511: Death of Clovis, King of the Franks, Who Built the Frankish Kingdom by Conquest in the Decay of the Roman Empire

Conquests of Clovis I, King of the Franks up to 511, the year of his Death. Reigned 481-511.(source)."Clovis is important in the historiography of France as "the first king of what would become France".His name is Germanic, composed of the elements hlod ("fame") and wig ("combat"), and is the origin of the later French given name Louis, borne by 18 kings of France. Dutch, the most closely related modern language to Frankish, reborrowed the name as Lodewijk from German in the 12th century."

His four-decade reign marked the transition from Roman to Germanic rule in Gaul.

His realm to be divided among his four sons.

511 Death of Clovis I, King of the Franks, after 40-year reign. Founder of the Merovingian Dynasty and builder of the Frankish Kingdom from its small realm in present-day northern France (which had inherited from ihs father) to one that encompassed nearly all of what had been Roman Gaul.  He is originally buried in St. Genevieve Church, later moved to St Denis.

507 Franks rout the Visigoths at the Battle of Vouillé in southern Gaul and force them to retreat into Spain. Frankish Kingdom of Clovis now stretches to the Pyrenées.

496 Clovis I, King of the Franks, converts to Christianity. "Clovis converted to Catholicism at the instigation of his wife, Clotilde, a Burgundian princess who was a Catholic in spite of the Arianism that surrounded her at court. He was baptized on Christmas Day, 496, in a small church in the vicinity of the subsequent Abbey of Saint-Remi in Reims; a statue of him being baptized by Saint Remigius can still be seen there. Clovis and his wife were buried in the Abbey of St Genevieve (St. Pierre) in Paris; the original name of the church was the Church of the Holy Apostles."

486 Battle of Soissons. Syagrius defeated by Clovis I, flees to the Visigoths.  Kingdom of Soissons conquered by the Franks. Final end of Roman rump state in Gaul, which had continued exist after the deposition of the last Western Emperor.  Realm of the Franks under Clovis almost doubles in size, now stretching to the Loire.  "While Childeric had seen no need to overthrow the last Roman foothold in the west, Clovis assembled an army, issued a challenge, and met Syagrius's forces. Few details are known of the subsequent clash, the Battle of Soissons, but Syagrius was decisively defeated and fled. His domain passed to the Franks. Syagrius fled to the Visigoths (under Alaric II), but Clovis threatened war and the Visigoths handed Syagrius over for execution. Consequently, the realm of the Franks almost doubled in size; its border was now on the Loire adjacent to the realm of the Visigoth."


481/482 Childeric I, King of the Franks and father of Clovis, dies. Buried at Tournai. His son Clovis I succeedes him as king of the Salian Franks.

(source) Ring with image of Childeric, father of Clovis I and King of the Franks to 481. Copy : the original was stolen in 1831.

480 Julius Nepos, former Wester Roman Emperor, dies. After his death the Western Court is formally abolished by the Emperor Zeno in Constantinople. Nepos been deposed as Western Emperor in 475 in favor of Romulus Augustus (died 476). Syagrius subsequently emerges as lest representative of Roman rule in northern Gaul. "In the final collapse of the Western Roman Empire between 476 and 480, Syagrius was the only remaining representative of Roman rule in the area between the Loire and the Somme. He preserved his father's rump state, the Domain of Soissons, between the Somme and the Loire, calling himself dux."

The Western and Eastern Roman Empires in 476 AD. The Kingdom of Soissons (Syagrius) is the detached portion in northern Gaul. Still under nominal Roman authority until 486 when it was conquered by Clovis I, King of the Franks. (source)

Domain of Syagrius, Roman official (Kingdom of Soissons, to 486). (source)

476 Deposition of Romulus Augustus, often described as the last Emperor of the West, by Roman general Odoacer. Odoacer becomes first King of Italy. "His reign is commonly seen as marking the end of the Western Roman Empire.Though the real power in Italy was in his hands, he represented himself as the client of Julius Nepos and, after Nepos' death in 480, of the Emperor in Constantinople. Odoacer generally used the Roman honorific patrician, granted by the Emperor Zeno, but is referred to as a king (Latin rex) in many documents and he himself used it at least once and on another occasion it was used by the consul Basilius. Odoacer introduced few important changes into the administrative system of Italy. He had the support of the Roman Senate and was able to distribute land to his followers without much opposition."

Tremissis of Romulus Augustus, last Roman Emperor of the West (475-476), equal to one-third of a solidus. Clovis i would conquer his remaining Roman dominions in Gaul. (source)

475 Western Roman Emperor, Julius Nepos (nephew of the Eastern empress), is overthrown by his magister militum, the aristocratic Flavius Orestes, who had once been a trusted official of Attila, Rather than take the throne himself, Orestes had his young son, Romulus Augustulus, crowned emperor.

Tremissis of Julius Nepos, Western Roman Empeor to 474-475. He was overthrown in favor Romulus Augustus after a brief reign.  AV Tremissis (1.39 gm). Milan mint. D N IVL NEPOS P F AVG, pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right Cross in wreath; COMOB. RIC X 3221; Lacam 85.  (source)

469 Childeric I, King of the Salian Franks, and Count Paul retake Angers from Odoacer. "Saxon raiders under the command of Odoacer reached Angers and captured it, but Childeric and Count Paul retook the city in 469. Childeric, having delivered Angers, followed a Saxon warband to the islands on the Atlantic mouth of the Loire, and massacred them there."

464 Syagrius succeeds to kingship of Soissons, upon death of his father Aegidius. "Syagrius was the son of Aegidius, the last Roman magister militum per Gallias."

461Western Emperor Marjoram dies. His magistrate in Gaul, Aegidius creates Roman remnant state at Soissons in the wake of his death. "Roman Emperor Majorian (457–461) had appointed Aegidius as magister militum of  Roman Gaul. When Emperor Majorian lost his authority and his life to Ricimer in 461, Aegidius maintained his own rule in much of his province in  Gaul, creating a Roman remnant state that came to be known as the Kingdom of Soissons. In the chaos of contemporary Gaul, he maintained his power against Franks to his east and Visigoths to his south; his relations to the Romano-British of Brittany may have been friendly. Aegidius died in 464 or 465. His son Syagrius succeeded to the rule"

458 Battle of Arelate (Arles) between Western Roman Emperor Majorian and Visigothic king Theodoric II. After the assassination of Flavius Aetius in 454, the Visigoths began to expand their kingdom at the expense of the crumbling Roman administration in Gaul and Hispania. When Majorian became emperor in 457, the Visigoths under king Theodoric II had just recently defeated the Suebic Kingdom in north-west Hispania and were consolidating their hold on the rest of the peninsula."

457/458 Childeric I, son of Merovech, becomes King of the Salian Franks. (French: Childéric, Latin: Childericus; c. 440 – 481/482). "succeeded his father Merovech as king of the Salian Franks, traditionally in 457 or 458 By 457 at the latest he was the ruler of the Franks in the territory covering Tournai and the Lys valley. He may have had power over further territories to the south, but the sources are unclear on this. According to Gregory of Tours, Childeric was exiled at some point, the reason being traditionally given as Frankish unhappiness with Childeric's private life. Gregory further records that the Franks recalled Childeric after 8 years of exile"

Impero d'occidente, maggioriano, solido in oro (arles), 457-461 . Roman solidus minted under Emperor Majoram during 457-461. (source)

457 Roman General Majoram overthrows the Western Emperor Avitus. "Majorian was the last of the Western Roman Emperors who was able to try to recover the Western Empire on its own forces. His successors until the fall of the Empire, in 476/480, were actually instruments in the hands of their barbarian generals, or emperors chosen and controlled by the Eastern Roman court. According to historian Edward Gibbon, Majorian "presents the welcome discovery of a great and heroic character, such as sometimes arise, in a degenerate age, to vindicate the honour of the human species""

455 Sack of Rome by the Vandals.

454 Assassination of Flavius Aetius,

454 The Battle of Nedao (present-day Hungary). The Hunnic Empire is dismantled by a coalition of their Germanic vassals.

453 Death of Attila.

451 Battle of the Catalaunian Plains. Romans and Frankish allies break the Hunnish advance into Gaul (approximately the region of Champagne-Ardenne in the northeastern part of present-day France)  a coalition led by the Roman general Flavius Aetius and the Visigothic king Theodoric I fought against the invading Huns and their vassals commanded by their king Attila. It was one of the last major military operations of the Western Roman Empire, although Germanic federates composed the majority of the coalition army. The battle was strategically inconclusive: the Romans stopped the Huns' attempt to establish vassals in Roman Gaul, and installed Merovech as king of the Franks. However, the Huns successfully looted and pillaged much of Gaul and crippled the military capacity of the Romans and Visigoths.

410 Sack of Rome by the Visigoths under Alaric.

406-407 Romans lose control of the Rhine to Germanic invaders. "The breach of the Rhine borders in the frozen winter of 406 and 407 made an end to the Roman presence at the Rhine when both the Romans and the allied Franks were overrun by a tribal migration en masse of Vandals and Alans."

358 Franks (Germanic tribe) cross the Rhine to become foedrati in northern Gaul (Barbarians invited into the Empire to settle peacefully in frontier lands). "The Roman Emperor Julian let them keep the areas in northern Gaul, which had been depopulated during the preceding century. Roman soldiers defended the Rhine and had major armies 100 miles (160 km) south and west of the Rhine. Frankish settlers were established in the areas north and east of the Romans and helped with the Roman defense by providing intelligence and a buffer state in place."

337 Death of Constantine the Great.

325 Constantine the Great calls the First Council of Nicaea. Unification of Christian doctrine in the Nicene Creed. Arianism declared a heresy.

324 Constantine the Great moves the capital of the Empire from Rome to Byzantium, which is rededicated as Constantinople in 330.

Solidus of Constantine the Great, minted around 324 or 325, the year that Constantine moved the capital east from Rome to Byzantium. (source).

313 Constantine the Great issues Edict of Milan, proclaiming toleration of Christianity in the Empire.

306 Constantine the Great becomes Roman Emperor.

301 Diocletian introduces a new gold coin, the solidus. "The solidus was introduced by Diocletian in AD 301 as a replacement of the aureus, composed of relatively solid gold and minted 60 to the Roman pound. His minting was on a small scale, however, and the coin only entered widespread circulation under Constantine I after AD 312, when it permanently replaced the aureus. Constantine's solidus was struck at a rate of 72 to a Roman pound (of about 328.9 g) of pure gold; each coin weighed 24 Greco-Roman carats or about 4.5 grams of gold per coin. By this time, the solidus was worth 275,000 increasingly debased denarii. The solidus was maintained essentially unaltered in weight, dimensions and purity until the 10th century. During the 6th and 7th centuries "lightweight" solidi of 20, 22 or 23 siliquae (one siliqua was 1/24 of a solidus) were struck along with the standard weight issues, presumably for trade purposes or to pay tribute. Many of these lightweight coins have been found in Europe, Russia and Georgia. The lightweight solidi were distinguished by different markings on the coin, usually in the exergue for the 20 and 22 siliquae coins and by stars in the field for the 23 siliquae coins."

300 Establishment of the Roman Catholic diocese of Soissons ? "Au III^e siècle, la ville d'Augusta Suessionum est d'une importance comparable aux cités de Durocortorum (Reims), Rotomagus (Rouen) ou Samarobriva (Amiens)."

258 Division of the Roman Empire into West and East by the Emperor Diocletian. "Both "Western Roman Empire" and "Eastern Roman Empire" (or "Byzantine Empire") are modern terms describing de facto independent entities; however, at no point did Romans consider the Empire split into two, but rather considered it a single state governed by two separate Imperial courts out of administrative expediency. The view that the Empire was impossible to govern by one emperor was established by Diocletian following the disastrous civil wars and disintegration of the Crisis of the 3rd century, and was instituted in Roman law by his introduction of the Tetrarchy in AD 285, a form of government which was legally to endure in one form or another for centuries. The Western Court was periodically abolished and recreated for the next two centuries until final abolition by the Emperor Zeno in 480, by which time there was little effective central control left in the area legally administered by the Western Court."

The decline of the antoninianus.

215 AD Emperor Caracalla introduces the antoninianus (double denarius).

57 BC Soissons in northern Gaul is mentioned by Julius Caesar. "Soissons enters written history under its Celtic name (as later borrowed in Latin), Noviodunum, meaning "new hillfort". At Roman contact, it was a town of the Suessiones, mentioned by Julius Caesar (B. G. ii. 12). Caesar (B.C. 57), after leaving the Axona (modern Aisne), entered the territory of the Suessiones, and making one day's long march, reached Noviodunum, which was surrounded by a high wall and a broad ditch. The place surrendered to Caesar."

211 BC First minting of the Roman silver denarius. "a small silver coin first minted about 211 BC during the Second Punic War. It became the most common coin produced for circulation but was slowly debased in weight and silver content until its replacement by the double denarius, called the antoninianus, early in the 3rd century AD."