Just as the Council of Agde was held in 506 in the Visigothic kingdom and the First Council of Orléans in 511 in the Frankish realm, the Council of Épaone gathered bishops from the lands ruled by the Burgundians. The direct impulse for the council was the ascension to the throne of Sigismund in 516. The new king, unlike his Arian predecessors, followed the Catholic creed. Avitus, metropolitan of Vienne, and Viventiolus, metropolitan of Lyons, asked the bishops to convene on the day of 6th September 517 in Épaone, the exact location of which is unknown. It was most probably situated in the province of Vienne, possibly near present-day Anneyron or Saint-Maurice-l`Exil. The council gathered 24 bishops and one presbyter. It seems that also some other clerics and laymen attended the sessions.