Before Italy There are two recorded incidents involving military leaders with the name Odoacer preserved in the History of the Franks of Gregory of Tours, using two different spellings and involving two different regions. These involve events which were early enough to be Odoacer before his appearance in Italy. Both were during the lifetime of Childeric I, king of the Franks, who died about 481. In the first mention, a confused or confusing report is given of a number of battles in about 463 fought by Childeric, Aegidius, Count Paul, and one "Adovacrius" (with an "a") who was leading a group of Saxons based at the mouth of the Loire. Though there is no consensus, some historians, such as Reynolds and Lopez, have suggested that this Adovacrius may be the same person as the future king of Italy. Matthias Springer has noted that Odoacer's involvement with northern European Saxons in this period would be consistent with the proposal that he had Thuringian ancestry, pointing out that the term Saxon in this period was probably not a distinct ethnic label. In a second mention by Gregory of Tours, an Odovacrius (with an "o") made an alliance with the same Childeric, and together they fought the Alamanni, who had been causing problems in Italy. This Odoacer, with his connection to the region north of Italy, and his "o" spelling, is probably the future king of Italy, before he was king.
Before Italy There are two recorded incidents involving military leaders with the name Odoacer preserved in the History of the Franks of Gregory of Tours, using two different spellings and involving two different regions. These involve events which were early enough to be Odoacer before his appearance in Italy. Both were during the lifetime of Childeric I, king of the Franks, who died about 481. In the first mention, a confused or confusing report is given of a number of battles in about 463 fought by Childeric, Aegidius, Count Paul, and one "Adovacrius" (with an "a") who was leading a group of Saxons based at the mouth of the Loire Though there is no consensus, some historians, such as Reynolds and Lopez, have suggested that this Adovacrius may be the same person as the future king of Italy. Matthias Springer has noted that Odoacer's involvement with northern European Saxons in this period would be consistent with the proposal that he had Thuringian ancestry, pointing out that the term Saxon in this period was probably not a distinct ethnic label. In a second mention by Gregory of Tours, an Odovacrius (with an "o") made an alliance with the same Childeric, and together they fought the Alamanni, who had been causing problems in Italy. This Odoacer, with his connection to the region north of Italy, and his "o" spelling, is probably the future king of Italy, before he was king.