Syagrius

Syagrius (died 487) was the son of Aegidius, the last Roman magister militum per Gallias, who had preserved a rump state around Soissons after the collapse of central rule in the western empire. Syagrius governed this Gallo-Roman enclave as Dux from the death of his father in 464 until 486, when his kingdom was destroyed by the territorial expansion of the Frankish kingdom of Clovis I.

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Having been defeated at his capital in the Battle of Soissons, Syagrius sought refuge with Alaric II, king of the Visigoths, based at Toulouse, but was instead imprisoned and repatriated to Clovis, and was murdered in 487, stabbed in secret according to Gregory of Tours.

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His brief regime is of interest because he represented the last recorded instance of native Gallo-Roman authority in Gaul: in fact he was known to the Germanic barbarians as the "King of the Romans".

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Aegidius: :For the Christian Saint Aegidius, of the 7th-8th century, see Saint Giles, and for the 13th century archbishop and theologist, see Giles of Rome....

Magister militum: Magister militum ("Master of the Soldiers") was a rank used in the later Roman Empire dating from the reign of Constantine. Used alone, it refers to the senior military officer (equivalent to a shogun or generalissimo) of the Empire. The Magister Militum was usually the power behind the throne and t...

Rump state: A rump state is the remnant of a once-larger government, left with limited powers or authority after a disaster, invasion or military occupation....