Europe 465: Battle of Bassianae

Political map of Europe & the Mediterranean on Sep 465 (Fall of the Western Empire: Battle of Bassianae), showing the following events: Sack of Coimbra; Kingdom of Soissons; Battle of Wippedesfleot; Battle of Bassianae.

By the 460s the Ostrogoths of Pannonia had emerged to become one of the most powerful of the successor tribes of Attila’s Hunnic empire. Jealous, Attila’s son Dengizich led a force of Huns to crush them, but was defeated at Bassianae and driven back across the Danube.

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Main Events

465 Sack of Coimbra

In 465, feigning peaceful intentions, the Suebi entered Conimbrica (Coimbra) and ransacked the city, kidnapping the matriarch of the noble family of Cantaber and her sons. At the same time, the Suebian king Remismund continued to cultivate good relations with King Theodoric II of the Visigoths, even accepting an Arian cleric from him in order to promote Arianism among the Suebi. However, when the Suebi brutally crushed the town of Aunona the following year and rebuffed Visigothic inquiries into the matter, it became clear to Theodoric that Remismund had been deceiving him all along. in wikipedia

465 Kingdom of Soissons

In 465 the Visigoths took advantage of the death of Aegidius to launch a renewed invasion of northern Gaul, while at about the same time Adovacrius’ Saxons at Angers broke away from Gallo-Roman authority and assumed control of a number of towns at the mouth of the Loire. Unable to meet these threats, the rebel Gallo-Roman legions—now under Aegidius’ son Syagrius—withdrew north of the Loire, where Syagrius would continue his ‘rule’ from Noviodunum (Soissons). This so-called ‘Kingdom of Soissons’ would hold out for another 21 years, ultimately outlasting the rival regime in Italy by a decade. in wikipedia

465? Battle of Wippedesfleot

In 465, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Hengist and his son Oisc fought the Britons at Wippedesfleot, killing twelve British leaders for the loss of one of Anglo-Saxon thane. Despite this apparent victory, Wippedesfleot is generally identified with Ebbsfleet on the eastern coast of Kent, suggesting that the Britons had driven the Anglo-Saxons almost to the sea. In any case, eight years of peace with the Anglo-Saxons followed, during which time the Britons would feel free to send forces to Gaul in an attempt to restore direct connections with Rome. in wikipedia

465 Battle of Bassianae

Following their peace treaty with the Eastern Roman Empire (462), the Ostrogoths turned on the Sadagis of the Pannonian interior. This provoked Dengizich, a son of Attila, who assembled a force of Huns and other tribes, then crossed the Danube to besiege the town of Bassianae. Abandoning their campaign against the Sadagis, the Ostrogoths hastily returned east to Bassianae, where they defeated Dengizich and drove him back across the Danube. This battle occurred not long after the great fire of Constantinople (September 464 or 465). in wikipedia