The Battle of Argentovaria or Battle of Argentaria was fought in May 378 between the

Western Roman Empire The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period ...

and the invading army of the

Lentienses The Lentienses ( German ''Lentienser'') were a 4th-century Germanic tribe associated with the Alemanni, in the region between the river Danube in the North, the river Iller in the East, and Lake Constance in the South, in what is now southern German ...

, a branch of the

Alemanni The Alemanni or Alamanni, were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the in 260, and later expanded into pres ...

, at Argentovaria (near

Colmar Colmar (, ; Alsatian: ' ; German during 1871–1918 and 1940–1945: ') is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), it i ...

, France). The Alemanni were overwhelmed by the Roman legionaries, though stood their ground bravely. Only 9,000 escaped from the field and Priarius, king of the Lentienses, was slain during the battle. The Lentienses disappear from the historical record following this defeat. Emperor

Gratian Gratian (; la, Gratianus; 18 April 359 – 25 August 383) was emperor of the Western Roman Empire from 367 to 383. The eldest son of Valentinian I, Gratian accompanied his father on several campaigns along the Rhine and Danube frontiers and w ...

, who had given the command of the army for the battle to Nannienus and

Mallobaudes Mallobaudes or Mellobaudes was a 4th-century Frankish king who also held the Roman title of ''comes domesticorum''. In 354 he was a ''tribunus armaturarum'' in the Roman army in Gaul, where he served under Silvanus, who usurped power in 355. Ma ...

, gained the title of ''Alemannicus Maximus''.

References

Ammianus Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus (occasionally anglicised as Ammian) (born , died 400) was a Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquity (preceding Procopius). His work, known as the ''Res Gestae ...

XV 4 and XXXI 10 378 Argentovaria Argentovaria Argentovaria Argentovaria History of Haut-Rhin 370s in the Roman Empire 4th century in Roman Gaul {{AncientRome-battle-stub