Corvulus (also Corvolus) was the

Duke of Friuli The dukes and margraves of Friuli were the rulers of the Duchy and March of Friuli in the Middle Ages. The dates given below, when contentious, are discussed in the articles of the respective dukes. Lombard dukes * 568–c.584 Grasulf I * 5 ...

for a brief spell in the early eighth century AD (probably 705 or 706). He replaced Ferdulf, but he offended King Aripert II and was arrested and his eyes gouged out. He lived in obscurity and shame as a blind exile thereafter, according to

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 ...

. He was ultimately replaced by Pemmo. "Corvulus" literally means "little raven" 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 ...

, so this may have been a

hypocoristic A hypocorism ( or ; from Ancient Greek: (), from (), 'to call by pet names', sometimes also ''hypocoristic'') or pet name is a name used to show affection for a person. It may be a diminutive form of a person's name, such as ''Izzy'' for I ...

or Latinization for the Duke's real birth name (as a likely ethnic Lombard who assimilated to Italo-Roman culture).

Sources

''Historia Langobardorum''
Translated by

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 ...

. University of Pennsylvania: 1907. * Hodgkin, Thomas. ''Italy and her Invaders''. Clarendon Press: 1895. Dukes of Friuli 8th-century rulers in Europe 8th-century Lombard people 7th-century births 8th-century deaths {{Italy-noble-stub