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Emperor Goblinus

Could the Kingdom of Soissons have survived?

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Do you think that the Kingdom of Soissons could have become a viable kingdom alongside Francia and others?

 

We cannot estimate its relative strength today, but say that Francia had fallen into a civil war, it could probably have survived, if it had the support from the local population. Syagrius seems to have been a competent enough commander. It would probably have been subsequently de-romanised during the centuries.

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Do you think that the Kingdom of Soissons could have become a viable kingdom alongside Francia and others?

 

We cannot estimate its relative strength today, but say that Francia had fallen into a civil war, it could probably have survived, if it had the support from the local population. Syagrius seems to have been a competent enough commander. It would probably have been subsequently de-romanised during the centuries.

 

It was allied to Brittany at the time, but they could easily have become enemies later on.

 

While the kingdom might well have adopted some things from surrounding cultures, I don't see why it wouldn't have retained its romanitas. In fact, this identity might have been strengthened in the faces of possible usurpers, similar to what happened to the Byzantines. Linguistically, a decreased Frankish power in Gaul might have stunted the development of French and the other langues d'oi due to a lack of the influence of the Frankish accent. The people today might have instead sounded more like Spaniards or Italians.

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It is interesting that in all the Western Empire, Gaul retained a Roman presence in the period immediately after 476 AD.

 

I doubt Syagrius could have survived as he would have been a threat to the surrounding barbarian kings. At this point in European history the new kingdoms were still trying to establish themselves. Defeating rivals would have been considered a major priority. Having a remaining Roman rival could not have been satisfactory to kings like Clovis. Syagrius would have had to win the day over and over again. I believe his downfall was assured in 476 AD and it was simply a matter of time before he was defeated and destroyed.

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No. The Roman Empire's own survival was dependent upon a complex taxation, trade and logistical support system for its military, which enabled it to fight while outnumbered.

 

There was nothing in Soissons to trade, the population too low to tax into forming a capable professional military, and its population of farmers and landholders probably preferred simply switching loyalties to the Franks than fighting to the death for the soissons king, no matter his romano-gallic cultural affinity.

 

Especially since in the germanic tribes most males were technically warriors, the simple demographics were not for soissons' survival.

 

Better to be traded over than fought over.

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