Ardaric (; c. 450 AD) was the

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

of the

Gepids The Gepids (; ) were an East Germanic tribes, East Germanic tribe who lived in the area of modern Romania, Hungary, and Serbia, roughly between the Tisza, Sava, and Carpathian Mountains. They were said to share the religion and language of the G ...

, a Germanic tribe closely related to the

Goths The Goths were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe. They were first reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 3rd century AD, living north of the Danube in what is ...

. He was "famed for his loyalty and wisdom," one of the most trusted adherents of

Attila the Hun Attila ( or ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in early 453. He was also the leader of an empire consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, Alans, and Gepids, among others, in Central and East ...

, who "prized him above all the other chieftains." Ardaric is first mentioned by Jordanes as Attila's most prized vassal at the

Battle of the Catalaunian Plains The Battle of the Catalaunian Plains (or Fields), also called the Battle of the Campus Mauriacus, Battle of Châlons, Battle of Troyes or the Battle of Maurica, took place on June 20, 451 AD, between a victorious coalition, led by the Roman ...

(451): :"The renowned king of the Gepidae, Ardaric, was there also with a countless host, and because of his great loyalty to Attila, he shared his plans. For Attila, comparing them in his wisdom, prized him and Valamir, king of the Ostrogoths, above all the other chieftains." (Jordanes, ''

Getica ''De origine actibusque Getarum'' (''The Origin and Deeds of the Getae''), commonly abbreviated ''Getica'' (), written in Late Latin by Jordanes in or shortly after 551 AD, claims to be a summary of a voluminous account by Cassiodorus of the ori ...

'', trans. C. C. Mierow, 1915) After Attila's death in 453, Ardaric led the rebellion against Attila's sons and routed them in the

Battle of Nedao The Battle of Nedao was fought in Pannonia in 454 CE between the Huns and their former Germanic vassals. Nedao is believed to be a tributary of the Sava River. Battle After the death of Attila the Hun, allied forces of the subject peoples under ...

, thus ending the

Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th centuries AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was par ...

' dominance in Eastern Europe. Since Attila's death, his eldest son Ellak had risen to power. Supported by Attila's chief lieutenant, Onegesius, he wanted to assert the absolute control with which Attila had ruled, while Attila's other two sons, Dengizik and Ernak, claimed kingship over smaller subject tribes. In 454, Ardaric led his Gepid and Ostrogothic forces against Attila's son Ellak and his Hunnish army. The

was a bloody but decisive victory for Ardaric, in which Ellak was killed.Nic Fields, ''The Hun: Scourge of God AD 375-565'', (Osprey, 2006), 16. Ardaric's most immediate achievement was the establishment of his people in

Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus ro ...

. His defeat of the Huns at the River Nedao reduced the threat of invasion posed to the

Eastern Roman Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

. The name ''Ardaricus'' is assumed to represent Germanic ''*Hardu-reiks''; Schütte (1933) tentatively identified the Heiðrekr of Germanic legend with the historical Gepid king. Ardaric's year of death is unknown. The Gepid king Mundo (''Mundonus''), who ruled in the early 6th century, was probably his grandson. Mundo was called both a Gepid and a Hun, and was probably a descendant of both Attila and Ardaric; Mundo was the son of Giesmos, a son of Attila who had married a daughter of Ardaric's. (Kim 201
p. 94
.

References

Sources

*Charnock, R.S. "The Peoples of Transylvania." Journal of the Anthropological Society of London 7 (1869). *Horworth, H.H. "The Westerly Drifting of Nomads, from the Fifth to the Nineteenth Century. Part XII. The Huns." The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 3 (1874): 452-75. *Kim, Hyun Jin, ''The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe'' Cambridge University Press (2013). *Makkai, Laszlo, and Andras Mocsy, eds. History of Transylvania Vol. 1: From the Beginnings to 1606. New York: Columbia UP, 2001. * Mierow, Charles C., trans. ''Jordanes: The Origin and Deeds of the Goths.'' Texts for Ancient History Courses. 22 Apr. 1997. Department of Greek, Latin and Ancient History, University of Calgary. 26 November 2008
acs.ucalgary.ca
). *Man, John. Attila : The Barbarian King Who Challenged Rome. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2006. *Oliver, Marilyn Tower. Attila the Hun. New York: Blackbirch P, Incorporated, 2005. * Wolfram, Herwig. The Roman Empire and Its Germanic Peoples. Trans. Thomas Dunlap. New York: University of California P, 1997. {{Authority control 5th-century deaths 5th century in the Roman Empire Gepid kings Gepid warriors Attila the Hun

See also

References

Sources