_THIRD SIEGE._
Whether the Burgundians crossed the Rhine at the solicitation of the
Gauls, or to find more fertile settlements, or because the emperor
Honorius had granted them a territory on the left bank of the river,
certain it is that about the year 450 they were occupying the banks of
the Saône, and had pushed their way northwards to the neighbourhood of
Langres and Besançon, westwards as far as Autun, and southwards beyond
Lyons. Having entered Gaul as allies--as auxiliaries of the tottering
empire--they treated the inhabitants with a degree of consideration
which was not shown by the Franks and other tribes that were gradually
invading the west. They had indeed gained concessions of lands and gifts
of herds but they were living on a footing of equality with the Gauls,
and their presence resulted in a partition of property with the new
comers rather than subjection to their sway. The establishment of the
Burgundians on Gallic soil may be compared with that of those colonies
of veterans whom Rome sent out formerly to various territories, whose
position was similar to that of the original inhabitants, and who in the
second generation were confounded with them.
Gondebald, the third king of the Burgundians since their entrance on
Gallic soil, was sovereign in the year 500. At that time the territory
of this kingdom extended from Basle to Lorraine and Champagne, included
the district round Macon, reached as far as the frontiers of Auvergne,
and skirting the High Alps, followed the course of the Rhône to the
shores of the Mediterranean. Juliana, including the city and fortress,
with the district appertaining to it, was therefore clearly in
Burgundian ground. The war undertaken by Clovis against Gondebald, and
the defeat of the latter near Dijon, had indeed resulted in reducing the
extent of Burgundy on the north-west; but Autun and even Dijon and
Langres still remained in the hands of Gondomar, the second son of
Gondebald since Childebert and Clotaire came and besieged him in the
first of these three cities. Gondomar had been elected king of the
Burgundians, after his eldest brother Sigismund had been deposed and
condemned to monastic seclusion at Orleans by the sons of Clovis.
Gondomar put his tenable places in a state of defence, collected an
army, and after a battle with the Franks in Dauphiny, and in which
Clodomir perished, resumed peaceable possession of his kingdom. Ten
years later Clotaire and Childebert made a fresh attempt to destroy the
menacing power of Gondomar. They wished to associate Theodoric with
them; but as he was occupied with a war in Auvergne, he refused to
accompany them. The two sons of Clovis therefore directed their forces
in 532 towards Burgundy, and sat down before Autun, in which the king of
the Burgundians had shut himself up.
The cité was on the point of being taken; Gondomar succeeded in escaping
with some of his troops, and took refuge in the cité Juliana, as one of
the best munitioned strongholds of his kingdom, and the key to all the
mountainous and wooded part of Burgundy.
He was hoping to keep the troops of the Franks there till winter, and
then to take advantage of the rigour of the season in that district to
assume the offensive, with the aid of auxiliaries promised from the
East.
In fact, Clotaire and Childebert having taken Autun about the middle of
the summer, led their army before the cité Juliana; for they could not
think of pursuing their conquest while leaving this place on their
flanks or behind them.
Gondomar, having entered it about a fortnight before the arrival of the
Franks, had caused the defences to be repaired and provided with all
that was needed to sustain a long siege.
The lower town, the cité, and the vale, contained at that time a
population of about forty thousand souls, among whom might be reckoned
at least ten thousand persons capable of bearing arms. Many had even
become practically acquainted with war. For since the time of Julian
Gaul had been the theatre of incessant struggles; and though the country
surrounding Juliana had remained comparatively tranquil, its
inhabitants, both Gauls and Burgundians, had been present at more than
one engagement, especially since the definitive invasion of the men of
the North. These barbarians, long the auxiliaries of the empire, had
themselves learned the profession of war in the Roman school, and were
making use of the military engines adopted by the imperial armies.
Among the Franks, however, as among the Burgundians, the Roman standard
of discipline was not attained, and these troops had not the firmness
and tenacity which still distinguished the best soldiers commanded by
the generals of the empire. On the other hand they were often brave even
to temerity.
The cité Juliana was well stored with provisions and munitions of every
sort when the army of the Franks presented itself. Gondomar had not
thought it possible to defend that part of the town situated on the
right bank of the river of Abonia; for it was open, the habitations
having been built beyond the line of Roman intrenchments, and the latter
being commanded on the western front. He had contented himself with
keeping the two _têtes de pont_; one, the smallest, up the stream,
covering a wooden bridge; the other, the largest, a stone bridge. As
soon as the enemy's approach was announced, Gondomar set fire to the
foot-bridges spanning the river across the islet of sand.[9]
The troops of Childebert and Clotaire debouched by the northern road and
the western plateau, above the part of the town that had been abandoned.
These troops therefore formed two bodies, separated by the river.
Gondomar was a man of astuteness rather than a soldier; but he had with
him a certain Clodoald, a veteran of long experience in arms, and who
knew how to inspire confidence in the soldiers, as much by his bravery
as by his rude and simple manners. Severe towards himself as well as
towards others, and gifted with herculean strength, he used to punish
every act of disobedience with his own hand, inflicting one unvarying
penalty--death. In spite of, perhaps on account of this inflexibility,
Clodoald soon became the idol of the city; while he was among them they
could not doubt of success. He confounded the Franks with the Germans in
the implacable hatred which he had vowed to the latter. Gondomar placed
all the forces at his disposal under his command.
The defences of the cité Juliana were just as Philostratus had left
them; intact and massive, they defied all attack by main force. To take
them a regular siege was necessary. The army of the Frank kings
consisted of about forty thousand men when they had laid siege to
Autun, and, deducting losses and desertions, it counted scarcely more
than thirty-five thousand men on arriving before the city. It was,
however, expecting to be reinforced. The body which presented itself on
the northern plateau consisted of twenty thousand men, and that which
appeared above the lower town of fifteen thousand. The lower town was
nearly deserted; all the able-bodied men had taken refuge in the city,
and had sent the women, children, and old men to the eastern hills.
The main body of the Franks was therefore able to enter the lower town
without striking a blow, and naturally enough, began to pillage it.
Clodoald observed from the ramparts the disorder thus occasioned. At
nightfall he despatched a thousand men to the _place d'armes_ at the
south of the plateau, and reinforced the post that defended the _tête de
pont_ on the right bank. The Franks engaged in plundering the town had
scarcely taken notice of the large _tête de pont_ placed on the extreme
right, but had given special attention to the smaller one opposite the
wooden bridge. Towards the third hour of the night Clodoald had the
gates opened, and led forth his men in silence. The Franks had scarcely
kept a guard at this point. Surprised by Clodoald's attack, they went up
again to the lower town, uttering cries of alarm.
Many had encamped between the _Emporium_[10] and the _tête de pont_; the
Burgundians passed round them, and attacking them unawares, drove into
the river those who were not massacred. At the same time Clodoald set
fire to the whole quarter. The wind was blowing from the south, and the
habitations situated on the banks of the river soon presented a mass of
flames. When, the Franks having rallied, their forces were on the point
of taking the offensive, the Burgundians had already re-entered the
_tête de pont_, and were re-ascending the plateau. The Franks had lost
from four to five hundred men in this skirmish, while of the besieged
not more than twenty men had been put _hors de combat_. This
commencement brought joy to the city, and those who from the top of the
ramparts saw their houses in flames, endured their ill-fortune
patiently, thinking of the vengeance they might reasonably anticipate.
Experienced in war as he was, Clodoald would not allow this ardour to
cool. On the morning which followed this night so fatal to the Franks,
he formed two bodies of two thousand men each, well armed with _angons_,
_francisques_, and _scamasaxes_ (for throughout Gaul at that time these
weapons were common to the Franks, the Gauls, and the Burgundians, with
some slight variations). He ordered a body of about five hundred men to
issue by the eastern gate of the southern _place d'armes_, to cross the
rivulet, and make a show of intending to pass the river below the stone
bridge of the valley, by means of light boats which four men could carry
on their shoulders. These boats had been stowed away in the _place
d'armes_. At the same time, one of the two bodies was to assemble in the
northern outpost, which had not yet been attacked, and make a vigorous
sortie. Clodoald himself, with a body of a thousand men, was to pass the
eastern gate of the city, skirt the ramparts and the outpost, and come
to sustain the attack and take the enemy in flank. The five hundred men
furnished with boats were to limit themselves to such a pretence of
crossing over as would be sufficient to attract the Franks to the spot;
then the second troop was to pass the great _tête de pont_ and act as
the occasion might suggest, either attacking the enemy on the march, if
he followed the descent of the river, or keeping back the Franks coming
from the lower town. A body of a thousand men were to fall upon the
troop presenting itself on the banks of the river, and cut them to
pieces or drown them.[11]
This plan well explained to his lieutenants, the movement commenced
about the fourth hour of the day. The two Frank kings had taken the
command: Childebert of the troops encamped on the north, Clotaire of the
body encamped on the west in the lower town. A bridge of rafts had been
early constructed five hundred paces above the isle of sand, to
establish a communication between the two bodies.
It must be observed that after taking Autun, the two chiefs did not
expect any serious resistance in the rest of Burgundy. On the strength
of the reports that had reached them, they were persuaded that Gondomar
had been killed, that the garrison of Autun constituted his best
soldiers, and that the other strong towns would be defended, if at all,
only by inexperienced men.
The event of the preceding night, however, caused them to reconsider
their judgment; and at the moment when the sortie on the north was
taking place, the two chiefs were planning to take the _tête de pont_ by
a vigorous effort, and at the same time to attack the northern outpost.
The Franks are inclined, even more than the Gauls, to take for truth
what they desire to find so; and the two kings were under the persuasion
that the garrison within the city was small in number, and would be
disconcerted by these two simultaneous attacks. Things were in this
position when the Frank chiefs received the news that the line of
investment on the north was attacked.
By the term "line of investment" must not be understood a disposition of
their forces presenting a complete analogy with the strategic
arrangements of modern times. This line consisted of a body of men, one
thousand strong, grouped somewhat confusedly behind a barricade of trees
and brushwood, four hundred paces from the northern salient. A second
body followed, consisting in great part of cavalry, dispersed in the
woods at a hundred paces from the first line, and masking the encampment
of Childebert, surrounded by the bulk of his troops.
At the first alarm the two kings mounted their horses, and, hurrying
along with them those who were equipped for fight, hastened to the field
of action. The cavalry of the second line dashed forwards to aid the
first, separating into two squadrons to attack the enemy on his flanks.
Recovering from their first surprise, the Franks, protected to some
extent by the barricades, were keeping their ground against the attack.
A hand-to-hand conflict was commenced, but the Burgundians, as the more
numerous, were beginning to outflank the enemy's line, when the Frank
cavalry came up, and in their turn fell upon the two wings of the
attack. The Burgundians were compelled to give ground, and were obliged
to avail themselves of the barricades of branches and brushwood not to
be outflanked. Their position, however, was becoming untenable, when
Clodoald came up on the enemy's left flank. The Franks were
panic-struck, for the troop conducted by Clodoald was marching in good
order after the Roman fashion, in echelons, so as not to allow the
cavalry to outflank their right wing. The left of the Franks took to
flight, and their example was followed in turn by every part of the
line. The Burgundians dashed forward in pursuit of them, but Clodoald,
advancing to the front, brought his whole force to a stand, though not
without difficulty.
The fugitives, on the other hand, found themselves confronted with the
main body of Childebert's army. Full of wrath, and upbraiding them with
their cowardice, he compelled them to go back; and a body of ten
thousand men soon presented themselves in sight of the Burgundians
through the woods. The order for retreat was given; and they returned in
good order, not re-entering by the outpost, but marching along the east
front, under the protection of the ramparts. Childebert's irritation was
such that he immediately sent a thousand men to seize upon the outpost,
thinking it would be feebly guarded, since the defenders were outside
the city; but the attack had been foreseen, and the Franks lost a
hundred men in this fruitless attempt.
On the southern side, the sortie of the Burgundians had been more
decisively successful. The state of affairs was such as Clodoald had
foreseen. The Franks, expecting the enemy to cross the river so as to
outflank them on the right, had sent a thousand men to meet the
Burgundians. The lieutenant of Clodoald had then sallied out from the
great _tête de pont_ with his two thousand warriors. Drawing up half his
force in a square, on the river side, with his front towards the lower
town and his right supported by the _tête de pont_, he had dispatched
the other half in all haste against the Frank troops on their way to
oppose the passage.
This troop, taken in flank and thinned by the darts hurled at them by
the Burgundians in their boats, was broken up, and fled in utter
confusion. The Franks remaining in the lower town, now learning that
Childebert's army was attacked on the north, were uncertain whether they
should march towards the southern side to support the troop lower down
the river on the right bank, or betake themselves to the bridge of rafts
to assist Childebert's army. This indecision rendered the attack on the
Burgundians drawn up in square near the great _tête de pont_
inefficient, and permitted the two thousand men who made the sortie to
return without serious loss. The sortie on the north encountered more
trying fortunes; it had left in the woods more than two hundred dead,
and brought home as many wounded.
The Franks had lost in these two conflicts more than six hundred men,
without reckoning the wounded. Far from yielding to despondency,
however, both chiefs and soldiers were full of rage, believing they
should take the city in a few days, and that they had before them a
garrison quite disposed to capitulate, so depressed did they suppose the
Burgundians to have become by the capture of Autun: in twenty-four hours
they had lost more than a thousand men, without having even approached
the ramparts.
The wounded Burgundians remaining in their hands were decapitated; and
their heads, stuck on long poles, were ranged in a line at a hundred
paces from the advanced work. This, however, did not constitute a
countervallation sufficient to protect them from the sorties of the
besieged. It was therefore decided that the army on the north side
should dig a ditch at two hundred paces from the advanced work, which
should extend from the river valley to that of the rivulet; the ditch to
be about two thousand paces long, and behind this ditch, with the earth
dug out and barricades (of branches), an intrenchment was to be raised.
They could thus in the first place obviate any attack of the besieged at
this point. In the second place, it was resolved to seize the great
_tête de pont_. The only communication with the outside then left to the
besieged would be the valley of the rivulet; but this valley was almost
impracticable, full as it was of bogs and marshes; so that the
inhabitants of the city could attempt nothing on this side. As to
assistance from without, it was deemed out of the question then to
expect any; in any case, to prevent the besieged from issuing by the
eastern gate, a well-guarded work should be raised in front of it; next,
to prevent the besieged from getting provisions, the country on the left
bank of the river should be devastated. As regarded the aqueduct, it was
discovered and cut off.
These measures resolved upon, the besiegers set to work without loss of
time. But Clodoald, who had been present at more than one siege, knew by
experience that a garrison which had no expectation of help from
without, has but one means of safety, viz. to allow the besieger no
respite, especially at the commencement of the investment, when the
enemy had not yet been able to complete his works and effect a close
siege. Without knowing exactly what the army of the Franks had in
contemplation, he knew its numerical force, and did not doubt that it
commanded the services of some Latin engineers, as such was the case at
the siege of Autun. Clodoald therefore divided his troops into eight
bodies. The inclosure[12] being defended by forty-four towers, eleven
hundred and eighty men were required to guard them, reckoning
twenty-five men for each of the thirty-six towers of this inclosure, and
thirty-five for each of the eight towers of the gates, or seventy men
for each gate and its works. The post of each tower, it must be
understood, was, in conformity with the military usages of the time,
intrusted with the guard of the neighbouring curtain. The guard of the
northern outwork required two hundred men; for the _place d'armes_ on
the south, and the _têtes de pont_, five hundred men; to garrison the
stronghold (_Castellum_) one hundred men; to watch the rampart on the
north descending from the angle of the city to the river, and to guard
its banks, six hundred men. Total for the ordinary guard of the
defences, two thousand five hundred and eighty men. He distributed this
first body so that the best troops occupied the _place d'armes_, the
_têtes de pont_ and the advanced guard, as well as the front on this
side. Clodoald constituted a second body of a thousand men, held in
reserve in the middle of the city, to hasten at need to one or several
of the points attacked. He had about six thousand men left, which he
divided into six bodies of a thousand men each, thus distributed: two in
the part of the town situated between the cité and the river, two in the
neighbourhood of the northern gate, and two near the eastern gate. These
six bodies were to be ready to make a sortie whenever the order was
given.
Clodoald retained under his own direct command the thousand men in
reserve lodged in the middle of the cité. Then he provided for the wants
of the garrison and the inhabitants living within the walls. A great
quantity of provisions had been brought into the town by means of
requisitions and according to Roman usage. These provisions were stored
in the stronghold. The flocks and herds were driven to graze on the
slopes of the plateau on the south and east. Timber in considerable
quantity had also been laid in store. It was ranged along the interior
of the curtain walls. In addition to its walls the town had vast
cisterns, supplied by the aqueduct. This being cut off, Clodoald had the
rain-water from the roofs collected in channels which led into these
cisterns. Moreover, in the part of the town situated between the
ramparts and the river there was a fine spring capable of supplying all
the upper part of this quarter.
Clodoald looked carefully to the lodging of his troops. Many of the
soldiers had their families in the town; he would not allow the
defenders to lodge in their houses. He had the public buildings arranged
to receive the seven thousand men who did not habitually occupy the
ramparts. Those who were charged with the guard were well lodged in the
towers, the public buildings of the quarter, or outside the ramparts.
Clodoald, as has been said, enjoyed the full confidence of his troops
before the arrival of the Franks; but after the successful affairs of
the first day, his men considered him as a kind of Providence, and
blindly obeyed him. Accordingly, these arrangements were readily
accepted and carried into execution. In details he had adopted the
composition of the Roman cohort, and every chief of a corps was
responsible for the execution of the orders he received under pain of
death. As for the inhabitants, they were obliged to lend assistance
whenever required; a refusal was capitally punished.
Gondomar, whom we have scarcely had occasion to mention hitherto,
inhabited the _Castellum_; and Clodoald manifested the greatest respect
for him, acting as he said only according to his instructions; but for
the garrison, the veritable chief was Clodoald.
Having provided for what was most pressing, namely the organization of
his force, he had two _onagri_ placed in the outwork the day following
the engagements, and these _onagri_ began to hurl stones of sixty pounds
weight on the Frank workmen engaged in the contravallation, two hundred
paces from the salient, with such effect that the besiegers were forced
to put back their fosse fifty paces out of range. The following night,
Clodoald sent out a thousand men by the eastern gate, who, defiling by
the road along the rampart, went and destroyed the first works of the
Franks, and re-entered immediately; at the same time another sortie,
effected through the south gate of the great _tête de pont_, surprised
several men of the Frankish outposts. Their heads, fixed on stakes,
were placed at the extremity of the northern outwork, as a response to
the proceedings of the Franks. That very night, the enemy attempted to
cross the river, aided by the islet of sand, in order to attack the
ramping curtain on the north from behind; but they were unable to land,
the quays being well lined with troops. Many of them were drowned.
Things were proceeding rather unfavourably for the army of the Frank
kings; it was accompanied, however, by an able Latin engineer, who had
given proofs of his skill, especially at the siege of Autun. Childebert,
exasperated by the success of the besieged, poured forth menaces against
his own men as well as the enemy. He had not deigned to listen to the
advice of his engineer, who since the arrival of the army before Juliana
had been urging him to encamp on the north, and not to invest the town
till he had reconnoitred its approaches. Consulted after the preliminary
checks, Secondinus--that was the name of the Latin engineer--admitted
that it was difficult to withdraw, since the army was engaged around the
place; that the first thing to be done was to make it impossible for the
besieged to make a sortie; and to effect this result--the latter being
unable to issue without danger except by the eastern gate, and the
_têtes de pont_--it was necessary to raise works in front of these
points of egress, so as to close them completely; that it was hazardous
and of little advantage to try to seize the great _tête de pont_ by a
direct attack; but that it was necessary to occupy the western quarter
below the ramparts, and therefore to cross the river; that then, by the
same blow, the _têtes de pont_ and the ramping wall on the north would
be lost to the besieged, and the southern _place d'armes_ endangered.
Thereupon, trees were felled in the forest on the plateau, and the
timberwork of the houses of the lower town brought away. A moat, filled
from the river, surrounded the works of the great _tête de pont_; but
those of the smaller one no longer possessed any; the fosse had long
been filled up, and the besieged had neglected to sink it afresh. The
south wall of the _Emporium_, which joined the northern shoulder of that
smaller _tête de pont_, was crenelated, and in the hands of the
defenders, including the square return on the road coming from the west.
Thus half the area of the Emporium was commanded in its length by this
wall.[13] Astride on this western road, Secondinus erected an _agger_
which rested against the river, fifty paces from the square return, and
on this agger he fixed up a work of framed timber, which commanded the
enemy's rampart (Fig. 21). Around the great _tête de pont_, he contented
himself with raising a contravallation, which cut off the two roads.
Before the eastern gate of the city, the operation presented great
difficulties, because of the steepness of the slope of the plateau.
Every night, the besiegers' works were thrown down by the defenders, who
had the advantage of the dominant position. Secondinus, after several
unsuccessful attempts, was obliged to confine himself to forming beneath
the ascent of the plateau a work of earth and timber, forming an arc of
a circle, as in the accompanying sketch (Fig. 22).
The besiegers could reach this work, which was out of range of the
plateau, by a road descending gently towards the western arm of the
rivulet.
These works had not been executed without attempts on the part of the
besieged to destroy them, nor without considerable loss on the part of
the Franks. A fortnight, however, after the enemy's arrival, they were
completed, and strongly guarded.
[Illustration: FIG. 21.]
The enemy's troops were thus disposed around the cité:--The large
encampment on the north plateau was occupied by twelve thousand men; the
defenders of the great contravallation on the same side numbered two
thousand. The body lodged in the lower town consisted of six thousand
men; the guard of the work opposite the small _tête de pont_, five
hundred; that of the contravallation around the great _tête de pont_,
one thousand two hundred; the work raised at the bottom of the plateau
facing the east gate contained one thousand two hundred men. Total:
twenty-two thousand nine hundred men. There remained, deducting for
losses since the commencement of the siege, about ten thousand soldiers,
who scoured and devastated the country, collected provisions and forage,
and formed a reserve corps, ready to make a fresh attempt when the
propitious moment arrived.
[Illustration: FIG. 22.]
These preparations rendered it clear to Clodoald that the enemy since
his first checks was acting with method, and preparing for a decisive
action. He had quickly perceived that his attack would be directed to
the weak points of the fortress,--that is to say, the northern salient
and the banks of the river opposite the western bend of the cité; he had
therefore strongly barricaded all the roads of the town leading to the
quay, and had strengthened the latter with a _vallum_.
[Illustration: FIG. 23]
In addition to this, two hundred paces behind the square tower on the
river, to the north, he had run another vallum, _a_, _b_, through the
houses and gardens, following the slopes of the plateau in an oblique
direction, and joining the south-west gate (Fig. 23). The habitations
had been left as a mask in front of this entrenchment; a few houses and
fences only had been cleared away to give a free space outside.
[Illustration: FIG. 24.]
Clodoald could not attempt anything before the northern salient, the
enemy being there in front of him in force; but within the salient
itself he sunk ditches with retrenchments of earth and stakes, as shown
in Fig. 24. These works being low and masked were invisible to the enemy
outside. Every night he sent out of the city, by the postern which led
to the bottom of the wide fosse on the northern front, spies who
rendered him an account of the operations of the enemy.
At the end of the third week from the beginning of the siege, his spies
reported a considerable degree of activity in the large camp; that
faggots were being got ready, that the soldiers were preparing their
arms, and that war-engines were being mounted. One of these spies, who
crossed the river below the town and observed the attitude of the enemy
encamped on the west, brought a similar report. Clodoald judged,
therefore, that the besiegers were on the point of attempting a grand
effort on the west and the north.
On the morning of the twenty-third day of the siege, in fact, four
_onagri_ planted on the work opposite the small _tête de pont_ swept the
latter with stones so effectually that the defenders were scarcely
sheltered behind the parapets, and could not work the engines placed at
that point. At the same time, boats laden with inflammable materials
were launched in the river above the wooden bridge. These boats,
impelled in the direction required, were arrested by the piles of the
bridge, and were not long in setting it on fire (Fig. 25). The defenders
of the small _tête de pont_, seeing that their retreat was going to be
cut off, abandoned the work, which was soon occupied by the Franks.
Retired within the _place d'armes_ behind the bridge, the besieged
could do nothing but watch the fire.
[Illustration: FIG 25.]
At the same time, shielded by wicker mantelets, a numerous troop of the
enemy were advancing boldly against the north-east and north-west flanks
of the northern salient. Filling up the fosse with faggots, the
assailants rushed in a dense column against the rampart. The conflict
was furious. Thanks to the stonework of the aqueduct the enemy were
unable to break through the north-east flank; but they succeeded in
gaining a footing[14] on the opposite one. The besieged were obliged to
abandon the salient, retiring from one retrenchment to another, and
with but slight loss, whereas the assailants had more than two hundred
men killed on the rampart and in the ditches.
At nightfall Clodoald with the three thousand men of his reserve corps
issued suddenly by the central gate--the bridge of which, strongly
barricaded, had remained in his possession--and fell upon the enemy: he
killed a hundred more, but was unable to retake the work. Moreover, he
anticipated another attack, and was not mistaken. Towards midnight the
Franks took possession of the island of sand with the help of rafts, and
there entrenched themselves in front of the quay. They were within
bowshot, and arrows were discharged on both sides, but with little
result.
The loss of the advanced work had only the effect of animating the
besieged, who were for immediately re-taking it. Clodoald had to calm
their ardour by promising them to do better than retake it; adding, that
just then he had another enterprise in view, and that the enemy was
going to give them a fine opportunity of beating him.
Clodoald strengthened the defences of the northern front, which could
not be taken by storm; placed a strong body in the outwork of the
eastern gate, with orders to defend it to the last man; and sent down as
large a number of troops as they would hold into the two _places
d`armes_ south and south-west. He strongly manned the oblique
entrenchment descending to the edge of the water, and placed there a
chief on whom he could depend, with special instructions.
The next day passed without fighting. The Franks were engaged in
intrenching themselves within the outwork against the north front, and
destroying the _vallum_. They were bringing to the island timbers,
fascines, earth, and stones, and were beginning to fill up the small
arm with these materials. Sheltering themselves with wicker mantelets,
they threw stones into the water, then fascines, in which large pebbles
were inclosed to make them sink between the stones, then when these
materials began to rise above the surface; they laid trunks of trees
upon them across the stream, and between these fascines and clods of
turf. The besieged could scarcely do anything to hinder these
operations. Two _onagri_ sometimes hurled stones at the workmen; but
they, well shielded and always in motion, were seldom struck. Towards
evening the embankment was barely twenty feet from the quay wall, and
the water--rather low at that season--ran through the sunken fascines
without endangering the stability of the dam. The Franks continued all
night working at the consolidation and enlargement of the causeway; then
they brought timbers and ladders, and raised on its extremity about
fifteen feet from the quay wall a stage of timberwork prepared
beforehand. At daybreak the besieged perceived on the stage the end of a
kind of bridge, furnished with a wicker mantelet, moving slowly forwards
towards the edge of the quay (Fig. 26). Secondinus had the platform of a
bridge framed ten feet wide: this platform, laid on rollers which rested
on the inclined beams, was propelled by soldiers, aided by levers, and
drawn by two cables wound on capstans fixed in advance. The men with the
levers were screened by sheets of thick canvas stretched before them,
which stopped the darts. All this time two catapults and two _onagri_
showered long darts and stones on the _vallum_ of the quay; while
slingers and archers rendered it impossible for the defenders to show
themselves.
[Illustration: FIG. 26.--THE ATTACK--THE MOVABLE BRIDGE INTENDED FOR
CROSSING THE SMALL ARM OF THE RIVER OF ABONIA.]
The chief who commanded the latter, following the instructions of
Clodoald, drew his men gradually away in the direction of the houses;
and when the rolling bridge attained the ridge of the _vallum_ of the
quay, not a single Burgundian remained behind this defence. The Franks
rushed with loud shouts on the platform, threw down the wicker parapet,
and spread themselves in great numbers over the deserted and silent
quay. Dreading some ambuscade, they were in no hurry to ascend the
slopes of the plateau, gentle though they were at this point, or to
venture along the roads whose barricades appeared not to be guarded.
They drew up along the quay in good order until they numbered about
four thousand men. This did not take long; for as soon as the first few
had passed from the stage to the _vallum_, the besiegers had placed
beams across on which they laid logs, brushwood, and turf, and the
bridge had thus attained a width of nearly thirty feet.
A second body of considerable strength ready to sustain the first was
assembled on the island, and a third body was approaching on the
opposite bank.
Secondinus was one of the first to reach the left bank, and he augured
no good from the apparent inaction of the besieged. He desired that any
advance should be made with caution, and not until a _tête de pont_ had
been erected with stakes and _débris_ taken from the neighbouring
houses. An exploring party sent into these houses found that they were
deserted, while behind the barricades erected where the roads opened on
the quay there were no defenders.
He therefore ordered these barricades to be cleared away. All this took
up time, and the Franks began to murmur loudly, asking if they had been
sent across the river merely to guard the shores. Their chiefs insisted
that the besieged had abandoned this part of the cité, as they had the
lower town, that they had retired behind their walls, and that if
advantage was not taken of their retreat, they would regain courage and
come and attack the Franks in the night; that it was essential to occupy
the ground vacated by them without loss of time, and take up a position
beneath the walls, seizing in its rear the smaller _place d'armes_.
Secondinus shook his head, and persevered in ordering measures of
safety. Towards midday one of the Frank chiefs, still more impatient
than the rest, called his men together and declared that there had been
too long a delay, and that the slopes must be occupied. "Let the brave
follow me, and those who are afraid remain here and find themselves
sheltering-places!" and he and his followers made for the summit of the
plateau. His example was quickly followed, and by various paths through
the houses and gardens more than two thousand men ascended the slopes.
Arrived at the _vallum_ formed on the slant, they were received by a
shower of stones and darts. But soon recovering the surprise, and urged
on by their chiefs, the Franks sprang up the escarpment. Their position,
commanded as it was by the besieged, was unfavourable, and the first
assault failed. They had to rally in the shelter afforded by the
habitations and hedges left by Clodoald outside the _vallum_. Hearing
the shouts of the onslaught, the troops left near the passage hurried in
their turn up the hill. Secondinus then judged it expedient to get over
a thousand men from among those who had remained in the island, giving
excellent reasons for keeping them at that point.
Seeing the reinforcement ascending the hill, the first assailants
separated into three large parties, and at the word of command advanced
anew against the _vallum_. The fall of the foremost did not arrest the
new comers, who passed over their bodies. There were moments when the
intrenchment seemed to be carried, for its ridge was crowned by Frank
soldiers; but the defenders--independently of those who guarded the
_vallum_--had also divided into compact bodies, which, in readiness
behind, fell on the assaulting columns when their heads appealed above
the ridge. Thus the conflict presented a series of captures and
recaptures of the _vallum_, and it appeared as if the same turns of
fortune would be repeated as long as the assailants and defenders were
able to form bodies of soldiers. Many fell on both sides, for they
fought hand to hand.
Then it was that Clodoald, who held the smaller _place d'armes_ on the
south-west, led forth a thousand men in good order, keeping along the
river; he ordered those who occupied the large _place d'armes_ to pass
on between him and the _vallum_, and to fall on the assailants in flank.
From the right shore the Franks perceived this movement of Clodoald, and
hurried towards the island to attack him and support those of their
party who were on the left shore. But Clodoald had the start, and
advanced by a direct road, whereas the enemy had to make a détour. In a
few minutes, therefore, he came upon the body of Franks which, at the
instance of Secondinus, was guarding the passage. He attacked it most
vigorously, and cut down the first he met with. The Franks resisted,
however, and, covering the embankment, formed in a square, with their
right against the river. Fresh assailants passed over to the embankment,
and took up such a position on the left that Clodoald's troop was on the
point of being surrounded, and to free itself was obliged to make a
movement in retreat, not without much loss--abandoning the left shore in
order to reach the slopes and choose more advantageous ground.
The second troop of Burgundians was then advancing on the flank of the
besiegers, who were furiously storming the _vallum_. The assailants,
attacked in flank, almost in rear--by reason of the direction of the
_vallum_--gave way and ran down towards the passage, pursued by the
Burgundians. Seeing himself thus supported, Clodoald assailed the foe
with renewed energy. At that juncture came Gondomar sallying out from
the western gate, with fresh troops to reinforce the defenders of the
_vallum_. Seeing the enemy flying in all haste towards the passage, he
concluded that his force was strong enough to press them vigorously,
and, following the southern ramping wall, and then turning to the left,
he attacked the enemy on the shore opposite the island. The Franks, thus
attacked in front and on both flanks, with a narrow passage behind,
offered a desperate resistance; but their very numbers were unfavourable
to success, and they were overwhelmed with missiles hurled by Burgundian
slingers posted in the houses on the slope.
When night came not an enemy remained alive on the left shore; many had
sought to reach the island by swimming, and a considerable number had
also effected their escape by the embankment; but more than two thousand
five hundred bodies remained along the _vallum_ and about the entrance
of the passage. Clodoald had faggots and straw heaped on the movable
bridge, which soon caught fire as well as the stage. The besieged lost a
thousand, and Clodoald was wounded.
The Burgundians had kept the western portion of the town, but they could
not take the offensive in that quarter, since dense masses of the enemy
presented themselves there.
During the same day the Frank kings had made a feint of attacking the
north front of the city; but the ramparts and the towers erected on this
front could only be taken by a regular siege, and the Burgundian troops
assigned to that quarter were more than sufficient to defy a serious
attack.
Retired within their tent, Childebert and his brother accused one
another of the failure of their operations, but ultimately agreed in
throwing on Secondinus the blame of their defeat. The latter, summoned
into their presence, had to undergo the bitterest reproaches. "If,"
replied the engineer, "your troops were disciplined--if they had not
persisted in attacking the quarter, on which we had fortunately gained a
footing, at haphazard--we should still be on that shore, and should
have been able to-morrow to seize the whole of that region; not that I
think it necessary to attack the cité on that front, but because we
could thus have prevented any sortie, and might without risk attack the
northern front and take it--which would only be an affair of time.
"Not being in possession of the western quarter, all our siege works may
be destroyed in a vigorous sortie; for the besieged are audacious--they
have shown themselves so; and the ramping wall which descends to the
river from the west corner will always put our attack on the north front
of the cité at the mercy of a vigorous effort.
"This ramping wall has no visible gates, but it will be easy for the
besieged to make outlets if there are not already some hidden ones; and
then under favour of night he can fall on the right flank of the attack,
burn our works, and render the siege much longer and more uncertain in
its issue. Each of our chiefs insists on commanding; and, brave though
they all are, before a cité so well fortified and defended, blind
bravery only involves you in useless perils. Obtain from them,
therefore, an implicit obedience to your commands, and remember that
your illustrious father owed his victories to the rigorous discipline
which he succeeded in maintaining." This firm language did not fail to
make an impression on the two kings, who, repressing their anger, began
to deliberate coolly on the situation. It was decided to seize the great
_tête de pont_, still in the hands of the besieged; to keep a strict
watch on the shores of the river; and to attack the place along the
whole extent of the northern front, comprising the ramping wall.
The two kings decided that the chiefs of the various corps should obey
Secondinus, whom they intrusted with the direction of their operations.
The chiefs were assembled, and received from Childebert's own mouth the
order not to engage in any enterprise except such as Secondinus should
sanction. But these Franks had no liking for the Roman, as they called
him, and received the admonition with a bad grace. Many raised
objections, declaring that the slow proceedings of the Roman were the
cause of their failures, and that if they might have their way the cité
would soon be in their power. Childebert and his brother began to feel
their resolution failing at these representations, and looked to
Secondinus to reply. Addressing himself then to the chiefs who had
accused him, he said: "Let those of you who have a plan of attack to
offer, speak; let them explain by what methods they propose to force
walls defended by men inured to war and well commanded; and if they can
exhibit a plan superior to mine, I am ready to follow them like the
humblest of their soldiers. But the kings and the whole army, before
being called upon to advance, have a right to demand that their lives be
not risked in an enterprise without definite purpose, and not presenting
any chance of success." To this speech there was no response. "You, who
spoke," said Childebert then to one of the chiefs, "what do you
propose?"--"We took Autun by main strength; we invested the cité, made a
breach in the wall, and entered it."--"Yes," replied Secondinus; "but
Autun is not a cité built on the summit of escarpments like this; we
were able to attack it from the level on two of its fronts, without
having a river in the rear. Its walls, good though they were, were but
ill defended, and our simultaneous attacks on two opposite points
disconcerted the besieged. Here there is but a single front that can be
attacked from the level; all the others crown escarpments, that could be
easily defended, even without walls. Only two courses, then, are
possible: either to invest the place so closely as to force it to
surrender through want of provisions--which may be a tedious process,
for the besieged are well provisioned, and the Frank army, which
dislikes inaction, will melt away during such a blockade--or to attack
the only vulnerable side, and concentrate all our forces on that point.
"By proceeding regularly, this front will be in our power in three
weeks. Then we shall be able to invest the _castellum_ closely, leaving
a numerous body to prevent any sortie. It must surrender eventually, and
in the meantime the kings will subdue the rest of Burgundy, without
being delayed here." Many of the chiefs responded, proposing irrational
plans of attack--appearing such, indeed, to the assembly; for though all
agreed in blaming the conduct of the siege hitherto, no one could
suggest a consistent plan of operation. Every proposition was therefore
received with murmurs or ironical laughter. Seeing this, Childebert made
a formal declaration that he and his brother were determined that
Secondinus should be obeyed in all points, since no one had a desirable
plan to propose; and the assembly separated. The two kings, remaining
alone with the engineer, urged him to contrive for securing an immediate
success that might cause the recent failures to be forgotten and restore
confidence to the army.
"The difficulty," replied Secondinus, "is to obtain such a success,
without risk, with troops that do not strictly follow orders. What
secures success in siege warfare is patience, assiduous labour, and
rigid discipline; but your men are not patient, are not fond of digging,
and are undisciplined. They prefer getting killed in an assault under
unfavourable conditions to the safe, though painful, labour which in the
course of some days would secure the capture of the place without much
loss."
Meantime the Frank army was reinforced by a body of about two thousand
men, sent by Theodoric, who, having terminated his expedition into
Auvergne, was reckoning on gaining some advantage from the war going on
in Burgundy. These two thousand men were robust, but ill-armed, and
little fitted for active war; but they were able to render great
services in siege works. They were placed directly under the orders of
Secondinus, who set them to work immediately, promising them a large
share of the booty when the cité was taken.
[Illustration: FIG. 27.]
We have seen that the northern salient had remained in the power of the
Franks. Secondinus raised an _agger_ at this point, in front of the gate
of the cité; and on the declivity of the plateau another _agger_
opposite and on the counterscarp of the fosse of the ramping wall (Fig.
27). The ridge of these works did not reach the level of the footway of
the cité walls, but yet rose high enough to allow great stones to be
discharged on the battlements by means of onagers, and to render the
situation perilous to the defenders. The especial object of this was to
occupy the besieged. Under shelter of these two earthworks, Secondinus
had two mines commenced, one at the point A, the other at B, which,
carried under the bottom of the dry ditches, were to penetrate beneath
the walls. Clodoald, who had been rather severely wounded, was obliged
to confide the superintendence of the defence to his lieutenants, who
informed him of the besiegers' operations, and who believed that the
Franks were going to raise timber works to command the walls, destroy
the battlements, and throw bridges across. Nothing, however, favoured
the supposition that such was the intention of the Franks, who limited
themselves to furnishing the earthworks with screens to protect their
engines. This apparent inactivity was a constant source of anxiety to
Clodoald, who knew, through his spies, that the besiegers had received
reinforcements. As he was unable to take the lead, he dared not direct
his lieutenants to undertake any fresh sorties, and was obliged to
content himself with recommending the most scrupulous vigilance.
Trusting, moreover, to the solidity of the Roman walls and the rocky
site of the plateau, he scarcely believed that mining could be rendered
efficient; yet, in anticipation of such a contingency, he ordered that
trusty men should be set to listen in the lower stories of the towers,
and at the base of the walls opposite the face of attack; then he had
platforms prepared behind the rampart to receive six machines, which
discharged stones in abundance on the earthworks of the besiegers (Fig.
28).
[Illustration: FIG. 28.]
The Franks, on their side, were working vigorously at their two mining
galleries, not without great difficulty, for they had at several points
very hard rock to pierce. The excavated earth was heaped up within the
earthwork, and could not be seen by the besieged. Till they reached the
fosse the noise of the work could not be heard from the cité; but when
the miners had arrived below the fosse, the men on guard in the town
heard the sound of pickaxes dully reverberating through the night.
Clodoald, informed of this, immediately gave orders to countermine,
starting from the interior base of the rampart, and in the direction of
the sound. On both sides, therefore, the miners were at work; but this
did not prevent the projectile engines from being worked all day by both
parties.
In a fortnight the besiegers' tunnels were near enough for the workmen
to hear the blows of the pickaxes in the rock. Clodoald was then in a
condition to leave his dwelling; he examined what had been done, stopped
the work, and listened attentively. He judged that the enemy's miners
were digging obliquely under the wall, near the north gate (Fig. 29),
while the countermine of the besieged followed the direction A B.
[Illustration: FIG. 29.]
He thought he also perceived that the enemy's tunnel was on a higher
level than his own. This seemed favourable to the plan he was intending
to adopt, and with a view to greater safety, he sunk the floor of the
countermine-tunnel still lower. On visiting the base of the ramping wall
he heard no noise at this point, although his lieutenants said they had
heard mining towards the upper third of the wall during the preceding
days. The countermine-tunnel was also commenced opposite to the place
where they thought they had heard the enemy's miners. Clodoald ordered a
suspension of the work till the besiegers' operations were clearly
understood.
Next day, on the north front, it became evident that the
countermine-tunnel was crossing that of the enemy, for the steps of the
pioneers were heard above the ceiling.
Clodoald then had the ceiling shored up along the sides of the tunnel,
and ordered that the layers of stone forming the ceiling should be
noiselessly removed by levers and crowbars, so as to render it as thin
as possible below the point where footsteps had been heard.
When this had been done to the extent of leaving only a very thin layer
of rock, Clodoald had dry faggots, resin, tar, and all the inflammable
materials that could be got, heaped up in the countermine tunnel; then,
promising the most skilful of his miners a large reward on succeeding,
he told him to break down this crust, and as soon as he perceived an
opening, however small, to set fire to the faggots, retiring towards the
entrance.
In fact, a few minutes after the order had been given, the miner
appeared at the entrance of the shaft, followed by a thick smoke. He
reascended quickly, and this opening was stopped with planks and earth.
From the hole made below the floor of the besiegers' gallery the smoke
was rising into the tunnel, and suffocating the miners. They tried to
stop up this orifice, but the necessary materials were not at hand; and
the flame soon mounted high, as the hole produced a draft. The heat
burst the stone to pieces, and the opening was becoming larger. The
mining gallery was soon so filled with smoke that it was no longer
possible to stay there and some of the miners fell suffocated before
they could gain the somewhat distant mouth of the tunnel.
The stir caused among the besiegers beyond the earthwork proved to
Clodoald that the operations had been frustrated, and the mine rendered
untenable. He then stopped up the entrance to the countermine, and when
the smoke was dissipated, he resolved on examining the state of things
for himself. The faggots were burning rapidly by reason of the draft,
and the flame was roaring through the hole, which was becoming larger
and larger. Fresh faggots were thrown on the fire with pitchforks, the
limestone was cracking incessantly and falling in large slabs.
Secondinus had heard the counterminers at work, but had not been able to
ascertain the direction they were following, as they were excavating
under the limestone bed in a clayey sand. He thought the galleries would
meet some time or other, and that then there would be a struggle in the
tunnel. Anticipating this, he had screens in readiness, hoping thus to
remain master of his own gallery, and even to gain possession of the
countermine.
The event disconcerted his projects; no further progress was possible
there. Along the ramping wall, Secondinus's miners had reached the sand,
and were consequently no longer heard. He sent all his workmen,
therefore, to this quarter, and had his galleries deeply excavated
according to the plan (Fig. 30). Thanks to the yielding nature of the
soil, this operation was completed the following night. The galleries
were well propped and shored with dry wood taken from the houses of the
lower town. Faggots smeared with tar were placed among these props, and
at dawn were set fire to.
[Illustration: FIG. 30.]
Clodoald's anxiety had brought him once more to this front of the
defence, when a cracking noise was heard.... A wide piece of the wall,
above the oblique intrenchment made by the besieged, immediately split,
bent forward, and fell _en masse_ outside into the fosse. Clouds of
smoke and dust arose, and the exulting cries of the Franks were heard
from the cité.
There was not a moment to lose: weak as he still was from his wound,
Clodoald assembled all his men within call, and sent for a
reinforcement. With the soldiers--about two hundred in number--who had
hastened together at his first summons, he mounted to the summit of the
crumbling wall (Fig. 31) to meet the assault.
[Illustration: FIG. 31.]
When the dust and smoke were somewhat dispersed, he could see the
Franks, about two thousand in number, drawn up on the earthwork,
prepared to scale the ruins. Happily for the defenders, an engine
mounted on the platform of the square tower at the angle of the cité[15]
was quickly turned by those serving it, so as to discharge heavy stones
on the van of the attack, killing or wounding many men at every volley;
which forced the Franks to retreat until mantelets were brought up.
This delay enabled the besieged to assemble on the breach, and to heap
up fascines there--for the besiegers on their side were discharging a
quantity of stones on this point--and to place planks so as to ascend to
the summit of the crumbling wall more readily.
All this occupied but a quarter of an hour, when the Franks ascended the
_agger_ once more, protected by the mantelets, threw fascines into the
space between the head of the wall and the slope of the _agger_, and
rushed forward resolutely to the assault.
The position of the besieged was disadvantageous, for they had behind
them the escarpment produced by the thickness of the fallen wall, and a
ground deeply creviced by the fall of the masonry; while this fallen
wall gave the besiegers a slope of slight inclination, and of easy
access.
[Illustration: FIG. 32.]
The assault was vigorous and vigorously met, but the people of the cité
had only a thin front to oppose to a compact assaulting column; and
towards midday the Franks remained decidedly masters of the breach (Fig.
32.) Clodoald had died in the fight, and with him more than a thousand
Burgundians.
The Franks on their side had sustained heavy loss, and the breach was
literally covered with dead bodies. Either from fatigue, or because they
feared some surprise, the besiegers allowed the remainder of the enemy's
forces to re-enter the cité without pursuing them.
They now possessed all the western part of the town lying between the
river and the slopes of the plateau. Outside the cité the Burgundians
occupied only the southern _place d'armes_ and the great _tête de pont_:
the smaller _place d'armes_ of the bridge previously burned, being
uninclosed on the side of its access, and not united with the ramparts,
was evacuated.
The Franks had no personal knowledge of Clodoald, and learned only from
prisoners that this brave captain had been killed in the assault. They
had his body sought for, and his head, fixed on a long pole, was placed
before the north gate. This time the prisoners were spared, and sent as
slaves to the royal domains.
The cité Juliana was now shut in on all sides and reduced to its walls,
which were able long to defy the attacks of the Franks. But Clodoald's
death thoroughly disheartened the besiegers, and the Burgundian king was
not energetic enough to replace his skilful lieutenant. On the evening
of this unfortunate day, he assembled the chiefs of the defending forces
to deliberate on the measures to be adopted. Accustomed to the bold
enterprises of Clodoald, they thought themselves sufficiently numerous
to attempt a sortie at two points--the southern _place d'armes_ and the
eastern gate; they believed that the cité would be destitute of
provisions in a few weeks, since they could get no more supplies from
without, and they considered that this extremity and the disgraceful
surrender that must follow should not be waited for. The sortie from the
southern _place d'armes_ was to be supported by a body issuing through
the south-west gate.
Thus they could drive back the Franks as far as the wall which they had
just passed. The sortie from the eastern gate would occupy them during
this time, on the left side of the plateau.
But while they were engaged in these deliberations, Secondinus
understood well how to avail himself of the advantage so dearly bought.
During the night he had an intrenchment made at some distance from the
gate of the _place d'armes_, caused the road to be intercepted and the
slopes of the cité covered with abatis of trees, and thereupon commenced
without delay a mining tunnel under the descent from the castle to this
_place d`armes_ to destroy the fortified wall.
In the morning, therefore, when the Burgundians were preparing to pass
the north gate from the great _place d'armes_, they saw before them a
well-guarded intrenchment, bristling with pointed stakes and intertwined
branches of trees. Reckoning, however, on the attack to be made by the
body that was to issue by the south-west gate, they advanced resolutely
against the intrenchment, whose defenders might thus be taken in the
rear. But this contingency had been foreseen by Secondinus; another
intrenchment at right angles was already raised before this gate, and
the road cut off; the approaches being furnished with barricades. After
losing a hundred men, therefore, the two bodies re-entered without
having been able to execute their design. Originating power and
promptness in execution were henceforth wanting to these brave people,
who were, however, determined not to capitulate.
Three days afterwards the descent to the _place d'armes_ was undermined,
and part of it fell. The defenders of the post and of the _tête de
pont_ were surprised, and had only time to retire in haste by the road
ascending to the eastern gate: and some of them fell into the hands of
the Franks.
The cité was then completely surrounded within bowshot distance. No
sortie could be of any serious use to the besieged; for Secondinus had
established posts supported by intrenchments around the ramparts. Seeing
the success of his last efforts, the Frank chiefs began to place more
confidence in the Latin engineer, and were obedient to his orders.
Then Secondinus resumed his attack on the north front, and began four
mining galleries, making use of that which he had been forced to
abandon. Three were led under the square tower of the north-west
corner[16] (Fig. 33). The besieged soon heard the strokes of the miners'
pickaxes, and attempted a countermine, starting from the tower itself,
at A; but Clodoald was no longer there to direct the workmen, who,
wishing to repeat the manoeuvre previously adopted, dug too deep,
crossed the enemy's galleries underneath them, and had no clear
perception what direction their sapping should take.
The sounds they heard were diffused, and seemed to issue from several
points; and, in fact, the Franks were working in more than one
direction, and, as Secondinus ordered, immediately under the foundation;
sometimes they were digging in the sand, and all noise ceased; sometimes
they would meet with rock, and then the blows of the pioneers again
became audible.
[Illustration: FIG. 33.]
The countermine gallery, therefore, was winding about, and only weakened
the basis on which the tower rested; and four days after the
commencement of the work, it was supported only by dry props, greased
and smeared with pitch. These being set on fire, the tower fell in,
bringing down with it a large piece of the north wall. Anticipating this
result, King Gondomar, who, after Clodoald's death, took the command in
the cité, had ordered an interior retrenchment to be raised, with a
strong wooden tower in the middle of the curve, projectile engines being
placed behind. He had sufficient time to complete these works after the
fall of the tower; for the breach was scarcely practicable, and was
stoutly defended. The Franks were two days in getting possession of it
and occupying the corner of the cité in front of the retrenchment, not
without having lost two or three hundred men.
Secondinus interdicted the advance of the troops, who were eager to
storm the retrenchment and take it by main force; and this time he was
listened to. He had timber and mantelets brought, and gave orders for
the erection, on the very ruins of the angle, of a tower of green wood,
which he took care to protect with woollen blankets and fresh hides. The
engines of the defenders did not cease to discharge large stones at the
workmen, which greatly hindered them and killed many; but the Franks had
acquired confidence, and worked incessantly night and day with
enthusiastic ardour.
Twice the defenders of the cité endeavoured to sally forth from their
retrenchments to drive off the assailants and destroy their works; they
met with a warm reception, especially as the Franks could avail
themselves of the ruins as a rampart.
On their side projectile engines were hurling stones and darts on the
rampart walks of the extremities of the curtains that remained standing,
and made it impossible for the defenders to remain there. As soon as
anyone showed himself, showers of arrows were aimed at him. These
rampart walks were repeatedly furnished with mantelets, which were soon
thrown down by the stones from the engines. The wooden tower of the
besiegers was rising rapidly, and at the end of the second day
overtopped that of the retrenchment. An engine was planted at the top,
which incessantly discharged heavy stones on the works of the
Burgundians. The latter kept the old countermine gallery on the north
front; but they had not been able to extend it, because blocks of stone
had been thrown by the besiegers into the connecting opening, and were
replaced by others when the besieged ventured to remove them. The
enemy's miners were no longer heard on this side. The reason was that
Secondinus, having become better acquainted with the nature of the
soil, had perceived that by digging deeper he found a stratum of sand
easy to work in and carry away. From the old abortive gallery, however,
which the besieged could not speedily enter, he had conducted two
oblique tunnels, in an inverse direction and at a deep level, descending
into the sand, under the foundations of the curtain; one of them, A,
gradually rose again obliquely as far as the inner side of the ramparts
(Fig. 34). He expected in this way to make an entrance into the cité in
any case.
[Illustration: FIG. 34.]
But a thick bed of limestone prevented the ceiling from being speedily
penetrated. The gallery was far enough from that marked B, intended to
undermine the curtain wall, not to be destroyed by its fall, and he
reckoned on making use of it on occasion.
Five days had been spent in these labours, and on the fifth day--that is
to say, the next day after the fall of the square tower of the
corner--the curtain near the north gate was undermined for a length of
thirty paces. The stays and props were set on fire during the night, and
in the morning the curtain sank down into the fosse, separating into two
masses. The Franks immediately threw a quantity of fascines into the
fosse, brought ladders, and rushed in great numbers on the ruined wall,
which still rose about six feet above the interior level of the cité.
The Burgundians, taken by surprise, could scarcely offer any resistance
to this escalade, and their efforts were at most confined to hindering
the assailants from crossing the breach. The position of the defenders
was one of the most unfavourable that can be imagined, especially as
they had raised no retrenchment at this point. They barricaded
themselves, however--making use of the houses, and hurling a quantity of
projectiles from the top of the neighbouring tower upon the assailants;
and the struggle was prolonged. Then it was that Secondinus sent workmen
to destroy the ceiling of the mine gallery, A, which terminated on the
inside of the wall. In four hours this was effected, and the besieged
saw a large hole on their left. In a few seconds this gaping orifice
poured forth a stream of enemies, who spread themselves along the wall,
outflanked the defenders, and hurried towards the gate to burst it open.
The guard that defended this gate were massacred, and the doors being
smashed with axes and battering-rams, fresh troops were enabled to get
into the city. The town was taken, but the conflict was being kept up in
the streets and houses. Night came on, and the defenders of the
retrenchment, perceiving that the enemy had got round them, had retired
in haste towards the interior of the cité.
The Franks no longer gave ear to the orders of their chief, but rushed
in small bands into every opening that presented itself, burning,
killing, and pillaging; many of them fell in with numerous bodies of
the besieged and met their death.
The women, mad with fury, threw tiles, furniture, logs of wood, and
stones upon the Franks dispersed in the streets. As most of the houses
were of timber, the fire, fanned by a wind from the west, spread rapidly
in every direction. Besiegers and besieged fought till they were
surrounded with flames. It was a series of isolated struggles, in which
the voices of the chiefs on either side were unable to make themselves
heard.
Gondomar, with about a thousand men, had taken refuge in the castle; and
from the summit of its towers the Burgundian king could see his faithful
cité burning, and hear the shouts of the victors and the vanquished
approaching nearer and nearer the walls of this last retreat. He had
been unwilling to close the gates, that he might gather in the
unfortunate defenders; and towards the end of the night these, driven
into the southern extremity of the cité by the enemy and the fire, began
then to arrive in crowds, many being wounded, and among them women and
children. The castle was being filled, and the enemy was approaching; so
the bridge was thrown into the fosse and the gates were shut.
Engrossed with pillage, the Franks allowed the day which succeeded this
disastrous night to pass by without attempting anything against the
castle; and not before evening could the Frank king restore any degree
of order in the burning cité.
There were not enough provisions in the castle to feed its numerous
occupants for forty hours. This was just what Secondinus anticipated;
accordingly he had no difficulty in persuading the Frank king to rest
content with investing the stronghold. Gondomar, overwhelmed with grief,
and seeing his helplessness, sought death by throwing himself from the
top of one of the towers. The fugitives were forced to surrender at
discretion, and most of them were carried away into slavery.
The Frank kings destroyed the most important of the defensive works, so
as to render the cité Juliana incapable of sustaining a siege. But those
Roman works were massive; and two centuries afterwards the remains of
the towers and ramparts still presented an imposing mass of ruins. The
plateau was then a waste, and the ruins were overgrown with a luxuriant
vegetation; only a few shepherds' huts were to be seen in this desolated
region. On the western declivity, between the river and the ancient
ramparts, extended a poor little town, whose population did not amount
to more than twelve or fifteen hundred souls.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 9: See Fig. 16.]
[Footnote 10: See Fig. 16.]
[Footnote 11: See the plan, Fig. 16.]
[Footnote 12: See Fig. 16.]
[Footnote 13: See Fig. 16.]
[Footnote 14: See Fig. 24.]
[Footnote 15: See B, Fig. 16.]
[Footnote 16: See B, Fig. 16.]