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Battle of Vouillé

 

 
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Battle of Vouillé
 
 
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The Battle of Vouillé or Campus Vogladensis was fought in the northern marches of Visigothic territory, at a small place near Poitiers
Poitiers

Poitiers is a city on the Clain in west central France. It is a commune in France and the capital of the Vienne d?partement in France and of the Poitou-Charentes r?gion in France....
 (Gaul
Gaul

Gaul is the name used for the region of Western Europe comprising part of present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the River Rhine....
), in the spring of 507
507

Events...
 between the Franks
Franks

The Franks or Frankish people were a West Germanic ethnic group first identified in the 3rd century as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River....
 commanded by Clovis
Clovis I

Clovis was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Franks under one king. He succeeded his father Childeric I in 481 as King of the Salian Franks, one of the Frankish tribes who were then occupying the area west of the lower Rhine, with their centre around Tournai and Cambrai along the modern frontier between France and Belgium, in an...
 and the Visigoths of Alaric II
Alaric II

File:Alaric II 484 507 gold 1470mg reverse.jpgAlaric II, also known as Alarik, Alarich, and Alarico in Spanish language and Portuguese language or Alaricus in Latin succeeded his father Euric in 485 and became eighth king of the Visigoths....
, the conqueror of Spain.

Clovis
Clovis

Clovis may refer to:In geography:* Clovis, California* Clovis, New MexicoIn royalty:* Clovis I, the first king of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler...
 and Anastasius I of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire and Eastern Roman Empire are conventional names used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople....
 agreed that each would attack the Goths
Goths

The Goths were East Germanic tribes who, in the 3rd and 4th centuries, invasion the Roman Empire and later adopted Arian Christianity. In the 5th and 6th centuries, divided as the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, they established powerful successor-states of the Roman Empire in the Iberian peninsula and Italy....
 on their own side.

The Franks crossed the Loire river
Loire River

The Loire is the longest river in France. With a length of , it drains an area of , which represents more than a fifth of France's land area....
. Clovis himself killed Alaric.






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The Battle of Vouillé or Campus Vogladensis was fought in the northern marches of Visigothic territory, at a small place near Poitiers
Poitiers

Poitiers is a city on the Clain in west central France. It is a commune in France and the capital of the Vienne d?partement in France and of the Poitou-Charentes r?gion in France....
 (Gaul
Gaul

Gaul is the name used for the region of Western Europe comprising part of present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the River Rhine....
), in the spring of 507
507

Events...
 between the Franks
Franks

The Franks or Frankish people were a West Germanic ethnic group first identified in the 3rd century as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River....
 commanded by Clovis
Clovis I

Clovis was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Franks under one king. He succeeded his father Childeric I in 481 as King of the Salian Franks, one of the Frankish tribes who were then occupying the area west of the lower Rhine, with their centre around Tournai and Cambrai along the modern frontier between France and Belgium, in an...
 and the Visigoths of Alaric II
Alaric II

File:Alaric II 484 507 gold 1470mg reverse.jpgAlaric II, also known as Alarik, Alarich, and Alarico in Spanish language and Portuguese language or Alaricus in Latin succeeded his father Euric in 485 and became eighth king of the Visigoths....
, the conqueror of Spain.

Clovis
Clovis

Clovis may refer to:In geography:* Clovis, California* Clovis, New MexicoIn royalty:* Clovis I, the first king of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler...
 and Anastasius I of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire and Eastern Roman Empire are conventional names used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople....
 agreed that each would attack the Goths
Goths

The Goths were East Germanic tribes who, in the 3rd and 4th centuries, invasion the Roman Empire and later adopted Arian Christianity. In the 5th and 6th centuries, divided as the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, they established powerful successor-states of the Roman Empire in the Iberian peninsula and Italy....
 on their own side.

The Franks crossed the Loire river
Loire River

The Loire is the longest river in France. With a length of , it drains an area of , which represents more than a fifth of France's land area....
. Clovis himself killed Alaric. It may have been that huge defections in the field, from optimates and gothic nobles was the cause of defeat, as an increased royal power in the clan of the Balths
Balti dynasty

The Balti dynasty, Baltungs, Balthings, or Balths, existed among the Visigoths, a Germanic tribe who confronted the Western Roman Empire in its declining years....
 was eroding the other clans independence. Rank families from the Goths have been sifting away to "distant" and derelict Spanish regions across the Pyrenees, according to Jordanes
Jordanes

Jordanes , was a 6th century Roman bureaucrat , who turned his hand to history later in life.Though he also wrote Romana , a book about the history of Rome, his most known work is his Getica, written in Constantinople about AD 551 ....
, where land tenure was for grabs in depopulated high plains of Castile and the draft in military duties was easier to dodge.The battle forced the Goths to retreat to Septimania
Septimania

Septimania was the western region of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis that passed under the control of the Visigoths in 462, when Septimania was ceded to their king, Theodoric II....
, which they continued to hold. The success at Vouillé allowed the Franks to control the southwestern part of France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
, and capture Toulouse. Alaric's illegitimate son Gesalec
Gesalec

Gesalic was king of the Visigoths from 507 through 511. He was the illegitimate son of Alaric II. When Alaric was killed in battle by the Franks, his only legitimate son, Amalaric, was a child....
 tried to organize a counterstrike at Narbonne
Narbonne

Narbonne is a commune in France in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon r?gion in France. It lies from Paris in the Aude d?partement in France, of which it is a sous-pr?fecture....
, but he was deposed and ultimately killed when Narbonne was taken by Burgundian allies of the Franks, who held it until 511. The Franks might have pushed farther, had Theodoric the Great
Theodoric the Great

File:Theodoric bronze weight inlaid with silver issued by prefect Catulinus Rome 493 526.jpg'Theodoric the Great' , known in Latin as 'Flavius Theodericus' and in Greek sources, was king of the Ostrogoths , ruler of Italy , and regent of the Visigoths ....
 not intervened.

Frankish Aquitaine
Aquitaine

Aquitaine , archaic Guyenne/Guienne , is one of the 26 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain....
, formerly linked to Hispano-Roman trade routes and territories, drifted into a role as an isolated outpost, to judge from the lack of trade items in its 7th and 8th century archaeology. Its Frankish kings resided at Toulouse
Toulouse

Toulouse is a commune of France in southwest France on the banks of the Garonne, half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea....
.

Clovis, the Frankish king, is an excellent example of the change of warfare that occurred at that time: wars were no longer about the conquest of territory with the view to its long term expansion; they provided immediate profit in the form of plunder. His very name meant 'glory by combat' and his successes in battle and his conversion to Christianity brought him Roman recognition. After his success in this battle the Byzantine
Byzantine

The word Byzantine may refer to:Topics directly related to the Byzantine Empire* A citizen of Byzantine Empire, or native Greeks during the Middle Ages ....
 emperor, Anastasius
Anastasius I (emperor)

Flavius Anastasius or Anastasius I was Byzantine Emperor from 11 April 491 until his death. He was born at Dyrrhachium not later than 430/431....
, made him a consul.