Arnefrit, Arnefrid, Amefrit, or Amefrith was the son of

Lupus of Friuli Lupus was the Duke of Friuli from between 660 and 663 to his death around 666. Immediately after he succeeded to Friuli, Lupus invaded Grado with a body of cavalry and plundered the city, then proceeding to Aquileia, where he stole the treasures o ...

who claimed 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 ...

after his father's death in 666. Lupus had been killed by the Avars, who had taken

Cividale Cividale del Friuli ( fur, Cividât (locally ); german: Östrich; sl, Čedad) is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Udine, part of the Northern Italy, North-Italian Friuli Venezia Giulia ''regione''. The town lies above sea-level in the foo ...

, seat of the duchy. Thus, King Grimoald had come into Friuli to remove the Avars and displace Arnefrit, who fled to the

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 ...

. He returned with Slav allies, but was defeated by Grimoald and died at the castle of

Nimis Nimis ( sl, Neme) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Udine, Friuli, north-eastern Italy, near the border with Slovenia. It is located at the foot of Mount Bernadia, home to a World War I Italian fort and a sweet white wine called Raman ...

. Grimoald appointed Wechtar in his place.

Further reading