Aegidius Aegidius ( died 464 or 465 ) was a Gallo - Roman warlord of northern Gaul . He had been promoted as " magister militum " in Gaul under Aëtius around 450 . An ardent supporter of Majorian , Aegidius rebelled when Ricimer deposed Majorian , engaging in several campaigns against the Visigoths and creating a Roman rump state that came to be known as the Domain of Soissons . After winning an important victory over the Visigoths he died suddenly , and was succeeded by his son Syagrius . Ralph Mathisen points out the name of Aegidius ' son , Syagrius , " would suggest that he was related to the Syagrii of Lyons , one of the oldest , most aristocratic families of Gaul . Aegidius , in fact , has been proposed as a grandson of Flavius Afranius Syagrius , consul in 382 " . Other Syagrii Mathisen lists with a connection to Gaul are a great - grandson of Afranius , who had an estate at Taionnacus near Lyons , and a wealthy Syagria of Lyons who was described by Magnus Felix Ennodius as " thesaurus ecclesiae " . Career . As official representative in Gaul . According to Priscus , Aegidius and Majorian were lieutenants of Aëtius , and campaigned together in northern Gaul . After Aëtius ' murder Aegidius assumed the role his mentor had held , maintaining order between the " foederati " and Romans in Gaul , but " while Aëtius had sought to preserve the equilibrium within the Gallic community with the help of Hun nic warriors from outside , Aegidius drew his support largely from the Salian Franks under Clovis ' father Childeric . " A legendary story known to both Gregory of Tours and Fredegar tells that Childeric had fled to exile with the Thuringians , he arranged with his faithful follower Wiomad to send him a message when to return . Wiomad then provoked the Franks against their new leader , Aegidius , while at the same time tricked the Emperor Maurice into giving Childeric a great treasure for his return to his people . This shows that , at the minimum , some Franks were prepared to fight under a Roman leader . When Avitus had been deposed — then killed — by Ricimer , Majorian became the new emperor . One of his first acts was to replace " comes " Agrippinus with Aegidius , who then accused his predecessor of various kinds of treachery . Allegedly , Agrippinus was sent to Rome where he was tried and sentenced to death , but managed to escape prison , gain a pardon from the Emperor , returned to Gaul " exalted with honors . " As a result , the two became rivals . Next Majorian overawed with force the Visigoths of southern Gaul and their neighbors the Burgundians . Aegidius assisted this effort , marching down the Rhone , his troops burning and pillaging as they advanced , and he seized Lyons in 458 , then in the next year allowed the Goths to encircle him at Arles . " The Goths thought that they were supposed to perform the usual federate ritual outside the walls of the Gallic capital , " writes Wolfram , " but they were rudely awakened from their daydreaming by an attack of Majorian and the ' Frankish ' Aegidius . " As quasi - independent ruler . However , relations between Ricimer and Majorian soured ; when Majorian ' s campaign in Hispania against the Vandals proved unsuccessful Ricimer deposed him ( 461 ) , murdering another Emperor , replacing him with Libius Severus . Aegidius refused to recognize Ricimer ' s new figurehead , Separated from Ricimer and Severus in Northern Gaul by the Visigoths and Burgunds , Aegidius was safe from any direct response they might make . Ricimer did accept as a supporter Aegidius ' rival Agrippinus , whom contemporaries claimed betrayed Narbonne to the Visigoths in return for their help . Aegidius was soon drawn into a war with the Visigoths ; Hugh Elton suggests that Ricimer ' s puppet Emperor Severus had bribed the Visigoths to go to war against Aegidius . Aegidius struck back by attacking Orleans with the help of Childeric , and the brother of king Theoderic , Frideric , was killed in the fighting . However , Aegidius did not press his victory ; Elton speculates that Aegidius ' attention was distracted by " increasing conflict with various Frankish groups on the north - eastern frontier or lack of resources . " Hilton notes that Aegidius had other rivals beyond the Visgoths he needed to confront : there were Saxons in the Loire valley , Bretons under Riothamus who fought the Visigoths , " sometimes in co - operation with the Italian imperial Romans " , and other Roman factions led by the " comites " Paul and Arbogast . The boundaries of his ' kingdom ' , the Domain of Soissons are not known with any precision . " Though often portrayed as an independent Roman state in north Gaul , Aegidius and Syagrius ' ' kingdom ' was probably not much bigger than a day ' s march from their army . " Hydatius records that Aegidius sent an embassy to the Vandals via the Atlantic in May 464 ; that same year Hydatius records Aegidius ' s death due to either poison or ambush . Steven Muhlberger explains Hydatius knew of the first when the ships the embassy sailed on passed Gallaecia , and the second through the rumors which reached his distant corner of Hispania . Gregory of Tours implies that he died of the . He was succeeded by his son Syagrius . A British connection ? Gildas preserves a fragment of a petition that the Britons , having been deprived of Roman military protection after 410 , wrote to a " Roman commander Agitus , thrice consul " . Although " practically all historians of dark - age Britain since Bede " have thought Agitus was the Patrician Aëtius , more recent scholars Leslie Alcock and Mollie Miller have suggested this Agitus may be Aegidius . However the philologist Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson noted " there is no philological difficulty over Agitius = Aetius " , which led Thomas D . O ' Sullivan to dismiss this alternative identification .