Wacho

Wacho (also Waccho ; † around 540) was dux (duke) of the Longobards from around 510 to 540 .

family

Wacho was the son of Unichis (Unigis), a brother of the Duke or King Tato , of the Lethinger family ; his mother is unknown.

Wacho was married to Raicunda (also Radegunda, Ranicunda), daughter of the Thuringian king Bisinus , in his first marriage since about 508 . This marriage remained childless.

In his second marriage, Wacho married Austrigusa (also Austrigosa or Ostrogotho), a daughter of the Gepid king Turisind, around 512 . The daughters Wisigard (also Wisigarda) and Waldrada (also Vuldetrada), both of whom were married to Franconian kings, came from this connection .

From his third marriage to Silinga , probably a daughter of the Herul king Rudolf (also Rodulf), Wacho had a son Walthari , who was his successor.

Life

Longobard settlement area on the middle Danube

Nothing is known about Wacho's childhood and youth.

Around the year 510 Wacho rebelled against his uncle Tato, murdered him and then became the new Longobard ruler. The conquest of part of Pannonia is classified as his most important historical achievement . So he could found a powerful empire. The opinion previously represented in research that Wacho only conquered the provinces of Pannonia prima and Pannonia Valeria from the Suebi soon after Theodoric the Great's death († 526) , has recently been increasingly replaced by the view that Wacho already shortly after His accession to the throne sent around 510 troops across the Danube and was able to take territories in northern Pannonia as far as the Drau .

Wacho entered into an alliance with the Roman emperor as early as 535 when a war broke out between Justinian I and the Ostrogoths . When, therefore, at the beginning of 539 an embassy from the Ostrogoth king Witigis Wacho asked to fight together against Justinian, their request was refused.

Wacho's rule was very much determined by his marriage policy, with which he sought allies. The engagement, which the Frankish King Theuderich I arranged between his son Theudebert I and Wacho's daughter Wisigard around 531 , served to guarantee the neutrality of the Longobard in the fight for the Thuringian empire , which the Franks after the death of Theodoric the Great ( 526) recordings. The marriage did not take place until around 537/538.

The engagement around 540 between Theudebert's son Theudebald and a second daughter of Wachos, Walderada (or Vuldetrada), also served the purpose of safeguarding the alliance between the Franks and Lombards - the treaties made such waves that theudebert's policy was even affected in Byzantium became aware.

In the late 530s, Wacho had male offspring through the birth of his son Walthari. If Tato's son Risiulf had previously been considered to be Wacho's successor, he has now been banned because Wacho intended to make his own son heir to the throne. Not long after Risiulf took refuge in the Warnen , he was murdered at the request of the Longobard ruler . When Wacho died of an illness around 540, Audoin from the Gausen family took over the reign of the underage Walthari. Risiulf's son Hildegis tried unsuccessfully to fight for the Lombard throne against Walthari and Audoin.

swell

Paulus Diaconus , Historia Langobardorum , ed. Ludwig Bethmann and Georg Waitz , in: Monumenta Germaniae Historica , Scriptores rerum Langobardicarum et Italicarum saec. VI – IX , Hahn, Hanover 1878
anonymous, Origo Gentis Langobardorum
Gregory of Tours , Historiae

literature

Wilhelm Enßlin : Wacho. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VII A, 2, Stuttgart 1948, Sp. 2039.
Jörg Jarnut : Wacho. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 33, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2006, ISBN 3-11-018388-9 , pp. 6-7.
Wilfried Menghin : The Lombards . Theiss-Verlag, Stuttgart 1985, p. 32ff.

Web links

Wikisource: Historia Langobardorum - Sources and full texts (Latin)

Wikisource: Origo Gentis Langobardorum - Sources and full texts (Latin)

Paulus Diaconus: History of the Langobards (English)

Individual evidence

↑ According to Jörg Jarnut (RGA, vol. 33, p. 6) and Wilhelm Enßlin (RE, vol. VII A, 2, col. 2039) Wacho was king of the Lombards.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Paulus Diaconus, Historia Langobardorum I 21.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Origo Gentis Langobardorum 4.
↑ Cf. Jörg Jarnut : Thuringians and Longobards in the 6th and early 7th centuries . In: Helmut Castritius , Dieter Geuenich , Matthias Werner (ed.): The early days of the Thuringians. Archeology, language, history , in: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde , supplementary volume 63 . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2009, ISBN 978-3-11-021454-3 , pp. 279 .
↑ Jörg Jarnut, RGA, vol. 33, p. 6.
^ Prokop , De bello Gothico II 22, 11f.
^ Gregory of Tours, Historiae III, 20; III, 27.
^ Gregory of Tours, Historiae IV, 9.
^ Prokop, De bello Gothico III 35, 13ff .; on this Jörg Jarnut, RGA, vol. 33, p. 7.

predecessor	Office	successor
Tato	Duke and King of the Longobards 510-540	Walthari

personal data
SURNAME	Wacho
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Waccho
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Ruler of the Lombards
DATE OF BIRTH	5th century
DATE OF DEATH	6th century

[1] According to Jörg Jarnut (RGA, vol. 33, p. 6) and Wilhelm Enßlin (RE, vol. VII A, 2, col. 2039) Wacho was king of the Lombards.

[hist21-2] Paulus Diaconus, Historia Langobardorum I 21.

[origo-3] Origo Gentis Langobardorum 4.

[4] Cf. Jörg Jarnut : Thuringians and Longobards in the 6th and early 7th centuries . In: Helmut Castritius , Dieter Geuenich , Matthias Werner (ed.): The early days of the Thuringians. Archeology, language, history , in: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde , supplementary volume 63 . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2009, ISBN 978-3-11-021454-3 , pp. 279 .

[5] Jörg Jarnut, RGA, vol. 33, p. 6.

[6] Prokop , De bello Gothico II 22, 11f.

[7] Gregory of Tours, Historiae III, 20; III, 27.

[8] Gregory of Tours, Historiae IV, 9.

[9] Prokop, De bello Gothico III 35, 13ff .; on this Jörg Jarnut, RGA, vol. 33, p. 7.