Of all the things a tourist can see in the French town of Soissons (the Cathedral of Saint Gervasius and Saint Protasius, seven medieval abbeys, the 18th-century town hall, the arsenal housing the municipal museum…), the most curious is undoubtedly a monument to the fallen in Fernand-Marquigny Square, created by artist Guy Lartigue. One of the relief scenes decorating its base shows a vase about to be split in half, alluding to one of France’s foundational myths, which was a mandatory study topic for primary school children until not long ago: the Legend of the Vase of Soissons.

It was incorporated into academic curriculums during the Third Republic and maintained until the 1960s, immortalizing one of those dubious phrases that French schoolchildren used to memorize, along with the one attributed to General Cambronne at Waterloo (his response to the British offer to surrender by shouting “The Guard dies but does not surrender!”, which seems to have been less poetic in reality: “Shit!”). The phrase in question is “Souviens-toi du vase de Soissons!” (Remember the vase of Soissons!).

In this case, it would also be a rephrased quote, as the main source on the subject, Historia Francorum (History of the Franks), does not record it that way. The one mentioned in that work by its author, the Gallo-Roman bishop and historian Gregory of Tours, is “Ainsi as-tu fait au vase à Soissons!” (Thus did you with the vase at Soissons!), exclaimed by the Frankish king Clovis I as he killed a soldier who had broken the said vase. What vase? Let’s recount the story from the beginning.

Western Europe in the 5th century A.D. The Kingdom of Soissons identified by the name of its ruler, Syagrius
Western Europe in the 5th century A.D. The Kingdom of Soissons identified by the name of its ruler, Syagrius. Credit: Varoon-Arya / Rowanwindwhistler / Wikimedia Commons

We must place ourselves in the year 486 A.D., a decade after the Herulian leader Odoacer deposed the last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus, and became the ruler of Italy with the acquiescence of the Eastern Roman Empire. Until then, Roman Gaul was divided into three Germanic kingdoms with the status of foederati: the Visigothic, the Burgundian, and the Frankish, among which was a territory under Roman control led by magister militum Afranius Syagrius.

Syagrius was the son of General Aegidius, and thus the Germans called him Rex Romanorum (King of the Romans, a title that would later be used to designate the heir of the Holy Roman Empire), although he did not have royal blood and was simply considered a dux. Nonetheless, he practically dominated what is commonly called the Kingdom of Soissons, stretching from the Loire to the Somme, with its capital and episcopal seat in Reims, whose bishop was Remigius, a precursor of Christianity in France and thus canonized and today considered one of the Catholic patrons of the country along with Saint Martin of Tours, Saint Denis of Paris, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, and the famous Saint Joan of Arc.

Meanwhile, the mentioned Clovis, son of Childeric I and Princess Basina of Thuringia, inherited his father’s throne in 481, at only fifteen years old, thus establishing the dynasty founded by his progenitor, the Merovingian (named after his grandfather Merovech). His territories encompassed the former Roman province of Second Belgium: Ciuitas Remorum, Ciuitas Suessionum, Ciuitas Veromanduorum, Ciuitas Atrebatium, Ciuitas Silvanectum, Ciuitas Bellovacorum, Ciuitas Ambianensium, also known as Ambianorum, Ciuitas Morinorum, Ciuitas Camaracensium, ancient C. Nerviorum, Ciuitas Catalaunorum, and Ciuitas Bononensium.

Syagrius captive before Clovis
Syagrius captive before Clovis. Credit: Public domain / Wikimedia Commons

Although Clovis’s Frankish army was not very large, it had great experience thanks to its services to the Roman Empire. Hence, a thousand men—and an alliance with the Ripuarian Franks—were enough for him to face Syagrius’s forces and defeat them at the Battle of Soissons, seizing all of northern Gaul. Syagrius managed to escape and sought refuge among the Visigoths of Alaric II, but he was captured and handed over to Clovis, who had him beheaded. This definitively ended the Roman era there.

Remigius understood that times had indeed changed, and seeking protection for the Catholics of the conquered kingdom, he established a friendly relationship with Clovis and even proposed that he marry Princess Clotilde (the Burgundian king’s daughter and a Catholic). The monarch accepted and even embraced his wife’s faith himself, despite initial reluctance (marked by the premature death of his firstborn), after he, according to another legend, prayed desperately to God when he was about to lose the Battle of Tolbiac against the Alemanni.

Beyond that typical legendary explanation, which made him be considered a new Constantine, the practical reality prevailed that Clovis found it convenient to win the support of the Gallo-Roman Catholic clergy due to the influence they wielded over the people, while the Church gained a powerful friend against the Arianism of the Visigoths and Ostrogoths. The king was baptized by Remigius himself, along with three thousand of his warriors, in a grand ceremony held in 496 in Reims, hence the tradition of all subsequent French monarchs being crowned there.

The moment in which the warrior breaks the vase, captured in a miniature of the work Grandes Chroniques de France, from the 14th century
The moment in which the warrior breaks the vase, captured in a miniature of the work Grandes Chroniques de France, from the 14th century. Credit: Public domain / Wikimedia Commons

However, while the elites converted, it was different for the people; many of the Franks remained faithful to their faith (which was pagan but heavily influenced by Christian elements due to many years of contact), explaining the vase incident. It actually occurred shortly after the battle against Syagrius in 486. Gregory of Tours narrates that at that time, many churches were looted by Clovis’s army because they were still immersed in the errors of fanaticism, and from one of the most affected, they took a valuable urceus, a Roman jug with a handle for ritual use.

Apparently, the characteristics of this piece were extraordinarily beautiful and large, so Remigius sent an emissary to request that Clovis at least return it, as it seemed difficult to recover the entire looted liturgical treasure in Soissons. The monarch invited the messenger to accompany him to the city, where the troops were going to distribute the booty according to their custom (endorsed by the Theodosian Code), based on rank, seniority, etc. The crown was entitled to one-seventh of the total.

Therefore, once there, Clovis asked his men to include the urceus in his share. The most sensible among them, Gregory of Tours continues, responded: Everything we see here is yours, glorious king, and we ourselves are subject to your authority. Do now as you wish; no one will resist. Then the incident occurred. One of the warriors, whom the chronicler describes as light, envious, and impulsive, disagreed and broke the jug with his francisca (the typical Frankish war axe, with a slightly curved blade wielded with one hand) while saying: You will only receive what fate truly grants you.

Clovis did not take action against him, perhaps understanding that returning the jug to a defeated opponent could have generated discontent; thus, Gregory of Tours says, he kept his wound hidden in his heart. The urceus ended up in Remigius’s hands, who restored it, and everything seemed to end there. But the following year, the monarch convened the Campus Martius (Field of Mars, the name given to the traditional judicial and military assemblies held by the Germanic peoples, possibly originating in their foederati oaths to the Roman Empire) again and was inspecting the troops when he recognized the insolent warrior in the ranks.

«¡Ainsi as-tu fait au vase à Soissons !». Illustration by Alphonse de Neuville for L'histoire de France (1872)
«¡Ainsi as-tu fait au vase à Soissons !». Illustration by Alphonse de Neuville for L’histoire de France (1872). Credit: Internet Archive Book Images / Wikimedia Commons

No, Clovis had not forgotten the affront. Approaching him, he reproached the warrior for the dirt and neglect of his attire and weapons, seized his francisca, and threw it to the ground. When the warrior bent down to pick it up, the king wielded his own axe and crushed his skull, exclaiming, as mentioned earlier, the phrase Ainsi as-tu fait au vase à Soissons!. In other words, the Thus did you with the vase at Soissons! that later schoolbooks transformed into the more literary Souviens-toi du vase de Soissons! (“Remember the vase of Soissons!”).

It should be clarified that Gregory of Tours was not a witness to these events. He did not even live in the same period, having been born fifty-two years later, so he probably limited himself to recording an oral legend and shaping it, or he might have read it in another source now lost. Other sources are even later and use his as a base of information, changing some details. For example, in the Chronique de Frédégaire (wrongly attributed to the Frankish chronicler Fredegar, whose real author is unknown), there is no emissary; it is the bishop himself who demands the urceus.

A testament of Remigius is preserved, and in it, he bequeaths to the church of Laon a silver jug to be melted down to make patens and chalices, along with the other silver jug that the illustrious King Clovis deigned to gift me. Could it be the same one from the legend? How much of it would be true, and how much imagination? In any case, the almost divine justice applied a year later was neither a new nor unique device, and Gregory’s narrative seems to be steering the plot toward the climactic moment, the conversion of a still-pagan Clovis.

This article was first published on our Spanish Edition on July 3, 2024: Cómo un jarrón se convirtió en leyenda y mito fundacional de Francia tras la caída del último bastión romano en la Galia

SOURCES

Franz Georg Maier, Las transformaciones del mundo mediterráneo. Siglos III-VIII

Paul Halsall, Medieval Sourcebook: Gregory of Tours: On Clovis

Edward Gibbon, Historia de la decadencia y caída del Imperio Romano

David Odalric de Caixal i Mata, Historia de los reyes de Francia y España (los borbones). Desde la dinastía merovingia a los Orleáns

Catholic Encyclopedia, St. Remigius

Wikipedia, Jarrón de Soissons

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