The Battle of Vicus Helena was a clash between

Salian Franks The Salian Franks, also called the Salians (Latin: ''Salii''; Greek: Σάλιοι, ''Salioi''), were a northwestern subgroup of the early Franks who appear in the historical record in the fourth and fifth centuries. They lived west of the Lowe ...

led by

Chlodio Chlodio (probably died after 450), also Clodio, Clodius, Clodion, Cloio or Chlogio, was a Frankish king who attacked and then apparently ruled Roman-inhabited lands around Cambrai and Tournai, near the modern border of Belgium and France. He is ...

and

Roman soldiers This is a list of Roman army units and bureaucrats. *'' Accensus'' – Light infantry men in the armies of the early Roman Republic, made up of the poorest men of the army. *'' Actuarius'' – A military who served food. *''Adiutor'' – A camp o ...

commanded by general

Flavius Aetius Aetius (also spelled Aëtius; ; 390 – 454) was a Roman general and statesman of the closing period of the Western Roman Empire. He was a military commander and the most influential man in the Empire for two decades (433454). He managed pol ...

; the latter were victorious. It is attested in a limited number of late Roman and early Medieval sources, and reportedly occurred in or around the year 448 in the unidentified place of ''Vicus Helena'' somewhere in the ''Civitas Atrebatium'', modern

Artois Artois ( ; ; nl, Artesië; English adjective: ''Artesian'') is a region of northern France. Its territory covers an area of about 4,000 km2 and it has a population of about one million. Its principal cities are Arras (Dutch: ''Atrecht'') ...

Reconstruction

Context

The Franks were ''

foederati ''Foederati'' (, singular: ''foederatus'' ) were peoples and cities bound by a treaty, known as ''foedus'', with Rome. During the Roman Republic, the term identified the ''socii'', but during the Roman Empire, it was used to describe foreign stat ...

'' of the Romans, but regularly plundered towns and villages within the Roman Empire, and somewhere between 445 and 450, Salian Franks under Chlodio conquered the cities of ''Turnacum'' (modern

Tournai Tournai or Tournay ( ; ; nl, Doornik ; pcd, Tornai; wa, Tornè ; la, Tornacum) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies southwest of Brussels on the river Scheldt. Tournai is part of Euromet ...

) and ''Cameracum'' (

Cambrai Cambrai (, ; pcd, Kimbré; nl, Kamerijk), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department and in the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, regio ...

), which became centres of Frankish power. The capture of ''Cameracum'' must have happened after 443, because Gregory mentions the

Burgundians The Burgundians ( la, Burgundes, Burgundiōnes, Burgundī; on, Burgundar; ang, Burgendas; grc-gre, Βούργουνδοι) were an early Germanic tribe or group of tribes. They appeared in the middle Rhine region, near the Roman Empire, and ...

had already settled east of the river

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

. Next, the Franks expanded towards the

river Somme The Somme ( , , ) is a river in Picardy, northern France. The river is in length, from its source in the high ground of the former at Fonsomme near Saint-Quentin, to the Bay of the Somme, in the English Channel. It lies in the geological ...

. Around 448, the city of

Nemetocenna Arras ( , ; pcd, Aro; historical nl, Atrecht ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department, which forms part of the region of Hauts-de-France; before the reorganization of 2014 it was in Nord-Pas-de-Calais. The historic centre of t ...

(modern

Arras Arras ( , ; pcd, Aro; historical nl, Atrecht ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department, which forms part of the regions of France, region of Hauts-de-France; before the regions of France#Reform and mergers of ...

) was probably sacked by the Franks as well.

Battle

Roman general

Majorian Majorian ( la, Iulius Valerius Maiorianus; died 7 August 461) was the western Roman emperor from 457 to 461. A prominent general of the Roman army, Majorian deposed Emperor Avitus in 457 and succeeded him. Majorian was the last emperor to make ...

, who would become the Western Roman emperor in 457, reportedly suppressed a revolt of the Bagaudae in

Armorica Armorica or Aremorica (Gaulish: ; br, Arvorig, ) is the name given in ancient times to the part of Gaul between the Seine and the Loire that includes the Brittany Peninsula, extending inland to an indeterminate point and down the Atlantic Coast ...

in 448, and then successfully defended ''Turonum'' (

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...

) against a siege. 'Shortly thereafter', according to Sidonius, the Franks led by 'Cloio' (Chlodio), who were holding a

wedding reception A wedding reception is a party usually held after the completion of a marriage ceremony as hospitality for those who have attended the wedding, hence the name reception: the couple ''receive'' society, in the form of family and friends, for t ...

, were ambushed by the Romans near ''Vicus Helena''. Aetius directed the operations while Majorian fought with the cavalry. The Romans emerged victorious.

Sources

Most surviving information about the Battle of Vicus Helena comes from the ''

Panegyric A panegyric ( or ) is a formal public speech or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing. The original panegyrics were speeches delivered at public events in ancient Athens. Etymology The word originated as a compound of grc, ...

to Majorian'', written in praise of Majorian's military exploits in 458 by

Sidonius Apollinaris Gaius Sollius Modestus Apollinaris Sidonius, better known as Sidonius Apollinaris (5 November of an unknown year, 430 – 481/490 AD), was a poet, diplomat, and bishop. Sidonius is "the single most important surviving author from 5th-century Gaul ...

: Some circumstantial information is provided by

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Florenti ...

in his ''History of the Franks'' (Book 2, Chapter 9).

Location and date

For centuries, scholars have not been able to locate ''Vicus Helena'', nor been able to determine the precise date of the battle. In ''

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'' is a six-volume work by the English historian Edward Gibbon. It traces Western civilization (as well as the Islamic and Mongolian conquests) from the height of the Roman Empire to th ...

'' Volume VI (1789),

Edward Gibbon Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English historian, writer, and member of parliament. His most important work, ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788, is k ...

stated that 'both the name and the place are discovered by modern geographers at

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements''), ...

'. Writing for the ''Magasin encyclopédique'' in 1797, Guilmot claimed to have discovered it as the village of Évin, on the road between Tournai and Arras. Alexandre-Joseph-Hidulphe Vincent published an essay in 1840, arguing that neither Lens nor

Hesdin Hesdin (; vls, Heusdin) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. Geography The N39, from Arras to Montreuil, used to be the main thoroughfare of the town. In the 1950s, a circular route was created to help traffic flo ...

(two popular candidates in his time) was plausible, but that Allaines near the

Mont Saint-Quentin Mont Saint-Quentin overlooks the Somme River in the region of Picardie approximately 1.5 km north of the town of Péronne, Somme, France. The hill is about 100 metres high but as it is situated in a bend of the river it dominates the whole ...

and the town of Péronne was the lost ''Vicus Helena''. Hubert le Bourdellès (1984) suggested

Saint-Amand Abbey Saint-Amand Abbey (''Abbaye de Saint-Amand''), once known as Elno, Elnon or Elnone Abbey, is a former Benedictine abbey in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, Nord, France. History The abbey was founded around 633-639 in what was once a great tract of uninh ...

, which used to be known as ''Elnon(e)''. Tony Jaques (2007) went with

Hélesmes Hélesmes () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord department of the French Republic. The communes cooperate in ...

in the year 431. De Boone (1954) connected Sidonius' reference to a frozen

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...

river to the exceptionally harsh winter of 442–3 mentioned by the ''Annals'' of

Marcellinus Comes Marcellinus Comes (Greek: Μαρκελλίνος ό Κόμης, died c. 534) was a Latin chronicler of the Eastern Roman Empire. An Illyrian by birth, he spent most of his life at the court of Constantinople. His only surviving work, the ''Chronicl ...

, but Lanting & van der Plicht (2010) rejected this, as Marcellinus doesn't mention any harsh winter in Gaul, and focused mostly on the Eastern Roman Empire; instead, the latter two focused on the military career of Majorian (Sidonius called him a ''iuvenis'' or 'young man' in 458, while he had left active military service before 454, suggesting a birth around 420), concluding 445–450 to be the most likely period for the battle. Dierkens & Périn (2003) noted that Majorian had defeated the Bagaudae and freed Tours just before the battle of Vicus Helena; they dated the former two events (and therefore Vicus Helena as well) to 448, and endorsed the Hélesmes hypothesis. Alexander O'Hara (2018) suggested 'in around 448' at 'an unidentified site in the Artois', positing that it may be connected to the destruction of Arras around that time as well, although it is unknown whether Arras was sacked by Huns or Franks.

Primary sources

, ''Panegyric to Majorian''. Carmen V, 210–218. (458). *

, ''History of the Franks II'', Chapter 9.

References

{{coord missing, France

Vicus Helena The Battle of Vicus Helena was a clash between Salian Franks led by Chlodio and Roman soldiers commanded by general Flavius Aetius; the latter were victorious. It is attested in a limited number of late Roman and early Medieval sources, and repo ...

Flavius Aetius