The Battle of Vézeronce was fought on 25 June 524 AD near Vézeronce-Curtin (then ''Veseruntia''), now in

Isère Isère ( , ; ; , ) is a landlocked Departments of France, department in the southeastern French Regions of France, region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Isère (river), Isère, it had a population of 1,271,166 in 2019.

, France, between the

Franks file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...

led by King

Chlodomer Chlodomer, also spelled Clodomir or Clodomer (c. 495 - 524) was the second of the four sons of Clovis I, King of the Franks. History Clodomir was the eldest son of Clovis and his wife, Clotilde. On the death of his father, in 511, he divided ...

and the

Burgundians The Burgundians were an early Germanic peoples, Germanic tribe or group of tribes. They appeared east in the middle Rhine region in the third century AD, and were later moved west into the Roman Empire, in Roman Gaul, Gaul. In the first and seco ...

commanded by King

Godomar Godomar II (also spelled Gundomar), son of king Gundobad, was king of Burgundy. He ruled Burgundy after the death of Sigismund, his elder brother, in 524 until 534. Life According to Gregory of Tours, Sigismund married the daughter of the O ...

Background

The battle was part of an expedition against the Burgundians initiated by the four sons and heirs of the

Frankish king The Franks, Germanic peoples that invaded the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, were first led by individuals called dux, dukes and monarch, reguli. The earliest group of Franks that rose to prominence was the Salian Franks, Salian Mero ...

Clovis I Clovis (; reconstructed Old Frankish, Frankish: ; – 27 November 511) was the first List of Frankish kings, king of the Franks to unite all of the Franks under one ruler, changing the form of leadership from a group of petty kings to rule by a ...

Childebert I Childebert I ( 496 – 13 December 558) was a Frankish King of the Merovingian dynasty, as third of the four sons of Clovis I who shared the kingdom of the Franks upon their father's death in 511. He was one of the sons of Saint Clo ...

, Chlodomer,

Chlothar I Chlothar I, sometime called "the Old" (French: le Vieux), (died December 561) also anglicised as Clotaire from the original French version, was a king of the Franks of the Merovingian dynasty and one of the four sons of Clovis I. With his eldes ...

, and

Theuderic I __NOTOC__ Theuderic I ( 487 – 534) was the Merovingian king of Metz, Rheims, or Austrasia—as it is variously called—from 511 to 534. He was the son of Clovis I and one of his earlier wives or concubines (possibly a Franco-Rhenish Pr ...

. After a previous incursion by the brothers in 523, Burgundian king

Sigismund Sigismund (variants: Sigmund, Siegmund) is a German proper name, meaning "protection through victory", from Old High German ''sigu'' "victory" + ''munt'' "hand, protection". Tacitus latinises it ''Segimundus''. There appears to be an older form of ...

had been captured and executed, on the orders of Chlodomer, and was succeeded by his brother,

. Chlodomer wanted to seize with his brothers what remained of the Burgundian Kingdom, and resumed his campaign in the spring of 524.

Battle

The two armies clashed near the modern village of Vézeronce, in an area of a vast plain. In

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (born ; 30 November – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours during the Merovingian period and is known as the "father of French history". He was a prelate in the Merovingian kingdom, encom ...

's account of the battle, the Frankish troops of King Chlodomer quickly took the advantage and repelled the Burgundians led by Godomar. However, believing he was joining a group of Frankish warriors, Chlodomer threw himself into the midst of enemy soldiers and was slain. His head was stuck on a pike and displayed by the Burgundians to their enemies.Gregory of Tours, ''Historia Francorum'' Godomar won the battle, however, his kingdom was lost to the

Merovingians The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from around the middle of the 5th century until Pepin the Short in 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the ...

within a decade. Cluny - Mero - Casque de Vezeronce

A helmet was found in the peat marsh of Saint-Didier, to the north of the battle site in 1871, and is conserved in the Musée dauphinois,

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

. The helmet is of

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

craftsmanship, and was likely that of a Frankish

chieftain A tribal chief, chieftain, or headman is a leader of a tribe, tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies There is no definition for "tribe". The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of weste ...

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Battle Of Vezeronce 524 Vézeronce Vezeronce Vezeronce Vezeronce Vézeronce Isère 6th century in Francia