Odoacer

Odoacer was a military leader and the first barbarian king of Italy, known for deposing the last Western Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus, in 476 AD, an event many historians consider as the end of the Western Roman Empire. Odoacer was of Germanic origin, specifically belonging to the tribe of the Heruli, an East Germanic group that had migrated into the territory of the Roman Empire during the great barbarian migrations.

After serving in the Roman army as a federate, Odoacer rebelled against the young emperor Romulus Augustulus, who was merely a symbolic figure manipulated by his father Orestes, a Roman official. Odoacer led a revolt of federate mercenaries, including other Germanic groups such as the Sciri and the Rugi, marching on Ravenna, the capital of the empire at that time. Romulus Augustulus was deposed without bloodshed and sent into exile in a castle in Campania, where he lived the rest of his life in relative tranquility.

Instead of assuming the title of emperor, Odoacer took the title of "rex" (king) and ruled Italy as an autonomous kingdom. He sent the imperial regalia to Constantinople, acknowledging the sovereignty of Emperor Zeno and requesting to be recognized as the governor of Italy under Byzantine imperial authority. During his reign, Odoacer was known for his administrative prudence and attempted to maintain the continuity of Roman structures and legal order. However, his reign ended when Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, invaded Italy in 489 AD, and after five years of war, killed Odoacer in 493 AD, founding the Ostrogothic kingdom of Italy.