Battle of Autun

In 532, after a year-long siege, Frankish kings Childebert I and Chlothar I captured Autun, a major stronghold of Godomar III’s Burgundian kingdom. Without Theuderic I’s support — linked to Sigismund by marriage to Suavegotha — the two brothers alone resumed the struggle opened since Vézeronce (524). Godomar fled; Autun’s fall dealt a decisive blow to Burgundian independence, completed two years later (534) by a final campaign joined by Theudebert, Theuderic’s son. Sources (Godomar III, Burgundian War, Childebert I) speak of siege and capture rather than a detailed pitched battle.

After Vézeronce (524), where Chlodomer died and Godomar held the field, Burgundy survived a decade. Godomar III, younger son of Gundobad, an Arian backed by nobility and army, had succeeded Sigismund executed in 523/524. Theuderic I, eldest son of Clovis and Sigismund’s son-in-law, abstained. Childebert and Chlothar therefore marched together against Autun, a fortified regional centre. The Burgundian War and the Godomar III notice place the capture in 532 (or 532/533) after a year of siege. The English stub Battle of Autun (532) speaks of a “battle” and fall of the kingdom; the French narrative stresses the siege then the final 534 campaign as the real end of independence.

Sources detail neither orders of battle nor engines. The known operation is a roughly year-long siege jointly led by Childebert and Chlothar, ending in Autun’s capture and Godomar’s flight. No ancient account describes a classic pitched clash comparable to Vézeronce. Cooperation of the two kings and Burgundian exhaustion after ten years of pressure weigh more than documented manoeuvres. A late tradition (Jean Bouchet) also evokes a siege of Autun and Godomar’s death at Chlodomer’s brothers’ hands — a version not confirmed by modern consensus, which places the kingdom’s end in 534.

Godomar fled; organized resistance collapsed. In 534, after Theuderic’s death (533) and Theudebert’s accession, a final campaign ended the Burgundian kingdom: Godomar was captured according to some notices, and the territory was shared among Theudebert (North: Langres, Besançon, Autun, Châlons, Avenches, Windisch, Martigny), Childebert (Centre: Lyon, Mâcon, Vienne, Grenoble, perhaps Geneva and Tarentaise) and Chlothar (South to the Durance). Burgundy became a region within the Frankish kingdoms. A local tradition links Godomar’s flight to the Valgaudemar (Hautes-Alpes), without solid historical proof.