Chapter 7: This is Why We Fight
Chapter 7: This is Why We Fight
With fire and fury fearsome Theodemir
Slew the Salins the slayers of his son
The plains of Paris he purged of life
Watering the wheat with the weeping tears
Of the fearless Franks and the ill-fortuned Walings.
- Excerpt from “The Merovungenleid”
Outside of Ravenna, Kingdom of the Ostrogoths
May 545
Theodemir, King of the Ostrogoths, Visigoths and Italy, sat heavily upon his horse, slumping forward in his saddle. The last year had not been kind to the King; the death, no murder, of his eldest son had driven him into a rage and then a deep depression. Theodebert had been his pride and joy; the absence of the boy from his life continued to weigh heavy upon the King’s heart.
Theodemir had always been single minded. It had been by sheer force of will that he had pushed through the reforms of his kingdoms, and had crushed the rebellions against him. His goal had always been the same; the preservation of the Gothic people, and securing for them a place of respect in history. But now that quest was being overshadowed by a stronger desire; vengeance for the death of his son, and the destruction of Clothair, and everything that he had built.
“The army is ready to march, Father.”
Theodemir looked over and nodded at his second son, Amalaric. The young man had insisted on coming on the campaign after Theodemir had revealed his intent to have his son stay in Ravenna and act as steward in his absence. It was the right choice; Amalaric was now the heir-apparent, and he needed to have the support of the military if he hoped to hold the kingdom together. And, besides, Theodebert had been his brother as well; and, unlike in most royal households, they had been close. But Theodemir was still worried about his decision to let Amalaric accompany the army. He knew his son was a skilled fighter, but battles were chaotic, and accidents were always a possibility. Having lost one son, he was terrified of losing another. And, even more than that, the king would himself possessed of an almost superstitious fear; his second son had been named Amalaric after the former king of the Visigoths, Theodemir’s cousin who had been like a little brother to him. That Amalaric had been taken from him by the Franks; cut down in battle after the three Meroving brothers had invades Aquitaine. Was history about to repeat itself?
“We have lost so much to those men,” the King muttered to himself.
“I would hardly call them men, Father,” Amalaric said, “more like rabid dogs. I’ll gut Clothair myself if I find him”
“Watch your temper,” Theodemir said, “the last thing you need to do is to charge blindly into battle and get yourself killed. Clothair will meet his doom, but I will not lose another son to that man. I won’t lose anyone else to the Merovings, ever again.”
“I won’t do anything stupid, Father.”
“You’d best not, because if you want to die so bad I’ll kill you myself, and save Clothair the trouble. We are Amali; we don’t act stupid.”
Amalaric bowed his head, and seemed to sulk. Well, just as well. He had always been more given to brooding than either his brother or father. Whereas Theodebert had been given to boldness, Amalaric had always been content to staying in the background. If life had taken a different turn, the younger son might have made quite the scholar some day; he had always been much more at home amongst his books than the martial arts. But God had laid down a different path, and there was no arguing with the Almighty, no matter how cruel his actions sometimes appeared. Not for the first time Theodemir reminded himself that God had seen his own son tortured and killed, after all.
Theodemir sighed, a common expression these days, and placed his hand on his son’s shoulder. “Don’t sulk like that, it’s not becoming of a prince. You wanted to be here after all. Now, stay by my side and you’ll do fine. When this is all over, we’re going to have Clothair’s head on a pike!”
The Glory of Emaneric’s Heirs: the Lectures of Dr. Valamir Fralet
Trans. Edwin Smith
Bern [OTL: Verona, Italy]: Skipmann and Sons Publishing, 1997
…
The death of Theodebert came as a great shock to Theodemir. The feud between the Amalings and Merovings had claimed many lives in both sides of the conflict: Clovis, King of the Franks, his son Clodomir, Alaric, King of the Visigoths, and his son Amalaric, to name only the most prominent. However, all of these deaths had occurred on the field of battle; the assassination of Theodebert was different, and it spurred the Gothic king into a rage. He vowed to destroy Clothair, and anyone else who stood by his side.
It is difficult to fully understand Clothair’s motivations in breaking with the style of the conflict; he left few sources behind, and most of what we know of him comes from Gothic sources, which continually painted him as a brute and a fool. The few references which come to us from later Frankish histories were recorded years after Clothair’s death, and so are equally unreliable.
However, it is possible to make a few educated guesses. First of all, the death of Clovis on the battle field was a tragedy for the Franks, but not an unexpected one considering the life that he had led. Society at the time expected that Clovis’s children would seek vengeance, which they attempted to do in 531, invading the Kingdom of the Visigoths. The crushing defeat of the Merovings, and the tribute imposed upon them by the peace treaty, only furthered the humiliation. But, perhaps just as important, was Aquitaine itself; the Franks desire for that province had led to Clovis’ invasion and death, and the conquering of that territory had been one of the stated aims of the 531 invasion as well.
In any case, Clothair must have known that his killing of Theodebert would lead to another war between the Franks and the Goths. He likely hoped that the threat of Theodemir would lead his brothers, Childebert and Theudoric to his defense. Coupled with his new allies, the Burgundians, Clothair must have felt that he had enough strength to vanquish the Goths on the field of battle. If so, he grossly miscalculated; although Childebert did openly ally with Clothair, Theudoric spurred his brothers’ talk of an alliance and remained neutral in the war.
…
Theodemir spent the remainder of 544 and the beginning of 545 marshalling his forces for the coming war. Although the core of his army was constituted by Goths from both East and West Gothland, he also relied heavily upon Romans from Italy and Hispania. Although it is impossible to know for certain the total size of the forces that Theodemir had brought together, Wulfila does give us an estimate of one army of 50,000 and a smaller force of 20,000. However, by Wulfila’s own admission, he was not well versed in military affairs, and so it is difficult to say for certain if his estimates were correct.
Theodemir’s strategy for the campaign itself was rather bold. Clothair’s forces had been moving into Burgundy for several months, where he was shoring up his defenses, anticipating the Gothic attack. Knowing this, Theodemir planned a feint; he would send his smaller army of 20,000 directly into Burgundy to engage Clothair and distract the Frankish king. Meanwhile, Theodemir’s main forces would move north, through the Alps, and seize Aventicum. It was a dangerous gambit, and one that would prove costly, but it was designed to take Clothair completely by surprise and keep him disorientated.
The Life of Theodemir the Great
Wulfila Strabo
Trans. Athelrad Edwardson
London: National University of England Publishing, 1964
…
The crossing of the Alps was treacherous, but all were motivated by an overwhelming desire to destroy Clothair’s forces. The death of Theodebert had been a great shock to the Goths and Romans, and all men were united in a desire to gain revenge for his treacherous slaying. Our love of Theodebert and Theodemir, both, held us together during the worst of the march. I, who am not even a soldier, but a scholar, marched side by side with those brave men, and bore my weight well. [FN1]
We were in luck. Upon coming to Aventicum, the citizens were so shocked by our presence, that they threw the gates open to us, and welcomed Theodemir as if he were their own king. We later found out that Gundomar King was very unpopular within the region as he had chosen to ally himself with the Franks against the Goths. Although Aventicum is a poor city, nowhere near as grand as it once was, we found ourselves treated well by the citizenry, and were soon refreshed and ready to march on Clothair, himself.
Clothair was shocked by the arrival of such a large army to his North; he must have known that the army that had been harrying him was not Theodemir’s main force, but did not know where we would attack him. Our appearance in Aventicum startled him, and he chose to pull out from the capital at Vienne, and marched to meet us.
Our two armies met near the city of Geneva. It was a great battle, and many men fell on both sides. But, in the end Theodemir was victorious; our smaller army arrived and caught Clothair’s flank, and his army retreated from the field; they had been beaten, but not defeated. The Franks, and the remainders of the Burgundians, retreated to Childebert’s Kingdom of Paris where they found reinforcements. Theodemir was left occupying Burgundy; as the Gundobar had fallen in battle, the kingdom was left without a king. [FN2]
Alas, if only Clothair had also fallen that day, so many lives would have been spared, for Theodemir was still enraged, and nothing by the death of his son’s killer would satisfy him any longer. If Clothair had died then, perhaps Theodemir would have been spared the single greatest weight upon his heart. But God does not work according to our desires but, rather, to the unfolding of his own plan. Clothair lived and the war continued.
[FN1] Wulfila is trying to not sound too arrogant here but he is certainly sproud of his ability to carry his own weight during the march.
[FN2] Wulfila is not a military man, and so his grasp of tactics is rather lacking, meaning that his depictions of battles are short and to the point, and a bit flat. The fact that this means that this author doesn’t have to go into many of the details of battles, which he knows little about either, is entirely coincidental I assure you!
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All right, at long last we get to the great war between the Franks and the Goths. I'll finish it up in another post (hopefully tonight!) and then we get to turn our eyes to the East to figure out what those Romans are up to!