Young Leader
The historian Jean de Jaurgain cites him as fighting in 711 against the Visigoth Roderic in Pamplona. In 715 he declared himself independent during the civil war raging in Gaul. It is not likely that he ever took the title of king.
In 718, he appears raising an army of Basques ("hoste Vasconum commota") as an ally of Chilperic II of Neustria and the Mayor of the Palace Ragenfrid, who may have offered recognition of his kingship over Aquitaine. They were fighting against the Austrasian mayor of the palace, Charles Martel, but after the defeat of Chilperic at Soissons that year, he made peace with Charles by surrendering to him the Neustrian king and his treasures.
Read more about this topic: Odo The Great
Famous quotes containing the words young and/or leader:
“The man who arrives young believes that he exercises his will because his star is shining. The man who only asserts himself at thirty has a balanced idea of what will power and fate have each contributed, the one who gets there at forty is liable to put the emphasis on will alone.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“Most of the ladies and gentlemen who mourn the passing of the nation’s leaders wouldn’t know a leader if they saw one. If they had the bad luck to come across a leader, they would find out that he might demand something from them, and this impertinence would put an abrupt and indignant end to their wish for his return.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)