Audradus Modicus

Audradus Modicus (or Hardradus; fl. 847–53) was a Frankish ecclesiastic and author during the Carolingian Renaissance. He wrote in Latin.

Audradus was a monk of Saint Martin's of Tours.[1] He served as an auxiliary bishop (chorepiscopus) to Archbishop Wenilo of Sens (836–65) from 847 until 849, when he was deposed by the Council of Paris.[2] After his deposition, he went to Rome, where he presented his writings to Pope Leo IV.[2]

Audradus was a prolific author. In verse, he composed the Liber de fonte vitae ("Book of the Source of Life") in 404 hexameters,[1] the Carmen in honore sancti Petri ecclesiae ("Song in Honour of Saint Peter's Church"), some verses in honour of Saint Martin and a passion of Saint Julian (Passiones beatorum Iuliani et sociorum eius) in 800 lines.[2] He also wrote the prose Liber revelationum, known from passages quoted by Alberic of Trois-Fontaines in the 13th century. They show him to have been a partisan of Charles the Bald, king of West Francia, and of Archbishop Hincmar of Reims, and extremely hostile to Charles's brothers, the Emperor Lothair I and Louis the German, king of East Francia. The Liber revelationum can be dated to no earlier than 853.[2]

Audradus was buried in the church of Saint-Didier at Nevers.[2] Like his superior, Wenilo, he morphed into a villain in popular memory. The chansons de geste, such as Amis et Amiles and Jordain de Blaivies, remember him as the henchman Hardré or Adradus to the archtraitor Ganelon, a figure based on Wenilo.[3]