Battle of the Catalauniques fields

The battle

In 451 after J. - C., the battles of the fields Catalauniques , saw the united forces made up of Gallo-Roman S and federate people carried out by the Roman Patrice Aétius, against the troops of Huns taken along by Attila. It was called thus because the Greek chronicler S, one century later, located the place of this battle around Châlons-in-Champagne ( Duro Catalaunum at the time Gallo-Roman). Today still, near “Large Romanie”, antique sees Roman between Rheims and Toul, reconverted in rectilinear departmental way, one can meet a ground bordered of ditches (vestiges of an antique Roman military relay or an enclosure Celte?) called “the camp of Attila” (cf commune of Cheppe).

Ætius on the occasion, like hostage in his youth, of côtoyer Huns and, on several occasions, had enlisted like auxiliary Troupes of it. It is consequently probable that this good knowledge of the customs and habits, in particular military, of these wandering people was useful to him usefully in unfolding of the battle.

The Roman victory allowed, very temporarily, to maintain the presence of the Empire and prohibits any establishment of Huns as a Gaulle. It consolidated there, on the other hand, the presence of the federate cruel people. The battle of the Catalauniques Fields marks the extreme projection in Occident of Huns established in Pannonia (current Hungarian plains).

The precise localization of the battle field remains dubious. At present, it is more easily allowed that the site of this particularly bloody combat actually proceeded in a place called Campus Mauriacius , Champs Mauriaques, close to Troyes, in the plain of Moirey, commune of Dierrey-Saint-Julien (Paddle).

Description

Attila had the support of Genséric (Gaiseric), king of the Vandales who was used to him also as diplomat and intelligence agent.

Attila did not meet significant resistance until it reaches Aureliani (nowadays Orleans). Sangiban, king of the Alains, whose territory included Aureliani, had promised to open the doors of this city with Attila, but the Romans learned this plot in advance and were not only able to occupy by the force the city, but obliged the troops of Sangiban to join the allied army. When Attila presents himself and notes that it cannot count on this city, it makes retirement. Continued, it decides to make face in the hope kill Aetius, which was his/her comrade in arms in his youth, with the risk of its own life. The sum of the richnesses accumulated during plunderings of the Central Europe slows down it considerably.

The two armies grouped combatants of many people (cf table), but one cannot see it like a East-West confrontation, on the two sides many were the Germanic tribes, sometimes related (Goths), and Huns were minority among the army of Attila.

The night before the battle principal one of the forces on the Roman side met a band of Gépides honest in Attila where approximately 15 000 men on each side were put out of combat.

The battle would have implied from 30.000 to 40.000 combatants. The massacre begins at 3 p.m. to finish only late in the night. The losses are very strong on the two sides, but the barbarians of Aetius, equipped with the Roman, take the top in the brought closer fight.

The forces of Aetius occupying the top of the hill, Huns launched an attack of cavalry. Pushed back they were continued by the Visigoths, whose chief Théodoric I {{er}} was killed, and were placed behind their carriages in circle at fallen the night.

The Aetius following day and the son of Théodoric Ier, Thorismond, discussed. This last wanted to attack the camp of encircled Huns, but Aetius feared without it to say that the Visigoths do not become too powerful. He advised with his ally to turn over to Toulouse to make sure of his kingdom with respect to his brothers. Such is the version given by Jordanès in its Getica (215-216). It would be in fact Thorismond itself which would have chosen to leave the battle field since it had objectively more advantages than Aetius not to destroy Huns completely: thus, the threat represented by his/her brothers was real (his court reign ends the following year after a plot to which some of his/her brothers were not foreign) without counting that a rout of Huns would undoubtedly largely have provided the Roman army in auxiliaries.

Attila was sufficiently desperate to have placed a pile of saddles to make a possible blazing inferno in which it would have made throw his body if the situation became critical. When he saw that the Visigoths left, he accepted a pretense, but he ends up understanding that Aetius left him open the way of the return. The others allied barbarians dispersed. Aetius could not attack only Attila, who remained a time on the spot then withdrew himself slowly on the Rhine, guided by the bishop Loup of Troyes.

If the number of the combatants were undoubtedly very high, it is very difficult to know that of the losses, because we do not have a direct inventory and Attila was diabolisé by the historians of the time. The quotas alains from Orleans had nevertheless to undergo heavy losses, because one did not hear any more of them.

Strategically, there was no winner: united of Aetius divided themselves, and Attila conducted the following year an attack against Italy of North without meeting resistance.

Posterity

The myth developed on the battle

The battle of the Catalauniques fields became the myth of the victory against Huns, with all historical deteriorations which forge a myth: thus, a gigantic fresco of Wilhelm von Kaulbach depicts it as a battle of the Christians against Huns, where king Théodoric died in the combat plane in the middle of the table, holding a cross which irradiates in all the directions. Struck by this fresco, Franz Liszt composed in 1857 the symphonic poem the Battle of Huns ( Hunnenschlacht ), mixing topic gypsy for Huns, Wagnerian style for engagement and Gregorian evocation for the final one.

The place of the battle

The precise localization of the battle field remains dubious. Two principal places emerge from the studies.

According to certain European researchers, the battle field would be located near Châlons-in-Champagne, on the commune of Cheppe. This vast protohistoric enclosure known as “camp of Attila”, dates from the EC is a vestige of a then occupied Gallic oppidum by the Romans and located on the edges of the Noblette. The form elliptic with fortifications with ditches is surrounded by ground ramparts, tops of approximately seven meters, or the vegetation, took for a long time again its rights and surrounds the camp of a thick barrier of trees, creating a peaceful place and world cup. The Roman way passing in the vicinity, and the immense plain leave think that it is the good place. However this camp, was identified like “camp of Attila”, only as from the 18th century. Napoleon III fascinated by the history made there launch excavations, but without result. Another series of new excavations (at the end of the 19th century) will make it possible to put at the day of ceramics, the collars out of bronze and various wrought iron parts (preserved at the museum of Saint-Germain-in-Bush hammer).

According to other researchers, the Campus Mauriacius (Mauriaques Fields), would be located on the commune of Dierrey-Saint-Julien.

The exact place remaining however enigmatic, the “quarrel” between the historians in favor of these two theses is thus far from being finished.

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