Praedenecenti, also known as the Danubian Abodrites or Obotrites, were an early medieval Slavic tribe, that lived in the Great Danubian plain, to the east of the river Danube, in the buffer zone between the Carolingian and Bulgarian empires. They were mentioned in the Royal Frankish Annals, regarding the events in 822 and 824, that preceded Bulgarian intrusions into Frankish Pannonia (827-828). In 822, they sent envoys to emperor Louis the Pious, and in 824 they sought assistance from the Franks against the Bulgars. Contemporary Bavarian Geographer from the 9th century listed various Slavic tribes, and among them two similarly named groups: the Northern Abodrites (Nortabtrezi, the well known Polabian Abodrites) and the Eastern Abodrites (Ostabtrezi / Osterabtrezi, the Danubian Abodrites of the Royal Frankish Annals). Since the Royal Frankish Annals explicitly state that Abodrites are also called Praedenecenti, and the list of Bavarian Geographer makes a distinction between Northern and Eastern Abodrites, various scholars have concluded that Praedenecenti, or Eastern Abodrites were a Danubian branch of the Polabian Abodrites, while some other scholars are also connecting them to other Slavic tribes, especially the Braničevci or Merehani, and thus the question of their identification is still under dispute.

The Praedenecenti was an "enigmatic" tribe living near the Middle Danube frontier of the Carolingian Empire in the 820s. The Royal Frankish Annals mentioned them twice (under the years 822 and 824), but no other written primary source referred to them. Since the Royal Frankish Annals apparently associated them with the Abodriti (a Slavic tribe near the Baltic Sea), Vasil Gyuzelev equates them with the "Ostabtrezi" or "Osterabtrezi" (Eastern Abodriti), whom the Bavarian Geographer listed among the tribes living along the eastern borders of the Carolingian Empire.

The origin of their ethnonym is unclear. Gyuzelev proposes, the Praedenecenti's name derived from an Old Bulgarian expression, pred'n čdi, meaning "the leading/noble family/children". Archaeologist Gábor Vékony also says, the ethnonym is of Slavic origin, but he proposes that it refers to a people on "this bank" of the river Donets. Imre Boba and Pavel Georgiev write, the name is connected the Latin word for spoil (praeda), showing that the inhabitants of the Carolingian Empire regarded the Praedenecenti as plunderers.

The Royal Frankish Annals listed the Praedenecenti among the Slavic peoples. Pavel Jozef Šafárik and Joachim Lelewel associated them with the Braničevci. Based on the similarity of the two ethnonyms, Lubor Niederle also said that the Braničevci and the Praedenecenti were identical. Other scholars have not accepted this identification. Boba identified them as "booty-taking" Moravians in accordance with his alternative theory of the location of Great Moravia. Archaeologist Silviu Oța proposes that they are the same as the Merehani.

The Praedenecenti inhabited "Dacia on the Danube", according to the Royal Frankish Annals. The same source also mentioned that they were neighbors of the Bulgars. Their prolonged conflicts with the Bulgars and their attempts to seek assistance from the Franks imply that they inhabited a wide region between Bulgaria and the Carolingian Empire.

Most historians associate "Dacia on the Danube" with the Roman province of "Dacia Traiana" to the north of the Danube. They conclude that the Praedenecenti lived in modern Banat (the region between the rivers Tisza and Mureș, and the Lower Danube). Due to the lack of archaeological finds which can certainly be dated to the 9th century, the presence of Praedenecenti in Banat has not been substantiated. Archaeologist Béla Miklós Szőke identifies "Dacia on the Danube" with the ancient province of Dacia Ripensis, to the south of the Danube, saying that the Praedenecenti lived near the Timočani (in present-day Serbia or Bulgaria).

Georgiev emphasizes, the Carolingian chronicles also referred to the land between the Tisza and the Danube when writing of Dacia, thus the Praedenecenti may have also controlled this region. Associating the Praedenecenti with the "Ostabtrezi", he also say that their homeland was a well-fortified region, because the Bavarian Geographer stated that there were "more than 100 fortresses" on the Ostabtrezi's land. He also proposes that the Bavarian Geographer may have referred to the ancient earthworks to the east of the Tisza, which are now known as Devil's Dykes.

Avars and other peoples from the Eurasian steppes who were subjected to them inhabited the wider region of the Tisza river till the end of the 8th century. The Avar Khaganate disintegrated due to a series of Frankish campaigns and internal conflicts after 791. The 10th-century Suda encyclopedia states that the Bulgars also inflicted defeats on the Avars in the early 9th century. An Avar dignitary, the kapkhan, went to the Carolingian Empire in early 805, asking Charlemagne to grant a territory to his people, because they "could not stay in their previous dwelling places on account of the attacks of the Slavs", according to the Royal Frankis Annals. The report shows that new power centers, led by Slavic warlords, emerged along the Middle Danube shortly after the collapse of the khaganate.