GOTHS 
726 
cealed a dark fufpiclon of Iioflile and treacherous de- 
figns; and theirnuitiiai complaints folicited, eluded, and 
difclaimed, a final arbitration. Clovis declared the ne- 
celTity of a Gothic war; and Alaric called inftantly for 
the fuccour of his fubjefts and allies. The people of 
Aquitain and Burgundy received the firfl reproacl'.es of 
the Gothic king, who juftly accufed them of preferring' 
the dominion of the Franks, d'o refid: thefe foreign and 
domeflic enemies, Alaric colledfed his troops, far more 
numerous than the military powers of Clovis. The Vili- 
goihs relumed the exercife of arms, which they had 
negledted in a long and luxurious peace: a feiedl band 
of valiant and rebuff flaves attended their mailers to the 
field ; and the cities of Gaul were compelled to furnifii 
their reluctant aid. Theodoric, king of the Offrogoths, 
■who had overturned the empire of Odoacer, and now 
feigned in Italy, laboured to maintain the tranquillity 
of Gaul ; and he alHimed, or affedfed for that purpofe, 
the impartial charadter of a mediatoi'. But the faga- 
cious monarch dreaded the rifing empire of Clovis, and 
h e was fii nily engaged to flip port the national and reli¬ 
gious caufc of the Goths. 
Clovis, with a confiderable arm.y, was on his march 
from Paris, when, at the diltance of forty miles from 
Poitiers, tlieir progrcfs was intercepted by an e.xtraor- 
dinary fvvell of the river Vienne ; and the oppofite banks 
were covered by the encampment of the Vifigoths. 
Delay muff be always dangerous to barbarians, v\ ho 
conlume tiie country through which they march ; and 
Jiad Clovis polfeded Icilurc and materials, it might 
have been impracticable to conltrudl a bridge, or to 
foice a palHige, in tlie face of a fuperior enemy. But 
by the informatiou of fome peafants a ford was di(co¬ 
vered. ddie counfels of tlie Vifigoths were irrefolute 
and difiradted. A crowd of impatient warriors, pre- 
, fumptuous in their ffrength, and difdaining to fly before 
the Franks, excited Alaric to affert in arms the name 
and blood of the conqueror of Rome. The advice of 
the graver chieftains prelTed him to elude the firft ar¬ 
dour of the enemy ; and to expedf, in the fouthern pro¬ 
vinces of Gaul, the veteran and vidtorious Offrogoths, 
whom the king of I taly had already fent to his alTiftance. 
The decifive moments were waffed in idle deliberation ; 
the Goths too haftily abandoned an advantageous port ; 
and the opportunity of a fecure retreat was loff by their 
flow and diforderly motions. After Clovis had pafled 
the ford, he advanced with bold and haffy ffeps to pre¬ 
vent the efcape of the enemy. At the third hour of the 
day, about ten miles beyond Poitiers, Clovis overtook, 
and inftantly attacked, the Gothic army ; whofe defeat 
was already prepared by terror and cenfufion. Yet they 
rallied in their extreme diftrefs, and tlie martial youths, 
who had clamoroufly demanded the battle, refufed to 
fiirvive the ignominy of flight. The two kings encoun¬ 
tered each other in Tingle combat. Alaric fell by th.e 
hand of his rival, A.D. 507 ; and the vidtorious Frank 
was faved by the goodnefs of his cuirafs, and the vigour 
of his horfe, from the I’pears of two del'perate Goths, 
who fiuioully rode againff him to revenge the death 
of their fovereign. 
Such is the empire of Fortune, if we may difguife our 
ignorance under that appellation. A bloody and com¬ 
plete vittory has fometimes yielded no more than the 
pofieffion of the field ; and the lofs of ten thoufand men 
has fometimes beea^fufficient to deftroy, in a fingle day, 
the work of ages. The battle of Poitiers was followed 
by the conqueff of the whole Gothic empire in Gaul. 
Alaric had left behind him an infant fon, a baflurd com¬ 
petitor, fadfioiis nobles, and a difloyal people ; and the 
remaining forces of the Goths were opprelled by the 
general confftmalion, or oppofed to eacli other in. civil 
difeord. The viftorioiis king of the Franks proceeded 
without delay to Angouleme, whicli became an eafy 
conquefi. At Bordeaux, which fubmitted without re- 
lifianee, Clovis ellabiiilied his winter-quarters ; and his 
prudent economy tranfported from Thouloufe the royal 
treafiires, ivliich were depofited in the capital of the 
monarthy. The conqueror penetrated as fiar as the 
confines of Spain ; fixed in Aquitain a colony of Franks ; 
and delegated to his lieutenants the talk of extirpating 
the nation of the Vifigoths. But the Vifigoths were fiill 
defended by the powerful monarch of Italy. While the 
balance was equal, Theodoric delayed the march of the 
Oflrogoths ; but tlieir (Ireniious efforts refified for a 
time the ambition of Clovis; and the army of the 
Franks, and their Burgundian allies, was compelled to 
raife the liege of Arles, with the lofs, as it is faid, of 
thirty thoufand men. Thefe vicillitudes inclined the 
fierce fpirit of Clovis to aequiefee in an advantageous 
treaty of peace. The Vifigoths were now fufiered to re¬ 
tain the polTefiion of Septimania, a narrow traft of fea- 
coall from the Rhone to the Pyrenees ; but the noble 
province of Aquitain, from thole mountains to the Loire, 
was indiffolubly united to the kingdom of France. 
After the fuccels of the Gothic war, Clovis accepted 
the honours of the Roman confullliip, A.D. 510. Th6 
emperor Anallafiiis bellowed on that powerful rival of 
Theodoric, the title and enligns of tl'.is ancient dignity; 
yet, from fome unknown caule, the name of Clovis has 
never been inferibed in th.e Fafti either of ihe eafl or 
well. On the folemii day, the monarch of Gaul, placing 
a di;idem on his head, was invelled in the ciuirch of 
St. Martin with a purple tunic and mantle. From thence 
he proceeded on horfeback to the cathedral of Tours; 
and, as he paffed through the llreets, profufely fcat- 
tered a donative of gold and lilver to the joyful multi¬ 
tude, who inceffantly repeated their acclamations of 
Confui and Auguftiis. 'I he athia!,^)!' legal, authority 
of Clovis, could not receive any new accellions from 
the confular dignity. It was merely a name, a lhadow, 
an empty pageant ; and if the conqueror had been in- 
llrudted to claim the ancient prerogatives of that high 
office, they muff have expired with the period of its 
annual duration : yet has this title, in modern times, 
been refumed in France, as a mock-emblem of this an- 
cient pageantry of their firft Chriftian king. 
The Oftrogoths of Italy, unable to defend their dif- 
tant acquilitions, refigned to the Franks the cities of 
Arles and Marfeilles. Tl'.is tranfaCtion was confirmed 
by the imperial authority; and Juilinian, yielding, to 
the Franks the fovereignty of the countries beyond the 
Alps, abfolved the provincials from their allegiance, 
ancl eftabliftied the infant throne of the Merovingians. 
From that era, they enjoyed the right of celebrating at 
Arles, the games of the Circus ; and by a lingular pri¬ 
vilege, which was denied even to the Perfian monarch, 
the gold coin, impreiTed with their name and image, 
obtained a legal currency in the empire. See /e Blanc 
Traits Hifioriqiie des Monnoyes de Francsy p. 37—43. 
The Viligoths, deprived by Clovis of their GallU; 
poflellions, found an afylum in the yet-lecnre provinces 
of Spain. From the monarchy of the Goths, whicli 
foon involved the Suevic kingdom of Galicia, the mo¬ 
dern Spaniards derive fome of their national cb.arafter. 
The Goths of Spain were long feparated from the reft 
of mankind, by the lofty ridge of the Pyrenasan moun¬ 
tains : their manners and inllitutions, as far as they re¬ 
late to the rude manners of the bulk of their nation, 
have been already explained. After their converfion 
from idolatry or herefy, the Vifigoths were difpoied to 
fubmit to the laws of a more civiiifed policy. On their 
affeinbling in Spain, fixteen national councils were luc- 
ceftively eftabliftied and convened. The fix metropoli¬ 
tans, Toledo, Seville, Merida, Braga, Tarragona, and 
Narbonne, prefided according to their refpective (eni- 
ority ; the aft’embly was compofed of their futl'ragaa 
biftiops, who appeared in per(on, or by their proxies ; 
and a place v/as alligned to tlie moft holy or opulent of 
the Spanifti abbots. During the firft three days of the 
convocation, as long as they agitated the ecclefiaftical 
^ queftions 
