Battle of Vicus Helena

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Battle of Vicus Helena
400 Germania I II Belgica I II.png
The battle took place somewhere in Belgica II
Datec. 445–450
Location
Vicus Helena, Belgica Secunda
Result Roman victory
Belligerents
Western Roman Empire Salian Franks
Commanders and leaders
Flavius Aëtius
Julius Majorian
Chlodio

The Battle of Vicus Helena was a clash between the Salian Franks, led by Chlodio, and Roman soldiers, commanded by general Flavius Aetius. The battle is attested in a limited number of late Roman and early Medieval sources, having occurred around the year 448, in an unidentified location named Vicus Helena, somewhere in the Civitas Atrebatium, modern Artois. [1]

Contents

Reconstruction

Context

The Franks were foederati of the Romans, but regularly plundered towns and villages within the Roman Empire, and somewhere between 445 and 450, Salian Franks under Chlodio conquered the cities of Turnacum (modern Tournai) and Cameracum (Cambrai), which became centres of Frankish power. [2] The capture of Cameracum must have happened after 443, because Gregory mentions the Burgundians had already settled east of the river Rhône. [3] Next, the Franks expanded towards the river Somme. [3] Around 448, the city of Nemetocenna (modern Arras) was probably sacked by the Franks as well. [1]

Battle

Roman general Majorian, who would become the Western Roman emperor in 457, reportedly suppressed a revolt of the Bagaudae in Armorica in 448, and then successfully defended Turonum (Tours) against a siege. [3] 'Shortly thereafter', according to Sidonius, the Franks led by 'Cloio' (Chlodio), who were holding a wedding reception, were ambushed by the Romans near Vicus Helena. [3] Aetius directed the operations while Majorian fought with the cavalry. [4] The Romans emerged victorious. [3]

Sources

Most surviving information about the Battle of Vicus Helena comes from the Panegyric to Majorian, written in praise of Majorian's military exploits in 458 by Sidonius Apollinaris:

Cum bella timentes defendit Turonos, aberas. Post tempore parvo pugnastis pariter, Francus qua Cloio patentes Atrebatum terras pervaserat. Hic coeuntes claudebant angusta vias arcuque subactum vicum Helenam flumenque simul sub tramite longo artus suppositis trabibus transmiserat agger. Illic te posito pugnabat ponte sub ipso Maiorianus eques. Fors ripae colle propinquo Barbaricus resonabat hymen, Scythicisque choreis nubebat flavo similars nove nupta marito. Hos ergo, ut perhibent, stravit; crepitabat ad ictus cassis et oppositis hastarum verbera thorax arcebat squamis, donec conversa fugatus hostis terga dedit. [5]


When [Majorian] defended the inhabitants of Tours who feared the war, you [=Aetius] were absent. Shortly thereafter, reunited, you fought the Frank Cloio, who had occupied the plains of the Atrebates. Here, various roads came together narrowed by a defile; next, Vicus Helena could be seen forming an arc, then one could find a river crossed by a bridge made of wooden planks. You [=Aetius] were there; Majorian the knight fought at the head of the bridge. Here was heard, resounding on the next hill, the songs of a wedding celebrated by the barbarians dancing in the manner of the Scythians; two spouses with blonde hair then united. [Majorian], as is reported, defeated the barbarians. His helmet sounded under the blows, and the spears were pushed back by his thick-mesh cuirass, until at last the enemy gave way, disbanded, and fled. [5] [3]

Sidonius Apollinaris, Panegyric to Majorian (Carmen 5, 210–218.)

Some circumstantial information is provided by Gregory of Tours in his History of the Franks (Book 2, Chapter 9). [3]

Location and date

For centuries, scholars have not been able to locate Vicus Helena, nor been able to determine the precise date of the battle. In The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume VI (1789), Edward Gibbon stated that 'both the name and the place are discovered by modern geographers at Lens'. [6] Writing for the Magasin encyclopédique in 1797, Guilmot claimed to have discovered it as the village of Évin, on the road between Tournai and Arras. [7] Alexandre-Joseph-Hidulphe Vincent published an essay in 1840, arguing that neither Lens nor Hesdin (two popular candidates in his time) was plausible, but that Allaines near the Mont Saint-Quentin and the town of Péronne was the lost Vicus Helena. [8] Hubert le Bourdellès (1984) suggested Saint-Amand Abbey, which used to be known as Elnon(e). [9] Tony Jaques (2007) went with Hélesmes in the year 431. [10] De Boone (1954) connected Sidonius' reference to a frozen Loire river to the exceptionally harsh winter of 442–3 mentioned by the Annals of Marcellinus Comes, but Lanting & van der Plicht (2010) rejected this, as Marcellinus doesn't mention any harsh winter in Gaul, and focused mostly on the Eastern Roman Empire; instead, the latter two focused on the military career of Majorian (Sidonius called him a iuvenis or 'young man' in 458, while he had left active military service before 454, suggesting a birth around 420), concluding 445–450 to be the most likely period for the battle. [2] Dierkens & Périn (2003) noted that Majorian had defeated the Bagaudae and freed Tours just before the battle of Vicus Helena; they dated the former two events (and therefore Vicus Helena as well) to 448, and endorsed the Hélesmes hypothesis. [3] Alexander O'Hara (2018) suggested 'in around 448' at 'an unidentified site in the Artois', positing that it may be connected to the destruction of Arras around that time as well, although it is unknown whether Arras was sacked by Huns or Franks. [1]

Primary sources

Related Research Articles

The 450s decade ran from January 1, 450, to December 31, 459.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">458</span> Calendar year

Year 458 (CDLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Maiorianus and Leo. The denomination 458 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">448</span> Calendar year

Year 448 (CDXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Praetextatus and Zeno. The denomination 448 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merovech</span> Salian Frankish king (c. 450–458)

Merovech was the ancestor of the Merovingian dynasty. He was reportedly a king of the Salian Franks, but records of his existence are mixed with legend and myth. The most important written source, Gregory of Tours, recorded that Merovech was said to be descended from Chlodio, a roughly contemporary Frankish warlord who pushed from the Silva Carbonaria in modern central Belgium as far south as the Somme, north of Paris in modern-day France. His supposed descendants, the kings Childeric I and Clovis I, are the first well-attested Merovingians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ricimer</span> General and ruler of the Western Roman Empire (c. 418–472)

Ricimer was a Romanized Germanic general who effectively ruled the remaining territory of the Western Roman Empire from 456 after defeating Avitus, until his death in 472, with a brief interlude in which he contested power with Procopius Anthemius. Deriving his power from his position as magister militum of the Western Empire, Ricimer exercised political control through a series of puppet emperors. Ricimer's death led to unrest across Italy and the establishment of a Germanic kingdom on the Italian Peninsula.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Majorian</span> Western Roman emperor from 457 to 461

Majorian was the Western Roman emperor from 457 to 461. A prominent commander in the Western military, Majorian deposed Avitus in 457 with the aid of his ally Ricimer at the Battle of Placentia. Possessing little more than Italy and Dalmatia, as well as some territory in Hispania and northern Gaul, Majorian campaigned rigorously for three years against the Empire's enemies. In 461, he was murdered at Dertona in a conspiracy, and his successors until the Fall of the Empire in 476 were puppets either of barbarian generals or the Eastern Roman court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flavius Aetius</span> Roman general and statesman ( c. 390 – 454)

Flavius Aetius was a Roman general and statesman of the closing period of the Western Roman Empire. He was a military commander and the most influential man in the Empire for two decades (433–454). He managed policy in regard to the attacks of barbarian federates settled throughout the West. Notably, he mustered a large Roman and allied (foederati) army in the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, ending a devastating invasion of Gaul by Attila in 451, though the Hun and his subjugated allies still managed to invade Italy the following year, an incursion best remembered for the ruthless Sack of Aquileia and the intercession of Pope Leo I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avitus</span> Western Roman emperor from 455 to 456

Eparchius Avitus was Roman emperor of the Western Empire from July 455 to October 456. He was a senator of Gallic extraction and a high-ranking officer both in the civil and military administration, as well as Bishop of Piacenza.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sidonius Apollinaris</span> 5th-century Gallic poet, diplomat, bishop, and Catholic saint

Gaius Sollius Modestus Apollinaris Sidonius, better known as Sidonius Apollinaris, was a poet, diplomat, and bishop. Born into the Gallo-Roman aristocracy, he was son-in-law to Emperor Avitus and was appointed Urban prefect of Rome by Emperor Anthemius in 468. In 469 he was appointed Bishop of Clermont and he led the defence of the city from Euric, King of the Visigoths, from 473 to 475. He retained his position as bishop after the city's conquest, until his death in the 480s. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic church, the Orthodox Church, and the True Orthodox Church, with his feast day on 21 August.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chlodio</span> A King of Franks

Chlodio, also Clodio, Clodius, Clodion, Cloio or Chlogio, was a Frankish king who attacked and then apparently ruled Roman-inhabited lands around Cambrai and Tournai, near the modern border of Belgium and France. He is known from very few records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salian Franks</span> 4th and 5th century Franks in todays Netherlands and Belgium

The Salian Franks, also called the Salians, were a northwestern subgroup of the early Franks who appear in the historical record in the fourth and fifth centuries. They lived west of the Lower Rhine in what was then the Roman Empire and today the Netherlands and Belgium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chronology of warfare between the Romans and Germanic peoples</span>

This is a chronology of warfare between the Romans and various Germanic peoples. The nature of these wars varied through time between Roman conquest, Germanic uprisings, later Germanic invasions of the Western Roman Empire that started in the late second century BC, and more. The series of conflicts was one factor which led to the ultimate downfall of the Western Roman Empire in particular and ancient Rome in general in 476.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cambrésis</span>

Cambrésis is a former pagus, county and prince-bishopric of the medieval Holy Roman Empire that was annexed to the Kingdom of France in 1679. It is now regarded as one of the "natural regions" of France, and roughly equivalent to the Arrondissement of Cambrai in department Nord. The capital of Cambrésis was Cambrai. Originally ruled by a dynasty of counts, Cambrésis became a prince-bishopric in 1007, comparable to the Prince-Bishopric of Liège and the Prince-Bishopric of Utrecht. It encompassed the territory in which the bishop of Cambrai had secular authority.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcellinus (magister militum)</span> 5th century CE Roman general who ruled over Dalmatia

Marcellinus was a Roman general and patrician who ruled over the region of Dalmatia in the Western Roman Empire and held sway with the army there from 454 until his death. Governing Dalmatia both independently from, and under, six Emperors during the twilight of the Western Empire, Marcellinus proved to be an able administrator and military personality with sources making reference that he ruled justly and well and kept Dalmatia independent of the emperor and of barbarian rulers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodoric I</span> King of the Visigoths

Theodoric I was the King of the Visigoths from 418 to 451. Theodoric is famous for his part in stopping Attila the Hun at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451, where he was killed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gothic War in Spain (456)</span>

The Gothic War in Spain of 456 was a military operation of the Visigoths commissioned by the West Roman emperor Avitus. This operation consisted of an extensive campaign aimed at reclaiming the Spanish provinces of Lusitania and Betica that were in the hands of the Suebi and threatened Roman power in the provinces of Cartaginensis and Tarraconensis. The main players in this war were Theoderic II who led the army of the Visigoths and Rechiar the king of the Suebi. The Visigothic army was supported by Franks and Burgundian auxiliary troops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gothic War (457–458)</span>

The Gothic War of 457-458 was a military conflict between the Visigoths of Theoderic II against the Western Roman Empire of Emperor Majorian. The war began in 457 with a revolt of the Goths in Aquitania that pushed aside Roman authority, followed by an aggressive conquest in the adjacent Septimania aimed at area expansion. The war ended with a Roman victory over the Goths in the Battle of Arles in 458.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman civil war of 456</span>

The Roman Civil War of 456 was a civil war fought in the Western Roman Empire during the second half of 456 AD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frankish War (428)</span> Short military conflict

The Frankish War (428) was a short military conflict between the Frankish people the Salians and the West Roman Empire under Emperor Valentinian III. The protagonists in this conflict were the captain of the Franks' king Clodio and the Roman general Aetius. The war ended in a Roman victory.

References

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