Mallobaudes or Mellobaudes was a 4th-century Frankish

Franks

The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...

 king who also held the Roman title of comes domesticorum.

In 354 he was a tribunus armaturarum in the Roman army

Roman army

The Roman army is the generic term for the terrestrial armed forces deployed by the kingdom of Rome , the Roman Republic , the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine empire...

 in Gaul

Gaul

Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...

, where he served under Silvanus

Claudius Silvanus

Claudius Silvanus was a Roman general of Frankish descent, usurper in Gaul against Emperor Constantius II for 28 days in 355.- Origin and career :...

, who usurped power in 355. Malobaudes tried unsuccessfully to intervene on his behalf. Appointed comes domesticorum by Gratian

Gratian

Gratian was Roman Emperor from 375 to 383.The eldest son of Valentinian I, during his youth Gratian accompanied his father on several campaigns along the Rhine and Danube frontiers. Upon the death of Valentinian in 375, Gratian's brother Valentinian II was declared emperor by his father's soldiers...

, he was second-in-command of the army in Gaul in 378 when he defeated the Alemannic tribes under King Priarius at Argentaria

Battle of Argentovaria

The Battle of Argentovaria was fought in May 378 between the Roman Empire and the invading army of the Lentienses, a branch of the Alamanni, at Argentovaria . With this defeat, the Lentienses disappear from history....

 (near modern Colmar) according to Ammianus Marcellinus . In 380 he killed Macrian

Macrian

Macrian or Makrian was the king of the Bucinobantes, an Alemannic tribe, in the late fourth century and the brother of Hariobaud. Macrian tried to confederate all the north Germanic and Alemannic tribes together against Rome....

, king of the Bucinobantes

Bucinobantes

The Bucinobantes were an Alemannic tribe in the region of the modern city of Mainz on the river Main.The Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus wrote that Caesar Julian crossed the river Rhine near Mainz in 359 for negotiations with Macrian, the chieftain of the Bucinobantes, and with other...

 and Roman ally, who had invaded Frankish territory.

During the usurpation of Maximus

Magnus Maximus

Magnus Maximus , also known as Maximianus and Macsen Wledig in Welsh, was Western Roman Emperor from 383 to 388. As commander of Britain, he usurped the throne against Emperor Gratian in 383...

, Mallobaudes was killed shortly after the assassination of the emperor Gratian.

Sources

• Ammianus Marcellinus, 'The Later Roman Empire (A.D.354-378), Book 31.10.2', trans. Walter Hamilton, Penguin Books, 1986.