Topic summary
Kingdom of Soissons

The Kingdom of Soissons is the name given by modern scholars to the fifth-century "kingdom" of Romans ruled by Syagrius, which was based in Soissons in what is now northern France. There is disagreement among scholars as to both its extent, how long it existed, and whether it was considered a kingdom by contemporaries. In one of the only mentions of him, Syagrius was referred to as "king of the Romans" (Latin: rex Romanorum) by the 6th-century historian Gregory of Tours, and both he and the population he ruled are generally understood to have been Gallo-Roman.
In 486, Syagrius lost the Battle of Soissons to the Frankish king Clovis I and the domain was thereafter under the control of the Franks. Syagrius fled to Toulouse and the protection of Alaric II, the Visigothic king who ruled the Roman population in the southwest of Gaul. After receiving threats from Clovis Alaric handed him over and he was eventually killed secretly while in Frankish captivity.
Aegidius, the father of Syagrius mentioned by Gregory, had been a Gallo-Roman military commander who died in the autumn of 465. He had been appointed to be magister militum in Gaul by either Avitus or Majorian in 456-457.