Confronting the Saxons and Frisians and a Blood Feud across the Rhine, 530 - 534 AD

Childebert confronts the Saxons

Childebert finds the Saxon warband sacking a Frankish village flanked on two sides by hills. Deploying the militia to their front the tribal Franks take up a position on the left flank with the cavalry extending the line further. The intention was to have the mounted Franks encircle the Frisian horde and assault them from their rear.

Disturbed by the appearance of the Franks, the Saxons quickly formed deep columns and marched forward at a brisk pace.

A small detachment left behind to defend the village would keep the Frankish cavalry at bay. Childebert’s shield wall collapsed under the Saxon fury leaving his mounted group dangerously exposed. A quick assessment of the mass number of Saxons pouring through the Frankish line, Childebert called for a general retreat handing the Saxons a convincing victory (5 – 0).

Frisian pirates plunder the realm of Chlodomer

The Frisians have deployed their battle line not far from their camp. Chlodomer formed his shield wall to face the bulk of the Frisian force and positioned his tribal warriors on the far left. These would attempt to flank the enemy line as the Frisians moved forward.

Noticing the hesitancy of the Franks to advance, the Frisians chose to clear the wood before making a general assault and so made the necessary adjustments in their approach.

The Franks countered this by advancing their line forward which had the adverse effect, the Frisians changed direction to fall on the Frankish shield wall and breaking it. Within minutes the battle was over as all Chlodomer could view was a oncoming wave of Frisian pagans leaving the corpses of nearly half the army soaking the battlefield (5 – 1).

Thuringia and Bavaria continue their feud.

The Thuringian and Bavarians (top of the photo) deployed their armies in a narrow clearing between woods and a lake forcing both sides to form deep columns.

As their positions were askew of one another, both forces had to wheel their lines as they approached. In that moment, both sides secured the wood on their right flank.

The struggle was long and hard but the Bavarians persevered by killing the Thuringian king. Seeing this, the Thuringian warriors lost heart and fled the field (4g – 1).