Battle of Lucofao

The Battle of Lucofao (or Bois-du-Fays) was the decisive engagement of the civil war that afflicted the Frankish kingdoms during and after the reign of Dagobert II (676–79).

That same year, Ebroin escaped his confinement, killed the Neustrian mayor Leudesius and once again enthroned Theuderic III.

[3] The chronological indication is the same in both of the primary sources, the Liber Historiae Francorum and the continuation of the Chronicle of Fredegar: the battle took place "after the death of Wulfoald and the disappearance of the kings".

[9] Both the Chronicle of Fredegar and the Liber Historiae Francorum leave no doubt that the battle was a very large encounter for its time.

[10] This increases the likelihood that the battle took place while Dagobert II was alive, given the importance of a legitimate Merovingian king for raising armies.

[3][11] Despite the fact that they had initiated the war, Pippin and Martin were defeated by their Neustrian counterpart, Ebroin, who followed up his victory by laying waste the entire region.

Theuderic and Ebroin came out against them with an army at a place called Bois-du-Fays, and as soon as they joined battle they cut each other down in a great slaughter.

[5] Continuations of the Chronicle of Fredegar, chapter 3 After the death of Wulfoald and the disappearance of the kings, Duke Martin and Pippin, son of the deceased Ansegisel, a Frank of noble stock, ruled over Austrasia.

But Ebroin was behind him, and when he reached the villa of Ecry, he sent Aglibert and Bishop Reolus of Rheims as his representatives to Laon, where they gave undertakings but swore falsely upon reliquaries that, unknown to him, were empty.

In hindsight, the battle of Lucofao appears as a major setback in the rise of Pippin and his family, the Pippinids, to a place of preeminence in the Frankish kingdoms.

Nevertheless, Pippin recovered his power in Austrasia in subsequent years, defeated the Neustrian mayor Berchar in the battle of Tertry (687) and reunited Francia under the nominal rule of Theuderic III.