had to turn east again and defeat them. At the same time things were hotting up in Burgundy and Godigisel hearing of Clovis recent victories sought his help in overthrowing his brother Gundobad. Godigisel a Catholic and Clovis now a Catholic meant this was Clovis' first religious crusade, probably supported and encouraged by his wife. He marched into Burgundy in 500 bringing the Burgundians of the Arian Gundobad to their knees and tribute. Clovis though did not consolidate his victory in Burgundy and Gundobad was able to reclaim his kingdom and kill his brother Godigisel. Gundobad captured a group of Frankish warriors supporting Godigisel and sent them to Alaric. Why did Clovis not consolidate his victory? He seemed to have left in a hurry and this was probably because he got word that the Visigoths were about to move against his newly won possessions or had already. Seeing Clovis approaching meant Alaric called a meeting on the Loire to discuss terms of peace. He may still have had Syagrius and definitely had Clovis' captured Frankish warriors so had some bargaining chips. Clovis appears to have ceded all territory south of the Loire to Alaric and recovered his warriors and Syagrius, possibly now a Bishop, if he hadn't done so already and demanded tribute from Alaric which was agreed. This meant Clovis was now secure with his possessions on the Loire and the first Visigothic war came to an end in around 503.

In part seven I then discussed the problems brewing out east again. The Alamanni with the Thuringians subdued had become confident enough to start encroaching on Frankish territory in Germania Secunda in around 505. Answering a call for help from his Frankish allies on the Rhine, Clovis moved against the Alamanni in 506 in a series of battles culminating in the hard fought battle of Tolbiac, where Clovis may have called on his Catholic God to bring him victory, if we believe this anecdote. The Alamanni were slaughtered, their territory invaded and pillaged and their king killed. The remnants of the Alamanni fled to territory protected by Theoderic the Great so Clovis ordered his men to stop the chase and leave the remnants under the protection of Theoderic, who had brokered the peace.

Next I discussed the battle of Vouille. Clovis was not happy with some aspect of his treaty with Alaric. It may have been the debased coinage that Alaric was paying tribute with or it may have been some other matter that was minor according to Theoderic. In any event Clovis felt that the Visigoths needed seeing to once and for all. Theoderic called on the Thuringians, Heruli and Warni to counter the Frankish threat, but they were in no mood to help seeing how Clovis had recently destroyed the Alamanni. Clovis made a pact with Gundobad and the Burgundians and planned a two pronged attack into Visigothic territory. He would approach from the north and Gundobad from the south. The eastern Emperor Anastasius must have known of Clovis' plans as he sent a fleet of ships to harry the Italian coastal cities, tying up Theoderic's army in Italy so he was unable to help his son in law Alaric. The Franks and Burgundians moved swiftly against the Visigoths culminating with the great battle of Voille in 507 where Alaric was killed and the Visigoths finally defeated. Clovis had triumphed where all had failed in the past. He quickly moved onto Bordeaux and Toulouse by 508 and sent his son Theuderic to secure other cities for the Franks. Clovis then made Paris his capital.

Theoderic was not a happy man. Unable to aid his son in law and once Anastasius' ships had departed, he called to arms his Gothic army in 509 and invaded Provence and retook possessions that the Burgundians and Franks had taken. By 510/511 he had gained authority over Visigothic Spanish possessions as well. His plan was to deny Clovis direct access to the Mediterranean and in this he was successful. Clovis himself was to die shortly of unknown causes, either in his wars for consolidation against the other Frankish kings, possibly assassinated by Theoderic, or illness, we are not told.

Who was Clovis?

“He must have been one of the most remarkable, possibly even one of the most likeable Germanic monarchs who set medieval Europe on its way” Daley 1994.

So what vision of Clovis should we be looking at? The rough pagan barbarian King reluctantly giving into Christianity and Catholicism or a fairly well Romanised Frank intimately associated with Christianity from an early age? The evidence points to the latter but he was certainly also a great warrior.  Clovis, most likely born in Paris would have had Genevieve as well as Remigius as religious mentors. But his eastern roots were still there, being part Thuringian on his mothers side. It's quite possible that his mother was an Arian Christian as the Thuringians had been converted to a degree in the early fifth century. This may explain why one of Clovis' sisters had already become Arian Christian, rather than through Clovis' own association with Christianity from around 492 onward as is usually assumed. This would also explain his seemingly early sympathy for Church property such as the Vase of Soissons before he had become Christian himself. It might also explain his own knowledge of Christian ideas and ideals. William Daley in his 1994 work presented a revisionist portrayal of Clovis utilising the evidence that showed that at every turn Clovis seemed to be clearly knowledgeable about Christianity from an early period. The great historian Bury had also suggested something similar, that Clovis was already a Christian before the first letter of Remigius had been written to him in around 493.  All letters from churchmen concerning Clovis, whether written to him or by him to them have been proven by Daley to show that Clovis was clearly aware of Christian teachings and tenets. He had even allowed his first born son by Clotilda to be baptised. Daley writes :

“Both Remigius and Avitus assumed that Clovis could comprehend religious ideas beyond the level of simple catechesis. In writing to him Avitus, and more especially Remigius, employed advanced scriptural concepts without feeling it necessary to explain them. Clovis's one extant letter cites Scripture relevantly. He precisely adapted the episcopal apostolium as a documentary means to validate the release of prisoners of war. His profound devotion to St. Genevieve, alongside what must have been permission for his sister, Albofled, to become a consecrated virgin, explains the otherwise surprising respect for the ministry of such women within the church expressed in his one surviving letter. He often commuted sentences of civil offenders and even criminals out of respect for the religious values of Genevieve. After the Aquitainian campaign he showed exceptional generosity about releasing prisoners of war. His motives for summoning the Council of Orleans of 511 seem to have included religious as well as personal and political considerations. He approved its canons, which enlarged the rights of criminals and slaves. One of its most specific canons voices his particular insistence that none of his gifts to the church be diverted from sustaining "repairs of churches, alms for priests and the poor, or the redemption of captives." Overall, his religious outlook reflected acceptance of the insistent teaching of Gallo-Roman Catholicism that divine grace and human good works interact profoundly in the economy of personal salvation. Like canon 5 of Orleans I, but in stone, his church at Paris tells us that he understood the value articulated by Genevieve's biographer epitomizing the force that energized her life: "For she knew the truth of the prophet's saying that the person who gives to the poor honors God" (c. 40).”

 If Clovis hadn't converted to Christianity as I suggest in 492 on marriage to Clotilda then the answer would be that his knowledge and association with Christianity came from his mother. 

By the time Clovis was three years old his father had left Paris to seek his fortune defending Noricum Ripense with his Frankish cavalry at the call of Odoacer. With Childeric away the Gallic party under Syagrius began to assert its right to rule. After the defeat of the Alamanni Childeric appears to have returned home to counter the threat but was defeated and killed when Clovis was just eight years old, probably by Syagrius and his Visigothic allies. Basina would have taken the young children off to Tornai to safety, deep within Frankish territory. For the next few years Clovis would have been in training both physically and mentally for his future role as king. That day came in 488 at the age of fifteen where he would traditionally have been raised upon a shield by his men. He cemented his kingship by producing a son by the next year through a concubine, naming him Theoderic. 

At this age though Clovis was in no place to challenge Syagrius. He would need to spend his father's money wisely in building an army and buying or gaining support from his Frankish relatives. By eighteen he was now old enough to lead his first campaign and gain revenge for his fathers displacement and death. Either Clovis was very lucky with his timing or he had a very astute mind, even from this young an age for the timing was perfect to make his challenge to gain himself a kingdom which came by 491/2 and the rest has been discussed above.

Underlying Clovis' devotion to the Catholic faith was his success in war. He was a king by right of war. Like an Alexander, he moved swiftly and decisively to counter all threats, seemingly winning most major battles until Theoderic was able to counter the Frankish threat in the south. Gregory's portrayal of a ruthless Clovis taking on his Frankish relatives to consolidate his empire seems wide of the mark unless he made this decision on religious grounds to bring the eastern Franks into the Catholic fold. I really doubt though that Clovis had the time to actually do this until the very end of his life and so for this reason I think it was his son, the more ruthless Theuderic who consolidated the Germanic provinces under his and his brothers rule. There's a good chance that this is how Clovis died, early on in some battlefield fighting pagans alongside his son. For Clovis, this would have been a glorious way to die, leading from the front, fighting with his men the Frankish way, unafraid of death. He had nearly come to his end earlier at the battle of Vouille. This time he was not so lucky. Clovis was still very young when he died, just thirty-eight years of age. Theoderic would still consider him a juvenis and this is perhaps why he didn't enter the contemporary chronicle record in the way others did. The first great Catholic king of Gaul had died but in so doing had created a new identity for combined peoples who would conquer most of northern Europe and become the country we now know as France. His legacy has lasted over one thousand five hundred years.

Suggested Chronology

Event	Place	Year
Birth of Childeric	Belgica II	435
Childeric King	Belgica II	452
Childeric Federate leader	Begica II	457
Childeric Paris	Paris	466-476
Childeric Marries Basina	Paris	470?
Birth of Clovis	Paris	473
Childeric in Noricum - Alamanni	Noricum	476-480
Death of Childeric	Tornai	482
Accession of Clovis	Tornai	488
Defeat of Syagrius	Soissons	491
Marriage to Clotilda	Soissons	492
Start of First Visigoth war.	Lugdunensis Saintes	493-495
Treaty with Armoricans	Nantes	496
Baptism of Clovis	Reims	496
Death of Albofled his sister	Paris?	497
First Visigothic war continues	Bordeaux	498
Defeat of Thuringians	Germania II	499
Burgundian civil war	Burgundy	500 - 502
Meeting with Alaric	Tours	503
Battle of Tolbiac	Germania II	506
Battle of Vouillé, Poitiers, Albi, Rodez, Clermont.	Poitiers	507
Toulouse, Anguoeleme Honorary Consulship	Tours	508
Paris Capital	Paris	508
Loss of southern Gaul.	Southern Gaul	509-510
Rex Salica	Paris	510
Council of Orleans	Orleans	511
Death of Clovis	Paris	511
Abbot Maxentius, Quintianus	Rodez /Clermont	512

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Riothamus and the Visigoths

Where did the battle that Riotimus / Riothamus, king of the Britons, fought in around 470AD against Euric and his Visigoths in Gaul, take place? It has always been said by many scholars that this was the battle of Bourges Deols, just south of the Loire river, but nowhere in any source is Riotimus linked with this battle.

This blog post examines the evidence and reveals that Riotimus did not fight the battle at Deols, had nothing to do with the treachery of Arvandus, nor did Riotimus flee to Avallon after the battle. Instead the battle took place much further south in Auvergne, now Clermont Ferrand. All these points are central to the theory of Riothimus by Geoffrey Ashe in his book The Discovery of King Arthur, where he makes the suggestion that the tales of Arthur developed from those of Riotimus. Using the primary sources and details concerning Sidonious, Arvandus, Anthemius and Euric I feel I can now piece together successfully what happened and dispell any associations with King Arthur.

The four primary sources for the events of the time are works by Gregory of Tours, Jordanes, Hydatius and Sidonius:

Gregory, writing about period 463 - 467/8 AD:

Childeric I

Now Childeric fought at Orleans and Adovacrius came with the Saxons to Angers. At that time a great plague destroyed the people. Egidius died and left a son, Syagrius by name. On his death Adovacrius received hostages from Angers and other places. The Britanni were driven from Bourges by the Goths, and many were slain at the village of Déols. Count Paul with the Romans and Franks made war on the Goths and took booty. When Adovacrius came to Angers, king Childeric came on the following day, and slew count Paul, and took the city. In a great fire on that day the house of the bishop was burned. After this war was waged between the Saxons and the Romans; but the Saxons fled and left many of their people to be slain, the Romans pursuing. Their islands were captured and ravaged by the Franks, and many were slain. In the ninth month of that year, there was an earthquake.  

Odovacrius made an alliance with Childeric, and they subdued the Alamanni, who had overrun that part of Italy.

Jordanes, writing about period 466 - 476:

"Euric, the king of the Visigoths, observing the frequent changes of the Roman princes, attempted to seize the Gauls for his own. Anthemius, the Emperor, receiving intelligence of this, immediately invited the aid of the Britons,whose King Riothimus, coming with twelve thousand by way of ocean, and disembarking from his ships, was received into the city/state of the Bituriges. Euric, king of the Visigoths, came against them leading an innumerable army, and fighting for a long time, overcame Riothimus, the king of the Britons, before the Romans had joined company with him. Having lost a great part of his army, he fled with all whom he could save, and came to the neighbouring nation of the Burgundians, then confederate with the Romans. But Euric, king of the Visigoths, seized Auvergne, a city of Gaul.....When Eurich, as we have already said, beheld these great and various changes, he seized the city of Arverna, where the Roman general Ecdicius was at that time in command. He was a senator of most renowned family and the son of Avitus, a recent emperor who had usurped the reign for a few days--for Avitus held the rule for a few days before Olybrius, and then withdrew of his own accord to Placentia, where he was ordained bishop. His son Ecdicius strove for a long time with the Visigoths, but had not the power to prevail. So he left the country and (what was more important) the city of Arverna to the enemy and betook himself to safer regions."

Sidonius:

His Letter to Riothamus (circa 471 or 475/6)

Sidonius Riothamo suo salutem

“I will write once more in my usual strain, mingling compliment with grievance. Not that I at all desire to follow up the first words of greeting with disagreeable subjects, but things seem to be always happening which a man of my order and in my position can neither mention without unpleasantness, nor pass over without neglect of duty. Yet I do my best to remember the burdensome and delicate sense of honour which makes you so ready to blush for others' faults. The bearer of this is an obscure and humble person, so harmless, insignificant, and helpless that he seems to invite his own discomfiture; his grievance is that the Britons are secretly enticing his slaves away. Whether his indictment is a true one, I cannot say; but, if you can only confront the parties and decide the matter on its merits, I think the unfortunate man may be able to make good his charge, if indeed a stranger from the country unarmed, abject and impecunious to boot, has ever a chance of a fair or kindly hearing against adversaries with all the advantages he lacks, arms, astuteness, turbulences, and the aggressive spirit of men backed by numerous friends. Farewell.”

Sidonius as Bishop from Clermont Ferrand.

To his friend Vincentius (circa 470AD)

"THE case of Arvandus distresses me, nor do I conceal my distress, for it is our emperor's crowning praise that a condemned prisoner may have friends who need not hide their friendship. I was more intimate with this man than it was safe to be with one so light and so unstable, witness the odium lately kindled against me on his account, the flame of which has scorched me for this lapse from prudence.

At the Capitol, the Count of the Imperial Largess, his friend Flavius Asellus, acted as his host and jailer, showing him deference for his prefectship, which seemed, as it were, yet warm, so newly was it stripped from him. Meanwhile, the three envoys from Gaul arrived upon his heels with the provincial decrees empowering them to impeach in the public name. They were Tonantius Ferreolus, the ex-prefect, and grandson, on the mother's side, of the Consul Afranius Syagrius, Thaumastus, and Petronius, all men practised in affairs and eloquent, all conspicuous ornaments of our country. They brought, with other matters entrusted to them by the province, an intercepted letter, which Arvandus' secretary, now also under arrest, declared to have been dictated by his master.

It was evidently addressed to the King of the Goths, whom it dissuaded from concluding peace with 'the Greek Emperor', + urging that instead he should attack the Britons north of the Loire, and asserting that the law of nations called for a division of Gaul between Visigoth and Burgundian."

Hydatius (chronicle):

463
In Armorica, Frederic, the brother of King Theoderic [II], rose up against Aegidius, count [and master] of both services, a man who enjoyed an excellent reputation and who pleased God with his good works. Frederic and his men were defeated and killed.

464-5
In the month of May, envoys of the above-mentioned Aegidius sailed by way of the Ocean (note the same term as Jordanes uses for Riotimus) to the Vandals and returned to where they came from in September by the same route. The Vandals were slaughtered in Sicily and driven from the island.
Aegidius died as a result of deception: some say that he was the victim of a trap, some that he was poisoned. With him gone, the Goths soon fell upon the regions he had protected in the name of Rome. . .

We also have other letters of Sidonius, a Roman noble of Gaul who became bishop of Clermont in 470 and was Urban Prefect of Rome between 468-470.

Arvandus was the Praetorian Prefect (PP) of Gaul from 464-65 and 467-468.

Aegidius was magister militum of Gaul from 454 until his death in 464/5.
Euric was King of the Visigoths 466-484,

Anthemius was Roman Emperor from 467 until 472.

Childeric was King of the Frankish Federates and Saliens from around 453-481.

Adovacrius, Saxon leader who attacked Angers.
Odovacrius, Germanic Roman officer from 470 and then King of Italy from 476-493. Allied with Childeric at some point.

Ricimer - Roman general and defacto ruler of the western empire from 457-472

Ecdicius - Friend of Sidonius and hero of Clermont who single handedly defeated thousands of Goths (a myth/exaggeration as will be shown below) 

Gaul 470, showing proposed route of Riothamus. In this map, by 'Romans' is meant Gallic Romans plus Germanic federates, ie Franks and Alans and possibly federate Britons.

The sequence of the events that I will show proves that the testimony of Gregory has nothing whatsoever to do with Riotimus and his campaign and has been erroneously attached to the story of Riotimus. So let’s start with Gregory to show the chronology of events he describes. Scholars are of the opinion that this section comes from some ‘year chronicle’ (MacGeorge 2002, p.102-103) that Gregory had access to, possibly from Angers:

"Now Childeric fought at Orleans and Adovacrius came with the Saxons to Angers".

This took place in 463. Childeric appears to have fought in the same campaign with Aegidius that saw the defeat of Frederic's Visigoths as described by Hydatius above. Adovacrius appears to be a leader of Saxons. Penny MacGeorge, author of Late Roman Warlords (pg 105) has examined the manuscripts of Gregory of Tours and has shown that Adovacrius was the correct spelling of the Saxon leader. Gregory's later spelling in the last paragraph is Odovacrius, concerning Childerics alliance with the Roman King (from 476), showing that Gregory had two differing sources that mentioned Childeric, with similar sounding Germanic leaders as well, one Saxon, one possibly Thuringian. 

"At that time a great plague destroyed the people."

The plague was in 464. Possibly also mentioned by Gildas (DE.22).

"Egidius died and left a son, Syagrius by name. On his death Adovacrius received hostages from Angers and other places.

Egidius died then in 464/5 and Count Paul appears to have taken command. Syagrius would have been too young at this time. From The chronicle of Hydatius above, we can see that the Goths 'soon' moved against the territories that Aegidius had protected.

"The Britanni were driven from Bourges by the Goths, and many were slain at the village of Déols"

This then occurs in around 465. Coincides with the murder of Theoderic and the rise to power of Euric in 466, King of the Visigoths. Euric though in the first two years of his reign turned his attentions to Spain so the defeat of the British garrison of Bourges had probably taken place before he even took power and obviously had nothing to do with him. 

Euric may have been dissatisfied with his brothers' attempts at expanding Visigothic influence northwards and hence took the crown for himself. It will be shown therefore that this battle of Bourges-Deols took place before Riotimus had even set foot in Gaul. Euric did not turn his attention to Gaul until 470 after destroying the last Roman possession in Spain, Tarraco (Tarragona) in 468. Also, the village of Deols lies south west of Bourges, a strange place to go to if fleeing to the Burgundians in the east. Towards Deols would have taken them on the road to Limoges and ultimately the port of Saints.

"Count Paul with the Romans and Franks made war on the Goths and took booty.

This then must have occurred sometime in 466 prior to death of Theoderic. It looks like Count Paul assumed command after the death of Aegidius. The Gallo Romans (Armoricans?) with Frankish auxiliaries, defeated the Goths who had raided Bourges and had headed towards north of the Loire threatening Angers.

"When Adovacrius came to Angers, king Childeric came on the following day, and slew count Paul, and took the city. In a great fire on that day the house of the bishop was burned. "

This is the confusing part. Adovacrius with his Saxons comes to Angers...then Childeric turns up with his army the next day and must have driven off the Saxons . He then attacks Count Paul with an unknown army and kills him. The story goes on to include Childeric slaughtering Saxons at the mouth of the Loire river sometime then in 467. This must have been near Nantes. Penny MacGeorge, however, translates this part slightly differently which probably makes more sense: 

"...and king Childeric arrived the next day; the comes Paulus being killed, he occupied the city..."


This may imply that Paulus had been killed fighting the Saxons and Childeric had merely assumed command of the city, but it's still a tad ambiguous. The solution to this may lie in Gregory's allusion to Childeric having been expelled to Thuringia as a young man. If he was the young prince that Aetius adopted in Rome in 449/50 and made a federate, in the 450's he would only have been a teenager and so was probably sent to Thuringia to be tutored or fled the power of Aegidius. He would have been too young to lead the Frankish Federate army. So Aegidius assumed this role as did count Paul after him. The death of first, Aegidius and then Count Paul suggests that Childeric arrived back on the scene in the early 460's, now in his mid 20's and consolidated his position as leader of the Frankish federate troops stationed in Gaul. Guy Halsall (p.182) puts it this way:

 " Nonetheless Childeric appears to have eliminated all his rivals .."

"After this, war was waged between the Saxons and the Romans; but the Saxons fled and left many of their people to be slain, the Romans pursuing. Their islands were captured and ravaged by the Franks, and many were slain. In the ninth month of that year, there was an earthquake.   

This last part then gives us our last confirmed date in the sequence, which must be 467/8 when Hydatius also mentions Earthquake ("In the second year of the emperor Anthemius blood burst forth from the ground in the middle of Toulouse and continued to flow for an entire day." "Medio Tolosae civitatis hisdem diebus e terra sanguinem erupisse, totoque diei fluxisse curriculo") and Victor of Tonnena tells of a comet that appeared for forty days in 467; the chronicler Marcellinus noted that Ravenna was struck by an earthquake in the same year (467) (Mathisen 1998, Epilogue). MacGeorge  comments :

"..Marcellinus comes noted an earthquake in the Ravenna region and an eruption of  Vesuvius; and the Fasti Vindobonenses an outbreak of cattle disease in AD 467. There was pestilence in Italy, particularly in Campania. In both East and West this was a time of disasters and unusual events including: the fire in Constantinople in AD 465; earthquakes and floods in the eastern Mediterranean; celestial phenomena in AD 467; and famines. All this may have contributed to a general feeling of insecurity, even of doom."

"Odovacrius made an alliance with Childeric, and they subdued the Alamanni, who had overrun that part of Italy."

This part then, as MacGeorge has pointed out, belongs to a separate source used by Gregory which has been tagged onto the chronicle entries and refers to Odovacer the King of Italy from 476. Odovacer then, in the early 470's a Roman officer, was in Italy siding with Ricimer against Anthemius in the civil war in Rome. Whether Childeric and his Franks were part of the barbarian armies that supported Ricimer is difficult to say but it was probably after 476 that he helped Odovacer.
     With Childeric in Italy in 476 for a few years, Syagrius, with his Gallo Roman army and possibly Visigothic help was able to take Paris, Soissons and the south of Belgica Secunda in northern Gaul, not sacrificing it until the time of Clovis. The relationship between Childeric and Syagrius is difficult to ascertain but the Franks appear to have been settled mainly in Belgica Prima and Germania Secunda at this time (yellow area in map below). The domain of Syagrius was not challenged until five years into Clovis' reign suggesting that Childeric did not have the strength of arms to overcome Syagrius but he remained a Roman federate officer probably based in Tournai. In support of this Childerics grave shows evidence of a late Roman officers badge that he wore. As well as Federate Franks he also appears to have commanded a force of Alans, or Thuringians as his burial also shows strong links with their burial practices and horse trappings (Wood 2003). The Alans had been settled near Orleans in 442 to deal with the rebellious Armoricans and their settlements had spread northwards to Paris and into Belgica Secunda; this based on name places and some archaeology (Bachrach pgs.61,70).The Alans also feature in early pseudo-genealogical material concerning Frankish ancestors, along with Aetius, Aegidius and Syagrius.

That's Gregory's testimony. What's evident is that Gregory has no knowledge of Riotimus as this period only covers up to 467/8,  so Riotimus' campaign must have been outside of his scope of Northern Gaul and the early Merovingian dominions. Hydatius, whose chronicle ends in 468 also has no knowledge of Riotimus. The above also shows that the battle in Bourges and Deols had nothing to do with Riotimus as it took place in 465/66. This then places Riotimus' campaign much further south. So for that we now need to study the testimony of Jordanes (writing circa 551), who used a lost source by Cassiodorus (writing circa 519) for his work:

"Euric, the king of the Visigoths, observing the frequent changes of the Roman princes, attempted to seize the Gauls for his own"

Euric became King of the Visigoths in around 466. It may have been at this time that Arvandus wrote to Euric encouraging him to attack the Britons, upset at losing his prefectorship as Arvandus was no longer a Pretorian Prefect of Gaul at this time. It’s more likely though that he wrote in 467/68 when he became a PP again, hoping Euric would attack north of the Loire (as the Britons south of the Loire at Bourges had already been defeated by this time). The letter never got to Euric though and Euric in fact moved south instead consolidating his position in Toulouse and instead attacking Roman possessions in Iberia and didn't turn his focus to Gaul again until 470. He was probably not tempted to move north due to having seen his brother defeated and killed by Egidius in around 464 and Count Paul and his Franks defeating the Goths in around 467 soon after the battles at Bourges Deols against the British garrison there.

  

"Anthemius, the Emperor, receiving intelligence of this, immediately invited the aid of the Britons, whose King Riothimus, coming with twelve thousand, and disembarking from his ships, was received into the state of the Bituriges"

Now the original Latin says the `state (or city) of the Bituriges', which is usually translated as Bourges, formally known as Avaricum but it could equally well apply to Aquitania with it's capital Bordeaux which was the main city of the southern Bituriges in Aquitania. The best landing place of Saintes (Mediolanum), 100km north of Bordeaux, was also a sea port whilst Bourges lays well inland and in no way could be described as by the sea. The only other way if Bourges/Avaricum was meant was to sail up the Loire as far as Angers and then go overland or transfer to hundreds of smaller boats. But this would appear to be a strange route to take if you were either in Britain or Armorica. The overland route from Armorica would have been much easier. In fact Bourges itself, in a reorganisation of the Gallic provinces had become capital of  Aquitania Prima, so the state of the Bituriges was indeed Aquitania Prima. Lastly as Bourges was part of Aquitania Prima, its possible Riothamus may have landed at Nantes and proceeded eastwards from there and then southwards towards Euric, but Saints would also be in Prima terriroty.

Aqiuitania Prima would make much more sense of Riotimus arriving in Ships from either Armorica or Britain. Anthemius became Emperor in 467, so it can only be after this time that Riotimus was called. So lets say Riotimus arrived in 469 (Hydatius nor Gregories sources for the time before this mention him). The ‘intelligence’ that Anthemius received was probably the betrayal of Arvandus in 468.

Anthemius had withdrawn the Fedorati troops (or rather Ricimer had) that formed the barrier between the Goths below the Loire and the Armoricans and Gauls north of the Loire and so this caused a power vacuum that the Goths wanted to fill . Following the Gothic attack on Bourges, the slaughter of the Britons at Déols and the threat to Angers and other cities Anthemius decided on a grand plan to take on the Goths.  He therefore called on Riotimus from Britain to launch a two pronged attack on Euric as discussed below.

"Euric, king of the Visigoths, came against them leading an innumerable army, and fighting for a long time, overcame Riothimus, the king of the Britons, before the Romans had joined company with him. 

So the battle took place sometime around 469/70 (Mathisen 1998, Gaul and the Visigothic War) (Higham, 2002, P.76). That's a good 3-4 years difference between the Britons being defeated at Déols. It can only be reconciled if Gregory's chronology is incorrect but that doesn't appear to be so. Note that Riotimus had expected a Roman army to meet up with him ( “before the Romans had joined company with him”)

"Having lost a great part of his army, he fled with all whom he could save, and came to the neighbouring nation of the Burgundians, then confederate with the Romans. But Euric, king of the Visigoths, seized Auvergne(*), a city of Gaul."

469/470. But why go to the Burgundians, why not head north back to Britain? It implies Riotimus knew the Burgundians were federates and the battle was farther south and east. In his book, The Britons, Christopher Snyder makes the same conclusion, translating civitatem Bituriges as the state of Aquitania. (2003, P.148) and has Riotimus land in Aquitania. The ideal place to land in Aquitania to pick up the Roman road to Auvergne would be Saintes which is just 100km north of Bordeaux. From Saintes the road leads to Limoges and then onto Auvergne/Clermont. The distances say it all. From Saintes to Clermont is about 220 miles. From Armorica overland its about 400 miles. From Nantes its a fair way as well but can't be discounted.

As I have mentioned earlier above, Arvandus was prosecuted for trying to betray the Britons north of the Loire and did not have anything to do with betraying Riotimus. Riotimus was not even in the country. So we need not locate Riotimus north of the Loire at all. It is most likely he landed in Aquitania.

The letter of Sidonius to Riotimus places Riotimus near Auvergne possibly some time before 468 (as Sidonius was in Rome as Urban Prefect from 468 until 470 and Clermont was under siege from 471-474) or after 476 when Sidonius returned from exile. The letter intimates that Sidonius and Riotimus had exchanged letters on previous occasions, meaning Riotimus may either have been in Gaul before and had returned to Britain on a previous occasion before returning once more for Anthemius, or Riotimus was in northern Gaul/Armorica all along, or as I believe, all the communication was post battle, either just after the battle in 470/71 or after Sidonius returned from exile in 476. 

Sidonius did not become bishop of Clermont until he returned in 470 from Rome. So if the letter intimates that he has the position of a Bishop or clergy, which appears to be so ("which a man of my order" ) we then know that it couldn't have been written before 468. That only leaves a small window in 470/1 when Euric had defeated Riotimus and turned to face Anthemiolus in Arles when the letter could have been written, or it was after the seige of Auvergne and the exile of Sidonius until 476. The letter to Riotmius appears in a sequence that shows it was written post battle and post seige as before this letter comes one where Sidonius writes of the heroics of Ecidicius as though it were quite some time ago and shouldn't be forgotten. However, scholars are of the opinion that these letters do not always appear in sequence. So a dating in 470/71 may not be out of the question, post battle.

Anthemius

It appears that Anthemius had planned to take out the Vandals and the Goths with grand attacks in 469/70. His plan for Euric was a two pronged attack (MacGeorge 2002, p.243) and so landed Riotimus in Aquitania, probably near Saintes and sent his son's (Athemiolus') army to link up with Riotimus from the south. From Aquitania Riotimus made his way across land towards Auvergne/Clermont where Euric had gone to lay siege to it, as indicated above(*) . So the battle most likely took place somewhere near modern day Clermont Ferrand with Burgundy just a short distance away towards the east. 

The story of Ecdicius and his heroics against the Goths beseiging Auvergne belongs to this time when Riotimus was approaching in 469/70.  But the story of Ecdicius is exaggerated as the Goths had withdrawn from Clermont to a nearby hill due to the approach of Riotimus, and Ecdicius had only killed some slow stragglers (Ecdicius was known to be in Clermont from 469 after leaving the court of Anthemius). To those inside the city Ecdidcius with his eighteen men had incredibly defeated thousands of Goths and so the myth was created. Here is part of the letter of Sidonius to Ecdicius which confirms Ecidicus had merely chased off the rearguard as Euric was withdrawing : 

"At midday, and right across the middle of the plain, you brought your little company of eighteen safe through some thousands of the Goths, a feat which posterity will surely deem incredible. At the sight of you, nay, at the very rumour of your name, those seasoned troops were smitten with stupefaction; their captains were so amazed that they never stopped to note how great their own numbers were and yours how small. They drew off their whole force to the brow of a steep hill; they had been besiegers before, but when you appeared they dared not even deploy for action. You cut down some of their bravest, whom gallantry alone had led to defend the rear."

So, Riotimus approached, probably sometime in 470 hoping that the Roman army under the command of Anthemiolus, son of the Emperor Anthemius would arrive at the same time to help defeat the Goths of Euric. Unfortunately Anthemiolus was late or Rio was early , Euric broke the siege of Auvergne and attacked Riotimus and defeated him after a long battle. Riotimus fled eastwards to the nearby Burgundians who were short hop over the border towards Lyon. MacGeorge again puts it like this :

"Assuming that the Romans were Anthemius' forces from Italy, they were possibly delayed in setting out. One would not normally place much value on this bit of Jordanes, but it certainly would have made sense for the two armies to attack Euric simultaneously, and this might have been the plan. If the army's arrival in Gaul was delayed, thus preventing them from co-operating effectively with Riothamus, the cause could well have been Ricimer's rebellion or lack of co-operation. It is obviously speculation, but Anthemius may have blamed Ricimer in part or full for his son's death, accentuating the personal bitterness of the conflict

Euric returned to besiege Auvergne again in 471 after defeating the army of Anthemiolus near Arles. We can only assume he obtained intelligence from captured Britons that informed him that Anthemiolus was on the way as Euric was able to meet Anthemiolus practically as he got off his ships near Arles, southern France.  The city of Auvergne/Clermont was ceded in 474 and Sidonius was exiled to the Pyrenees. All these events show the timing is crucial for the battle. It could only have happened sometime around 469-470 at the latest. It is also evident that as Arvandus had been arrested in 468 he could have had nothing to do with `betraying' Riotimus as is so often said. He tried to betray the Romanised Britons of Northern Gaul yes, but not Riotimus.

If Riotimus did land at in the state of Aquitania somewhere then the possibility of ships from Armorica is more plausible, possibly from Vannes, Nantes or Quimper but this would admit the presence of Britons in Armorica in 469 which is certainly possible as the exodus had begun by this time . The only way for 12,000 men though is if there were many more settlements in Northern Gaul of Britons following Constantine's campaign in 409-411 and possibly British forces in the army of Aetius in the mid 450's and possible exodus following the Saxon incursions. In 469 I am doubtful whether that many Britons could be raised in Armorica from the early British settlements. So Riotimus most likely came from southern Britain. Perhaps a middle way could be suggested though. Riothamus could have stopped on route and collected men from the Britons of Armorica to augment his British force.

For Riotimus to have been based in Britain and raise upwards of 12000 men the implication is that the Saxons were under control/defeated or hadnt even arrived yet. So it's quite possible that Riotimus was from Britain. It is evident though that as the battle was near Auvergne/Clermont then we can discard the link with Avalon which was much further North and hence discard the association of Riotimus with Arthur. Indeed, if Riothamus was defeated at Deols, how would he then ‘retreat’ by going eastwards through lands just lost to the Goths. It’s ludicrous, he would just have popped over the Loire to safety. So he was nowhere near this battle or even in the country at the time and more to the point, neither was Euric!!

If Sidonius' letter to Riotimus was after the siege of Clermont (when Sidonius had returned from exile in the confines of the fortress of Livia, near Carcassonne and then after in Bordeaux), ie 476, then it indicates that Riothamus was now settled in the region with the remnants of his British army. The indication that his men are tempting slaves away from other landowners suggests the Britons needed workers for their new found land on the borders of Clermont and Lyon. Lyon since 458 was Burgundian. However at this time in 476 Sidonius was no longer a Bishop of Auvergne but he may still have been under Holy Orders. This leaves then only one other possibility, when the letters to Riothamus could have been written, and that was in 470/471, the short time after Riothamus was defeated and Euric had travelled south to take on Anthemiolus. Which it was is debatable, but due to the deference shown to Riothamus by Sidonius in the existing letter I would place it after his return from exile.

Where did Riothamus settle with his Britons after defeat? Just east of Clermont/Auvergne towards Lyon is the small town of Montbrison (mount of the Britons?), which even has a 'rue de Bretagnia' - road of the Britons. Perhaps this is where he ended up.

The main arguments presented here are that:

1. The battle of Bourges Deols took place in 465/6 long before Riotimus was called to Gaul. It couldn't have been any later than 467 as this is when Gregory's sequence of events ends, with earthquake mentioned in 467.
2. Arvandus was under arrest in 468, again before Riotimus had entered Gaul.
3. The letter from Sidonius to Riotimus couldn't have been written before 470/71 when Sidonius was made Bishop. So the letter was post battle.
4. The battle that Riotimus fought with Euric was near Auvergne, now Clermont Ferrand and he fled towards the nearby border of Burgundy in the direction of Lyon.
5. Riotimus landed in the state of Bituriges which is Aquitania, that included Bourges.
6. The myth of Ecdicius defeating thousands of Goths is just that a myth. Euric was withdrawing to a hill to face Riotimus and Ecdicius only took out some stragglers.
   

References:

History of the Franks, Gregory of Tours, 6thC

http://www.celtic-twilight.com/charlemagne/gregory_of_tours/gothof_b1.htm

Hydatius, Latin 5thC:

http://www.intratext.com/IXT/LAT0776/__P1.HTM

Life of St Genevieve, 6thC

http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/golden216.htm

Jordanes, 6thC:

http://www.harbornet.com/folks/theedrich/Goths/Goths1.htm

Letters of Sidonius, 5thC

http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/sidonius_letters_01book1.htm

Life of Sidonius - Lecture, Lynn Harry Nelson, Emeritus Professor of

Medieval History, The University of Kansas.

http://www.vlib.us/medieval/lectures/sidonius.html

Anthemius - By Ralph W. Mathison Ph.D, University of South Carolina 1998 

King Arthur: Myth-Making and History By N. J. Higham, 2002, Routledge.

Late Roman Warlords, 2002 Penny MacGeorge, Oxford University Press

Cemeteries and Society in Merovingian Gaul: Selected Studies in History and Archaeology, 1992-2009 (Brill's Series on the Early Middle Ages) by Guy Halsall 2010 

Franks and Alamanni in the Merovingian Period: An Ethnographic Perspective. By Ian N. Wood, Boydell Press; New edition edition (20 Nov 2003)

A History of the Alans in the West: From Their First Appearance in the Sources of Classical Antiquity Through the Early Middle Ages (Minnesota Monographs in the Humanities) by Bernard S. Bachrach (25 Jul 1973)

 

Copyright 2011 Dane Pestano. All rights reserved.