Sunno

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sunno was a Frankish military leader or small king in the late 4th century.

Sunno was next to the military leaders Marcomer and Gennobaudes leader of a Franconian raid in 388 in Roman Germania on the left bank of the Rhine. The Franks broke through the Roman border defense, advanced to the left bank of the Rhine and devastated the area around Cologne before they withdrew with rich booty. In the meantime, however, the Roman troops under the command of Nanninus and Quintinus had rallied and surprised the Franks, who had remained on Roman territory. While Gennobaudes was most likely killed in the fighting on the coal forest ( silva carbonaria ), Sunno and Marcomer managed to break away beforehand. When the Roman associations under Quintinus took up the pursuit, they were lured into a trap by the Franks and suffered a severe defeat.

The Frankish raid and the failed Roman counter-offensive were described in detail by the late antique historian Sulpicius Alexander in his Historia . The work, which is obviously based on the classic models - it depicts the defeat of the Romans based on the clades Variana , the traumatic experience of the Varus Battle - has been lost. What has been preserved, however, is a longer excerpt from the work of Gregory of Tours , which contains important information about the early history of the Franks and the events at the court of Emperor Valentinian II .

According to Gregory's statement, Sulpicius Alexander also described another Roman offensive under Arbogast . The Franks signed an armistice with the Romans, but were attacked again in the early 1990s by Arbogast, who probably wanted to finally decide the situation on the Rhine in favor of Rome. The Franks and the Alamanni had to renew the old treaties with Rome. While Marcomer was exiled or imprisoned by the Romans (he died in Roman captivity around 397), Sunno tried to avenge his old ally Marcomer, but was murdered by his own people. The background for both processes is unknown to us.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ The etymology of the name is problematic, a derivation of "sun" or "testimony in court" is possible, see Hermann Reichert :  Sunno, § 1 (Linguistic). In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 30, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-018385-4 , p. 134.
  2. ↑ Nanninus had spoken out against persecution and withdrew.
  3. ↑ Decem libri historiarum 2.9. See also the explanations in the article Marcomer . In connection with the more recent research it is important that the terms used by Gregor (which possibly go back to Sulpicius Alexander) such as rex , dux etc. were not used in the sense of their later meaning. Apparently there was no Frankish kingship in the late fourth century, only more or less powerful leaders.
  4. ↑ Claudian , Cons. Style I, 240ff.
  5. ^ The later reports in the Liber Historiae Francorum are not to be regarded as credible.
personal data
SURNAME Sunno
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Frankish military leader
DATE OF BIRTH 4th century
DATE OF DEATH 4th century