The Battle of Steenbergen was fought in 396 AD when the Frankish army of Genobaud crushed the Gallo-Roman rebel army of Pacuvius Vesuvius Curvus in the present-day Netherlands. Despite the Frankish victory, Gallo-Roman unrest in Gallia Belgica and Gallia Lugdunensis would continue for several more years.
Background[]
The Germanic Franks under King Faramund invaded Roman Gaul in 395 AD, marching south from present-day North Holland in the Netherlands into the Roman provinces of Gallia Belgica (Belgium and the German Rhineland) and Gallia Lugdunensis (northern France) and capturing several Western Roman towns and cities. The Franks attempted to settle in these regions, but they were unpopular with the local Gallo-Roman populations, who became staunch separatists. Religious differences were key to the friction between the Germanic invaders and their Romano-Celtic subjects; by 396 AD, 29% of the Franks and their subjects adhered to Germanic paganism, while 22% were Celtic pagans, 15.8% Hellenic pagans, 13.3% Arian Christians, 13.1% Latin Christians, and 6.9% Manichaeans. The Franks were mostly Germanic pagans with an Arian minority, while their Gallo-Roman subjects were mostly Celtic/Hellenic pagans, Latin (Catholic) Christians, or Manichaeans. The Gallo-Romans were kept in check by the presence of occupying Frankish armies in the chief settlements of their regions, but, whenever the Frankish armies attempted to leave the city, popular unrest would rise once again. In addition, the outbreak of severe food shortages (exacerbated by periodic famines) led to increased militancy among the Gallo-Roman peasantry. In late 396 AD, the former Western Roman army officer Pacuvius Vesuvius Curvus rose in rebellion at the head of an army of 360 rebels, many of whom acquired legionary armor, swords, and shields. The Frankish noble Genobaud attempted to meet them in battle to the west of present-day Cologne, but the rebels retreated to the Dutch coastline, where they made their last stand.
Battle[]
The numerically-superior Frankish army cornered the smaller rebel army in present-day North Brabant, and the Franks launched an all-out assault on the rebels, charging them from multiple sides. While the Frankish swordsmen attacked the Gallo-Roman infantry, the Frankish spearmen on the left flank chased down the Roman cavalrymen and massacred them. The Gallo-Roman army was annihilated, with only 21 of them escaping; these survivors were then pressed into Frankish service.
Background[]
The rebel army was destroyed and its survivors taken on by the Frankish military, but the Franks soon suffered from crippling bankruptcy, food shortages, and desertions. Their armies, already spread thin, began to suffer from attrition, and the Franks were forced to disband many of their warriors, build new farms whenever they could scrape together enough tax income, and plunder Roman settlements. Gallo-Roman resistance continued for several years, as the Romans continued to reject Germanic rule.