Catholic inhabitants of Gaul, both in the Burgundian and in the Visigothic provinces, looked upon Clovis as the leader destined to deliver them from Arian oppression. Even during the reign of Euric, there had been serious disagreement between the Catholic element and the monarch, which had given rise to persecution. The ground was therefore well prepared, and from the evidence of contemporary chroniclers it is clear that Clovis did not fail to take advantage of this inclination on the part of the Catholics, and that he stirred up public opinion in his favour. This led Alaric to adopt rigorous measures in the case of sundry Catholic bishops, whom he banished on the more or less well-founded charge of conspiring with the Franks. In due course Alaric prepared for war. He summoned to arms all his subjects, Visigoths and Gallo-Romans, clergy and laymen, collected sums of money, and when war was imminent (506) he tried to conciliate the Catholic clergy and the Roman element as a whole by the publication of the code which bears his name (the Breviarium Alarici), and by other demonstrations of tolerance. The code consisted of passages of Roman Law, which only applied to questions of private legislation among the non- Visigothic population. Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, who was related by marriage to Alaric and Clovis, attempted to avert war by personal mediation, to which, at his instigation, were added the entreaties of the Burgundians, Thuringians, Warni, and Heruli, old friends of Euric. This mediation, to which Cassiodorus alludes, only served to postpone the crisis.
War broke out in 507. On the part of Clovis it was a war of religion, to free Gaul from the Arian heretics. Yet his policy was not quite so effectual as we might have expected, for a considerable part of Alaric's Catholic subjects fought on his side, displaying great courage. This was the case with the people of Auvergne, who, under the command of Apollinaris, son of the famous bishop Sidonius, formed an important element of the Visigothic army. It was a short campaign. The decisive battle was fought in the Campus Vocladensis, which seems to correspond to Vouillé, near Poitiers, on the banks of the river Clain.[1] The battle proved disastrous to Alaric, who was himself slain by Clovis. As a result of this victory, the Franks possessed themselves of the greater part of Gothic Gaul. At the close of 507, Clovis seized Bordeaux; in the spring of 508, he took Toulouse, where he laid hands on the treasure of Alaric; shortly afterwards, he entered Angoulême. His son Theodoric conquered the country round Albi and Rodez, and the small towns on the Burgundian frontier. Moreover, the dioceses of Eauze, Bazas, and Auch were incorporated into the Frankish kingdom. To the Visigoths remained only the district afterwards called Septimania, bounded by the Cevennes, the Rhone, and the sea, with its capital at Narbonne.
- ↑ There is some dispute about the exact site.
