The main protagonists in the war were the Visigothic king Theodoric I and the commander-in-chief of the Western army General Aetius.
[1] In the Gothic war that erupted in 436, the Goths initially had a predominance, but were forced to lay down their arms as a result of the successful offensive of the Romans under the leadership of Litorius in 437.
According to historians like Ian Hughes, the battle to which the court poet refers in his poem must have taken place in the Gothic War of 436–439.
[5] Although the extent of the victory and the number of losses suffered by the Goths are undoubtedly exaggerated by Merobaudes – since this was a hymn – it seems that Theodorik had to take a major setback.
A companion of Charlemagne, Bishop Turpin, questions a Saracen in the manuscript after the battle, who tells him that his house is at Petra Colobram, and that that hill would later be named Roc de la Garde Roland.