Byzantine Battles: Battle of Ad Salices

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15 th century

Battle of Ad Salices (Battle of the Willows)	year: 377
A bloody battle of a large Roman army against the Goths without a winner	★ ★ ★ ★ ★

enemy: Goths (misc tribes)	location: At a road way-station called Ad Salices (“by the Willows”), probably within 15km from Marcianopolis (modern Devnya, Bulgaria).	accuracy: ●●●●●
battle type: Pitched Battle	war: Gothic Wars	modern country: Bulgaria

	▼ The Byzantines(emperor: Valens)	▼ The Enemies
Commander:	Comes Richomeres	Chieftain Fritigern
Forces:	possibly, around 50,000	unknown but definitely outnumbered
Losses:

Background story:

Goths under Fritigern and Alvivus crossed the Danube to the south with the permission of the Roman Emperor of the East Valens (376).
When the starving Goths were denied entry to the city of Marcianopolis, revolted, annihilated a local Roman army and started to plunder the region.

The Battle:

In order to deal with the situation in Marcianopolis, forces from the Western Roman Empire under the command of count Richomeres (comes domesticorum of Gratian) advanced westward, while forces of the Eastern Roman Empire under Traianus and Profuturus advanced northward where they joined forces to attack the Goths. They drove the Goths into a marshy region, at a place called Ad Salices (by the willows).
Details of the ensuing battle are not known. What it is known is that the battle lasted the whole day and ended with nightfall, with heavy losses for both sides, without a clear winner.
This inconclusive outcome must have been a shock for the Romans, who had a much larger and organized army fighting against irregulars who were moving with families and herds.

Aftermath:

This was the first major battle of the Gothic War (376-382).
The Roman Empire had to deal with an autonomous barbarian tribe inside the borders of the Empire, a situation that would have been unthinkable in the past. A year later the Goths killed Valens himself at Adrianople.

Byzantine Battles

Battle of Ad Salices

377