Gothic war against Aegidius

For Aegidius, who consolidated his power over northern Gaul, Agrippinus was not a threat. Ricimer's plan to separate the Gallic army failed, because the troops remained loyal to Aegidius. Instead of that the alliance that Ricimer forged with Theodoric II was a much greater danger, although it took some time before the Gothic army was on full strength. Most of the Gothic army waged war against the Suevens in Spain. The sources do not report fightings in 462, but there may have been an attack on the city of Narbonne by the Goths where Agrippinus would have been cornered by Aegidius.^[5] For this reason, Emperor Libius Serverus would abandon the city of Narbonne in exchange for support, giving the Goths access to the Middle Sea.^[6] Except for this battle at Narbonne, it seems that Aegidius in 462 successfully defended his domains against the Goths and even made an attempt to attack Ricimer in Italy.^[7]

Agrippinus was replaced in 462 or 463 by the Burgundian rex Gundioc whose foederati had managed to prevent the advance of Aegdius. A reason for this move is not mentioned in the sources. Does this mean that Agrippinus had been ineffective against Aegidius and that the task was given to Gundioc because he had distinguished himself in a fight against Aegidius, or does it simply mean that Ricimer promoted the career of his barbaric relatives?

In the year 463, the struggle for power in Gaul was further sharpened when the Aquitaine Goths invaded the north and clashed with Aegidius' troops. Theodoric had made peace with the Suevens in Spain and was thus able to free troops that could be deployed against Aegidius. This army was led by his younger brother Frederic who had already fought battles in Spain. Aegidius mobilized his army and reinforced it with Frankish and Alanise foederati. According to Marius of Avenches the fighings took place between the Loire and the Loir and ended in a decisive battle near Orléans, the city of great importance for the control over central and northern Gaul. During this battle, the Goths carried out a large-scale attack on the troops of Aegidius, but the Roman with his army was able to hold out. The battle was fierce and bloody, and the Gallo-Roman army managed to break through the Gothic lines. In the chaos of the battle, Frederic, the brother of Theodoric II, was killed in action.^[8] His death did not only meant a personal loss for Theodoric, but also undermined the moral position of the Goths in Gaul.

Furthermore it is possible that the Goths were also defeated near Chinon, but the evidence for this is paper thin because the sources do not explicitly mention this. The account of Gregory of Tours indicates several battles in which the Frankish general Childeric was involved. ^[9]

The defeat at Orléans forced the Goths to withdraw and Aegidius temporarily gave the upron in his territory of power north of the Loire, the "Roman Gaul" which is sometimes called the "Regnum Aegidius". The loss of Frederick was a great personal and strategic defeat for Theodoric II, but it did not stop the Goths from further expanding in the following decades. Shortly afterwards (464 or 465) Aegidius died, under mysterious circumstances – possibly poisoned. He was first successed by Paul of Childeric, and eventually by his son Syagrius. They maintained Roman rule for about 20 years, until it was conquered by Clovis in 486 during the Franco-Roman War.

• Priscus – Fragments
• Gregory of Tours – Historia Francorum
• Hydatius – Chronicon
• Sidonius Apollinaris – Letters
• Jordanes
• Prosper Tiro
• Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (PLRE)

• MacGeorge, Penny (2002). Late Roman Warlords. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191530913.
• Wijnendaele, Jeroen W.P. (2024). De wereld van Clovis, De val van Rome en de geboorte van het Westen [The World of Clovis, The Fall of Rome and the Birth of the West] (in Dutch). Ertsberg.