Vicus Helena

The Battle of Vicus Helena was a clash between the Franks, led by Chlodio, and Roman soldiers, commanded by general Flavius Aetius. The battle is attested in a limited number of late Roman and early Medieval sources, having occurred around the year 448, in an unidentified location named ''Vicus Helena,'' somewhere in the ''Civitas Atrebatium'', modern Artois.

Reconstruction

Context

The Franks were ''foederati'' 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) and ''Cameracum'' (Cambrai), which became centres of Frankish power. The capture of ''Cameracum'' must have happened after 443, because Gregory mentions the Burgundians had already settled east of the river Rhône. Next, the Franks expanded towards the river Somme. Around 448, the city of Nemetocenna (modern Arras) was probably sacked by the Franks as well.

Battle

Roman general Majorian, who would become the Western Roman emperor in 457, reportedly suppressed a revolt of the Bagaudae in Armorica in 448, and then successfully defended ''Turonum'' (Tours) against a siege. 'Shortly thereafter', according to Sidonius, the Franks led by 'Cloio' (Chlodio), who were holding a wedding reception, 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 to Majorian'', written in praise of Majorian's military exploits in 458 by Sidonius Apollinaris:

Some circumstantial information is provided by Gregory of Tours 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'' Volume VI (1789), Edward Gibbon stated that 'both the name and the place are discovered by modern geographers at Lens'. 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 (two popular candidates in his time) was plausible, but that Allaines near the Mont Saint-Quentin and the town of Péronne was the lost ''Vicus Helena''. Hubert le Bourdellès (1984) suggested Saint-Amand Abbey, which used to be known as ''Elnon(e)''. Tony Jaques (2007) went with Hélesmes in the year 431. De Boone (1954) connected Sidonius' reference to a frozen Loire river to the exceptionally harsh winter of 442–3 mentioned by the ''Annals'' of Marcellinus Comes, 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

* Sidonius Apollinaris, ''Panegyric to Majorian''. Carmen V, 210–218. (458).
* Gregory of Tours, ''History of the Franks II'', Chapter 9.

References

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