Audoacre (Wenden) Sachsen (abt. 440)

Born about 0440 in Sachsen

Died [date unknown] in Sachsen

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Biography: In History

Name

• French: Audoacre
• Saxon: Eadwacer
• Latin: Adovacrius ^[1]

Origins

Eadwacer lived at the beginning of the 460s. He was probably from Brittany. ^[1]

Contemporary

Childeric I (Reigned 457-481/2)

Birth Year Estimation

He engaged in battle with Childeric, so estimate his birth as, say, 10 years younger than Childeric, who began his reign in 457. Estimate Childeric's birth as 430. This would place Audoacre's birth as 440, and his seizure of Angers at age 23.

Conquest of Western Gaul

Coming by sea with a band of pirates, he conquered lands in western Gaul , eventually controlled the whole of the Lower Loire. ^[1]

463 Seizure of Angers

Around 463 he briefly seized Angers. ^[2]

Battle with Childeric

He was then dislodged by Frankish troops of King Childeric , an ally of the Western Roman Empire ^[3]

Wikipedia reports a Eadwacer who engaged in battle with Childeric I (reigned 457-481/2). ^[4]

Girard Du Haillan's L'Histoire de France reports ^[5] an Audoacre, Duc des Saxons, who engaged in battle with Childeric.

Alliance with Childeric

According to Grégoire de Tours , Childeric would later have allied himself with Eadwacer to fight against "Alamans ^[6] who could in fact, according to modern historians, be the Alains de la Loire, established in the region by Aetius in 442 to subdue the bagaudes . It may be confused with Odovacrius , barbarian king of Italy (476-493), who made a covenant Childéric ^[7]

Biography: In Legend

The parents of Eadwacer are said to be:

• Vortigern of the Britons (born ca 375). Vortigern is a real person in history, but there is no record of him fathering a son who later achieved fame as a Saxon.
• Rowena was a legendary daughter of Hengist, who was indeed a Saxon, but Rowena herself is believed to exist only in legend.

Because there is no documentation of these parents and the relationships appear doubtful on the surface, they have been disconnected from Eadwacer.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Wikipedia (French) Eadwacer Accessed Sept 9, 2017. jhd
2. ↑ Léon Fleuriot, The Origins of Britain: Emigration , 1980. Cited in Wikipedia (French) Eadwacer Accessed Sept 9, 2017. jhd
3. ↑ From Roman provinces to Medieval kingdoms, Thomas FX Noble, 2006; also Late Roman Warlords, Penny MacGeorge 2002. Cited in Wikipedia (French) Eadwacer Accessed Sept 9, 2017. jhd
4. ↑ Wikipedia: Childeric_I Childeric I. Accessed Sept 9, 2017 jhd
5. ↑ Girard Du Haillan, L'Histoire de France page 46 Accessed Sept 9, 2017. jhd
6. ↑ The armies of Germanic kingdoms of the West: The Franks, the Merovingian military culture and other Western Germans, Theatrum-belli.com, April 25, 2009. Cited in Wikipedia (French) Eadwacer Accessed Sept 9, 2017. jhd
7. ↑ Karl Ferdinand Werner , De Childéric Clovis: antecedents and consequences of the Battle of Soissons in 486, Archaeological Review Picardy, Volume 3 (1988). Cited in Wikipedia (French) Eadwacer Accessed Sept 9, 2017. jhd

Acknowledgements

• Travis Wagner, firsthand knowledge. See the Changes page for the details of

edits by Travis and others.