Odoacer

Odoacer ( – 15 March 493 AD), also spelled Odovacer or Odovacar, was a barbarian soldier and statesman from the Middle Danube who was an officer of the Roman army and deposed the Western Roman child emperor Romulus Augustulus to become the ruler of Italy (476–493). Odoacer's overthrow of Romulus Augustulus is traditionally understood as marking the end of the Western Roman Empire.

Although he ruled Italy, Odoacer styled himself a client of the Eastern emperor Zeno in Constantinople. He was addressed not only as but also as and patrician, the latter title granted by Zeno. In the sole surviving document from his chancery—and by the consul Basilius—Odoacer used the title of king. Backed by the Roman Senate, he distributed land with little resistance. Soldier unrest in 477–478 caused violence, but his later reign was stable. Though an Arian, he seldom interfered in the Trinitarian state church.