, and promised himself a share of the spoil.
So powerful an enemy on the flank, threatening the communications of the
two Gothic states, may very probably have been the reason why no timely
succour was sent from Ravenna to Toulouse.

Clovis and his Frankish host, hungering for the spoil, pressed forwards,
and succeeded, apparently without opposition, in crossing the broad
river Loire. Alaric had taken up a strong position at the Campus
Vogladensis (_Vouille: dep. Vienne_), about ten miles from Poitiers.
Here he wished to remain on the defensive till the expected succours
from Theodoric could arrive, but his soldiers, confident in their power
to beat the Franks unassisted, began to revile their king's over-caution
and his father-in-law's delay, and forced Alaric to fight.[102] The
Goths began hurling their missile weapons, but the daring Franks rushed
in upon them and commenced a hand-to-hand encounter, in which they were
completely victorious. The Goths turned to flee, and Clovis, riding up
to where Alaric was fighting, slew him with his own hand. He himself had
immediately afterwards a narrow escape from two of the enemy, who,
coming suddenly upon him, thrust their long spears at him, one on each
side. The strength of his coat of mail, however, and the speed of his
horse saved him from a disaster which might possibly even then have
turned the tide of victory.

[Footnote 102: This statement as to the battle being forced on, contrary
to the wishes of Alaric, rests only on the authority of Procopius, not a
contemporary author, and not very well informed as to the events of this
campaign.]

The result of this battle was the complete overthrow of the Visigothic
kingdom of Toulouse. In a certain sense it survived, and for two
centuries played a great part in Europe as the Spanish kingdom of
Toledo, but, as competitors for dominion in Gaul, the Visigoths
henceforward disappear from history. There seems to have been a certain
want of toughness in the Visigothic fibre, a tendency to rashness
combined with a tendency to panic, which made it possible for their
enemies to achieve a complete triumph over them in a single battle.
(376) Athanaric staked his all on one battle with the Huns, and lost, by
the rivers of Bessarabia. (507) Alaric II., as we have seen, staked his
all on one battle with the Franks, and lost, on the Campus Vogladensis.
(701) Two centuries later Roderic staked his all upon one battle with
the Moors, and los