The Merovingian Kingdoms 450 - 751

Ian Wood

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781317871156
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Geschichte
• Subtopic: Europäische Geschichte

A comprehensive survey which begins with the rise of the Franks, then examines the Merovingians.

Chapter One
The Barbarians in Gaul

In 476 the west Roman Empire came to an end with the deposition of Romulus Augustulus. It was replaced by a number of states ruled by barbarian kings. By the early sixth century Italy was in the hands of the Ostrogoths; France was divided between the Franks, the Burgundians and the Visigoths, who also controlled Spain; what had been the Roman province of Africa had been transformed into the Vandal kingdom. A century later the map had been slightly redrawn, with the Lombards controlling northern Italy, the Franks unchallenged in France, and peoples known variously as Angles and Saxons dominant in much of the old diocese of Britannia. It was the kingdom of the Franks which was to exercise most influence for the longest period of time. For the first three centuries of its existence, until 751, it was ruled over by a single family, that of the Merovingians. Merovingian history deserves detailed study in its own right, but it also needs to be understood in the broader context of Late Antique and early medieval history. This broader context is particularly important for an understanding of the earliest stages of the creation of the Frankish kingdom, for the Franks and the Merovingians were relatively late participants in the crisis which saw the collapse of the western Empire and the establishment of the successor states. The collapse of imperial power in Gaul and Germany, and the activities of the Visigoths and Burgundians provide a necessary background for early Merovingian history.

The coming of the barbarians

The Roman dioceses of Gaul and the Seven Provinces, which were to constitute most of the Frankish kingdom, essentially covered what is now France, Belgium, Germany west of the Rhine, and most of Switzerland. Geographically this territory is extremely varied, including Mediterranean, Atlantic and Channel coasts, the river valleys of northern France, of western Germany and of Burgundy, together with the western Alps and the mountains of central France. Culturally it was equally diverse. To a large extent the areas nearest to the Mediterranean were the most civilized, but there were cities further north with important cultural traditions, including Lyons, Bordeaux and Autun, and there were other cities, including Trier and Paris, which had at times been the residences of emperors. Taken as a whole, by the late fourth century the two dioceses had gained much from four centuries of Roman rule. Not that those centuries had been times of uninterrupted peace. There had been civil wars in plenty, and major barbarian incursions, particularly in the north-eastern provinces of Germany and Belgica. Even in times of peace it required constant vigilance to keep the peoples across the Rhine in check. But for the most part the frontier troops had succeeded in their task of keeping the barbarians at bay.

Then, on the last night of the year 406, or so one of our sources claims,¹ the frozen Rhine was crossed by a number of barbarian groups, including Vandals, Alans and Sueves. As a result the German frontier was broken, and for the next two years the provinces of Germany and Gaul were plundered by the invaders. Although the majority of these barbarians moved on to Spain in 409, some stayed behind: there were Alans active in Gaul under their leader Goar for the next thirty years; they were to be settled in Gallia Ulterior, that is on land to the north of the Loire, in the 440s.² Elsewhere, any respite that was felt in 409 was short lived; in 412 another barbarian people, the Visigoths, crossed to Gaul from Italy, where they had sacked the city of Rome in 410. They established themselves in the south-west, and their king, Athaulf, held court in Narbonne.³

The Visigoths

The Visigoths had been a sedentary people living north of the Danube. In the sixth century they were said to have come originally from the island of Scandza, to have migrated to the Black Sea, and thence to have come into contact with the Roman Empire. The historical value of their origin legend is open to question; a national migration from the Baltic is unlikely, but the story may have been built out of traditions relating to specific groups which had played a part in the formation of the Gothic nation at various stages in its history.⁴ From the mid-third century the Goths certainly impinged on the Empire, launching raids against the Balkans and Asia Minor. Subsequently relations between the Romans and Visigoths improved and the latter were relatively peaceful. In 376, however, the Visigoths found themselves under extreme pressure from the Huns, an Asiatic people from the steppes. The majority of them negotiated entry into the Roman Empire under the leadership of Fritigern. Harsh treatment by the Romans over the next two years transformed the refugees into a people fighting for survival, and in 378 they defeated and killed the Roman Emperor, Valens, at the battle of Adrianople. Thereafter they moved around the Balkans, sometimes in open war with the Romans, sometimes bound by treaty. In 401 they entered the western part of the Empire, under the leadership of Alaric I. Once again they oscillated between friendship with the Romans and outright hostility, depending on the possibility of imperial recognition and acceptance. The sack of Rome in 410 marked the most hostile period in the relations between Alaric and the imperial court. Within a year of the sack Alaric died and in 412 his brother-in-law, Athaulf, led his people out of Italy and into Gaul.⁵

At first Athaulf joined a confederacy of Burgundians and Alans, which had established the usurping emperor Jovinus in power, but he soon abandoned the usurper and his brother for an alliance with the legitimate emperor, Honorius. What he wanted was a position within the Empire – according to the historian Orosius, he wished to support Rome with barbarian arms.⁶ When negotiations with Honorius failed to bring rewards Athaulf showed both his anger and his desire to be associated with the Empire by marrying the emperor's sister, Galla Placidia, who had been a captive since 410. Then, in 415, he moved to Spain, where he was murdered. His successor but one, Wallia, made an attempt to lead his people across to Africa, but failed, and instead came to terms with the Roman leader Constantius, for whom he campaigned against the Vandals and Alans in Spain. Subsequently, perhaps in 418, perhaps in 419, a new treaty brought the Visigoths back to Aquitaine.⁷

After they had been settled in Aquitaine the Visigoths were relatively loyal to the Roman state, although in 422 they deserted the Romans during a campaign against the Vandals in Spain. At the same time, the conflict between competing factions among the Romans themselves meant that the Visigoths could intervene against one or other party, or try to exploit the situation for their own gain. Thus, they took advantage of the confusion surrounding the usurpation of the emperor Joannes in 423, and the subsequent establishment of Valentinian III, to attack Aries in 425. They did the same in 430 when trouble was brewing between the two Roman generals, Aëtius and Boniface, and in 433 they supported Galla Placidia against Aëtius. In 436 the Visigothic king T'heoderid tried to expand his territory towards the Rhône valley, but was checked by Aëtius and his general Litorius. In 438, however, Litorius was captured and killed when he attacked the Visigoths at Toulouse. Nevertheless, Theoderid did fight for the Romans against the Sueves in Spain in 446, and in 451 he provided the most substantial portion of the confederacy which faced Attila and the Huns at the battle of the Catalaunian Plains. The battle saw the defeat of Attila, and the end of his invasion of Gaul. It also saw the death of Theoderid.⁸

The causes of Attila's decision to attack Gaul in 451 are obscure, although legends explaining it circulated from very early on. Some thought that he had been paid to attack the Visigoths by Gaiseric, king of the Vandals, who were now settled in North Africa; others that he was making good a claim to be the husband of princess Honoria, daughter of Valentinian III, or that he was intervening in a dispute over the succession to the kingship of the Franks.⁹ What is certain is that Attila's decision to invade Gaul marked the failure of Aëtius's policies, which had depended on using the Huns to further his own career in Italy, and to keep the barbarians in check in Gaul. Having been a hostage among the Huns himself, he had called in Hunnic troops to support the usurper Joannes in 425; he fled to them after his defeat at the hands of Boniface in 432; and he was probably beh...