Kingdom of Soissons
The Kingdom or Domain of Soissons is the historiographical name for the ethnically Roman, de facto independent remnant of the Western Roman Empire's Diocese of Gaul, which existed during Late Antiquity as an initially nominal enclave and later rump state of the Empire until its conquest by the Franks in AD 486. Its capital was at Noviodunum, today the town of Soissons in France.
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| 457–486 | |||||||||
The Kingdom of Soissons in 476 | |||||||||
| Status | Rump state of the Western Roman Empire | ||||||||
| Capital | Noviodunum (modern-day Soissons) | ||||||||
| Common languages | Latin, Gaulish | ||||||||
| Religion | Christianity, Gallo-Roman paganism and Germanic paganism | ||||||||
| Government | Military government under a hereditary monarchy | ||||||||
| Ruler | |||||||||
• 457–464 | Aegidius | ||||||||
• 464–486 | Syagrius | ||||||||
| Historical era | Late Antiquity | ||||||||
• Established | 457 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 486 | ||||||||
| Area | |||||||||
• Total | 50,000 km2 (19,000 sq mi) | ||||||||
| Currency | Roman currency | ||||||||
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| Today part of | France | ||||||||
The rulers of the rump state, notably its final ruler Syagrius, were referred to as "kings of the Romans" (Latin: rex Romanorum) by the Germanic peoples surrounding Soissons, with the polity itself being identified as the Regnum Romanorum, "Kingdom of the Romans", by the Gallo-Roman historian Gregory of Tours. Whether the title of king was used by Syagrius himself or was applied to him by the barbarians surrounding his realm (in a similar way to how they referred to their own leaders as kings) is unknown.
The emergence of a visibly autonomous Roman polity based around Noviodunum can be traced back to the appointment of Aegidius as magister militum of Roman Gaul by Emperor Majorian. When Majorian was killed on the orders of Ricimer in 461, Aegidius maintained his own power in the remnants of Roman Gaul against Franks to his east and Visigoths to his south.
Aegidius died in 464 or 465. His son Syagrius succeeded to the rule. In 486, Syagrius lost the Battle of Soissons to the Frankish king Clovis I and the domain was thereafter under the control of the Franks.