The Battle of Châlons - 274 AD

During the end of the third century, the Roman Empire was having a tough time. In 260, the Emperor Valerian was defeated at the Battle of Edessa and taken prisoner by the Persian Emperor Shapur I. This was very bad for Valerian, who remained a prisoner for the rest of his life, reportedly forced to act as Shapur’s footstool when mounting his horse and suffering many other insults until he died either by being forced to drink molten gold or by being flayed alive (either way is a nasty ways to go).

Valerian’s imprisonment caused much consternation in the Empire and shaky control in the hands of his son Gallienus. Sensing imperial weakness, several parts of the Empire staged revolts: the Palmyrene (Egypt, Syria, Judea, Arabia) and Pannonia (present day Hungary, Croatia, and environs). Gallienus took the legions off to the Danube to deal with the latter revolt, leaving the popular governor of Germania, Marcus Cassianus Latinius Postumus, in charge of the Rhine frontier. Postumus was ambitious, however, and led his own revolt. He executed Gallienus’ young son and proclaimed the Gallic Empire in 260.

In 263, Gallienus tried to depose Postumus, without success. But Postumus’ position was not completely secure and he was overthrown and executed by his own soldiers in 269. The next leader of the Gallic Empire was Marius, who lasted only a short while before being replaced by Marcus Victorinus. At the same time, a new emperor in Rome, Claudius Gothicus, began the process of recovering Roman lands from the Gallic Empire. Victorinus was assassinated in 271 and after another period of squabbles, Gaius Pius Esuvius Tetricus was made the new Gallic emperor. Tetricus spent most of his time fighting off incursions by Germanic barbarians and shoring up the borders of his empire.

Back in Rome, a new emperor, Aurelian, came to power in in 270. A soldier through and through, Aurelian led the legions in suppressing rebellions in Palmyrene and turned his attention to Gaul in 274. Aurelian’s army engaged Tetricus’ around what is now Châlons-en-Champagne, France.

Aurelian's army was well trained, organized and commanded, while Tetricus’ was rather ragtag and disorganized. Tetricus was captured in the fight, and the Gallic army lost all discipline and was routed by Aurelian's troops. Tetricus and his son were taken to Rome and paraded in a triumph, but otherwise spared further punishment. In fact, Aurelian made him a Roman administrator in charge of a part of southern Italy.

the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains - 451 BC

The area near Châlons became a battlefield again in 451 when Roman and Visigoth forces united to stop invading Huns led by King Attila.

Attila the Hun was the leader of a coalition of Huns, Alans and Ostrogoths who poured into Western Europe from the East in 450-451. By that time, Attila’s horde had already plundered the Balkans and attacked Persia and the Byzantine Empire. In 451, he reached as far West as Orléans.

At that time, the Roman Empire was well into decline and Roman authority outside of Italy was weak. In today’s France, the empire retained firm control only along the Mediterranean coastline and a region known as Aurelianum at present-day Orléans along the Seine and the Loire Rivers. The Visigoths controlled the area along the Garonne River. Determined to stop the Hun threat, the Western Roman emperor Flavius Aetius and made common cause with the Visigothic king Theodoric I. These two forces met the Huns in the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains (also called the Battle of Maurica, Battle of the Campus Mauriacus or the Battle of Châlons).

Attila had crossed the Rhine early in 451 and sacked Divodurum (now Metz) on April 7. His main force crossed the Rhine at Worms or Mainz and then marched on Trier, Metz, Reims, and finally Orléans. At the same time, it is believed that Hun raiding parties wandered north into Frankish territory to plunder the countryside. Sometime before June, Attila reached Aurelianum (modern Orléans), which he besieged but did not take.

The combined Roman and Visigoth force assembled at Arles and marched north to relieve Aurelianum, which they reached on June 14. Attila had already left, but the allies pursued him eastward. The two forces finally engaged somewhere on the Catalaunian Fields around June 20. Legend says that Attila had his diviners examine the entrails of a sacrifice the morning of the battle, and they foretold that disaster would befall the Huns, but one of the enemy leaders would be killed

The field of battle was dominated by a sharply-rising slope in the centre. The Huns established their line on the right side of the ridge, while the Romans seized the left. The crest of this ridge was to be the focus of battle.  Hunnic forces launched an attack in the late afternoon on this ridge but were repulsed. Theodoric was killed in the assault, but despite this, the Visigoths penetrated the Hunnish line and attacked Attila's own Hunnic household unit. At night fall, the outcome of the battle was unclear. Attila was forced to seek refuge in his own camp, which he had fortified with wagons, while Thorismund, dead King Theodoric’s son was wounded, and Aetius separated from his own men. Morning light exposed a field piled high with bodies and Attila besieged in his camp. Legend says that at seeing this situation, Attila had a funeral pyre of horse saddles prepared that he intended to hurl himself into before being killed or captured. Lucky for Atilla, the allies called off the final attack so that Thorismund could rush home to secure the throne before being outmanoeuvered for power by his brothers (trust was pretty hard to come by in those days). Thorismund returned to Tolosa (present-day Toulouse) and became king without any resistance. Atilla was able to slip away and returned to invade the Western Roman Empire in 452.

One of the problems with chronicles from this age is their wholly unreliable estimates of numbers of combatants and casualties. Some accounts put the number of deaths at more than one hundred thousand, while other estimates suggest that the total number of combatants on both sides would have been less than sixty thousand. The only thing we can say with any certainty is that a great many warriors died that day, and the majority of these were likely Hunnic. As for the strategic importance of the battle? Historians generally agree it was indecisive. While the westward advance of Atilla’s army was checked, he lived to launch new attacks the following year.

The BattlefieldS Today

The actual location of the Catalaunian Fields is unclear, though it is generally agreed to be in the vicinity of Châlons-en-Champagne. Map

The actual site of the battle of 274 is unknown.

For the Battle of 451, a historian named Thomas Hodgkin placed the site near Méry-sur-Seine, while another historian (Phillippe Richardot) has proposed a site at La Cheppe, north of the modern town of Châlons. Yet another historian proposes a site closer to Saint-Lye. For our purposes, we are not going to fuss about this too much because in the end, the actual location is unlikely to ever be confirmed. And let’s face it, the site is most likely now a farmer’s field. This does not mean you reject visiting the area, and if you want to visit what might be the site, we suggest that you make your way to “Aire de Repos de Camp d'Attila” located on the D994 just west of La Cheppe Map . There is a walking trail there that leads to “Atilla’s Camp” and a bit farther to the east there is a field which may have been the site of the battle.

Here is a link to “The Conqueror”, a 1956 film about Atilla starring John Wayne. Atilla - Wayne . And here is a 2001 film Atilla 2001

This region is overshadowed by a much more recent and better-known battle: the Champagne offensives of 1915.

As for Châlons-En-Champagne, this is a quaint town, and if you are in the area it is worth a visit. The local tourist office has put together a helpful “two-hour tour” and this is a good guide to the town.  quick-visit

Circus fans may also be interested in the town because it bills itself the “Capital of Circus” as it hosts the National Centre of Circus Art. In December you can see a graduation show for the circus school, and in June, a circus and street art festival. For more information, visit this website cnac  and their Facebook Page facebook CNACChalons

The town also hosts an annual agricultural festival (think champagne) and music festival: chalons-fair-music-festival