Everything about Odovacar totally explained
Odoacer (
435 –
493), also known as
Odovacar (from the
Germanic Audawakrs, meaning "watchful of wealth"), was a Roman general and the first barbarian
King of Italy, who deposed the
Western Roman Emperor Romulus Augustus in
476.
Early life
Odoacer was probably the son of the
Scirian chieftain
Edeko, who was a
Germanic vassal chieftain at the court of
Attila. All the Germanic vassals of the
Huns broke free the
Battle of Nedao in
454, where the Germanic vassals (
Gepids,
Ostrogoths, Scirians,
Herules and
Rugians) unleashed a great defeat against the Huns and
Alans. After this battle, the Scirians split up. Parts joined the
Visigoths, other parts joined the Ostrogoths and the rest of the Scirians united with a part of the Herules and became
foederati of the Western Roman Empire. The
foederati were sent to
Gaul. Odoacer was a slave in the
foederati, but as the son of Edeko, he always remained a nobleman among the Scirians. The
foederati were pulled out of Gaul and sent to Italy by
Ricimer under the rule of
Anthemius in
466.
Leader of the foederati
In
470, Odoacer was appointed leader of the
foederati. In
475,
Orestes was appointed
Magister militum and
patrician by the Western Roman Emperor
Julius Nepos; he was therefore made head of the Germanic
foederati of Italy (the Scirian - Herulic
foederati). Orestes promised them a third of the Italic peninsula if they led the revolt against Emperor Nepos. The
foederati were 30,000 strong (plus families), and they'd lived on the Italic peninsula for several years at this point; however, they'd only received scraps of land in relatively unfertile areas around the
Apennine mountains. The
foederati accepted the offer and led the revolt as planned; on
August 28,
475 they defeated Nepos, who fled to
Dalmatia. With the emperor far away, Orestes elevated his son Romulus to the rank of Augustus, so that the last Western Roman Emperor is known as
Romulus Augustus.
After the revolt, Orestes, as
magister militum, organised his own army. Behind the safety of his army, Orestes rescinded his pledge to the
foederati; as a result, the
foederati revolted and defeated Orestes. Odoacer was the leader of the revolt against Orestes, who was captured and executed. After the revolt, the Germanic
foederati, the Scirians and the Herules, as well as a large segment of the Italic Roman army, proclaimed Odoacer
rex Italiae ("king of Italy"). In
476, Odoacer advanced to
Ravenna, capturing the city and the young emperor. Romulus was compelled to abdicate on
September 4,
476. In the same year Odoacer renounced the meaningless title of Emperor, which was a wise move that avoided a conflict with
Constantinople. He sent the imperial
insignia to the Eastern Emperor
Zeno and declared himself Patrician of the Western Half (which, by this time, was no more than the Italian peninsula). Odoacer was then confirmed as
rex Italiae by Zeno later in
476. The rightful Western Roman Emperor Julius Nepos remained powerless in exile in Dalmatia, where he'd live until his assassination in
480.
King of Italy
In
476, Odoacer officially became the first Germanic
King of Italy and a new era began. Odoacer was an
Arian Christian and is said to have been illiterate. The warriors and the families in Odoacer's
foederati received lands in Italy and became beneficiaries of a special tax policy. Odoacer retained the Roman administration, senate, law and tax system of Italy intact. In return, he won a high level of support from the senate and people.
Odoacer raised an Italic-Germanic army with which he defeated the
Vandals in
Sicily. He was able to conquer the whole island by
477. In
480, he and his Italic-Germanic army conquered all of ancient
Dalmatia, after the death (possibly by assassination) of Western Emperor Julius Nepos. After this, he received the right to appoint a council and to issue his own coinage. He made pacts with the
Visigoths and
Franks and joined them in battle against the
Burgundians,
Alamanni, and
Saxons.
As Odoacer's kingdom expanded, his popularity among the Italic people grew, and his pacts with the Franks and Visigoths gave him increased influence. All these things started to worry
Zeno, the Eastern Emperor, who increasingly saw Odoacer as a rival. In
487 Odoacer led his army to victory against the
Rugians in
Noricum, but he didn't incorporate it into his own kingdom. The remaining Rugians fled and took refuge with the Ostrogoths. Rugiland was left open and by
493 was settled by the
Lombards. In
488, Emperor Zeno started a mostly verbal campaign against Odoacer, accusing him of playing a major part in the revolt of
Illus in
484. With these claims, Zeno convinced his Ostrogothic vassals that Odoacer was an enemy and should be removed. Zeno promised
Theodoric son of Amal and his Ostrogoths the Italic peninsula if they were to defeat and remove Odoacer. In the same year,
488, Theodoric led the Ostrogoths across the
Julian Alps and into Italy. The accusation that Odoacer was part of the Illus revolt was a lie, fabricated by
Byzantine noblemen, generals, and Zeno who wanted the now mighty Odoacer removed. With this scenario, the Byzantines killed two birds with one stone. They removed the Ostrogoths from the
Balkans and their border and at the same time conveniently caused Odoacer to disappear from the scene.
Death
Theodoric and his Ostrogoths defeated Odoacer at
Aquileia in
488, at
Verona in
489, and at the
Adda River in
490. In that same year, Theodoric besieged Odoacer at
Ravenna. The siege lasted three years and was marked by dozens of attacks on both sides. This massive siege is known as the
Battle for Ravenna. In the end, neither side won this battle. On
February 2,
493, Theodoric and Odoacer signed a treaty that assured both parties would rule over Italy. A banquet was organised in order to celebrate this treaty. It was at this banquet that Theodoric, after making a toast, killed Odoacer with his own hands.
Theoderic became the new king of Italy and established an Ostrogothic kingdom that was ruled from Ravenna. The remainder of Odoacer's foederati joined the Ostrogoths and were allowed to remain in Italy. Many of the fathers of these warriors and a number of the warriors themselves had fought together with the Ostrogoths at the
Battle of Nedao in
454.
The events around the Battle of Ravenna were used in the Germanic heroic saga of Dietrich von Bern (Theodoric of Verona). The event in which Theodoric kills Odoacer with his own hands is mirrored in the saga in the episode in which Dietrich kills the Dwarf King Laurin.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Odovacar'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://odoacer.totallyexplained.com">Odoacer Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
