Editing Alans (section)

===Migration to Gaul===
[[File:Butler Migrations of the Barbarians.jpg|thumb|The migrations of the Alans during the 4th–5th centuries CE, from their homeland in the [[North Caucasus]]]]
Around 370, according to Ammianus, the peaceful relations between the Alans and Huns were broken, after the Huns attacked the Don Alans, killing many of them and establishing an alliance with the survivors.<ref name="Osprey10" /><ref>Giovanni de Marignolli, "John De' Marignolli and His Recollections of Eastern Travel", in [https://archive.org/details/cathayandwaythi00marigoog ''Cathay and the Way Thither: Being a Collection of Medieval Notices of China''], Volume 2, ed. [[Henry Yule]] (London: The Hakluyt Society, 1866), 316–317.</ref> These Alans successfully invaded the Goths in 375 together with the Huns.<ref name="Osprey10" /> They subsequently accompanied the Huns in their westward expansion.<ref name="Osprey10" />

Following the Hunnic invasion in 370, other Alans, along with other [[Sarmatians]], migrated westward.<ref name="Osprey10" /> One of these Alan groups fought together with the Goths in the decisive [[Battle of Adrianople]] in 378{{nbsp}}CE, in which [[Roman emperor|emperor]] [[Valens]] was killed.<ref name="Osprey10" /> As the Roman Empire [[Decline of the Roman Empire|continued to decline]], the Alans split into various groups; some fought for the Romans while others joined the Huns, [[Visigoths]] or [[Ostrogoths]].<ref name="Osprey10" /> A portion of the western Alans joined the [[Vandals]] and the [[Suebi]] in their invasion of Roman [[Gaul]]. [[Gregory of Tours]] mentions in his ''[[Liber historiae Francorum]]'' ("Book of [[Franks|Frankish]] History") that the Alan king [[Respendial]] saved the day for the [[Vandals]] in an armed encounter with the [[Franks]] at the [[crossing of the Rhine]] on 31 December 406). According to Gregory, another group of Alans, led by [[Goar]], crossed the Rhine at the same time, but immediately joined the Romans and settled in Gaul.

Under Beorgor ({{lang|la|Beorgor rex Alanorum}}), they moved throughout Gaul, till the reign of [[Petronius Maximus]], when they crossed the [[Alps]] in the winter of 464, into [[Liguria]], but were there [[Battle of Bergamo|defeated]], and Beorgor slain, by [[Ricimer]], commander of the Emperor's forces.<ref>[[Isaac Newton]], ''Observations on Daniel and The Apocalypse of St. John'' (1733).</ref><ref>[[Paul the Deacon]], ''Historia Romana'', XV, 1.</ref>

In 442, after it became clear to [[Flavius Aetius|Aetius]] that he could no longer rely upon the [[Huns]] for support, he turned to [[Goar]] and persuaded him to move some of his people to settlements in the [[Orléanais|Orleanais]] in order to control the [[bacaudae]] of [[Armorica]] and to keep the [[Visigoths]] from expanding their territories northward across the [[Loire]]. [[Goar]] settled a substantial number of his followers in the [[Orléanais|Orleanais]] and the area to the north and personally moved his own capital to the city of [[Orléans|Orleans]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aaGCbuuajFAC|title=A History of the Alans in the West|last=Bachrach|first=Bernard S.|date=1973|publisher=U of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-0816656998|pages=63|language=en}}</ref>

Under Goar, they allied with the [[Burgundians]] led by [[Gundaharius]], with whom they installed the Emperor [[Jovinus]] as usurper. Under Goar's successor [[Sangiban]], the Alans of [[Orléans]] played a critical role in repelling the invasion of [[Attila the Hun]] at the [[Battle of Châlons]]. In 463 the Alans defeated the [[Goths]] at the [[Battle of Orleans (463)|battle of Orléans]], and they later defeated the [[Franks]] led by [[Childeric I|Childeric]] in 466.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aaGCbuuajFAC|title=A History of the Alans in the West|last=Bachrach|first=Bernard S.|date=1973|publisher=U of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-0816656998|pages=77|language=en}}</ref> Around 502–503 [[Clovis I|Clovis]] attacked [[Armorica]] but was defeated by the Alans. However, the Alans, who were [[Chalcedonian]] Christians like Clovis, desired cordial relations with him to counterbalance the hostile [[Arianism|Arian]] [[Visigoths]] who coveted the land north of the [[Loire]]. Therefore, an accord was arranged by which Clovis came to rule the various peoples of Armorica and the military strength of the area was integrated into the Merovingian military.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jbz9IyOvfPoC|title=Merovingian Military Organization, 481–751|last=Bachrach|first=Bernard S.|date=1972|publisher=U of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-0816657001|pages=10|language=en}}</ref>