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136-508: The background to the assassination begins when Alboin killed the king of the Gepids in 567 and captured the king's daughter Rosamund. Alboin then led his people into Italy , and by 572 had settled himself in Verona , which made him vulnerable to the ambitions of other prominent Lombards, such as Helmichis, who was Alboin's foster-brother and arms-bearer. After Alboin's death, Helmichis attempted to gain

272-587: A necropolis was discovered in August 2004 with over two hundred tombs dated to the sixth century AD. Eighty-five percent of the discovered tombs were robbed in the same period. The remaining artifacts are ceramics, bronze articles and an armory. Also in Romania, at Miercurea Sibiului , there is another necropolis with rich artifacts. Other necropolises in Romania are: Gepid treasures were also found at Someșeni and Șimleu Silvaniei . A study done in 2022 found that from

408-654: A slave . An important success for the Byzantines was that no king was proclaimed to succeed him, opening a decade of interregnum and making the Lombards who remained in Italy more vulnerable to attacks from Franks and Byzantines. It was only when faced with the danger of annihilation by the Franks in 584 that the Lombard dukes elected a new king in the person of Authari , son of Cleph, who began

544-616: A Christian king. His alliance with the Franks, crowned by a symbolic adoption of the young Pepin the Short , and with the Avars, on the eastern borders, allowed him to keep his hand relatively free in the Italian theater, but he soon clashed with the Byzantines and with the Papacy. A first attempt to take advantage of an Arab offensive against Constantinople in 717 achieved few results. Closer relations with

680-592: A civil war, enabling the subject peoples to rise up in rebellion. According to Jordanes, the Gepid king, Ardaric, who "became enraged because so many nations were being treated like slaves of the basest condition", was the first to take up arms against the Huns. The decisive battle was fought at the (unidentified) Nedao River in Pannonia in 454 or 455. In the battle, the united army of Gepids, Rugii , Sarmatians and Suebi routed

816-638: A devastating plague pandemic (541–542). Although the Byzantine Empire eventually prevailed, the triumph proved to be a pyrrhic victory , as all these factors caused the population of the Italian Peninsula to crash, leaving the conquered territories severely underpopulated and impoverished. Although an invasion attempt by the Franks , then allies of the Ostrogoths , late in the war was successfully repelled,

952-607: A dynastic crisis. The succession of Cunipert's minor son, Liutpert , was immediately challenged by the Duke of Turin , Raginpert , the most prominent of the Bavarian dynasty. Raginpert defeated the supporters of Liutpert ( viz. , his tutor Ansprand , Duke of Asti, and the Duke of Bergamo, Rotarit ) in Novara , and, at the beginning of 701, took the throne. However, he died after just eight months, leaving

1088-520: A few words. You surely remember that in the beginning I said the Goths went forth from the bosom of the island of Scandza with Berig, their king, sailing in only three ships toward the hither shore of Ocean, namely to Gothiscandza . One of these three ships proved to be slower than the others, as is usually the case, and thus is said to have given the tribe their name, for in their language gepanta means slow. Hence it came to pass that gradually and by corruption

1224-567: A large migration by the Lombards , a Germanic people that had been previously allied with the Byzantine Empire, ensued. In the spring of 568 the Lombards, led by King Alboin , moved from Pannonia and quickly overwhelmed the small Byzantine army left by Narses to guard Italy. The Lombard arrival broke the political unity of the Italian Peninsula for the first time since the Roman conquest (between

1360-442: A man in his entourage who perhaps colluded with the Byzantines. Following Cleph's assassination another king was not appointed, and for a decade dukes ruled as absolute monarchs in their duchies . At this stage, the occupation of the dukes was simply the heads of the various fara (families) of the Lombard people. Not yet firmly associated with the cities, they simply acted independently, also because they were under pressure from

1496-587: A matrilinear point of view the main mitochondrial ancestry belongs to North-western European group, in line with historical data. In particular it shows similarities with data taken from Wielbark culture and Langobards . Only one Asian lineage was found, indicating the Gepids did not mix with Asian populations in a significant manner on the matrilinear side. The samples were collected from 3 different sites located in Carei-Babold , Șardu , and Vlaha . Kingdom of

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1632-500: A new rebellion, that of the Duke of Friuli, Corvulus , and adopted a strongly pro-Catholic policy. In 712, Ansprand returned to Italy with an army raised in Bavaria, and clashed with Aripert; the battle was uncertain, but the king behaved cowardly and was abandoned by his supporters. He died while trying to escape to the realm of the Franks, and drowned in the Ticino , dragged to the bottom by

1768-510: A novel fashion. It was the young widow Theodelinda who chose the heir to the throne and her new husband: the Duke of Turin , Agilulf . The following year (591) Agilulf received the official investiture from the Assembly of the Lombards , held in Milan . The influence of the queen over Agilulf's policies was remarkable and major decisions are attributed to both. After a rebellion among some dukes in 594

1904-470: A power structure, useful only to make forays in search of plunder. In 584 the dukes agreed to crown King Cleph's son, Autari , and delivered to the new monarch half of their property (and then probably getting even with a new crackdown against the surviving Roman property land). Autari was then able to reorganise the Lombards and stabilise their settlement in Italy. He assumed, like the Ostrogoth Kings ,

2040-505: A prologue to the Edictum Rothari , and continued to be updated till 671. According to Walter Pohl , the author's motives are mostly political: the Origo serves to consolidate the Lombards' national identity by emphasising a shared history. Apart from the origin myth, the only more detailed account is the one concerning the death of Alboin, and thus Helmichis. For the events surrounding 572,

2176-590: A rapprochement between Franks and Byzantines, but Autari managed (in 588 and again, despite some severe early setbacks, in the 590s) to repel the resulting Frankish attacks. The period of Autari marked, according to Paul the Deacon , the attainment of the first internal stability in the Lombard kingdom: Erat hoc mirabile in regno Langobardorum: nulla erat violentia, nullae struebantur insidiae; nemo aliquem iniuste angariabat, nemo spoliabat; non erant furta, non latrocinia; unusquisque quo libebat securus sine timore There

2312-635: A scholarly theory, the westward migration of the Huns forced the tribes to flee from the Carpathian Basin and seek refuge in the Roman Empire. Whatever the exact sequence of events, the Middle Danube region was subsequently dominated by peoples from the east, associated with Goths and Huns. Jordanes reported that Thorismund , King of the Ostrogoths , who was subjected to the Huns, "won a great victory over"

2448-520: A short time, the city of Sirmium (present-day Sremska Mitrovica ) was the center of the Gepid State and the king Cunimund minted golden coins in it. Justinian I , angered by their expansion, made an alliance with the Lombards , who, under King Alboin , dealt a disastrous defeat on the Gepids in 552. After the Battle of Asfeld , Alboin had a drinking cup made from the skull of Cunimund. In 539, most of

2584-508: A stem γηπαιδ- which should be transliterated as Giped-. Despite this, the Gepids have been equated with the people mentioned in the Old English Widsith and Beowulf , as Gifðas or Gefþas . These names are considered etymologically equivalent Old English forms of Gepidae that could not have arisen through borrowing from attested Latin forms. Although Walter Goffart has objected that "no serious arguments substantiating

2720-650: A strategically important town on the road between Italy and Constantinople. In 489, Thraustila  [ fr ; it ] , King of the Gepids, tried to hinder the Ostrogoths from crossing the river Vuka during Theodoric the Great 's campaign against Italy, but the Ostrogoths routed Thraustila's army. The Gepids also lost Sirmium to the Ostrogoths, according to Walter Pohl . In short, according to Walter Goffart , Thraustila's son, Thrasaric, "regained control of Sirmium but possibly under Ostrogothic underlordship". Theodoric

2856-565: A symbol of how the natural hierarchy of sexes is at last restored, after the queen's actions had unnaturally modified the proper equilibrium. At this point, Longinus sent the royal treasure and Albsuinda to Constantinople , the Empire's capital, together with Helmichis' forces, which were to become Byzantine mercenaries. This was a common Byzantine strategy, already applied previously to the Ostrogoths, by which large national contingents were relocated to be used in other theatres. These are believed to be

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2992-489: A tribute to a vanishing culture. Among these otherwise lost traditions stands the tale of Alboin's death. According to Herwig Wolfram , what Paul deals with is an example of how nationally vital events were personalized to make them easier to preserve in the collective memory. Even later than the Historia Langobardorum , but possibly using earlier lost sources, are the last two primary sources to speak about Helmichis:

3128-521: Is a chronicle written around 625 that has reached us in a single manuscript. As its name suggests, it is a continuation of the 5th century chronicle of Prosper of Aquitaine . Derived in considerable measure from the Chronica Majora of Isidore of Seville , it blames the Romans for their inability to defend Italy from foreign invaders, and praises the Lombards for defending the country from the Franks . This

3264-460: Is disputed by historians. There is little direct evidence for the original language of the Gepids, but they were clearly Gothic in culture during the period when the Romans reported upon them. Most likely, the Gepids used the same language as the Goths, but in a different dialect. They had strained political relations with related peoples: Goths and Vandals . The Byzantine chronicler of the 6th century, Procopius, in his "Wars of Justinian", placed

3400-516: Is simply lifting the phrase from an older source. Numerous archaeological sites have been attributed to the Gepids. The first scientific excavations of such an attributed Gepid site were done by István Kovács at Band in 1906 and 1907. However, attributing a precise ethnicity to archaeological findings from this period is a difficult and disputable method. The analysis of the burial sites show that high-status burials with valuable goods are initially clustered in northwestern Transylvania (dated to

3536-463: Is the earliest surviving work to name Rosamund, the queen of the Lombards who plays a central role in Helmichis' attested biography. The other 7th century work, the Origo , is a brief prose history of the Lombards that is essentially an annotated king list, although it begins with a description of the founding myth of the Lombard nation. Giorgio Ausenda believes that the Origo was written around 643 as

3672-537: The Edictum Rothari , may allude to the use of seal rings , but it is not until the reign of Ratchis that they became an integral part of royal administration, when the king required their use on passports . The only evidence for their use at the ducal level comes from the Duchy of Benevento , where two private charters contain requests for the duke to confirm them with his seal. The existence of seal rings "testifies to

3808-557: The Amali , the leading dynasty of the Goths . Helmichis easily obtained the support of the Lombards in Verona, and he probably hoped to sway all the warriors and Lombard dukes to his side by having Alboin's only child, Albsuinda , under his control. He may also have hoped for Byzantine help in buying the dukes' loyalty economically. Helmichis' coup ultimately failed because it met strong opposition from

3944-577: The Avars and attacked a Gepid feast, capturing 30,000 Gepids (they met no Avars). Recent excavation by the Tisza River at Szolnok brought up a Gepid nobleman from an Avar period grave who was also wearing Turkic-Avar pieces next to the traditional Germanic clothes in which he was buried. In the eighth century, Paul the Deacon lists Gepid, Bulgarian, Sarmatian, Pannonian, Suabian and Norican villages in Italy but we do not know if Paul means in his own day or

4080-791: The Basilica of St. John (also known as the Duomo of Monza) and the Royal Palace of Monza, while some masterpieces in gold were created such as the Agilulf Cross , the Hen with seven chicks , the Theodelinda Gospels and the famous Iron Crown (all resident in the Duomo of Monza treasury ). After the death of Agilulf in 616, the throne passed to his son Adaloald, a minor. The regency (which continued even after

4216-600: The Byzantine army was in Persia , so the Gepids and Heruls plundered Moesia , killing magister militum Calluc , while the Frankish king Theudebert I raided Northern Italy . According to Jordanes , the clashes were the bloodiest since Attila , and the Romans were obliged to pay heavy taxes and recognize new Gepid occupation zones. Thurisind , new king of Gepidia attempted to expel

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4352-560: The Exarchate to submit to the Lombards. Internally, Rothari strengthened the central power at the expense of the duchies of Langobardia Maior, while in the south the Duke of Benevento, Arechi I (who in turn was expanding Lombard domains), also recognized the authority of the King of Pavia. The memory of Rothari is linked to his famous edict, promulgated in 643 in Pavia by a gairethinx , an assembly of

4488-532: The Heruls to take refuge in Gepidia from the neighborhood of the aggressive Langobards . Wacho married Elemund's daughter in return. In an attempt to take advantage of the death of Theodoric the Great in 526, the Gepids invaded the region of Sirmium in 528 or 530, but Vitiges defeated them. The Gepids reached the zenith of their power after 537, settling in the rich area around Singidunum (today's Belgrade ). For

4624-514: The Holy Roman Empire , roughly corresponding to the territory of the former Langobardia Maior. The so-called Iron Crown of Lombardy , one of the oldest surviving royal insignias of Christendom, may have originated in Lombard Italy as early as the 7th century and continued to be used to crown kings of Italy until Napoleon Bonaparte in the early 19th century. The earliest Lombard law code,

4760-522: The Lombards from Pannonia , and both peoples asked for help from the Byzantines. Justinian I sent his army against the Gepids, however it was routed on the way by the Herulians and the sides signed a two-year truce. Revenging what he felt as a betrayal, Thurisind made an alliance with the Kutrigurs who devastated Moesia before end of the armistice. The Langobard and Roman army joined together and defeated

4896-575: The Three Chapter schism (where the Patriarch of Aquileia had broken communion with Rome), maintained a direct relationship with Gregory the Great (preserved in correspondence between him and Theodelinda) and promote the establishment of monasteries, like the one founded by Saint Columbanus in Bobbio . Even art enjoyed, under Agilulf and Theodelinda, a flourishing season. In architecture Theodelinda founded

5032-401: The dukes , as several attempts to establish a hereditary dynasty failed. The kingdom was subdivided into a varying number of duchies, ruled by semi-autonomous dukes, which were in turn subdivided into gastaldates at the municipal level. The capital of the kingdom and the center of its political life was Pavia in the modern northern Italian region of Lombardy . The Lombard invasion of Italy

5168-771: The "rugged mountains" of the Gepids' land, historians locate it near the Carpathians, along the upper courses of either the Tisza or the Dniester rivers, in the late 3rd century . The exact date of the Gepids' settlement in the Carpathian Basin cannot exactly be determined. Archaeologist István Bóna says they were present in the northeastern region already in the 260s. According to Coriolan H. Opreanu, they seem to have arrived around 300. Archaeologists Eszter Istvánovits and Valéria Kulcsár write that no archaeological evidence substantiates

5304-565: The 3rd and 2nd century BC). The peninsula was now torn between territories ruled by the Lombards and the Byzantines, with boundaries that changed over time. The newly arrived Lombards were divided into two main areas in Italy: the Langobardia Maior , which comprised northern Italy gravitating around the capital of the Lombard kingdom, Ticinum (the modern-day city of Pavia in the Italian region of Lombardy ); and Langobardia Minor , which included

5440-464: The Avars. Grimoald was invested by the Lombard nobles, but still had to deal with the legitimate faction, which tried international alliances to return the throne to Perctarit. Grimoald, however, persuaded the Avars to return the deposed ruler. Perctarit, as soon as he returned to Italy, had to make an act of submission to the usurper before he could escape to the Franks of Neustria , who attacked Grimoald in 663. The new king, hated by Neustria because he

5576-518: The Byzantine Empire and the Pope . However, by the end of the 7th century, their conversion to Catholicism was all but complete. Nevertheless, their conflict with the Pope continued and was responsible for their gradual loss of power to the Franks , who conquered the kingdom in 774. Charlemagne , the king of the Franks, adopted the title "King of the Lombards", although he never managed to gain control of Benevento,

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5712-479: The Carpathian Basin. According to Jordanes, the Gepids "by their own might won for themselves the territory of the Huns and ruled as victors over the extent of all Dacia, demanding of the Roman Empire nothing more than peace and an annual gift" after their victory. Emperor Marcian confirmed their status as the allies of the empire and granted them an annual subsidy of 100 pounds of gold. The late-5th-century treasures excavated at Apahida and Someșeni show that

5848-453: The Danube, and compared to other Middle Danubian kingdoms it remained relatively uninvolved with Rome. The Gepids were defeated by the Lombards and Avars a century later in 567, when Constantinople gave no support to them. Some Gepids joined the Lombards in their subsequent conquest of Italy, some moved into Roman territory, and other Gepids still lived in the area of the old kingdom after it

5984-562: The Duchy of Brescia). Alahis rebelled again later, joining with the political opponents of the pro-Catholic Bavarian policy at Perctarit's death in 688. His son and successor Cunipert was initially defeated and forced to take refuge on the Isola Comacina - only in 689 did he manage to quash the rebellion, defeating and killing Alahis in the Battle of Coronate at the Adda . The crisis resulted from

6120-452: The Franks into modern Piedmont and led the Byzantines to ask, for the first time since the Lombards had entered Italy, for a truce. At the end, he occupied the last Byzantine stronghold in northern Italy: Isola Comacina in Lake Como . To ensure a stable peace with the Franks, Autari attempted to marry a Frankish princess, but the project failed. Then the king, in a move that would influence

6256-588: The Gepid rulers accumulated great wealth in the second half of the century. The Gepids joined a coalition formed by the Suebi, Sciri , Sarmatians and other peoples formed against the Ostrogoths who had settled in Pannonia. However, the Ostrogoths routed the united forces of their enemies in the Battle of Bolia in 469. After the Ostrogoths left Pannonia in 473, the Gepids captured Sirmium (now Sremska Mitrovica in Serbia ),

6392-435: The Gepid warriors in the town in her search for an opportunity to avenge the death of her father. To obtain this goal she persuaded Helmichis, spatharius (arms bearer) and foster brother of the king, and also head of a personal armed retinue in Verona, to take part in a plot to eliminate Alboin and replace him on the throne. Helmichis persuaded Rosamund to involve Peredeo , described by Paul simply as "a very strong man", who

6528-542: The Gepids among the "Gothic peoples" along with the Vandals, Visigoths and Goths proper, "having the same language, white bodies, blond hair and Arian form of Christianity". All information of the Gepids' origins came from "malicious and convoluted Gothic legends", recorded in Jordanes' Getica after 550. According to Jordanes's narration the northern island of " Scandza ", which is associated with Sweden by modern scholars,

6664-410: The Gepids had lagged behind their Gothic kin when they migrated more than a thousand years earlier. In contrast, Isidore of Seville in his etymologies, interpreted the second part of the Gepid name as "feet" (Latin pedes ) and explained that the Gepids were known for going into battle on foot ( pedestri ), rather than mounted. The much later (12th century) Byzantine Etymologicum Magnum interprets

6800-400: The Gepids in 551. In the battle, Audoin's son, Alboin killed Thurisind's son, Turismod . The Gepids were finally overrun by the Avars in the 567 Lombard-Gepid war . Many Gepids followed Alboin to Italy in 568 according to Paulus Diaconus , but many remained in the area of their old kingdom. In 630, Theophylact Simocatta reported that the Byzantine Army entered the territory of

6936-520: The Gepids may have been more important than the Ostrogoths under Attila. The Gepids' participation in the Huns' campaigns against the Roman Empire brought them much booty, contributing to the development of a rich Gepid aristocracy. Especially, the isolated graves of fifth-century aristocratic women evidence the Gepid leaders' wealth: they wore heavy silver fibulas on their shoulders, bead necklaces, silver bracelets, large gold earrings, and silver clasps on their clothes and belts. A "countless host" under

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7072-404: The Gepids' presence before around 350. Graves from the 4th century which yielded swords, lances and shields with iron boss were unearthed in cemeteries between the rivers Tisza and Körös (in present-day north-eastern Hungary and north-western Romania). Many scholars (including Kurdt Horedt, István Bóna and Coriolan H. Opreanu) attribute those graves to Gepid warriors. Graves of women from

7208-447: The Gepids, but fell in the battle. Jordanes' report suggests that the Gepids were forced to accept the overlordship of the Ostrogoths, within the emerging Hunnic Empire. A treasure of gold jewels, which was found at Șimleu Silvaniei , was hidden in the first decades of the 5th century , most probably in connection with the struggles ending with the Gepids' subjection to the Huns, according to István Bóna. The Gepid warriors fought on

7344-454: The Germanic verb "to give", as still found in English (German geben , Dutch geven ), apparently indicating that they named themselves gifted or rewarded or generous. The modern idea that the recorded name of the Gepids was an insult comes from Jordanes in the sixth century, who reported in his Gothic origins story the Getica , that the name of the Gepids came from gepanta , an insult in Gothic meaning "sluggish, stolid" ( pigra ), because

7480-480: The Goths had already moved, and defeated the Burgundians and other races, provoking the Goths in the process. Fastida demanded land from Ostrogotha , King of the Visigoths, because the Gepids' territory was "hemmed in by rugged mountains and dense forests". Ostrogotha refused Fastida's demand and the Gepids joined battle with the Goths "at the town of Galtis, near which the river Auha flows". They fought until darkness fell, when Fastida and his Gepids withdrew from

7616-406: The Great dispatched one comes Pitzia to launch a campaign against the Gepids who either tried to capture Sirmium or wanted to get rid of Theodoric's suzerainty in 504. Comes Pitzia expelled the Gepid troops from Sirmium without much resistance. For some time the Gepids relinquished from the city and built good relationship with the Ostrogoths under King Elemund . This safety attracted part of

7752-415: The Huns and their allies, including the Ostrogoths. It was the Gepids who took the lead among the old allies of Attila, and establishing one of the largest and most independent new kingdoms, thus acquiring the "capital of esteem that sustained their kingdom for more than a century". After the Battle of Nedao, the Hunnic Empire disintegrated and the Gepids became the dominant power in the eastern regions of

7888-423: The Italian toponymy ). The economic system of late antiquity , which focused on large estates worked by peasants in semi-servile condition, was not revolutionized, but modified only to benefit the new rulers. After ten years of interregnum, the need for a strong centralised monarchy was clear even to the most independent of the dukes; Franks and Byzantines pressed and the Lombards could no longer afford so fluid

8024-449: The Italian peninsula, the chronicler had easy access to information regarding northern Italy. For this reason, historian Roger Collins considers the Chronica , though short, to be reliable on Italian matters. The remaining sources all come from Italy and were written in later centuries. Two of them were written in the 7th century, the Continuatio Havniensis Prosperi and the Origo Gentis Langobardorum , both anonymous. The Continuatio

8160-446: The Lombard duchies of Spoleto and Benevento in southern Italy. The territories which remained under Byzantine control were called "Romania" (today's Italian region of Romagna ) in northeastern Italy and had its stronghold in the Exarchate of Ravenna . Arriving in Italy, King Alboin gave control of the Eastern Alps to one of his most trusted lieutenants, Gisulf , who became the first Duke of Friuli in 568. The duchy, established in

8296-404: The Lombards Timeline The Kingdom of the Lombards , also known as the Lombard Kingdom and later as the Kingdom of all Italy ( Latin : Regnum totius Italiae ), was an early medieval state established by the Lombards , a Germanic people , on the Italian Peninsula in the latter part of the 6th century. The king was traditionally elected by the very highest-ranking aristocrats,

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8432-401: The Lombards then imposed themselves at first as the dominant caste in place of the former lineages, who were subsequently extinguished or exiled. The products of the land were allocated to his Roman subjects that worked it, giving to the Lombards a third ( tertia ) of crops. The proceeds were not given to individuals but to the family, which administered them in the halls (a term still used in

8568-477: The Roman Empire in the Balkans. In the 11th panegyric to emperor Maximian given in Trier in 291, which is also the first time the Tervingi and Taifali were mentioned, the passage described a battle outside the empire where the Gepids were on the side of the Vandals , attacked by Taifali and a "part" of the Goths. The other part of the Goths had defeated the Burgundians who were supported by Tervingi and Alemanni . They were however "remote enough from

8704-407: The Roman town of Forum Iulii (modern-day Cividale del Friuli ), constantly fought with the Slavic population across the Gorizia border. Justified by its exceptional military needs, the Duchy of Friuli thus had greater autonomy compared to other duchies of Langobardia Maior until the reign of Liutprand (712–744). Over time, other Lombard duchies were created in major cities of the kingdom. This

8840-406: The Romans and Franks, but was a unique case among the Lombards. Perhaps because of this, a conflict broke out between Perctarit, who was based in Milan, and Godepert, who remained in Pavia. The Duke of Benevento, Grimoald , intervened with a substantial military force to support Godepert, but, as soon as he arrived in Pavia, he killed Godepert and took his place. Perctarit, clearly in danger, fled to

8976-416: The ages. Agnellus' passage on Alboin and Rosamund is mostly derived from Paul and little else. Gepids The Gepids ( Latin : Gepidae, Gipedae ; Ancient Greek : Γήπαιδες , romanized :  Gḗpaides ) were an East Germanic tribe who lived in the area of modern Romania , Hungary , and Serbia , roughly between the Tisza , Sava , and Carpathian Mountains . They were said to share

9112-413: The anonymous Historia Langobardorum codicis Gothani and the Liber Pontificalis Ecclesiae Ravennatis written by Andreas Agnellus . The first is a brief Christianizing version of the Origo that was made in the first decade of the 9th century from a Carolingian point of view. The second was written in the 830s by a priest from Ravenna and is a history of the bishops who held the see of Ravenna through

9248-425: The army, and written in Latin . The Edict consolidated and codified Germanic rules and customs , but also introduced significant innovations, a sign of the progress of Latin influence on the Lombards. The edict tried to discourage the feud (private revenge) by increasing the weregild (financial compensation) for injuries/murders and also contained drastic restrictions on the use of the death penalty . After

9384-460: The autonomy of his duchy. Perctarit developed a policy in line with the tradition of his dynasty and supported the Catholic Church against Arianism and the chapters anathematized in the Three-Chapter Controversy . He sought and achieved peace with the Byzantines, who acknowledged Lombard sovereignty over most of Italy, and repressed the rebellion of the Duke of Trent , Alahis , although at the cost of hard territorial concessions to Alahis (including

9520-424: The battle mentioned by Jordanes, involving Fastida. Archaeologist Kurdt Horedt however also equates it to the battle involving Fastida and proposed that the battle took place east of the Carpathian Mountains after 248 and before the withdrawal of the Romans from the province of Dacia in the early 270s. Walter Pohl only says that the battle must have happened between 248 and 291, and could have been inside or outside

9656-444: The battlefield and returned to their land. Whether they still lived around the Vistula or had already conquered Galicia is debated by historians. The Gepids were the "most shadowy of all the major Germanic peoples of the migration period", according to historian Malcolm Todd. Neither Tacitus nor Ptolemy mentioned them in their detailed lists of the "barbarians" in the first and second centuries AD. They first appear only in

9792-480: The capital back to Pavia, was troubled by these conflicts, as well as external threats; the King was able to withstand an attack of the Avars in Friuli , but could not limit the growing influence of the Franks in the kingdom. At his death, the legend says that, using the same procedure as that followed by his mother Theodelinda, Queen Gundeperga had the privilege to choose her new husband and king. The choice fell on Rothari,

9928-573: The capital of Byzantine Italy , where they were received with full honours by the authorities. Once in Ravenna, Rosamund was persuaded by the Byzantine prefect Longinus to kill Helmichis in order to be free to marry him. Rosamund proceeded to poison Helmichis, but the latter, having understood what his wife had done to him, forced her to drink the cup too, so both of them died. After their deaths, Longinus dispatched Helmichis' forces to Constantinople , while

10064-461: The capital of northern Italy, and by 570 he had assumed control of most of northern Italy. The Byzantine forces entrenched themselves in the strategic town of Ticinum (Pavia), which they took only after a long siege. Even before taking Ticinum, the Lombards crossed the Apennines and invaded Tuscia . After the fall of Ticinum, Alboin chose Verona as his first permanent headquarters. In this town Alboin

10200-486: The capital, but the ancient Roman city of Milan with Monza as a summer residence. He identified himself, in a votive crown , Gratia Dei rex totius Italiae , "By the grace of God king of all Italy", and not just Langobardorum rex , "King of the Lombards". Moves in this direction also included strong pressure, particularly from Theodelinda, to convert the Lombards, who until then were still largely pagan or Arians, to Catholicism. The rulers also endeavored to heal

10336-476: The character of a pure military occupation and approached a more proper state model. The inclusion of the losers (the Romans) was an inevitable step, and Agilulf made some symbolic choices aimed at the same time at strengthening its power and gaining credit with people of Latin descent. The ceremony of ascension to the throne of his son Adaloald in 604, followed a Byzantine rite. He chose not to continue to use Pavia as

10472-551: The command of Ardaric formed the right wing of the army of Attila the Hun in the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451. On the eve of the main encounter between allied hordes, the Gepids and Franks met each other, the latter fighting for the Romans and the former for the Huns, and seem to have fought one another to a standstill with 15,000 dead. Attila the Hun died unexpectedly in 453. Conflicts among his sons developed into

10608-506: The conduct of the many wars of his long reign. These values are typical of Liutprand: Germanic descent, king of a nation now overwhelmingly Catholic, joined by those of a piissimus rex ("loving king") (despite having tried several times to take control of Rome). On two occasions, in Sardinia and in the region of Arles (where he had been called by his ally Charles Martel ) he successfully fought Saracen pirates , enhancing his reputation as

10744-474: The cup too, so they both died. According to Wolfram, there may be some historical truth in the account of Longinus' proposal to Rosamund, as it was possible to achieve Lombard kingship by marrying the queen, but the story of the two lovers' end is not historical but legendary. The mutual murder as told by Agnellus is given a different interpretation by Joaquin Martinez Pizarro: he sees Helmichis' last action as

10880-506: The curve of the Carpathians, though he feels it is obvious that it must in the region of the formerly Roman province of Dacia in Transylvania . The Gepids' history in the 4th century is unknown, because no written source mentioned them during this period. The silence of the Roman sources suggests that their homeland did not border on the Roman Empire. On the basis of Jordanes' reference to

11016-532: The definitive consolidation and centralization of the Lombard kingdom. Among the surviving Early Middle Ages sources, there are six that mention Helmichis by name. Of these, the only contemporary one is the Chronica of Marius of Avenches, written in the 580s. Marius was bishop of Aventicum , a town located in the western Alps in the Frankish Kingdom of Burgundy . Because of the small distance from Aventicum to

11152-509: The disintegration and loss of the Germanic identity of the Lombard people. The victory allowed Cuniperto, already long associated with the throne by his father, to continue the work of pacifying the kingdom, always with a pro-Catholic accent. A synod convened in Pavia in 698 sanctioned the reintegration of the three anathematized chapters into Catholicism. Cunipert's death in 700 marked the opening of

11288-501: The divergence between the two regions of Langobardia Maior: Neustria , to the west, was loyal to the Bavarian rulers, pro-Catholic and supporters of the policy of reconciliation with Rome and Byzantium; on the other hand, Austria , to the east, identified with the traditional Lombard adherence to paganism and Arianism, and favored a more warlike policy. The dukes of Austria challenged the increasing "latinization" of customs, court practices, law and religion, which they believed accelerated

11424-552: The duke of Brescia and an Arian. Rothari reigned from 636 to 652 and led numerous military campaigns, which brought almost all of northern Italy under the rule of the Lombard kingdom. He conquered Liguria (643), including the capital Genoa , Luni , and Oderzo ; however, not even a total victory over the Byzantine Exarch of Ravenna, defeated and killed along with his eight thousand men at the River Panaro , succeeded in forcing

11560-557: The fate of the kingdom for more than a century, turned to the traditional enemies of the Franks, the Bavarii , to marry a princess, Theodelinda , from the Lethings dynasty. This allowed the monarchy to trace a line of descent from Wacho , king of the Lombards between 510 and 540, a figure surrounded by an aura of legend, and a member of a respected royal line. The alliance with the Bavarii led to

11696-551: The identification seem to me to have been set out", linguists interpret the "p" in Latin and Greek as an insulting Gothic nickname for the Gepids. In addition to the Old English words, placename evidence in Italy, and a single medieval Latin genitive plural form "Gebodorum" are taken to indicate that the "p" was really a fricative sound similar to a "b". Many linguists therefore reconstruct the original Germanic form as * Gíbidoz , based on

11832-421: The imperial frontier for them not to appear in the Verona list or in the histories of Ammianus or Orosius ". Modern historians who write of the Gepids' early history sometimes apply a "mixed argumentation", combining Jordanes' narration with results of archaeological research. Historian István Bóna says that the battle mentioned in the panegyric was about 290 in the former province of Dacia , equating it to

11968-583: The integration of the different components of the kingdom, presenting an image modeled on that of his predecessor Rotari—wise legislator in adding new laws to the Edict, patron (building a church in Pavia dedicated to Saint Ambrose ), and valiant warrior. With Grimoald's death in 671, his minor son Garibald assumed the throne, but Perctarit returned from exile and swiftly deposed him. He immediately came to an agreement with Grimoald's other son, Romualdo I of Benevento, who pledged loyalty in exchange for recognition of

12104-534: The king passed into majority) was exercised by the Queen Mother, Theodelinda , who gave command of the military to Duke Sundarit. Theodelinda continued Agilulf's pro-Catholic policy and maintained the peace with the Byzantines, which generated ever-stronger opposition from the warriors and Arians among the Lombards. A civil war broke out in 624, led by Arioald , Duke of Turin and Adaloald's brother-in-law (through his marriage to Adaloald's sister Gundeperga ). Adaloald

12240-450: The king's death on June 28, 572, Helmichis married Rosamund and claimed the Lombard throne in Verona. The marriage was important for Helmichis: it legitimized his rule because, judging from Lombard history, royal prerogatives could be inherited by marrying the king's widow; and the marriage was a guarantee for Helmichis of the loyalty of the Gepids in the army, who sided with the queen since she

12376-759: The late 3rd century AD , and by this time they are already living in or near the area where they remained for the rest of their known history. According to a common interpretation of the unreliable Augustan History of Emperor Claudius Gothicus (VI.2), Gepids were among the " Scythian " peoples conquered by the emperor when he earned his title "Gothicus": " peuci trutungi austorgoti uirtingi sigy pedes celtae etiam eruli ". These words are traditionally edited by modern editors to include well-known peoples " Peuci , Grutungi , Austrogoti , Tervingi , Visi , Gipedes, Celtae etiam et Eruli ". The same source also says that Emperor Probus , who ruled between 276 and 282, settled Gepid, Vandals, and Greuthungi prisoners of war in

12512-474: The many Lombards who wanted to continue the war against the Byzantines and to confront the regicides. Faced with the prospect of going to war at overwhelming odds, Helmichis asked for help from the Byzantines. The praetorian prefect Longinus enabled him to avoid a land route possibly held by hostile forces, by shipping him instead down the Po to Byzantine-held Ravenna, together with his wife, his Lombard and Gepid troops,

12648-512: The mid- and late fifth century), then in the sixth-century cemeteries primarily appear in the Hungarian Plain. The upper class of the Gepid society had access to Thuringian brooches, amber beads, or Scandinavian belt buckles, in particular visible in the female burials, pointing at close relations with Scandinavia , Thuringia , Crimea , and the Baltic coast . In Vlaha , Cluj County , Romania,

12784-458: The middle of the 4th century . A large group of diverse peoples from the region of the Middle Danube crossed the river Rhine and invaded the Roman Empire in 405 or 406. Although most contemporaneous sources only listed the Vandals, Alans and Sueves among the invaders, according to St. Jerome , who lived in Bethlehem around that time, Gepids also participated in the invasion. According to

12920-461: The most exhaustive source available is Paul the Deacon's Historia Langobardorum , a history of the Lombard nation up to 744. The book was finished in the last two decades of the 8th century, after the Lombard Kingdom had been conquered by the Franks in 774. Because of the apparent presence in the work of many fragments preserved from Lombard oral tradition, Paul's work has been often interpreted as

13056-490: The mouth of the Vistula river, called "Gepedoius", or the Gepids' fruitful meadows, by Jordanes. Modern historians debate whether the part of Jordanes's work which described the migration from Scandza was written at least partially on the basis of Gothic oral history or whether it was an "ahistorical fabrication." Jordanes's passage in his Getica reads: Should you ask how the [Goths] and Gepidae are kinsmen, I can tell you in

13192-419: The name Gepidae was coined for them by way of reproach. For undoubtedly they too trace their origin from the stock of the Goths, but because, as I have said, gepanta means something slow and stolid, the word Gepidae arose as a gratuitous name of reproach. According to Jordanes, the Gepids decided to leave "Gepedoius" during the reign of a king named Fastida . He claims the Gepids moved to the south long after

13328-507: The name using the Greek word for children, making the Gepids Gētípaides (Γητίπαιδες) meaning "children of the Goths (equated to Getae )". All three of these texts follow a tradition of seeing the Gepids as "offshoots or close relatives of the Goths". Tabula Peutingeriana , a 4th century map shows the "Piti" people living next of Porolissum . Whether or not this is a distortion of Gepid

13464-449: The oral tradition. In a telling consistent with Germanic tradition, it would be Helmichis who was seduced by the queen, and by sleeping with him Rosamund would pass Alboin's royal charisma magically to the king's prospective murderer. A symbol of this passage of powers is found in Paul's account of the assassin's entry: Alboin's inability to draw his sword represents here his loss of power. After

13600-487: The original version of the story Peredeo's role may just have been to let in the real assassin, who is Helmichis in Agnellus' account, as it had been in that of Marius. However, the primary intent of the Historia Langobardorum codicis Gothani may have been to obtain a more straightforward and coherent narrative by reducing the number of actors in the story, beginning with Peredeo. The disappearance of Peredeo, however, means that

13736-459: The region of modern Hungary), went to war against the neighbouring Gepids in 567. In a decisive battle, Alboin killed the Gepid king Cunimund and captured the king's daughter Rosamund – later marrying her to guarantee the loyalty of the surviving Gepids. The following year, the Lombards migrated to Italy, a territory then held by the Byzantine Empire . In 569 Alboin took Mediolanum (Milan),

13872-454: The religion and language of the Goths and Vandals . They are first mentioned by Roman sources in the third century. In the fourth century, they were among the peoples incorporated into the Hunnic Empire , within which they formed an important part. After the death of Attila , the Gepids under their leader Ardaric , led an alliance of other peoples who had been in the empire, and defeated

14008-452: The remaining Lombards had already found a new king in Cleph . The oldest author to write about Helmichis is the contemporary chronicler Marius of Avenches. In his account he mentions that "Alboin was killed by his followers, that is Hilmaegis with the rest, his wife agreeing to it". Marius continues by adding that, after killing the king, Helmichis married his widow and tried unsuccessfully to gain

14144-404: The role of Helmichis changes: while Paul presents him as "the efficient conspirator and killer", with Agnellus he is a victim of a ruthless and domineering queen. According to historian Paolo Delogu it may be that Agnellus' narrative better reflects Lombard oral tradition than Paul's. In his interpretation, Paul's narrative represents a late distortion of the Germanic myths and rituals contained in

14280-499: The royal capital, King Alboin was assassinated in a conspiracy in Verona plotted by his wife Rosamund and her lover, the noble Helmichis , in league with some Gepid and Lombard warriors. Helmichis and Rosamund's attempt to usurp power in place of the assassinated Alboin, however, gained little support from Lombard duchies, and they were forced to flee together to the Byzantine territory before getting married in Ravenna . Later in 572,

14416-517: The royal treasure and Albsuinda. Bognetti believes that Longinus may have planned to make the Lombards weaker by depriving them of any legitimate heir. In addition, because of the ongoing war, it was hard to assemble all the warriors to elect a new king formally. This plan was brought to nothing by the troops stationed in Ticinum, who elected their duke Cleph king, having it in mind to continue Alboin's aggressive policy. In contrast, Wolfram argues that Cleph

14552-642: The same 60,000 Lombards that are attested by John of Ephesus as being active in Syria in 575 against the Persians . As for Albsuinda, the Byzantine diplomacy probably aimed to use her as a political tool to impose a pro-Byzantine king on the Lombards. According to Agnellus, once Longinus' actions came to the attention of emperor Justin II they were greatly praised, and the emperor gave lavish gifts to his official. Cleph kept his throne for only 18 months before being assassinated by

14688-529: The same cemeteries produced artefacts—including bronze and silver clasps, bone combs, and fibulae—which are similar to objects found in the cemeteries of the nearby " Sântana de Mureș-Chernyakhov culture ". István Bóna writes that the spread of these cemeteries shows that the Gepids subjugated the Germanic Victohali , who had previously inhabited the same region, before expanding towards the Mureș River in

14824-462: The short reign of the son of Rothari and his son Rodoald (652-653), the dukes elected Aripert I , Duke of Asti and grandson of Theodolinda, as the new king. The Bavarian dynasty returned to the throne, and the Catholic Aripert duly suppressed Arianism. At Aripert's death in 661, his will divided the kingdom between his two sons, Perctarit and Godepert . This method of succession was known from

14960-420: The side of the Huns during the next decades. According to Jordanes, Attila the Hun prized Ardaric , King of the Gepids, and Valamir , King of the Ostrogoths, "above all the other chieftains", who were subjected to the Huns, in the 440s, according to Jordanes. Goffart, sceptical of Jordanes, has suggested that "scattered evidence", including descriptions of Attila himself as a Gepid, suggests that Ardaric and

15096-513: The sons of Attila and their remaining allies at the Battle of Nedao in 454. The Gepids and their allies subsequently founded kingdoms on the Middle Danube , bordering on the Roman Empire . The Gepid Kingdom was one of the most important and long-lasting of these, centered on Sirmium , and sometimes referred to as Gepidia. It covered a large part of the former Roman province of Dacia , north of

15232-553: The south the duchies of Spoleto and Benevento, extending the Lombards' domains. Istria was attacked and invaded by the Lombards on several occasions, although the degree of their occupation of the peninsula and its subordination to the Lombard kings is unclear. Even when Istria was part of the Exarchate of Ravenna, a Lombard, Gulfaris , rose to power in the region, styling himself as dux Istriae . The strengthening of royal powers, started by Autari and continued by Agilulf, also marked

15368-475: The southern duchies were considerably more autonomous than the smaller northern duchies. Over time, the Lombards gradually adopted Roman titles, names, and traditions. By the time Paul the Deacon was writing in the late 8th century, the Lombardic language , dress and hairstyles had all disappeared. Initially the Lombards were Arian Christians or pagans, which put them at odds with the Roman population as well as

15504-463: The southernmost Lombard duchy. The Kingdom of the Lombards at the time of its demise was the last minor Germanic kingdom in Europe. Some regions were never under Lombard domination, including Latium , Sardinia , Sicily , Calabria , Naples , Venice and southern Apulia . A reduced Regnum Italiae , a heritage of the Lombards, continued to exist for centuries as one of the constituent kingdoms of

15640-660: The tenacity of Roman traditions of government". In the 6th century Byzantine Emperor Justinian attempted to reassert imperial authority in the territories of the Western Roman Empire . In the resulting Gothic War (535–554) waged against the Ostrogothic Kingdom , Byzantine hopes of an early and easy triumph evolved into a long war of attrition that resulted in mass dislocation of population and destruction of property. Problems were further exacerbated by volcanic winter (536) , causing widespread famine (538–542) and

15776-534: The thirty-five dukes assembled in Pavia to hail king Cleph . The new monarch extended the boundaries of the kingdom, completing the conquest of Tuscia and laying siege to Ravenna. Cleph tried to pursue the policy of Alboin consistently, which aimed to break the legal-administrative institutions firmly established during Ostrogoth and Byzantine rule. He achieved this by eliminating much of the Latin aristocracy, through occupying their lands and acquiring their assets. However, he too, fell victim to regicide in 574, slain by

15912-543: The throne to his son Aripert II . Ansprand and Rotarit reacted immediately and imprisoned Aripert, returning the throne to Liutpert. Aripert, in turn, managed to escape and confront his rival's supporters. In 702, he defeated them in Pavia, imprisoned Liutpert and occupied the throne. Shortly after, he finally defeated the opposition: he killed Rotarit, suppressed his duchy, and drowned Liutpert. Only Ansprand managed to escape, taking refuge in Bavaria . Subsequently, Aripert crushed

16048-409: The throne. He married Rosamund to legitimize his position as new king, but immediately faced stiff opposition from his fellow Lombards who suspected Helmichis of conniving with the Byzantines; this hostility eventually focused around the duke of Ticinum Cleph , supporter of an aggressive policy towards the Empire. Rather than going to war, Helmichis, Rosamund and their followers escaped to Ravenna ,

16184-432: The throne. His attempt failed and he was forced to escape together with his wife, the royal treasure and the troops that had sided with him in the coup. This account has strong similarities with what is told in the Origo . The Origo would in its turn become a direct source for the Historia Langobardorum . The background to the assassination begins when Alboin, king of the Lombards, a Germanic people living in Pannonia (in

16320-423: The time (Cividale del Friuli : Treviso , Trento , Turin , Verona, Bergamo , Brescia , Ivrea , Lucca ). In the management of public power dukes were joined by minor officials, these the sculdahis and the gastald . The new organisation of power, less linked to race and clan relations and more to land management, marked a milestone in the consolidation of the Lombard kingdom in Italy, which gradually lost

16456-499: The title of Flavio , with which he intended to proclaim himself also protector of all Romans in Lombard territory: it was a clear call, with anti-Byzantine overtones, to the heritage of the Western Roman Empire. From the military point of view, Autari defeated both the Byzantines and Franks and broke the coalition, thereby fulfilling the mandate with which the dukes had entrusted him at the time of his election. In 585 he drove

16592-399: The transition to a new concept based on stable territorial division of the kingdom into duchies . Each duchy was led by a duke, not just the head of a fara but also a royal official, the depository of public powers. The locations of the duchies were established in strategically important centers, thus furthering the development of many urban centers placed along the main communication routes of

16728-459: The warriors nominally under their authority to allow them to loot. This unstable situation, which persisted over time, led to the final collapse of the Roman-Italic political-administrative structure, which was almost maintained up to the invasion, so that the same Roman-Italic aristocracy had retained responsibility for civil administration (as exemplified by the likes of Cassiodorus ). In Italy,

16864-583: The weight of the gold that he brought with him. With him ended the Bavarian dynasty's role in the Lombard kingdom. Ansprand died after only three months of his reign, leaving the throne to his son Liutprand . His reign, the longest of all Lombard monarchs, was characterized by the almost religious admiration that was accorded to the king by his people, who recognized in him boldness, courage and political vision. Thanks to these qualities Liutprand survived two attempts on his life (one organized by one of his relatives, Rotari), and he displayed no inferior qualities in

17000-523: Was Cunimund's daughter. Behind the coup were almost certainly the Byzantines, who had every interest in removing a dangerous enemy and replacing him with somebody, if not from a pro-Byzantine faction, at least less actively aggressive. Gian Piero Bognetti advances a few hypotheses about Helmichis' motivation for his coup: his reason could have involved a family link to the Lethings , the Lombard royal dynasty that had been dispossessed by Alboin's father Audoin ; or he may have been related through Amalafrid to

17136-464: Was a miracle in the kingdom of the Lombards: there was no violence, no insidious plot; no others unjustly oppressed, no depredations; there were no thefts, there were no robberies, where everyone went where they wanted, safely and without fear Autari died in 590, probably due to poisoning in a palace plot and, according to the legend recorded by Paul the Deacon, the succession to the throne was decided in

17272-514: Was allied with the Franks of Austrasia , repulsed them at Refrancore , near Asti . Grimoald, who in 663 had also defeated an attempt to reconquer Italy by the Byzantine Emperor Constans II , exercised his sovereign powers with a fullness never attained by his predecessors. He entrusted the Duchy of Benevento to his son Romuald , and assured the loyalty of the duchies of Spoleto and Friuli, by appointing their dukes. He favoured

17408-404: Was assassinated in 572 and it is in these circumstances that Helmichis' name is first heard of. Most of the available details are in the Historia Langobardorum . By settling himself in Verona and temporarily interrupting his chain of conquests, Alboin had weakened his popular standing as a charismatic warrior king. The first to take advantage of this was Rosamund, who could count on the support of

17544-512: Was conquered by the Avars. Few archaeological sites remain that can be attributed to them with certainty. After their settlement of the Carpathian Basin , their population was mostly centred on the Someș and Körös rivers, but they did not intermingle with other nations. The most common Latin spellings of the Gepid name in plural used a "p", but varied concerning the vowels: Gepidae, Gipidae, Gipedae, Gipides. Similarly, Procopius writing in Greek uses

17680-618: Was deposed in 625 and Arioald became king. This coup d'état against the Bavarian dynasty of Adaloald and Theodelinda intensified the rivalry between the Arian and Catholic factions. The conflict had political overtones, as the Arians also opposed peace with Byzantium and the Papacy and integration with the Romans, opting instead for a more aggressive and expansionist policy. Arioald (r. 626–636), who brought

17816-408: Was dictated primarily by immediate military needs as dukes were primarily military commanders, tasked to secure control of territory and guard it against possible counter-attacks. However, the resulting collection of duchies also contributed to political fragmentation and sowed the seeds of the structural weakness of the Lombard royal power. In 572, after the capitulation of Pavia and its elevation to

17952-409: Was elected in Ticinum while Helmichis was still making his bid for the crown in Verona. Once in Ravenna, Helmichis and Rosamund rapidly became estranged. According to Paul, Longinus persuaded Rosamund to get rid of her husband so that he could marry her. To accomplish this, she made him drink a cup full of poison; before dying, however, Helmichis understood what his wife had done and forced her to drink

18088-482: Was opposed by the Byzantine Empire , which had control of the peninsula at the time of the invasion. For most of the kingdom's history, the Byzantine-ruled Exarchate of Ravenna and Duchy of Rome separated the northern Lombard duchies, collectively known as Langobardia Maior , from the two large southern duchies of Spoleto and Benevento , which constituted Langobardia Minor . Because of this division,

18224-472: Was preempted, Agilulf and Theodelinda developed a policy of strengthening their hold on Italian territory, while securing their borders through peace treaties with France and the Avars . The truce with the Byzantines was systematically violated and the decade up to 603 was marked by a notable recovery of the Lombard advance. In northern Italy Agilulf occupied, among other cities, Parma , Piacenza , Padova , Monselice , Este , Cremona and Mantua , but also to

18360-537: Was seduced through a trick by the Queen and forced to consent to become the actual assassin. This story is partly in conflict with what is told by the Origo , which has Peredeo acting as an instigator and not as the murderer. In a similar vein to the Origo is the account of Peredeo contained in the Historia Langobardorum codicis Gothani , where it is added that Peredeo was Alboin's "chamber-guard", hinting that in

18496-481: Was the original homeland of the ancestors of the Goths and Gepids. They left Scandza together in three boats under the leadership of Berig , the legendary Gothic king. Jordanes specified that the Gepids' ancestors traveled in the last of the three ships, for which their fellows mocked them as gepanta , or "slow and stolid." The Goths and Gepids then settled along the southern shore of the Baltic Sea on an island at

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