Austrovald, Astrobald, and Austrevald (died 607) was the

Duke of Aquitaine The Duke of Aquitaine ( oc, Duc d'Aquitània, french: Duc d'Aquitaine, ) was the ruler of the medieval region of Aquitaine (not to be confused with modern-day Aquitaine) under the supremacy of Frankish, English, and later French kings. As succe ...

from 587. Austrovald was probably a

count of Toulouse The count of Toulouse ( oc, comte de Tolosa, french: comte de Toulouse) was the ruler of county of Toulouse, Toulouse during the 8th to 13th centuries. Originating as vassals of the kingdom of the Franks, Frankish kings, the hereditary counts ru ...

until that year, when he was appointed to succeed the ''dux''

Desiderius Desiderius, also known as Daufer or Dauferius (born – died ), was king of the Lombards in northern Italy, ruling from 756 to 774. The Frankish king of renown, Charlemagne, married Desiderius's daughter and subsequently conquered his realm. Des ...

in Aquitaine, by King

Guntram Saint Gontrand (c. 532 in Soissons – 28 March 592 in Chalon-sur-Saône), also called Gontran, Gontram, Guntram, Gunthram, Gunthchramn, and Guntramnus, was the king of the Kingdom of Orléans from AD 561 to AD 592. He was the third eldest and ...

. Under

Chilperic I Chilperic I (c. 539 – September 584) was the king of Neustria (or Soissons) from 561 to his death. He was one of the sons of the Frankish king Clotaire I and Queen Aregund. Life Immediately after the death of his father in 561, he en ...

and then the usurper

Gundoald Gundoald or Gundovald was a Merovingian usurper king in the area of southern Gaul in either 584 or 585. He claimed to be an illegitimate son of Chlothar I and, with the financial support of the Emperor Maurice, took some major cities in southern ...

, a ''dux'' named

Bladast Bladast or Bladastes was a Frankish ''dux'' during the reigns of Chilperic I and Chlothar II. In 583 or 581, Chilperic I gave the province of Aquitaine to Bladast and Desiderius and sent them into Vasconia The Duchy of Gascony or Duchy of Vas ...

was acting as duke over the region of Aquitaine. The ''dux'' Austrovald was sent in 587 to pacify the

Basques The Basques ( or ; eu, euskaldunak ; es, vascos ; french: basques ) are a Southwestern European ethnic group, characterised by the Basque language, a common culture and shared genetic ancestry to the ancient Vascones and Aquitanians. Bas ...

Vasconia The Duchy of Gascony or Duchy of Vasconia ( eu, Baskoniako dukerria; oc, ducat de Gasconha; french: duché de Gascogne, duché de Vasconie) was a duchy located in present-day southwestern France and northeastern Spain, an area encompassing the m ...

, a difficult enterprise in which he was none too successful, for he lost many men to captivity and the Basques are found as far as the

Garonne The Garonne (, also , ; Occitan, Catalan, Basque, and es, Garona, ; la, Garumna or ) is a river of southwest France and northern Spain. It flows from the central Spanish Pyrenees to the Gironde estuary at the French port of Bordeaux – a ...

by 602.

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

probably formed the chief fortified frontier city of Austrovald's watch. It is probable that the Basques were forced to pay tribute, but left under their own laws. It is out of this that a separate Gascon duchy was created in 602, probably within Aquitaine. In 589, Austrovald held command of the forces of

Périgueux Périgueux (, ; oc, Peireguers or ) is a communes of France, commune in the Dordogne departments of France, department, in the administrative regions of France, administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. Périgueux i ...

Agen The communes of France, commune of Agen (, ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Lot-et-Garonne Departments of France, department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. It lies on the river Garonne southeast of Bordeaux. ...

, Saintes, and Bordeaux, when he invaded

Septimania Septimania (french: Septimanie ; oc, Septimània ) is a historical region in modern-day Southern France. It referred to the western part of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis that passed to the control of the Visigoths in 462, when Septima ...

. Twice he marched on

Visigothic The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kno ...

Carcassonne Carcassonne (, also , , ; ; la, Carcaso) is a French fortified city in the department of Aude, in the region of Occitanie. It is the prefecture of the department. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Carcassonne is located in the plain of the ...

but failed to take it. Austrovald was succeeded by Sereus after a short reign.Monlezun, p 221.

Notes

Sources

*Higounet, Charles. ''Bordeaux pendant le haut moyen age''. Bordeaux, 1963. *

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Florenti ...

''Historia Francorum''.
translated Earnest Brehaut, 1916. * Wallace-Hadrill, J. M., translator.
The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar with its Continuations
'. Greenwood Press: Connecticut, 1960. *Collins, Roger. ''The Basques''. Blackwell Publishing: London, 1990. *Sedycias, João

*Lewis, Archibald R.
The Dukes in the Regnum Francorum, A.D. 550-751.
''Speculum'', Vol. 51, No 3 (July 1976), pp 381–410 *Monlezun, Jean Justin
''Histoire de la Gascogne''.
1864. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Austrovald 607 deaths Dukes of Aquitaine Year of birth unknown