Aegidius
Encyclopedia
Aegidius was a Gallo-Roman warlord of northern Gaul
. He had been promoted as magister militum
in Gaul
under Aëtius
around 450. An ardent supporter of Majorian
, Aegidius rebelled when Ricimer
deposed Majorian, engaging in several campaigns against the Visigoths and creating a Roman rump state that came to be known as the Domain of Soissons
. After winning an important victory over the Visigoths he died suddenly, and was succeeded by his son Syagrius
.
Ralph Mathisen points out the name of Aegidius' son, Syagrius, "would suggest that he was related to the Syagrii of Lyons, one of the oldest, most aristocratic families of Gaul. Aegidius, in fact, has been proposed as a grandson of Flavius Afranius Syagrius
, consul in 382". Other Syagrii Mathisen lists with a connection to Gaul are a great-grandson of Afranius, who had an estate at Taionnacus near Lyons, and a wealthy Syagria of Lyons who was described by Magnus Felix Ennodius
as thesaurus ecclesiae.
, Aegidius and Majorian were lieutenants of Aëtius, and campaigned together in northern Gaul. After Aëtius' murder Aegidius assumed the role his mentor had held, maintaining order between the foederati
and Romans in Gaul, but "while Aëtius had sought to preserve the equilibrium within the Gallic community with the help of Hunnic warriors from outside, Aegidius drew his support largely from the Salian Franks
under Clovis
' father Childeric
."
A legendary story known to both Gregory of Tours
and Fredegar tells that Childeric had fled to exile with the Thuringia
ns, he arranged with his faithful follower Wiomad to send him a message when to return. Wiomad then provoked the Franks against their new leader, Aegidius, while at the same time tricked the Emperor Maurice
into giving Childeric a great treasure for his return to his people. This shows that, at the minimum, some Franks were prepared to fight under a Roman leader.
When Avitus
had been deposed -- then killed -- by Ricimer, Majorian became the new emperor. One of his first acts was to replace comes
Agrippinus
with Aegidius, who then accused his predecessor of various kinds of treachery. Allegedly, Agrippinus was sent to Rome where he was tried and sentenced to death, but managed to escape prison, gain a pardon from the Emperor, returned to Gaul "exalted with honors." As a result, the two became rivals.
Next Majorian overawed with force the Visigoths of southern Gaul and their neighbors the Burgundians. Aegidius assisted this effort, marching down the Rhone, his troops burning and pillaging as they advanced, and he seized Lyons in 458, then in the next year allowed the Goths to encircle him at Arles
. "The Goths thought that they were supposed to perform the usual federate ritual outside the walls of the Gallic capital," writes Wolfram, "but they were rudely awakened from their daydreaming by an attack of Majorian and the 'Frankish' Aegidius."
. Aegidius refused to recognize Ricimer's new figurehead, Separated from Ricimer and Severus in Northern Gaul by the Visigoths and Burgunds, Aegidius was safe from any direct response they might make. Ricimer did accept as a supporter Aegidius' rival Agrippinus, whom contemporaries claimed betrayed Narbonne
to the Visigoths in return for their help. Aegidius was soon drawn into a war with the Visigoths; Hugh Elton suggests that Ricimer's puppet Emperor Severus had bribed the Visigoths to go to war against Aegidius.
Aegidius struck back by attacking Orleans with the help of Childeric, and the brother of king Theoderic, Frideric, was killed in the fighting. However, Aegidius did not press his victory; Elton speculates that Aegidius' attention was distracted by "increasing conflict with various Frankish groups on the north-eastern frontier or lack of resources." Hilton notes that Aegidius had other rivals beyond the Visgoths he needed to confront: there were Saxons in the Loire valley, Bretons under Riothamus
who fought the Visigoths, "sometimes in co-operation with the Italian imperial Romans", and other Roman factions led by the comites Paul and Arbogast. The boundaries of his 'kingdom', the Domain of Soissons
are not known with any precision. "Though often portrayed as an independent Roman state in north Gaul, Aegidius and Syagrius' 'kingdom' was probably not much bigger than a day's march from their army."
Hydatius
records that Aegidius sent an embassy to the Vandals via the Atlantic in May 464; that same year Hydatius records Aegidius's death due to either poison or ambush. Steven Muhlberger explains Hydatius knew of the first when the ships the embassy sailed on passed Gallaecia
, and the second through the rumors which reached his distant corner of Hispania. Gregory of Tours implies that he died of the plague. He was succeeded by his son Syagrius
.
preserves a fragment of a petition that the Britons, having been deprived of Roman
military protection after 410, wrote
to a "Roman commander Agitus, thrice consul". Although "practically all historians of dark-age Britain since Bede
" have thought Agitus was the Patrician Aëtius, more recent scholars Leslie Alcock and Mollie Miller have suggested this Agitus may be Aegidius. However the philologist Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson noted "there is no philological difficulty over Agitius = Aetius", which led Thomas D. O'Sullivan to dismiss this alternative identification.
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
. He had been promoted as magister militum
Magister militum
Magister militum was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine. Used alone, the term referred to the senior military officer of the Empire...
in Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
under Aëtius
Flavius Aëtius
Flavius Aëtius , dux et patricius, was a Roman general of the closing period of the Western Roman Empire. He was an able military commander and the most influential man in the Western Roman Empire for two decades . He managed policy in regard to the attacks of barbarian peoples pressing on the Empire...
around 450. An ardent supporter of Majorian
Majorian
Majorian , was the Western Roman Emperor from 457 to 461.A prominent general of the Late Roman army, Majorian deposed Emperor Avitus in 457 and succeeded him. Majorian was one of the last emperors to make a concerted effort to restore the Western Roman Empire...
, Aegidius rebelled when Ricimer
Ricimer
Flavius Ricimer was a Germanic general who achieved effective control of the remaining parts of the Western Roman Empire, during the middle of the 5th century...
deposed Majorian, engaging in several campaigns against the Visigoths and creating a Roman rump state that came to be known as the Domain of Soissons
Domain of Soissons
The Domain of Soissons, by later writers called the Kingdom of Soissons, Kingdom of Aegidius or the Kingdom of Syagrius, was a rump state of the Western Roman Empire in northern Gaul for some 25 years during Late Antiquity....
. After winning an important victory over the Visigoths he died suddenly, and was succeeded by his son Syagrius
Syagrius
Syagrius was the last Roman official in Gaul, whose defeat by king Clovis I of the Franks is considered the end of Roman rule outside of Italy. He came to this position through inheritance, for his father was Aegidius, the last Roman magister militum per Gallias...
.
Ralph Mathisen points out the name of Aegidius' son, Syagrius, "would suggest that he was related to the Syagrii of Lyons, one of the oldest, most aristocratic families of Gaul. Aegidius, in fact, has been proposed as a grandson of Flavius Afranius Syagrius
Flavius Afranius Syagrius
Flavius Afranius Syagrius was a Roman politician and administrator.- Life :Afranius' father was Clodoreius; it is unknown who his mother was. Afranius was also a member of the Gallic-Roman aristocratic family of the Syagrii, which originated in Lyon...
, consul in 382". Other Syagrii Mathisen lists with a connection to Gaul are a great-grandson of Afranius, who had an estate at Taionnacus near Lyons, and a wealthy Syagria of Lyons who was described by Magnus Felix Ennodius
Magnus Felix Ennodius
Magnus Felix Ennodius was Bishop of Pavia in 514, and a Latin rhetorician and poet.He was one of four fifth to sixth-century Gallo-Roman aristocrats whose letters survive in quantity: the others are Sidonius Apollinaris, prefect of Rome in 468 and bishop of Clermont , Ruricius bishop of Limoges ...
as thesaurus ecclesiae.
As official representative in Gaul
According to PriscusPriscus
Priscus of Panium was a late Roman diplomat, sophist and historian from Rumelifeneri living in the Roman Empire during the 5th century. He accompanied Maximinus, the ambassador of Theodosius II, to the court of Attila in 448...
, Aegidius and Majorian were lieutenants of Aëtius, and campaigned together in northern Gaul. After Aëtius' murder Aegidius assumed the role his mentor had held, maintaining order between the foederati
Foederati
Foederatus is a Latin term whose definition and usage drifted in the time between the early Roman Republic and the end of the Western Roman Empire...
and Romans in Gaul, but "while Aëtius had sought to preserve the equilibrium within the Gallic community with the help of Hunnic warriors from outside, Aegidius drew his support largely from the Salian Franks
Salian Franks
The Salian Franks or Salii were a subgroup of the early Franks who originally had been living north of the limes in the area above the Rhine. The Merovingian kings responsible for the conquest of Gaul were Salians. From the 3rd century on, the Salian Franks appear in the historical records as...
under Clovis
Clovis I
Clovis Leuthwig was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the leadership from a group of royal chieftains, to rule by kings, ensuring that the kingship was held by his heirs. He was also the first Catholic King to rule over Gaul . He was the son...
' father Childeric
Childeric I
Childeric I was a Merovingian king of the Salian Franks and the father of Clovis.He succeeded his father Merovech as king, traditionally in 457 or 458...
."
A legendary story known to both Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours
Saint Gregory of Tours was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of Gaul. He was born Georgius Florentius, later adding the name Gregorius in honour of his maternal great-grandfather...
and Fredegar tells that Childeric had fled to exile with the Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
ns, he arranged with his faithful follower Wiomad to send him a message when to return. Wiomad then provoked the Franks against their new leader, Aegidius, while at the same time tricked the Emperor Maurice
Maurice
Maurice is a given name used as a name or surname. It originates as a French name derived from the Roman Mauritius and was subsequently used in English speaking countries as well. It is of Latin origin, meaning "dark-skinned, Moorish", and might refer to:...
into giving Childeric a great treasure for his return to his people. This shows that, at the minimum, some Franks were prepared to fight under a Roman leader.
When Avitus
Avitus
Eparchius Avitus was Western Roman Emperor from July 8 or July 9, 455 to October 17, 456. A Gallic-Roman aristocrat, he was a senator and a high-ranking officer both in the civil and military administration, as well as Bishop of Piacenza.A representative of the Gallic-Roman aristocracy, he...
had been deposed -- then killed -- by Ricimer, Majorian became the new emperor. One of his first acts was to replace comes
Comes
Comes , plural comites , is the Latin word for companion, either individually or as a member of a collective known as comitatus, especially the suite of a magnate, in some cases large and/or formal enough to have a specific name, such as a cohors amicorum. The word comes derives from com- "with" +...
Agrippinus
Agrippinus (magister militum)
Agrippinus was a general of the Western Roman Empire, Magister militum per Gallias under emperors Valentinian III, Petronius Maximus, Avitus and Libius Severus.- Biography :...
with Aegidius, who then accused his predecessor of various kinds of treachery. Allegedly, Agrippinus was sent to Rome where he was tried and sentenced to death, but managed to escape prison, gain a pardon from the Emperor, returned to Gaul "exalted with honors." As a result, the two became rivals.
Next Majorian overawed with force the Visigoths of southern Gaul and their neighbors the Burgundians. Aegidius assisted this effort, marching down the Rhone, his troops burning and pillaging as they advanced, and he seized Lyons in 458, then in the next year allowed the Goths to encircle him at Arles
Arles
Arles is a city and commune in the south of France, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture, in the former province of Provence....
. "The Goths thought that they were supposed to perform the usual federate ritual outside the walls of the Gallic capital," writes Wolfram, "but they were rudely awakened from their daydreaming by an attack of Majorian and the 'Frankish' Aegidius."
As quasi-independent ruler
However, relations between Ricimer and Majorian soured; when Majorian's campaign in Hispania against the Vandals proved unsuccessful Ricimer deposed him (461), murdering another Emperor, replacing him with Libius SeverusLibius Severus
Flavius Libius Severus Serpentius was Western Roman Emperor from November 19, 461 to his death.A Roman senator from Lucania Severus was one of the last Western Emperors, emptied of any effective power , and unable to solve the many problems affecting the Empire; the sources...
. Aegidius refused to recognize Ricimer's new figurehead, Separated from Ricimer and Severus in Northern Gaul by the Visigoths and Burgunds, Aegidius was safe from any direct response they might make. Ricimer did accept as a supporter Aegidius' rival Agrippinus, whom contemporaries claimed betrayed Narbonne
Narbonne
Narbonne is a commune in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Once a prosperous port, it is now located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea...
to the Visigoths in return for their help. Aegidius was soon drawn into a war with the Visigoths; Hugh Elton suggests that Ricimer's puppet Emperor Severus had bribed the Visigoths to go to war against Aegidius.
Aegidius struck back by attacking Orleans with the help of Childeric, and the brother of king Theoderic, Frideric, was killed in the fighting. However, Aegidius did not press his victory; Elton speculates that Aegidius' attention was distracted by "increasing conflict with various Frankish groups on the north-eastern frontier or lack of resources." Hilton notes that Aegidius had other rivals beyond the Visgoths he needed to confront: there were Saxons in the Loire valley, Bretons under Riothamus
Riothamus
Riothamus was a Romano-British military leader, who was active circa AD 470. He fought against the Goths in alliance with the declining Roman Empire. He is called "King of the Britons" by the 6th-Century historian Jordanes, but the extent of his realm is unclear...
who fought the Visigoths, "sometimes in co-operation with the Italian imperial Romans", and other Roman factions led by the comites Paul and Arbogast. The boundaries of his 'kingdom', the Domain of Soissons
Domain of Soissons
The Domain of Soissons, by later writers called the Kingdom of Soissons, Kingdom of Aegidius or the Kingdom of Syagrius, was a rump state of the Western Roman Empire in northern Gaul for some 25 years during Late Antiquity....
are not known with any precision. "Though often portrayed as an independent Roman state in north Gaul, Aegidius and Syagrius' 'kingdom' was probably not much bigger than a day's march from their army."
Hydatius
Hydatius
Hydatius or Idacius , bishop of Aquae Flaviae in the Roman province of Gallaecia was the author of a chronicle of his own times that provides us with our best evidence for the history of the Iberian Peninsula in the 5th century.-Life:Hydatius was born around the year 400 in the...
records that Aegidius sent an embassy to the Vandals via the Atlantic in May 464; that same year Hydatius records Aegidius's death due to either poison or ambush. Steven Muhlberger explains Hydatius knew of the first when the ships the embassy sailed on passed Gallaecia
Gallaecia
Gallaecia or Callaecia, also known as Hispania Gallaecia, was the name of a Roman province and an early Mediaeval kingdom that comprised a territory in the north-west of Hispania...
, and the second through the rumors which reached his distant corner of Hispania. Gregory of Tours implies that he died of the plague. He was succeeded by his son Syagrius
Syagrius
Syagrius was the last Roman official in Gaul, whose defeat by king Clovis I of the Franks is considered the end of Roman rule outside of Italy. He came to this position through inheritance, for his father was Aegidius, the last Roman magister militum per Gallias...
.
A British connection?
GildasGildas
Gildas was a 6th-century British cleric. He is one of the best-documented figures of the Christian church in the British Isles during this period. His renowned learning and literary style earned him the designation Gildas Sapiens...
preserves a fragment of a petition that the Britons, having been deprived of Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
military protection after 410, wrote
Groans of the Britons
The Groans of the Britons is the name of the final appeal made by the Britons to the Roman military for assistance against barbarian invasion. The appeal is first referenced in Gildas' 6th-century De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae; Gildas' account was later repeated in Bede's Historia...
to a "Roman commander Agitus, thrice consul". Although "practically all historians of dark-age Britain since Bede
Bede
Bede , also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede , was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria...
" have thought Agitus was the Patrician Aëtius, more recent scholars Leslie Alcock and Mollie Miller have suggested this Agitus may be Aegidius. However the philologist Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson noted "there is no philological difficulty over Agitius = Aetius", which led Thomas D. O'Sullivan to dismiss this alternative identification.