Hunald

Hunald, Duke of Aquitaine, succeeded his father Odo, or Eudes, 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 at Charles’s death in 741 Hunald declared war against the Franks, crossed the Loire and burned Chartres. Menaced by Pippin and Carloman, Hunald begged for peace in 745 and retired to a monastery, probably on the Isle of 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 against King Pippin. At the death of Pippin 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 768 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.