Waldalenus

Who is Waldalenus?

Waldalenus or Wandalenus, dux in the region between the Alps and the Jura, in the Frankish Kingdom of Burgundy, was a Frankish magnate who served as mayor of the Austrasian palace at Metz from 581, during the minority of Childebert II.

One of his seats of government as Patricius of Burgundy was at Arlay on the "Salt Road", noted in 597. There his son, Donatus of Luxeuil, would found the Abbey of Saint-Vincent, destroyed by Otto II of Burgundy.

He was a well-known patron of Columbanus at Luxeuil Abbey, where he dedicated one son to the Church, and thus provided early support for Hiberno-Frankish monasticism in Western Europe: "This family's connections stretched into Provence and would prove highly influential in seventh-century Frankish politics," Marilyn Dunn notes. Both Eustasius and Waldebert, kinsmen of Waldalenus, succeeded Columbanus as second and third abbots of Luxeuil. The extended family of Waldelenus controlled the Alpine passes approached from Briançon, those of Susa, Embrun, and Gap. Abbo, Patrician of Provence and rector of Maurienne and Susa, the opponent of Maurontus, came from the family of Waldelenus.