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110 the Gallo-Romans and to administer their territories wisely. The former subjects of Rome would willingly have submitted to them in exchange for the protection which they could afford and the peace which they could secure; they would willingly have pardoned them for dividing up their territories; but between the Gallo-Romans and the barbarians there was one grave subject of dissension. The former had remained faithful to orthodoxy, the latter were Arians; and although the rulers were willing to exercise toleration and to maintain friendly relations with the members of the episcopate, their Gallo-Roman subjects did not cease to regard them as abettors of heresy, and to desire their fall as a means to the triumph of the true faith.

To the north of the Burgundian kingdom, the Alemans had made themselves masters of the territory between the Rhine and the Vosges — the country which was to be known later as Alsace — and they were seeking to enlarge their borders by attacking the Gallo-Roman cities to the west, the Burgundians to the south and the Ripuarian Franks to the north-west. They also continued to hold the country on the right bank of the Rhine which had been known as the agri decumates, and they had established themselves in force upon the shores of the Lake of Constance and to the east of the Aar. The Ripuarian Franks remained in possession of a compact State round about Cologne and Treves, and, near them, the Thuringians had founded a little State on the left bank of the Rhine. It should be added that small colonies of barbarians, drawn from many different tribes, had established themselves here and there over the whole face of Gaul. Bands of armed barbarians ranged the country, seeking a home for themselves; Saxon pirates infested the coasts, and had established themselves in some force at Bayeux.

Such was the general condition of Gaul at the time when Clovis became king of the Salian Franks. For five years the youthful king — he was only fifteen at his accession — remained inactive. He seems to have been held in check by Euric, the king of the Visigoths. But in the year following the death of Euric, 486, he took up arms and, calling to his aid other Salian kings, Ragnachar and Chararic, attacked Syagrius. The two armies came into contact with one another in the neighbourhood of Soissons. During the battle Chararic held off, awaiting the result of the struggle. In spite of this defection Clovis was victorious, and Syagrius had to take refuge with the king of the Visigoths, Alaric II, who had succeeded Euric. Alaric however surrendered him, on the first demand of the Frankish king, who thereupon threw him into prison and had him secretly put to death. After this victory Clovis occupied the town of Soissons, which thenceforth ranked as one of the capitals of the kingdom. It is in the neighbourhood of Soissons that we find the principal villae of the Merovingian kings, notably Brennacum (to-day Berny-Rivière). From Soissons he extended his sway over the cities of Belgica Secunda of which Rheims is the metropolis, and he entered into