Hunald of Aquitaine

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Hunald (also known as Chunold, Hunold, or Hunaud), Duke of Aquitaine (735-744 or 748), succeeded his father Odo the Great in 735.

He refused to recognize the high authority of the Frankish mayor of the palace, Charles Martel, whereupon Charles marched south of the Loire, seized Bordeaux, and Blaye, but eventually allowed Hunald to retain Aquitaine on condition that he should promise fidelity.

From 736 to 741, the relations between Charles and Hunald seem to have remained amicable. But upon Charles's death in 741, Hunald declared war against the Franks, crossed the Loire and burned Chartres. Menaced by Pepin and Carloman, Hunald begged for peace in 745 and retired to a monastery, probably on the Île de Ré.

We find him later in Italy, where he allied himself with the Lombards and was stoned to death. He had left the duchy of Aquitaine to Waifer, who was probably his son, and who struggled for eight years in defending his independence.

At the death of Pepin and at the beginning of the reign of Charlemagne, there was a last rising of the Aquitanians. This revolt was directed by a certain Hunald and was repressed in 769 by Charlemagne and his brother Carloman. Hunald sought refuge with the duke of the Gascons, Lupus, who handed him over to his enemies. In spite of the opinion of certain historians, this Hunald seems to have been a different person from the old duke of Aquitaine.^[1]

[edit] Notes

^ Higounet, p 27, regards him as "Hunald II" and considers him the most likely leader of the Basque army which won the Battle of Roncesvalles.

[edit] Sources

Oman, Charles. The Dark Ages 476-918. Rivingtons: London, 1914.
Higounet, Charles. Bordeaux pendant le haut moyen age. Bordeaux, 1963.
J.Vaissette, Histoire génerale de Languedoc, vol. i. (ed. of 1872 seq.); Th. Breysig, H Hahn, L Oelsner, S Abel and B Simson, Jahrbücher des deutschen Reichs.
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.