VEZERONCES - v1.0
June 25, 524
by Chris Jackson
Symbol Set required: master 1


HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Upon the death of Clovis in 511, his impressive kingdom (over halfway to the
size of present-day France) was divided equally according to value among his
four sons. Clovis' eldest son, Theuderic, was born previous to his wife with a
concubine; he shared the kingdom with Chlodomer, Childebert and Chlothar.

There is some debate whether dividing the kingdom this way was simply continuing a
Frankish tradition, or was a special measure taken. At any rate, Clovis' widow 
Clotilda remained an important figure in the kingdom, overseeing the affairs of her
sons. Theuderic took the Kingdom of Rheims based at Cologne, the area most vulnerable 
to attack; Chlodomer took the Kingdom of Orleans; Childebert took the Kingdom of 
Paris; and Chlothar took the Kingdom of Soissons based at Tournai. Each of them 
except Childebert also took their own chunk of Aquitaine, that land which Clovis had
taken from the Visigoths, but had not yet been fully assimilated. 

In Burgundy, upon the death of Gundobad in 516, his son Sigismund inherited the
kingdom. He already had a son Sigeric with his wife, daughter of Theodoric the Great
of Italy. When he lost his first wife, he re-married, and this wife supposedly 
convinced Sigismund to kill his son for supposedly plotting to murder him and take 
over his kingdom. Although probably not as spurred on by this incident as Gregory of
Tours would have the reader believe, the Franks, eager to expand their territory
yet further, marched upon him and his brother Godomar in 523.

The early campaign was a success. Sigismund and his family was captured, and before 
Godomar could regroup and strike back, Sigismund and his wife and children were 
murdered by Chlodomer by having them thrown down a well at Coulmiers near Orleans
in 524. Chlodomer then summoned Theuderic to join him on the battlefield, which 
Theuderic reluctantly answered. The two armies joined at Vezeronces, northeast of
Vienne and east of Lyons.

Godomar and his army fled, and Chlodomer gave pursuit, riding well out in front
of his own men. Some Burgundians tricked him by imitating the Frankish war cry and
calling him over - Chlodomer believed them, rode into their midst, and promptly had
his head hacked off and raised on a stake. Godomar later rallied his troops and 
pushed the Franks out again.

Clotilda took in Chlodomer's three young sons Theudovald, Gunthar and Chlodovald
under her care. Chlothar and Childebert were displeased with this and used treachery
to take them and kill them - only young Chlodovald escaped and hid in a monastery. 
Devoting his life to the church, he was later canonized as Saint-Cloud. The three
remaining sons of Clovis divided Chlodomer's lands between themselves, as Clotilda 
grieved, unable to stop the quarrelsome and fratricidal ways of her sons.

Burgundy survived for another decade, but in 532 the Franks invaded again. Godomar
was killed, and by 534 Autun had fallen to a siege and Burgundy was completely in the
hands of Chlothar and Childebert (the death of Theuderic in 533 or 534 ended his share
in that land, as his son Theodobert took over the Kingdom of Rheims). The Burgundian 
line had come to an end after 90 years. The Franks launched other invasions into nearby
lands around this time, with mixed results. In 531 they defeated Irminfrid at 
Burgschweidungen to take part of his kingdom in Thuringia, but that same year their
expedition into Visigothic Spain (Septimania) proved a failure. 


SOURCES

"France", Encyclopedia Britannica. 
     www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/6/0,5716,119336+3,00.html

Gregory of Tours. "History of the Franks". New York: Penguin Classics, 1974.

James, Edward."The Franks". New York: Basil Blackwell, Ltd., 1988. 
 
James, Edward. "The Origins of France - From Clovis to the Capetians 500-1000".
     London: MacMillan Education, Ltd., 1982.

Kohn, George. "Dictionary of Wars". New York: Facts on File Publications, 1986.

Wood, Ian. "The Merovingian Kingdoms 450-751." New York: Longman Group UK Ltd., 1994.


BATTLE NOTES

Since I didn't think Godomar had much of a chance to beat two armies, I gave the 
Frankish player a "time challenge" like the Ouche 500 scenario. The Burgundian
player has been spotted 25 points which it can't ever lose, and the superior Franks
have six turns to get the Burgundians to surrender. The Frankish player will have
to move his men as fast as possible by moving the leaders well out in front to start.
Try playing with the battle options to get only a restricted view of the battlefield,
then see if the Burgundian player can get any of his men to sneak around the Frankish
warriors to attack either of the leaders! Feel free to change the number of turns as well
and tweak army compositions to increase the challenge.


- Chris Jackson
March 11, 2000

 