Battle of Vicus Helena

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. '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. The Romans emerged victorious. 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 ==