 During what has become known as the Battle of Arles (471), near Arelate, presently Arles, Euric defeated a Roman army, killing three Roman counts and Anthemiolus, son of the Roman emperor Anthemius.Previous Visigothic kings had officially ruled only as legates of the Roman emperor but Euric was the first to declare his complete independence from the puppet emperors.In 475 he forced the Western Emperor Julius Nepos to recognize his full independence in exchange for the return of the Provence region of Gaul.