Battle of Angers
Battle in 469 in the Western Roman Empire
The Battle of Angers was a military conflict in or around the city of Angers during the last phase of the Western Roman Empire. The event is known mainly from the work of Gregory of Tours and took place against the background of the power struggle between Emperor Anthemius of Rome and Euric, king of the Aquitanian Goths. Gregory describes the presence of Saxon troops led by Adovacrius in the Loire region, the involvement of Paulus and Childeric I, and the death of Paulus during the fighting. The brevity of the report and the unclear chronology have led to different interpretations by modern historians.
Introduction
The events surrounding Angers in 469 are among the least understood, but possibly most significant episodes from the last decades of the Western Roman Empire. In the 460s, the Western Roman Empire was undergoing political and military disintegration. In Gaul, Roman authority was challenged by various regional power blocs, including the Goths, Franks, Saxons, local Gallo-Roman elites, and Warlords.
After his accession to the throne in 467, Emperor Anthemius tried to restore Roman authority in Gaul. However, the beginning of his emperorhood was disastrous. The war against the Vandals ended in a defeat because the joint Roman fleet was devastatingly defeated at Cape Bon.
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This entry incorporates text from “Battle of Angers” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.