ODLANDUS

ODOACER

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Pippin, are recorded by Fredegarius (Pat. Lat.lxxi. 681) and some anonvmous annals (Bouquet,v. 33, 196, vi. 97, 137). “ [C. H.]

ODLANDUS, 10th abbat of St. Bertin, circ.795-804. There is extant a document dated inthe 20th year of Charles the Great’s reign pur-porting to be a grant by him to Autlandus orAudlandus, and his monks, of the privilege ofhunting wild beasts in the monastery domain, butnot in the royal forests, for skins to bind booksfor the monks and make them gloves and belts.This document was published by Mabillon in theDe Re Dipl. p. 631, and thence transferred intoMigne’s collection (Pal. Lat. xcvii. 976), but itis rejected as spurious by Le Cointe. Odlandusacquired for his foundation several villages,with their churches and dependencies, and in797 established his residence at Arques, wherehe executed some engineering works for theimprovement of the channels of the Aa and builtflour-mills, for which he afterwards acquiredthe grant of a monopoly. The church of St.Martin in the same parish which had beendestroyed by Northmen, he re-established, andattached to it ten monks. (Laplane, Les Abbes deSaint-Bertin , i. 39-42; Gall. Christ, iii. 487-8.)

[S. A. B.]

ODOACER (Odovacar), king. The first isthe generally received form of the name, but thelatter is correct. (OdoVACAR, Cassiod., Chron. andMS. in Marini Papiri Dipl. n. 82; Odovachar andOnOBAGAR, Eugyppius, Vita S . Sev. 14, 40, inMigne, Pair. Lat., lxii. 1176, 1192; Audoachar,Or. Gent. Lang, in Mon. Germ. Hist. Script.Rer. Lang. 3, the last form supporting Grimm’sderivation from Audags and vakrs = a goodwatcher, Pallmann, ii. 168.) His father’s namewas Edecon (An. Val ., Ant. M. 209), who hasbeen identified by Gibbon and others with theEdecon mentioned by Priscus, and with Edica,king of the Scyri (Jord. Get . 130), but thisidentification, though possibly correct, is un-proved. He was a Teuton, but of what tribe isuncertain. The statement that he was a Scyrian,

( Ant. M. 209) seems the most probable, thoughJordanes (Rom. 44) makes him a Rugian. Atany rate he sprang from one of the four kindredtribes, the Scyri, Rugi, Tureilingi, or Heruli,who in the middle of the fifth century dweltbetween the Danube and the Carpathians inwhat is now Northern Hungary. He was bornin a.d. 433 (Ant. II.). He is first mentioned asone of a band of young barbarians who visitedthe hermit Severinus on their way throughNoricum to seek their fortunes in Italy. Thesaint predicted his future elevation. “ Go,”said he, “ to Italy. Thou art now clad in skins,but shalt soon be able to give costly gifts tomany.” (Eugyppius, ubi supra.) He probablytook service in the Foederati, the barbarianauxiliaries who had become the backbone ofthe Roman army, and in a.d. 472 had risen sohigh that his adhesion to Ricimer in his revoltagainst Anthemius is expressly mentioned (Ant.M. 209). In the summer of a.d. 476 the foederati,whose suspicions may have been aroused by theattempts of Nepos and Orestes to remove themfrom Italy to defend against the Visigoths theremnants of the Roman possessions in Gaul,demanded from Orestes, the father of thepuppet emperor Romulus, a grant of one-thirdCHRIST. BIOGR.—VOL. IV.

of the lands of Italy (Procopius, Goth. i. 1).A refusal was followed by a mutiny, whichprobably broke out in the north-east of Italy.Recruits from the Rugians, Scyrians, Tureilingiand Heruli may have marched across Noricum tojoin their kinsfolk, thus supplying a groundfor the false conception of Odovacar as a barbarianinvader of Italy. The campaign was a short one.On August 23rd (An. Cusp.) Odovacar, thenone of the imperial guard, was proclaimed king.On the 27th, Pavia, where Orestes had retreated,fell, and the city experienced all the horrors ofa storm, though Epiphanius did all he could toprotect the inhabitants. [Epiphanius (13).]The next day Orestes was taken and executedat Placentia. Odovacar marched on Ravenna,captured Paulus, the brother of Orestes, at thePineta on September 4th, put him to death, andtook Ravenna, where Romulus had taken refuge.From pity or from policy he spared his life, andgranted him the Campanian villa of Luculluswith an annual pension.

The first act of Odovacar was to negotiate atreaty with Genseric, who ceded him the greaterpart of Sicily on the condition of his payingtribute for it (Victor Vit., de Pers. Vand. i. 4,in Patr. Lat. lviii. 187). His probable motivewas to provide for the corn supply of Italy,which had been seriously diminished by theloss of Africa. He granted his soldiers thelands Orestes had refused (Procopius, ubi supra),but the execution of Count Brachila on July 11thof the following year (An. Cusp.) seems to indi-cate a mutinous tendency among them.

His relations with the East and the conqueredRomans were in a critical state. The lattercould not reconcile themselves to the dominionof a barbarian, and the orthodox clergy couldstill less tolerate the supremacy of an Arian.It is remarkable in the Papal correspondencehow completely Odovacar is ignored, and Zenoregarded as the sole legitimate monarch. Theemperor Nepos, too, though a fugitive from Italy,retained his hereditary dominions in Dalmatia,and was acknowledged by the fragment of Gaulthat remained Roman. After the restorationof Zeno at the close of A.D. 477, envoys fromthe different parties in the West appeared atConstantinople. The deposed Romulus (no doubtat the instigation of Odovacar), caused thesenate to send Latinus and Madusius to informZeno that they required no separate emperorin the West, but that one would be sufficientfor the whole empire. Odovacar they said wasqualified to govern by his ability in both civiland military affairs, and they asked Zeno togrant him the dignity of patrician, and committo him the government of Italy. From Odovacara separate embassy came, and Nepos also sent tocongratulate Zeno on his restoration and torequest his aid in recovering the empire. Zeno,from the influence of his wife Verina and a fellow-feeling for the misfortunes of Nepos, was inclinedto favour him, but lacked the power; he there-fore returned diplomatic answers. He reproachedthe envoys of the senate with having killed oneof the two emperors they had received fromthe East and with having expelled the other.They knew, he said, what their duty was, namely,to welcome the surviving emperor on his return.He directed Odovacar to seek the dignity ofpatrician from Nepos, but added that he would

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