Alboin (530s – 28 June 572) was king of the
Lombards
The Lombards () or Langobards ( la, Langobardi) were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774.
The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written between 787 and ...
from about 560 until 572. During his reign the Lombards ended their
migrations by settling in Italy, the northern part of which Alboin conquered between 569 and 572. He had a lasting effect on Italy and the
Pannonian Basin
The Pannonian Basin, or Carpathian Basin, is a large Sedimentary basin, basin situated in south-east Central Europe. The Geomorphology, geomorphological term Pannonian Plain is more widely used for roughly the same region though with a somewh ...
; in the former his invasion marked the beginning of centuries of Lombard rule, and in the latter his defeat of the
Gepids
The Gepids, ( la, Gepidae, Gipedae, grc, Γήπαιδες) 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 the religion a ...
and his departure from
Pannonia
Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now wes ...
ended the dominance there of the
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...
.
The period of Alboin's reign as king in Pannonia following the death of his father,
Audoin
Alduin ( Langobardic: ''Aldwin'' or ''Hildwin'', ; also called Auduin or Audoin) was king of the Lombards from 547 to 560.
Life
Audoin was of the Gausi, a prominent Lombard ruling clan, and according to the ''Historia Langobardorum'', the so ...
, was one of confrontation and conflict between the Lombards and their main neighbors, the Gepids. The Gepids initially gained the upper hand, but in 567, thanks to his alliance with the
Avars, Alboin inflicted a decisive defeat on his enemies, whose lands the Avars subsequently occupied. The increasing power of his new neighbours caused Alboin some unease however, and he therefore decided to leave Pannonia for Italy, hoping to take advantage of the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
's vulnerability in defending its territory in the wake of the
Gothic War.
After gathering a large coalition of peoples, Alboin crossed the
Julian Alps
The Julian Alps ( sl, Julijske Alpe, it, Alpi Giulie, , ) are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps that stretch from northeastern Italy to Slovenia, where they rise to 2,864 m at Mount Triglav, the highest peak in Slovenia. A large p ...
in 568, entering an almost undefended Italy. He rapidly took control of most of
Venetia and
Liguria
Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...
. In 569, unopposed, he took northern Italy's main city,
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
.
Pavia
Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...
offered stiff resistance however, and was taken only after a siege lasting three years. During that time Alboin turned his attention to
Tuscany
Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze'').
Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...
, but signs of factionalism among his supporters and Alboin's diminishing control over his army increasingly began to manifest themselves.
Alboin was assassinated on 28 June 572, in a
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
instigated by the Byzantines. It was organized by the king's foster brother,
Helmichis, with the support of Alboin's wife,
Rosamund
The name Rosamund (, also spelled Rosamond and Rosamunde) is a feminine given name and can also be a family name (surname). Originally it combined the Germanic elements ''hros'', meaning ''horse'', and ''mund'', meaning "protection". Later, it ...
, daughter of the Gepid king whom Alboin had killed some years earlier. The coup failed in the face of opposition from a majority of the Lombards, who elected
Cleph
Cleph (also ''Clef'', ''Clepho'', or ''Kleph'') was king of the Lombards from 572 to 574.
He succeeded Alboin, to whom he was not related by blood. He was a violent and terrifying figure to the Romans and Byzantines struggling to maintain contro ...
as Alboin's successor, forcing Helmichis and Rosamund to flee to
Ravenna
Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the cap ...
under imperial protection. Alboin's death deprived the Lombards of the only leader who could have kept the newborn Germanic entity together, the last in the line of hero-kings who had led the Lombards through their migrations from the vale of the
Elbe
The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...
to Italy. For many centuries following his death Alboin's heroism and his success in battle were celebrated in Saxon and Bavarian epic poetry.
Etymology
The name Alboin derives from the
Proto-Germanic
Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages.
Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic branc ...
roots
*''albiz'' ("
elf
An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...
") and
*''winiz'' ("friend"); it is thus cognate with the
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
name ''
Ælfwine
Ælfwine (also ''Aelfwine'', ''Elfwine'') is an Old English personal name. It is composed of the elements ''ælf'' "elf" and ''wine'' "friend", continuing a hypothetical Common Germanic given name ''*albi- winiz'' which is also continued in Old Hig ...
''. He was known in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
as ''Alboinus'' and in
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
as Ἀλβοΐνος (''Alboinos''). In modern
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
he is ''Alboino'' and in modern
Lombard ''Albuì''.
Father's rule
The Lombards under King
Wacho
Wacho (also Waccho; probably from ''Waldchis'') was king of the Lombards before they entered Italy from an unknown date (perhaps c. 510) until his death in 539. His father was Unichis. Wacho usurped the throne by assassinating (or having assass ...
had migrated towards the east into Pannonia, taking advantage of the difficulties facing the
Ostrogothic Kingdom
The Ostrogothic Kingdom, officially the Kingdom of Italy (), existed under the control of the Germanic peoples, Germanic Ostrogoths in Italian peninsula, Italy and neighbouring areas from 493 to 553.
In Italy, the Ostrogoths led by Theodoric the ...
in Italy following the death of its founder,
Theodoric
Theodoric is a Germanic given name. First attested as a Gothic name in the 5th century, it became widespread in the Germanic-speaking world, not least due to its most famous bearer, Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths.
Overview
The name ...
, in 526. Wacho's death in about 540 brought his son
Walthari
Walthari (also Waltheri, ) son of Wacho from his third wife Silinga, was a king of the Lombards from 539 to 546. He was an infant king, and rulership of the kingdom was administered by Audoin. Audoin probably killed Waltari before he reached manho ...
to the throne, but, as the latter was still a minor, the kingdom was governed in his stead by Alboin's father, Audoin, of the
Gausian clan. Seven years later Walthari died, giving Audoin the opportunity to crown himself and overthrow the reigning
Lethings {{Short description, Dynasty of Lombard kings
The Lethings ( it, Letingi) were a dynasty of Lombard kings ruling in the 5th and 6th centuries until 546. They were the first Lombard royal dynasty and represent the emergence of the Lombard rulership ...
.
Alboin was probably born in the 530s in
Pannonia
Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now wes ...
,
[Martindale 1992, ''s.v. Alboin'', pp. 38–40] the son of Audoin and his wife,
Rodelinda. She may have been the niece of King Theodoric and betrothed to Audoin through the mediation of Emperor
Justinian
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...
. Like his father, Alboin was raised a pagan, although Audoin had at one point attempted to gain Byzantine support against his neighbours by professing himself a Christian. Alboin took as his first wife the Christian
Chlothsind, daughter of the
Frankish
Frankish may refer to:
* Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture
** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages
* Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany
* East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...
King
Chlothar. This marriage, which took place soon after the death of the Frankish ruler
Theudebald
Theudebald or Theodebald (in modern English, ''Theobald''; in French, ''Thibaut'' or ''Théodebald''; in German, ''Theudowald'') (c. 535–555), son of Theudebert I and Deuteria, was the king of Metz, Rheims, or Austrasia—as it is vari ...
in 555, is thought to reflect Audoin's decision to distance himself from the Byzantines, traditional allies of the Lombards, who had been lukewarm when it came to supporting Audoin against the Gepids. The new Frankish alliance was important because of the Franks' known hostility to the Byzantine empire, providing the Lombards with more than one option.
[Bertolini 1960, pp. 34–38.] However, the ''
Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire
''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'' (abbreviated as ''PLRE'') is a work of Roman prosopography published in a set of three volumes collectively describing many of the people attested to have lived in the Roman Empire from AD 260, the date ...
'' interprets events and sources differently, believing that Alboin married Chlothsind when already a king in or shortly before 561, the year of Chlothar's death.
Alboin first distinguished himself on the battlefield in a clash with the Gepids. At the
Battle of Asfeld
The Battle of Asfeld was fought in 552 between the Lombards and the Gepids. The Lombards, led by King Audoin (with the help of his brother-in-law AmalafridWolfram, Herwig. ''The Roman Empire and Its Germanic Peoples''. University of California Pres ...
(552), he killed
Turismod Turismod (Latin: ''Turismodus''Martindale 1992, ''s.v. Alboin'', pp. 38 – 40) was a son of the king of the Gepids Thurisind. He was killed in 551 or 552 on the battlefield by Alboin, son of the king of the Lombards Audoin.
Turismod was the ol ...
, son of the Gepid king
Thurisind
Thurisind (Latin: ''Turisindus'', died ) was king of the Gepids, an East Germanic Gothic people, from c. 548 to 560. He was the penultimate Gepid king, and succeeded King Elemund by staging a coup d'état and forcing the king's son into exile. Thu ...
, in a victory that resulted in the Emperor Justinian's intervention to maintain equilibrium between the rival regional powers. After the battle, according to a tradition reported by
Paul the Deacon
Paul the Deacon ( 720s 13 April in 796, 797, 798, or 799 AD), also known as ''Paulus Diaconus'', ''Warnefridus'', ''Barnefridus'', or ''Winfridus'', and sometimes suffixed ''Cassinensis'' (''i.e.'' "of Monte Cassino"), was a Benedictine monk, s ...
, to be granted the right to sit at his father's table, Alboin had to ask for the hospitality of a foreign king and have him donate his weapons, as was customary. For this initiation, he went to the court of Thurisind, where the Gepid king gave him Turismod's arms.
Walter Goffart
Walter Goffart (born February 22, 1934) is a German-born American historian who specializes in Late Antiquity and the European Middle Ages. He taught for many years in the History Department and Centre for Medieval Studies of the University of Tor ...
believes it is probable that in this narrative Paul was making use of an oral tradition, and is sceptical that it can be dismissed as merely a typical ''
topos
In mathematics, a topos (, ; plural topoi or , or toposes) is a category that behaves like the category of sheaves of sets on a topological space (or more generally: on a site). Topoi behave much like the category of sets and possess a notio ...
'' of an
epic poem
An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants.
...
.
Reign in Pannonia
Alboin came to the throne after the death of his father, sometime between 560 and 565.
As was customary among the Lombards, Alboin took the crown after an election by the tribe's freemen, who traditionally selected the king from the dead sovereign's clan. Shortly afterwards, in 565, a new war erupted with the Gepids, now led by
Cunimund
Cunimund (died 567) was the last king of the Gepids, falling in the Lombard–Gepid War (567) against the Lombards and Pannonian Avars.
War with the Lombards Background
The Gepids had held the important city of Sirmium (now Sremska Mitrovica, Se ...
, Thurisind's son. The cause of the conflict is uncertain, as the sources are divided; the Lombard Paul the Deacon accuses the Gepids, while the Byzantine historian
Menander Protector
Menander Protector (Menander the Guardsman, Menander the Byzantian; el, Μένανδρος Προτήκτωρ or Προτέκτωρ), Byzantine historian, was born in Constantinople in the middle of the 6th century AD. The little that is known of ...
places the blame on Alboin, an interpretation favoured by historian
Walter Pohl
Walter Pohl (born 27 December 1953, in Vienna) is an Austrian historian who is Professor of Auxiliary Sciences of History and Medieval History at the University of Vienna. He is a leading member of the Vienna School of History.
Biography
Walter ...
.
[Pohl 1997, p. 96]
An account of the war by the Byzantine
Theophylact Simocatta
Theophylact Simocatta (Byzantine Greek: Θεοφύλακτος Σιμοκάτ(τ)ης ''Theophýlaktos Simokát(t)ēs''; la, Theophylactus Simocatta) was an early seventh-century Byzantine historiographer, arguably ranking as the last historian o ...
sentimentalises the reasons behind the conflict, claiming it originated with Alboin's vain courting and subsequent kidnapping of Cunimund's daughter
Rosamund
The name Rosamund (, also spelled Rosamond and Rosamunde) is a feminine given name and can also be a family name (surname). Originally it combined the Germanic elements ''hros'', meaning ''horse'', and ''mund'', meaning "protection". Later, it ...
, that Alboin proceeded then to marry. The tale is treated with scepticism by Walter Goffart, who observes that it conflicts with the ''
Origo Gentis Langobardorum'', where she was captured only after the death of her father.
The Gepids obtained the support of the Emperor in exchange for a promise to cede him the region of
Sirmium
Sirmium was a city in the Roman province of Pannonia, located on the Sava river, on the site of modern Sremska Mitrovica in the Vojvodina autonomous provice of Serbia. First mentioned in the 4th century BC and originally inhabited by Illyrians an ...
, the seat of the Gepid kings. Thus in 565 or 566 Justinian's successor
Justin II
Justin II ( la, Iustinus; grc-gre, Ἰουστῖνος, Ioustînos; died 5 October 578) or Justin the Younger ( la, Iustinus minor) was Eastern Roman Emperor from 565 until 578. He was the nephew of Justinian I and the husband of Sophia, the ...
sent his son-in-law
Baduarius
Baduarius ( el, Βαδουάριος) was an East Roman aristocrat, the son-in-law of Byzantine emperor Justin II (r. 565–578). Theophanes the Confessor erroneously calls him a brother of the Emperor..
Biography
Possibly the son or grandson of ...
as ''
magister militum
(Latin for "master of soldiers", plural ) was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, ...
'' (field commander) to lead a Byzantine army against Alboin in support of Cunimund, ending in the Lombards' complete defeat.
[Jarnut 1995, p. 22]
Faced with the possibility of annihilation, Alboin made an alliance in 566 with the
Avars under
Bayan I
Bayan I reigned as the first khagan of the Avar Khaganate between 562 and 602.
As the Göktürk Empire expanded westwards on the Eurasian Steppe during the 6th century, peoples such as the Avars (also known as the ''Pseudo-Avars'', ''Obri'', ...
, at the expense of some tough conditions: the Avars demanded a tenth of the Lombards' cattle, half of the war booty, and on the war's conclusion all of the lands held by the Gepids. The Lombards played on the pre-existing hostility between the Avars and the Byzantines, claiming that the latter were allied with the Gepids. Cunimund, on the other hand, encountered hostility when he once again asked the Emperor for military assistance, as the Byzantines had been angered by the Gepids' failure to cede Sirmium to them, as had been agreed. Moreover, Justin II was moving away from the foreign policy of Justinian, and believed in dealing more strictly with bordering states and peoples. Attempts to mollify Justin II with tributes failed, and as a result the Byzantines kept themselves neutral if not outright supportive of the Avars.
In 567 the allies made their final move against Cunimund, with Alboin invading the Gepids' lands from the northwest while Bayan attacked from the northeast. Cunimund attempted to prevent the two armies joining up by moving against the Lombards and clashing with Alboin somewhere between the
Tibiscus and
Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...
rivers. The Gepids were defeated in the ensuing battle, their king slain by Alboin, and Cunimund's daughter Rosamund taken captive, according to references in the ''Origo''. The full destruction of the Gepid kingdom was completed by the Avars, who overcame the Gepids in the east. As a result, the Gepids ceased to exist as an independent people, and were partly absorbed by the Lombards and the Avars.
Some time before 568, Alboin's first wife Chlothsind died, and after his victory against Cunimund Alboin married Rosamund, to establish a bond with the remaining Gepids.
[Gasparri 1990, p. 20] The war also marked a watershed in the geo-political history of the region, as together with the Lombard migration the following year, it signalled the end of six centuries of Germanic dominance in the Pannonian Basin.
Preparations and departure from Pannonia
Despite his success against the Gepids, Alboin had failed to greatly increase his power, and was now faced with a much stronger threat from the Avars.
[Jarnut 1995, p. 29] Historians consider this the decisive factor in convincing Alboin to undertake a migration, even though there are indications that before the war with the Gepids a decision was maturing to leave for Italy, a country thousands of Lombards had seen in the 550s when hired by the Byzantines to fight in the Gothic War.
[Moorhead 2005, p. 152] Additionally, the Lombards would have known of the weakness of Byzantine Italy, which had endured a number of problems after being retaken from the Goths. In particular the so-called
Plague of Justinian
The plague of Justinian or Justinianic plague (541–549 AD) was the first recorded major outbreak of the first plague pandemic, the first Old World pandemic of plague, the contagious disease caused by the bacterium ''Yersinia pestis''. The dis ...
had ravaged the region and conflict remained endemic, with the
Three-Chapter Controversy
The Three-Chapter Controversy, a phase in the Chalcedonian controversy, was an attempt to reconcile the non-Chalcedonians of Syria and Egypt with Chalcedonian Christianity, following the failure of the Henotikon. The ''Three Chapters'' (, ''tr ...
sparking religious opposition and administration at a standstill after the able governor of the peninsula,
Narses
, image=Narses.jpg
, image_size=250
, caption=Man traditionally identified as Narses, from the mosaic depicting Justinian and his entourage in the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna
, birth_date=478 or 480
, death_date=566 or 573 (aged 86/95)
, allegi ...
, was recalled. Nevertheless, the Lombards viewed Italy as a rich land which promised great booty,
[Gasparri 1990, p. 25] assets Alboin used to gather together a horde which included not only Lombards but many other peoples of the region, including
Heruli
The Heruli (or Herules) were an early Germanic people. Possibly originating in Scandinavia, the Heruli are first mentioned by Roman authors as one of several " Scythian" groups raiding Roman provinces in the Balkans and the Aegean Sea, attacking ...
,
Suebi,
Gepids
The Gepids, ( la, Gepidae, Gipedae, grc, Γήπαιδες) 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 the religion a ...
,
Thuringii
The Thuringii, Toringi or Teuriochaimai, were an early Germanic people that appeared during the late Migration Period in the Harz Mountains of central Germania, a region still known today as Thuringia. It became a kingdom, which came into co ...
,
Bulgars
The Bulgars (also Bulghars, Bulgari, Bolgars, Bolghars, Bolgari, Proto-Bulgarians) were Turkic semi-nomadic warrior tribes that flourished in the Pontic–Caspian steppe and the Volga region during the 7th century. They became known as nomad ...
,
Sarmatians
The Sarmatians (; grc, Σαρμαται, Sarmatai; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples of classical ant ...
, the remaining Romans and a few Ostrogoths. But the most important group, other than the Lombards, were the
Saxons
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
, of whom 20,000 male warriors with their families participated in the trek. These Saxons were tributaries to the Frankish King
Sigebert Sigebert (which means roughly "magnificent victory"), also spelled Sigibert, Sigobert, Sigeberht, or Siegeberht, is the name of:
Frankish and Anglo-Saxon kings
* Sigobert the Lame (died c. 509), a king of the Franks
* Sigebert I, King of Austras ...
, and their participation indicates that Alboin had the support of the Franks for his venture.
[Schutz 2002, p. 82]
The precise size of the heterogeneous group gathered by Alboin is impossible to know, and many different estimates have been made.
Neil Christie considers 150,000 to be a realistic size, a number which would make the Lombards a more numerous force than the Ostrogoths on the eve of their invasion of Italy. Jörg Jarnut proposes 100,000–150,000 as an approximation; Wilfried Menghen in ''Die Langobarden'' estimates 150,000 to 200,000; while Stefano Gasparri cautiously judges the peoples united by Alboin to be somewhere between 100,000 and 300,000.
[Christie 1998, pp. 63–64][Jarnut 1995, p. 30]
![Vipava valley from Nanos](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Vipava_valley_from_Nanos.jpg)
As a precautionary move Alboin strengthened his alliance with the Avars, signing what Paul calls a ''foedus perpetuum'' ("perpetual treaty") and what is referred to in the 9th-century ''
Historia Langobardorum codicis Gothani
The ''Historia Langobardorum codicis Gothani'', also called the ''Chronicon Gothanum'', is a history of the Lombard people written at and for the court of King Pippin of Italy between the years 806 and 810. It is preserved in the twelfth-century ...
'' as a ''pactum et foedus amicitiae'' ("pact and treaty of friendship"), adding that the treaty was put down on paper. By the conditions accepted in the treaty, the Avars were to take possession of Pannonia and the Lombards were promised military support in Italy should the need arise; also, for a period of 200 years the Lombards were to maintain the right to reclaim their former territories if the plan to conquer Italy failed, thus leaving Alboin with an alternative open. The accord also had the advantage of protecting Alboin's rear, as an Avar-occupied Pannonia would make it difficult for the Byzantines to bring forces to Italy by land. The agreement proved immensely successful, and relations with the Avars were almost uninterruptedly friendly during the lifetime of the Lombard Kingdom.
[Wolfram 1997, p. 286]
A further cause of the Lombard migration into Italy may have been an invitation from Narses. According to a controversial tradition reported by several medieval sources, Narses, out of spite for having been removed by Justinian's successor Justin II, called the Lombards to Italy. Often dismissed as an unreliable tradition,
it has been studied with attention by modern scholars, in particular Neil Christie, who see in it a possible record of a formal invitation by the Byzantine state to settle in northern Italy as ''
foederati'', to help protect the region against the Franks, an arrangement that may have been disowned by Justin II after Narses' removal.
[Collins 1991, p. 186]
March to Italy
The Lombard migration started on Easter Monday, 2 April 568. The decision to combine the departure with a Christian celebration can be understood in the context of Alboin's recent conversion to
Arian Christianity, as attested by the presence of Arian Gothic missionaries at his court.
[Palmieri 1996, pp. 43–44] The conversion is likely to have been motivated mostly by political considerations, and intended to consolidate the migration's cohesion, distinguishing the migrants from the Catholic Romans. It also connected Alboin and his people to the Gothic heritage, and in this way obtain the support of the Ostrogoths serving in the Byzantine army as ''foederati''.
It has been speculated that Alboin's migration could have been partly the result of a call from surviving Ostrogoths in Italy.
The season chosen for leaving Pannonia was unusually early; the Germanic peoples generally waited until autumn before beginning a migration, giving themselves time to do the harvesting and replenish their granaries for the march. The reason behind the spring departure could be the anxiety induced by the neighboring Avars, despite the friendship treaty. Nomadic peoples like the Avars also waited for autumn to begin their military campaigns, as they needed enough forage for their horses. A sign of this anxiety can also be seen in the decision taken by Alboin to ravage Pannonia, which created a safety zone between the Lombards and the Avars.
The road followed by Alboin to reach Italy has been the subject of controversy, as is the length of the trek. According to Neil Christie the Lombards divided themselves into migrational groups, with a vanguard scouting the road, probably following the
Poetovio –
Celeia
)
, pushpin_map = Slovenia
, pushpin_label_position = left
, pushpin_map_caption = Location of the city of Celje in Slovenia
, coordinates =
, subdivision_type = Cou ...
–
Emona
Emona (early gkm, Ἤμονα) or Aemona (short for ) was a Roman castrum, located in the area where the navigable Ljubljanica river came closest to Castle Hill, –
Forum Iulii route, while the wagons and most of the people proceeded slowly behind because of the goods and chattels they brought with them, and possibly also because they were waiting for the Saxons to join them on the road. By September raiding parties were looting
Venetia, but it was probably only in 569 that the
Julian Alps
The Julian Alps ( sl, Julijske Alpe, it, Alpi Giulie, , ) are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps that stretch from northeastern Italy to Slovenia, where they rise to 2,864 m at Mount Triglav, the highest peak in Slovenia. A large p ...
were crossed at the
Vipava Valley
The Vipava Valley (; sl, Vipavska dolina, german: Wippachtal, it, Valle del Vipacco) is a valley in the Slovenian Littoral, roughly between the village of Podnanos to the east and the border with Italy to the west. The main towns are Ajdovš ...
; the eyewitness
Secundus of Non Secundus of Trent or Secundus of Non authored ''History of the Acts of the Langobards'', up to 612.
Secundus is first mentioned in the letters of Pope Gregory I for January 596, at which time Secundus served archbishop Marinianus of then-Byzantine ...
gives the date as 20 or 21 May.
The 569 date for the entry into Italy is not void of difficulties however, and Jörg Jarnut believes the conquest of most of Venetia had already been completed in 568. According to Carlo Guido Mor, a major difficulty remains in explaining how Alboin could have reached Milan on 3 September assuming he had passed the border only in the May of the same year.
Invasion of Italy
Foundation of the Duchy of Friuli
The Lombards penetrated into Italy without meeting any resistance from the border troops (''
milities limitanei''). The Byzantine military resources available on the spot were scant and of dubious loyalty, and the border forts may well have been left unmanned. What seems certain is that archaeological excavations have found no sign of violent confrontation in the sites that have been excavated. This agrees with Paul the Deacon's narrative, who speaks of a Lombard takeover in
Friuli
Friuli ( fur, Friûl, sl, Furlanija, german: Friaul) is an area of Northeast Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity containing 1,000,000 Friulians. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giulia ...
"without any hindrance".
The first town to fall into the Lombards' hands was
Forum Iulii (Cividale del Friuli), the seat of the local ''magister militum''.
Alboin chose this walled town close to the frontier to be capital of the
Duchy of Friuli
The Duchy of Friuli was a Lombard duchy in present-day Friuli, the first to be established after the conquest of the Italian peninsula in 568. It was one of the largest domains in ''Langobardia Major'' and an important buffer between the Lombard ...
and made his nephew and
shield bearer
Shield bearer usually refers to a Macedonian version of a heavy armored hoplite, whose tasks were protecting flanks of the sarrisa phalanx, and carrying a shield to protect other men in same ranks. A commander might be protected by several shield ...
,
Gisulf,
duke
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...
of the region, with the specific duty of defending the borders from Byzantine or Avar attacks from the east. Gisulf obtained from his uncle the right to choose for his duchy those ''
farae'', or clans, that he preferred.
[Wolfram 1997, pp. 287–288]
Alboin's decision to create a duchy and designate a duke were both important innovations; until then, the Lombards had never had dukes or duchies based on a walled town. The innovation adopted was part of Alboin's borrowing of Roman and Ostrogothic administrative models, as in Late Antiquity the ''
comes
''Comes'' ( ), plural ''comites'' ( ), was a Roman title or office, and the origin Latin form of the medieval and modern title "count".
Before becoming a word for various types of title or office, the word originally meant "companion", either i ...
civitatis'' (city count) was the main local authority, with full administrative powers in his region. But the shift from count (''comes'') to duke (''dux'') and from county (''comitatus'') to duchy (''ducatus'') also signalled the progressive militarization of Italy.
The selection of a fortified town as the centre for the new duchy was also an important change from the time in Pannonia, for while urbanized settlements had previously been ignored by the Lombards, now a considerable part of the nobility settled itself in Forum Iulii, a pattern that was repeated regularly by the Lombards in their other duchies.
Conquest of Milan
From Forum Iulii, Alboin next reached
Aquileia, the most important road junction in the northeast,
[Wolfram 1997, p. 288] and the administrative capital of Venetia. The imminent arrival of the Lombards had a considerable impact on the city's population; the
Patriarch of Aquileia
The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate (bishop), primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholicism, Independent Catholic Chur ...
Paulinus fled with his clergy and flock to the island of
Grado
Grado may refer to:
People
* Cristina Grado (1939–2016), Italian film actress
* Jonathan Grado (born 1991), American entrepreneur and photographer
* Francesco De Grado ( fl. 1694–1730), Italian engraver
* Gaetano Grado, Italian mafioso
* ...
in Byzantine-controlled territory.
From Aquileia, Alboin took the
Via Postumia
The Via Postumia was an ancient Roman road of northern Italy constructed in 148 BC by the ''consul'' Spurius Postumius Albinus Magnus.
It ran from the coast at Genua through the mountains to Dertona, Placentia (the termination of the Via Aemil ...
and swept through Venetia, taking in rapid succession
Tarvisium
Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and ''comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Veneti ...
(Treviso),
Vicentia (Vicenza),
Verona
Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...
,
Brixia (
Brescia
Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...
) and
Bergomum (Bergamo). The Lombards faced difficulties only in taking
Opitergium
Oderzo ( la, Opitergium; vec, Oderso) is a ''comune'' with a population of 20,003 in the province of Treviso, Veneto, northern Italy.
It lies in the heart of the Venetian plain, about to the northeast of Venice. Oderzo is crossed by the Montican ...
(Oderzo), which Alboin decided to avoid, as he similarly avoided tackling the main Venetian towns closer to the coast on the
Via Annia The Via Annia was the Roman road in Venetia in north-eastern Italy. It run on the low plains of the lower River Po and of the lower Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia regions, an area which had many rivers and large marsh areas and bordered the coas ...
, such as
Altinum
Altinum (in Altino, a ''frazione'' of Quarto d'Altino) was an ancient town of the Veneti 15 km SE of modern Treviso, close to the mainland shore of the Lagoon of Venice. It was also close to the mouths of the rivers Dese, Zero and Sile. ...
,
Patavium
Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...
(Padova),
Mons Silicis (Monselice),
Mantua
Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name.
In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...
and
Cremona
Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' ( Po Valley). It is the capital of th ...
.
The invasion of Venetia generated a considerable level of turmoil, spurring waves of refugees from the Lombard-controlled interior to the Byzantine-held coast, often led by their bishops, and resulting in new settlements such as
Torcello
Torcello ( la, Torcellum; vec, Torceło) is a sparsely populated island at the northern end of the Venetian Lagoon, in north-eastern Italy. It was first settled in 452 CE and has been referred to as the parent island from which Venice was p ...
and
Heraclia.
[Humphries 2001, pp. 535–536]
Alboin moved west in his march, invading the region of
Liguria
Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...
(north-west Italy) and reaching its capital
Mediolanum
Mediolanum, the ancient city where Milan now stands, was originally an Insubrian city, but afterwards became an important Roman city in northern Italy. The city was settled by the Insubres around 600 BC, conquered by the Romans in 222 BC, and ...
(
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
) on 3 September 569, only to find it already abandoned by the ''
vicarius
''Vicarius'' is a Latin word, meaning ''substitute'' or ''deputy''. It is the root of the English word "vicar".
History
Originally, in ancient Rome, this office was equivalent to the later English " vice-" (as in "deputy"), used as part of th ...
Italiae'' (vicar of Italy), the authority entrusted with the administration of the
diocese of Annonarian Italy
Roman Italy (called in both the Latin and Italian languages referring to the Italian Peninsula) was the homeland of the ancient Romans and of the Roman empire. According to Roman mythology, Italy was the ancestral home promised by Jupiter to ...
. Archbishop
Honoratus
Honoratus (french: Saint Honorat; c. 350 – 6 January 429) was the founder of Lérins Abbey who later became an early Archbishop of Arles. He is honored as a saint in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.
Life
Honoratus was born in the ...
, his clergy, and part of the laity accompanied the ''vicarius Italiae'' to find a safe haven in the Byzantine port of
Genua (Genoa). Alboin counted the years of his reign from the capture of Milan, when he assumed the title of ''dominus Italiae'' (Lord of Italy). His success also meant the collapse of Byzantine defences in the northern part of the
Po plain
The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain ( it, Pianura Padana , or ''Val Padana'') is a major geographical feature of Northern Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of including its Venetic ex ...
, and large movements of refugees to Byzantine areas.
[Gasparri 1990, pp. 25–26]
Several explanations have been advanced to explain the swiftness and ease of the initial Lombard advance in northern Italy. It has been suggested that the towns' doors may have been opened by the betrayal of the Gothic auxiliaries in the Byzantine army, but historians generally hold that Lombard success occurred because Italy was not considered by Byzantium as a vital part of the empire, especially at a time when the empire was imperilled by the attacks of Avars and
Slavs
Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...
in the
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
and
Sassanids
The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
in the east. The Byzantine decision not to contest the Lombard invasion reflects the desire of Justinian's successors to reorient the core of the Empire's policies eastward.
Impact of the migration on Annonarian Italy
The impact of the Lombard migration on the Late Roman aristocracy was disruptive, especially in combination with the Gothic War; the latter conflict had finished in the north only in 562, when the last Gothic stronghold, Verona, was taken.
[Collins 1991, p. 187] Many men of means (Paul's ''possessores'') either lost their lives or their goods, but the exact extent of the despoliation of the Roman aristocracy is a subject of heated debate.
[Jarnut 1995, p. 31] The clergy was also greatly affected. The Lombards were mostly pagans, and displayed little respect for the clergy and Church property. Many churchmen left their
sees to escape from the Lombards, like the two most senior bishops in the north, Honoratus and Paulinus. However, most of the
suffragan bishops in the north sought an accommodation with the Lombards, as did in 569 the bishop of Tarvisium, Felix, when he journeyed to the
Piave river
The Piave ( la, Plavis, German: ''Ploden'') is a river in northern Italy. It begins in the Alps and flows southeast for into the Adriatic Sea near the city of Venice. One of its tributaries is the Boite.
In 1809 it was the scene of a battle du ...
to parley with Alboin, obtaining respect for the Church and its goods in return for this act of homage. It seems certain that many sees maintained an uninterrupted episcopal succession through the turmoil of the invasion and the following years. The transition was eased by the hostility existing among the northern Italian bishops towards the papacy and the empire due to the religious dispute involving the "
Three-Chapter Controversy
The Three-Chapter Controversy, a phase in the Chalcedonian controversy, was an attempt to reconcile the non-Chalcedonians of Syria and Egypt with Chalcedonian Christianity, following the failure of the Henotikon. The ''Three Chapters'' (, ''tr ...
". In Lombard territory, churchmen were at least sure to avoid imperial religious persecution.
In the view of Pierre Riché, the disappearance of 220 bishops' seats indicates that the Lombard migration was a crippling catastrophe for the Church.
[Schutz 2001, p. 84] Yet according to Walter Pohl the regions directly occupied by Alboin suffered less devastation and had a relatively robust survival rate for towns, whereas the occupation of territory by autonomous military bands interested mainly in raiding and looting had a more severe impact, with the bishoprics in such places rarely surviving.
Siege of Ticinum
![Alboin's entrance into Pavia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Alboin%27s_entrance_into_Pavia.jpg)
The first attested instance of strong resistance to Alboin's migration took place at the town of
Ticinum
Ticinum (the modern Pavia) was an ancient city of Gallia Transpadana, founded on the banks of the river of the same name (now the Ticino river) a little way above its confluence with the Padus ( Po).
It was said by Pliny the Elder to have bee ...
(
Pavia
Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...
), which he started to besiege in 569 and captured only after three years. The town was of strategic importance, sitting at the confluence of the rivers
Po and
Ticino
Ticino (), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino,, informally ''Canton Ticino'' ; lmo, Canton Tesin ; german: Kanton Tessin ; french: Canton du Tessin ; rm, Chantun dal Tessin . ...
and connected by waterways to Ravenna, the capital of Byzantine Italy and the seat of the
Praetorian prefecture of Italy
The praetorian prefecture of Italy ( la, Praefectura praetorio Italiae, in its full form (until 356) ) was one of four praetorian prefectures into which the Late Roman Empire was divided. It comprised the Italian peninsula, the Western Balkans, ...
. Its fall cut direct communications between the garrisons stationed on the
Alpes Maritimae
The Alpes Maritimae (; English: 'Maritime Alps') were a small province of the Roman Empire founded in 63 AD by Nero. It was one of the three provinces straddling the Alps between modern France and Italy, along with the Alpes Graiae et Poeninae a ...
and the
Adriatic coast.
[Gasparri 1990, p. 26][Wolfram 1997, p. 290]
Careful to maintain the initiative against the Byzantines, by 570 Alboin had taken their last defences in northern Italy except for the coastal areas of Liguria and Venetia and a few isolated inland centres such as
Augusta Praetoria (Aosta),
Segusio
Susa ( lat, Segusio, french: Suse, frp, Suisa) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont, Italy. In the middle of Susa Valley, it is situated on at the confluence of the Cenischia with the Dora Ripari ...
(Susa), and the island of
Amacina in the
Larius Lucus (Lake Como). During Alboin's kingship the Lombards crossed the
Apennines and plundered
Tuscia Tuscia is a historical region of Italy that comprised the territories under Etruscan influence and the name adopted for Etruria after the Roman conquest. While it later came to coincide with today's province of Viterbo, it was originally much lar ...
, but historians are not in full agreement as to whether this took place under his guidance and if this constituted anything more than raiding. According to
Herwig Wolfram
Herwig Wolfram (born 14 February 1934) is an Austrian historian who is Professor Emeritus of Medieval History and Auxiliary Sciences of History at the University of Vienna and the former Director of the . He is a leading member of the Vienna Sc ...
, it was probably only in 578–579 that
Tuscany
Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze'').
Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...
was conquered, but Jörg Jarnut and others believe this began in some form under Alboin, although it was not completed by the time of his death.
Alboin's problems in maintaining control over his people worsened during the siege of Ticinum. The nature of the Lombard monarchy made it difficult for a ruler to exert the same degree of authority over his subjects as had been exercised by Theodoric over his Goths, and the structure of the army gave great authority to the military commanders or ''duces'', who led each band (''fara'') of warriors. Additionally, the difficulties encountered by Alboin in building a solid political entity resulted from a lack of imperial legitimacy, as unlike the Ostrogoths, they had not entered Italy as ''foederati'' but as enemies of the Empire.
[Pohl 1997, p. 99]
The king's disintegrating authority over his army was also manifested in the invasion of Frankish
Burgundy which from 569 or 570 was subject to yearly raids on a major scale. The Lombard attacks were ultimately repelled following
Mummolus
Mummolus (also spelled Mommolus or Mummulus), was a Gallo-Roman patrician and prefect who served Guntram, King of Burgundy, as a general in the 6th century.
He was born Eunius to Peonius, Count of Auxerre. Peonius sent his son to Guntram with gi ...
' victory at
Embrun. These attacks had lasting political consequences, souring the previously cordial Lombard-Frankish relations and opening the door to an alliance between the Empire and the Franks against the Lombards, a coalition agreed to by
Guntram
Saint Gontrand (c. 532 in Soissons – 28 March 592 in Chalon-sur-Saône), also called Gontran, Gontram, Guntram, Gunthram, Gunthchramn, and Guntramnus, was the king of the Kingdom of Orléans from AD 561 to AD 592. He was the third eldest and ...
in about 571.
Alboin is generally thought not to have been behind this invasion, but an alternative interpretation of the transalpine raids presented by Gian Piero Bognetti is that Alboin may actually have been involved in the offensive on Guntram as part of an alliance with the Frankish king of
Austrasia
Austrasia was a territory which formed the north-eastern section of the Merovingian Kingdom of the Franks during the 6th to 8th centuries. It was centred on the Meuse, Middle Rhine and the Moselle rivers, and was the original territory of the F ...
,
Sigebert I
Sigebert I (c. 535 – c. 575) was a Frankish king of Austrasia from the death of his father in 561 to his own death. He was the third surviving son out of four of Clotaire I and Ingund. His reign found him mostly occupied with a successful civ ...
. This view is met with scepticism by scholars such as
Chris Wickham
Christopher John Wickham, (born 18 May 1950) is a British historian and academic. From 2005 to 2016, he was Chichele Professor of Medieval History at the University of Oxford and Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford: he is now emeritus professor ...
.
The weakening of royal authority may also have resulted in the conquest of much of southern Italy by the Lombards, in which modern scholars believe Alboin played no role at all, probably taking place in 570 or 571 under the auspices of individual warlords. However it is far from certain that the Lombard takeover occurred during those years, as very little is known of
Faroald
Faroald I (also spelled Faruald) (died 591 or 592) was the first Duke of Spoleto, which he established during the decade of interregnum that followed the death of Alboin's successor (574 or 575). He led the Lombards into the centre of the Italian ...
and
Zotto
Zotto (also Zotton or Zottone) was the military leader ( la, dux) of the Lombards in the Mezzogiorno. He is generally considered the founder of the Duchy of Benevento in 571 and its first duke : “''…Fuit autem primus Langobardorum dux in Bene ...
's respective rises to power in
Spoletium
Spoleto (, also , , ; la, Spoletum) is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east-central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome.
History
Spolet ...
(
Spoleto
Spoleto (, also , , ; la, Spoletum) is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east-central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome.
History
Spolet ...
) and
Beneventum (
Benevento
Benevento (, , ; la, Beneventum) is a city and ''comune'' of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the ...
).
Assassination
Earliest narratives
Ticinum eventually fell to the Lombards in either May or June 572. Alboin had in the meantime chosen Verona as his seat, establishing himself and his treasure in a royal palace built there by Theodoric. This choice may have been another attempt to link himself with the Gothic king.
It was in this palace that Alboin was killed on 28 June 572. In the account given by Paul the Deacon, the most detailed narrative on Alboin's death, history and saga intermingle almost inextricably. Much earlier and shorter is the story told by
Marius of Aventicum in his ''Chronica'', written about a decade after Alboin's murder. According to his version the king was killed in a conspiracy by a man close to him, called
Hilmegis (Paul's Helmechis), with the connivance of the queen. Helmichis then married the widow, but the two were forced to escape to Byzantine Ravenna, taking with them the royal treasure and part of the army, which hints at the cooperation of Byzantium.
Roger Collins
Roger J. H. Collins (born September 2, 1949) is an English medievalist, currently an honorary fellow in history at the University of Edinburgh.
Collins studied at the University of Oxford ( Queen's and Saint Cross Colleges) under Peter Bro ...
describes Marius as an especially reliable source because of his early date and his having lived close to Lombard Italy.
Also contemporary is
Gregory of Tours' account presented in the ''Historia Francorum'', and echoed by the later
Fredegar
The ''Chronicle of Fredegar'' is the conventional title used for a 7th-century Frankish chronicle that was probably written in Burgundy. The author is unknown and the attribution to Fredegar dates only from the 16th century.
The chronicle begin ...
. Gregory's account diverges in several respects from most other sources. In his tale it is told how Alboin married the daughter of a man he had slain, and how she waited for a suitable occasion for revenge, eventually poisoning him. She had previously fallen in love with one of her husband's servants, and after the assassination tried to escape with him, but they were captured and killed. However, historians including Walter Goffart place little trust in this narrative. Goffart notes other similar doubtful stories in the ''Historia'' and calls its account of Alboin's demise "a suitably ironic tale of the doings of depraved humanity".
[Goffart 1988, p. 392]
Skull cup
Elements present in Marius' account are echoed in Paul's ''
Historia Langobardorum
The ''History of the Lombards'' or the ''History of the Langobards'' ( la, Historia Langobardorum) is the chief work by Paul the Deacon, written in the late 8th century. This incomplete history in six books was written after 787 and at any rate ...
'', which also contains distinctive features. One of the best known aspects unavailable in any other source is that of the
skull cup
A skull cup is a drinking vessel or eating bowl made from an inverted human calvaria that has been cut away from the rest of the skull. The use of a human skull as a drinking cup in ritual use or as a trophy is reported in numerous sources throug ...
. In Paul, the events that led to Alboin's downfall unfold in Verona. During a great feast, Alboin gets drunk and orders his wife Rosamund to drink from his cup, made from the skull of his father-in-law Cunimund after he had slain him in 567 and married Rosamund. Alboin "invited her to drink merrily with her father". This reignited the queen's determination to avenge her father.
[Gasparri 1990, pp. 19–21][Wolfram 1997, p. 291][Goffart 1988, pp. 391–392]
![School of Rubens - Alboin and Rosamunde](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/School_of_Rubens_-_Alboin_and_Rosamunde.jpg)
The tale has been often dismissed as a fable and Paul was conscious of the risk of disbelief. For this reason, he insists that he saw the skull cup personally during the 740s in the royal palace of Ticinum in the hands of king
Ratchis. The use of skull cups has been noticed among nomadic peoples and, in particular, among the Lombards' neighbors, the Avars. Skull cups are believed to be part of a
shamanistic
Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiri ...
ritual, where drinking from the cup was considered a way to assume the dead man's powers. In this context, Stefano Gasparri and Wilfried Menghen see in Cunimund's skull cup the sign of nomadic cultural influences on the Lombards: by drinking from his enemy's skull Alboin was taking his vital strength. As for the offering of the skull to Rosamund, that may have been a ritual request of complete submission of the queen and her people to the Lombards, and thus a cause of shame or humiliation. Alternatively, it may have been a rite to appease the dead through the offering of a libation. In the latter interpretation, the queen's answer reveals her determination not to let the wound opened by the killing of her father be healed through a ritual act, thus openly displaying her thirst for revenge.
The episode is read in a radically different way by Walter Goffart. According to him, the whole story assumes an allegorical meaning, with Paul intent on telling an edifying story of the downfall of the hero and his expulsion from the promised land, because of his human weakness. In this story, the skull cup plays a key role as it unites
original sin and barbarism. Goffart does not exclude the possibility that Paul had really seen the skull, but believes that by the 740s the connection between sin and barbarism as exemplified by the skull cup had already been established.
Death
![Assassination of Alboin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Assassination_of_Alboin.jpg)
In her plan to kill her husband Rosamund found an ally in Helmichis, the king's foster brother and ''
spatharius The ''spatharii'' or ''spatharioi'' (singular: la, spatharius; el, σπαθάριος, literally " spatha-bearer") were a class of Late Roman imperial bodyguards in the court in Constantinople in the 5th–6th centuries, later becoming a purely ...
'' (arms bearer). According to Paul the queen then recruited the king's ''
cubicularius
''Cubicularius'', Hellenized as ''koubikoularios'' ( gr, κουβικουλάριος), was a title used for the eunuch chamberlains of the imperial palace in the later Roman Empire and in the Byzantine Empire. The feminine version, used for the ...
'' (bedchamberlain), Peredeo, into the plot, after having seduced him. When Alboin retired for his midday rest on 28 June, care was taken to leave the door open and unguarded. Alboin's sword was also removed, leaving him defenceless when Peredeo entered his room and killed him.
[Jarnut 1995, p. 32] Alboin's remains were allegedly buried beneath the palace steps.
Peredeo's figure and role is mostly introduced by Paul; the ''Origo'' had for the first time mentioned his name as "Peritheus", but there his role had been different, as he was not the assassin, but the instigator of the assassination. In the vein of his reading of the skull cup, Goffart sees Peredeo not as a historical figure but as an allegorical character: he notes a similarity between Peredeo's name and the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
word ''peritus'', meaning "lost", a representation of those Lombards who entered into the service of the Empire.
[Goffart 1988, p. 393]
Alboin's death had a lasting impact, as it deprived the Lombards of the only leader they had that could have kept together the newborn Germanic entity. His end also represents the death of the last of the line of hero-kings that had led the Lombards through their migrations from the Elbe to Italy. His fame survived him for many centuries in epic poetry, with Saxons and
Bavarians celebrating his prowess in battle, his heroism, and the magical properties of his weapons.
Aftermath
To complete the
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
and legitimize his claim to the throne, Helmichis married the queen, whose high standing arose not only from being the king's widow but also from being the most prominent member of the remaining Gepid nation, and as such her support was a guarantee of the Gepids' loyalty to Helmichis. The latter could also count on the support of the Lombard garrison of Verona, where many may have opposed Alboin's aggressive policy and could have cultivated the hope of reaching an entente with the Empire. The Byzantines were almost certainly deeply involved in the plot. It was in their interest to stem the Lombard tide by bringing a pro-Byzantine regime into power in Verona, and possibly in the long run break the unity of the Lombards' kingdom, winning over the dukes with honors and emoluments.
[Christie 1998, p. 82][Wolfram 1997, p. 292]
The coup ultimately failed, as it met with the resistance of most of the warriors, who were opposed to the king's assassination. As a result, the Lombard garrison in Ticinum proclaimed Duke
Cleph
Cleph (also ''Clef'', ''Clepho'', or ''Kleph'') was king of the Lombards from 572 to 574.
He succeeded Alboin, to whom he was not related by blood. He was a violent and terrifying figure to the Romans and Byzantines struggling to maintain contro ...
the new king, and Helmichis, rather than going to war against overwhelming odds, escaped to Ravenna with Longinus' assistance, taking with him his wife, his troops, the royal treasure and Alboin's daughter
Albsuinda. In Ravenna the two lovers became estranged and killed each other. Subsequently, Longinus sent Albsuinda and the treasure to
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
.
![Kingdom of the Lombards 572](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Kingdom_of_the_Lombards_572.svg)
Cleph kept the throne for only 18 months before being assassinated by a
slave
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
. Possibly he too was killed at the instigation of the Byzantines, who had every interest in avoiding a hostile and solid leadership among the Lombards. An important success for the Byzantines was that no king was proclaimed to succeed Cleph, opening a
decade of interregnum, thus making them 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 dukes elected a new king in the person of
Authari
Authari (c. 550 – 5 September 590) was king of the Lombards from 584 to his death. He was considered as the first Lombard king to have adopted some level of "Roman-ness" and introduced policies that led to drastic changes particularly in th ...
, son of Cleph, who began the definitive consolidation and centralization of the Lombard kingdom while the remaining imperial territories were reorganized under the control of an
exarch in Ravenna with the capacity to defend the country without the Emperor's assistance.
The consolidation of Byzantine and Lombard dominions had long-lasting consequences for Italy, as the region was from that moment on fragmented among multiple rulers until
Italian unification
The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...
in 1871.
[Wickham 2005, p. 35]
Cultural references
Alboin, together with other tribal leaders is mentioned in the 10th century
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
poem called ''
Widsith
"Widsith" ( ang, Wīdsīþ, "far-traveller", lit. "wide-journey"), also known as "The Traveller's Song", is an Old English poem of 143 lines. It survives only in the ''Exeter Book'', a manuscript of Old English poetry compiled in the late-10th c ...
'' (lines 70–75) :
The historical period also formed the basis of the 1961 Italian adventure film ''
Sword of the Conqueror'' (Italian: ''Rosmunda e Alboino'', German title ''Alboin, König der Langobarden''), with
Jack Palance
Jack Palance ( ; born Volodymyr Palahniuk ( uk, Володимир Палагню́к); February 18, 1919 – November 10, 2006) was an American actor known for playing tough guys and villains. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, all fo ...
as Alboin.
There have been several artistic depictions of events from Alboin's life including
Peter Paul Rubens
Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...
' ''Alboin and Rosamunde'' (1615);
Charles Landseer
Charles Landseer (12 August 1799 – 22 July 1879) was an English painter, mostly of historical subjects.
Life
He was born in London on 12 August 1799, the second son of the engraver John Landseer, and the elder brother of the animal painter, ...
's ''Assassination of Alboin, King of the Lombards'' (1856); and
Fortunino Matania
Chevalier Fortunino Matania (16 April 1881 – 8 February 1963) was an Italian artist noted for his realistic portrayal of World War I trench warfare and of a wide range of historical subjects.
Life
Born in Naples, the son of artist Eduardo Mat ...
's illustration ''Rosamund captive before King Alboin of the Lombards'' (1942).
See also
*
List of kings of the Lombards
Notes
References
*
Amory, Patrick. ''People and Identity in Ostrogothic Italy, 489–554''.
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
:
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press
A university press is an academic publishing hou ...
, 2003, .
* Ausenda, Giorgio. "Current issues and future directions in the study of Franks and Alamanni in the Merovingian period", ''Franks and Alamanni in the Merovingian Period: An Ethnographic Perspective''. Ian Wood (ed.).
Woodbridge:
Boydell, 1998, pp. 371–455. .
* Azzara, Claudio. ''L'Italia dei barbari''. Bologna: il Mulino, 2009, 978-88-15-08812-3.
* Bertolini, Paolo
"Alboino, re dei Longobardi" ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani''. Alberto M. Ghisalberti (ed.). v. 2,
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Treccani, 1960, pp. 34–38.
*
Christie, Neil. ''The Lombards: The Ancient Longobards''. Oxford:
Wiley-Blackwell
Wiley-Blackwell is an international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons. It was formed by the merger of John Wiley & Sons Global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business with Blackwell Publish ...
, 1995
998
Year 998 ( CMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
* Spring – Otto III retakes Rome and restores power in the papal city. Crescenti ...
.
*
Collins, Roger
Roger J. H. Collins (born September 2, 1949) is an English medievalist, currently an honorary fellow in history at the University of Edinburgh.
Collins studied at the University of Oxford ( Queen's and Saint Cross Colleges) under Peter Brown ...
. ''Early Medieval Europe 300–1000''.
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
:
Macmillan, 1991, .
*
*
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Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
: Giunti. .
*
Goffart, Walter. ''The Narrators of Barbarian History (A.D. 550–800): Jordanes, Gregory of Tours, Bede, and Paul the Deacon''.
Princeton
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...
:
Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large.
The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial su ...
, 1988, .
*
Gregory of Tours''History of the Franks'' Ernest Brehaut (translator). New York:
Columbia University Press
Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by Jennifer Crewe (2014–present) and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fiel ...
, 1916.
* Humphries, Mark. "Italy, A. D. 425–605", ''Cambridge Ancient History – Volume XIV: Late Antiquity: Empire and Successors, A. D. 425–600''.
Averil Cameron
Dame Averil Millicent Cameron ( Sutton; born 8 February 1940), often cited as A. M. Cameron, is a British historian. She was Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine History at the University of Oxford, and the Warden of Keble College, Oxford ...
,
Bryan Ward-Perkins
Bryan Ward-Perkins is an archaeologist and historian of the later Roman Empire and early Middle Ages, with a particular focus on the transitional period between those two eras, an historical sub-field also known as Late Antiquity. Ward-Perkins ...
and Michael Whitby (eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001, pp. 525–552. .
* Jarnut, Jörg. ''Storia dei Longobardi''.
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
: Einaudi, 1982
995
Year 995 ( CMXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Japan
* 17 May - Fujiwara no Michitaka (imperial regent) dies.
* 3 June: Fujiwara no Michikane gain ...
.
* Lane, Frederic C.. ''Storia di Venezia''. Turin: Einaudi, 1973
991 .
*
Madden, Thomas F. "Aquileia", ''Medieval Italy: an encyclopedia''. Christopher Kleinhenz (ed.). v. 1, New York:
Routledge
Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...
, 2004, pp. 44–45. .
* Martindale, John R. (ed.), ''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire – Volume III: A.D. 527–641'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992, .
*
Moorhead, John. "Ostrogothic Italy and the Lombard invasions", ''The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume I c. 500 – c. 700''. Paul Fouracre (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. 140–162. .
*
Ostrogorsky, Georg. ''Storia dell'impero bizantino''. Turin: Einaudi, 1963
993
Year 993 ( CMXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
* Spring – The 12-year-old King Otto III gives the Sword of Saints Cosmas and Damian ...
.
* Palmieri, Stefano. "Duchi, Principi e Vescovi nella Longobardia meridionale", ''Longobardia e longobardi nell'Italia meridionale: le istituzioni ecclesiastiche''. Giancarlo Andenna e Giorgio Picasso (eds.). Milan: Vita e Pensiero, 1996, pp. 43–99. .
*
Paul the Deacon
Paul the Deacon ( 720s 13 April in 796, 797, 798, or 799 AD), also known as ''Paulus Diaconus'', ''Warnefridus'', ''Barnefridus'', or ''Winfridus'', and sometimes suffixed ''Cassinensis'' (''i.e.'' "of Monte Cassino"), was a Benedictine monk, s ...
''History of the Langobards'' William Dudley Foulke
William Dudley Foulke (November 20, 1848 – May 30, 1935) was an American literary critic, journalist, poet and reformer.
Biography
William Dudley Foulke was born in New York City on November 20, 1848. He graduated Columbia University in 1869 ...
(translator).
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
:
University of Pennsylvania Press
The University of Pennsylvania Press (or Penn Press) is a university press affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The press was originally incorporated with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on 26 M ...
, 1907.
*
Pohl, Walter. "The Empire and the Lombards: treaties and negotiations in the sixth century", ''Kingdoms of the Empire: the integration of barbarians in late Antiquity''. Walter Pohl (ed.).
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...
:
Brill
Brill may refer to:
Places
* Brielle (sometimes "Den Briel"), a town in the western Netherlands
* Brill, Buckinghamshire, a village in England
* Brill, Cornwall, a small village to the west of Constantine, Cornwall, UK
* Brill, Wisconsin, an un ...
, 1997, pp. 75–134. .
*
Richards, Jeffrey. ''The Popes and the Papacy in the Early Middle Ages, 476–752''. London: Routledge, 1979, .
* Rovagnati, Sergio. ''I Longobardi''. Milan: Xenia, 2003, .
*
Schutz, Herbert. ''Tools, Weapons and Ornaments: Germanic Material Culture in Pre-Carolingian Central Europe, 400–750''. Leiden: Brill, 2001, .
* Whitby, Michael. "The successors of Justinian", ''The Cambridge Ancient History – Volume XIV''. pp. 86–112.
*
Wickham, Chris
Christopher John Wickham, (born 18 May 1950) is a British historian and academic. From 2005 to 2016, he was Chichele Professor of Medieval History at the University of Oxford and Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford: he is now emeritus profess ...
. ''Early Medieval Italy: Central Power and Local Society 400–1000''.
Ann Arbor
Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...
:
University of Michigan Press
The University of Michigan Press is part of Michigan Publishing at the University of Michigan Library. It publishes 170 new titles each year in the humanities and social sciences. Titles from the press have earned numerous awards, including ...
, 1981
989 .
* Wickham, Chris. ''Framing the Early Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean, 400–800''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, .
*
Wolfram, Herwig. ''The Roman Empire and Its Germanic Peoples''. Berkeley:
University of California Press
The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...
, 1990
997
Year 997 (Roman numerals, CMXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Japan
* 1 February: Empress Teishi gives birth to Princess Shushi - she is the first ...
.
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alboin
530s births
572 deaths
Year of birth uncertain
6th-century Lombard monarchs
Assassinated royalty
6th-century murdered monarchs
Lombard warriors
Gausian dynasty
Regicides