“The First Franco-Visigothic War and the Prelude to the Battle of Vouillé”

Materialisation of Conflicts. Proceedings of the Third International LOEWE-Conference, 24–27 September 2018 in Fulda. Ed. by Svend Hansen/Rüdiger Krause. (Universitätsforschungen zur prähistorischen Archäologie 346 = Prähistorische Konfliktforschung 4.) Bonn 2019, pp. 323–345, 2019

The complete volume can be accessed here: http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/51530 The LOEWE-project “Prehistoric Conflict Research” is determined in several new ways to interpret the archaeological evidence of Bronze Age fortifications. One way is the comparison with other non-modern cultures of conflict and their use of fortifications. In this paper, the conquest of Aquitaine by the Carolingian rulers of the Franks (760–769 CE) is taken as such an example. By analysing the (near-)contemporary historiographical record, the military role of fortifications in post-Roman warfare is discussed. It turns out that in the historiographers’ view, fortified settlements were focal points of military activity, and that combat occurred around them far more often than in the open field. Nonetheless, warfare in the surroundings of fortifications signified more than only sieges: the historiographical sources show a great variety of events connected to them as part of the war. Furthermore, a semantic inquiry of the material shows a special notion in texts concerning the “capture” of fortified settlements. This could be achieved not only by force, but also with diplomatic means, and the historiographers valued success higher than bravery. Moreover, the amount of violence seems to have been limited, as is indicated by the small number of destroyed fortifications and by the debates ensuing about one particular massacre (Clermont-Ferrand in 761 CE), which obviously was at odds with contemporary ideas about appropriate warfare. These results imply that archaeological research on conflict would benefit greatly from broadening its scope beyond actual battle events, in order to disclose the conflicts of Bronze Age Europe in all their complexity.

This revised version mostly expands and corrects the discussion of the succession and family relationships of the early Anglian kings of Bernicia; the emendations have a marginal bearing only on the general proposition regarding the dating of the siege. Contradictory evidence in the oldest sources has led to the assumption that the siege of Lindisfarne, during which Urien, King of Rheged, was murdered, took place in the late 590s. So too the Battle of Alt Clud Ford is normally assigned a date from 574 to c590. This paper reassesses the sources and proposes a date in the late 540s for both events, resolving, inter alia, problems regarding the time frame for the lives of "king" Arthur and his contemporaries.

This second revision expands further the discussion of the succession and family relationships of the early Anglian kings of Bernicia explaining the origin of the name "Bernicia"; the emendations have a marginal bearing only on the general proposition regarding the dating of the siege. Contradictory evidence in the oldest sources has led to the assumption that the siege of Lindisfarne, during which Urien, King of Rheged, was murdered, took place in the late 590s. So too the Battle of Alt Clud Ford is normally assigned a date from 574 to c590. This paper reassesses the sources and proposes a date in the late 540s for both events, resolving, inter alia, problems regarding the time frame for the lives of "king" Arthur and his contemporaries.

Perspectiva Teológica , 2024

The Visigothic King Gesalic, Isidore’s Historia Gothorum and the Goths’ Wars against the Franks and the Burgundians in the Years 507–514, 2017

A b s t r a c t: Historians dealing with the period of the early Middle Ages do not hold a high opinion of Gesalic, the king of the Visigoths. Gesalic is blamed for the defeats they suffered in the war against the Franks and the Burgundians in 507/08–11. Modern historians' opinions are based mainly on the work of Isidore of Seville who described Gesalic as a coward and a ruler deprived of luck (felicitas). In this article I argue that to pass an accurate judgment on the king it is necessary to take into account the real politico-military situation of the Visigothic kingdom in the years 508–11. K e y w o r d s: Gesalic, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Franks, Theoderic the Great, felicitas, ignavia.

2020

The presence of the Visigoths on the Iberian Peninsula went through certain crucial junctures in which the Tarraconensis province was the site of the manoeuvres of a people seeking a place to settle within the Roman Empire. In 418, they reached a pact (foederatio) which ushered in the period of the Kingdom of Toulouse, located in Aquitaine. Increasing pressure from the Franks led to the Battle of Vouillé in 507, which forced the Visigoths to retreat towards the Tarraconensis. Barcinona became the royal headquarters in the first half of the 6th century during the Ostrogoth protectorate, with Kings Gesalec, Amalaric and Theudis. We shall present a summary of the impact that the arrival of the Visigoths had on cities like Tarracona, Barchinona and Egara, along with the transformation of the habitat, walled villages and military fortifications, and the gradual abandonment of the Roman villas in light of recent historical-archaeological research.

Imago temporis: medium Aevum, 2015

The paper offers a historiographical revision of one of the less known episodes of the Great Occitan War: the expedition led by Alfonso the Cast in 1175 against the county of Toulouse. This action took place before a huge military campaign finished in 1177 with the submission of Niza and the county of Forcauquier, and it was a turning point in the Great Occitan War according its characteristics, duration and geographical extension (which was similar to the entity and duration of the campaigns that James I held in Mallorca and Valence in 13th century), as well as its territorial and politico-administrative incidence in the Crown of Aragon.

VIKINGS IN AQUITAINE AND THEIR CONNECTIONS, NINTH TO EARLY ELEVENTH CENTURIES , 2021

After the Bretons’ expulsion of the Northmen from Brittany in 939 with one exception they were not to return until sometime in the late 950s. This in no way means that there were no Northmen in France or indeed in the Low Countries during this period. The Northmen of Rouen were still very present both under Rollo’s son William Longsword and, following his murder on the banks of the river Somme in late 942, during the early and difficult years of his young son Richard I. There were also other groups of Northmen operating in northern Francia and the Low Countries during these years. What seems clear is that with the exception of an attack on the Breton district of Dol in 944 there seem to have been no Scandinavian attacks on the Armorican peninsula nor more certainly on the Loire or in Aquitaine south of the Loire for nearly two decades. Then suddenly in the late 950s the coasts of Brittany suffered a new wave of Scandinavian raids culminating in a major attack on the city of Nantes. What actually happened? Who were these Northmen? And where had they appeared from? For more than a hundred years historians have placed these raids at the door of the young Richard I of Normandy, or alternatively have the attacks being undertaken by some unidentified group of mercenary Northmen acting on Richard’s account. These attacks have also invariably been linked with the purported ‘Norman War’ between Richard and, among others, Theobald the Trickster count of Blois. This was a struggle in which the fighting parts took place according to the usual dating between 961 and 962 and which was resolved somewhat later when, according to Dudo of Saint-Quentin, many of these Northmen were finally induced to leave Francia for Spain. After having presented all the available source evidence for these attacks and their chronology our attention will be turned to any possible connection there might have been with the so-called Norman War. It will be argued that most, possibly all, of Dudo of Saint-Quentin’s long tale of this ‘war’ is not history at all but is a novel-like amalgam cobbled together from real events at different periods in order to show Richard I in a heroic light and as the centre of events. There is no support for the theory that this ‘war’ had anything to do with the Scandinavian attacks on coastal Brittany and Nantes. Next, we will explore the question of where the Northmen responsible for these raids might have come from and gone to. The most likely original origin is the British Isles, in particular Scandinavian York, although they might also be linked to the Cotentin. One theory which might be suggested is that the Northmen the canon of Saint-Quentin says were called in to help Richard I in the early 960s could have been those who had recently made the attacks on Brittany. If such ‘auxiliaries’ did in fact come to northern Neustria then this is possible. Finally, after having considered Hugh of Fleury’s ‘evidence’ about Alani and Deiri being amongst these auxiliaries it will be suggested that maybe no such Northmen ever came to Richard’s aid in the early 960s.

Networks and Neighbours, 2018

Battles, as well as the information related to military matters, always have been an important part of Visigothic history-medieval and modern. Such information has been transmitted amongst various political circles and, partly because of that, there exists different interpretations of the most important events in the history of the Visigoths. Despite previous and lingering historiographical disagreements, most contemporary and near-contemporary sources of the period describe the Battle of Vouillé and its consequences as a catastrophic event for the Visigoths. The negative portrayal of the episode is magnified by two events that are present in most of the sources: the death of King Alaric II (r. 485-507), and the theft of the royal Visigothic treasure. The aim of this essay is to analyze the manner in which sources composed in Hispania, compared as well as to sources written outside the Regnum, describe warfare and military events related to the Visigoths during the sixth and seventh centuries. To conceptualize the contemporary historiography of this major event, I will focus on the possible character of the audiences and the authorial intentions (political, ideological, and cultural) behind these fragments of military information.