Grasulf I (died after 571) was a brother of

Alboin Alboin (530s – 28 June 572) was king of the Lombards 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 effe ...

, the first Lombard

King of Italy King of Italy ( it, links=no, Re d'Italia; la, links=no, Rex Italiae) was the title given to the ruler of the Kingdom of Italy after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The first to take the title was Odoacer, a barbarian military leader, ...

, and possibly the first

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 ...

. Grasulf's son, Gisulf, is the other candidate for first Duke of Friuli.

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 ...

names Gisulf, but some scholars have favoured Grasulf based on a diplomatic letter which refers to him as duke. This letter was written by Gogo,

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 ...

mayor of the palace 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 ...

under

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 ...

and

Childebert II Childebert II (c.570–596) was the Merovingian king of Austrasia (which included Provence at the time) from 575 until his death in March 596, as the only son of Sigebert I and Brunhilda of Austrasia; and the king of Burgundy from 592 to his de ...

, sometime between Gogo's rise to power in 571 and his death in 581. It is undated and unattached to the name of either king he served. It has traditionally been assigned to around the year of his death (581), but an alternative solution put forward by

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 To ...

places it as early as 571–572 around the time of Sigebert's embassy 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 (" ...

. In it Gogo urges Grasulf to ally himself with the Franks to oust the ''infestantes'' (presumably the Lombards or other barbarian groups) from Italy in league with 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 ...

and the

Papacy The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

. Ambassadors were waiting in Austrasia for Grasulf's reply in case he wished to delay his response to the emperor. While the exact location of Grasulf's seat of power is unknown, if he did rule, the letter from Gogo is evidence that the "Friulian court" was capable of handling sophisticated imperial correspondence less than a decade after the Lombard arrival on Italian soil.

Sources

* Bachrach, Bernard S. ''The Anatomy of a Little War: A Diplomatic and Military History of the Gundovald Affair (568–586)''. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1994. *Everett, Nicholas. ''Literacy in Lombard Italy, c. 568–774''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. . *Nelson, Janet L. "Queens as Jezebels: Brunhild and Balthild in Merovingian History." ''Medieval Women: Essays Dedicated and Presented to Professor Rosalind M. T. Hill'', ed. D. Baker. ''Studies in Church History: Subsidia'', vol. 1 (Oxford: Blackwell, 1978), pp. 31–77. Reprinted in ''Politics and Ritual in Early Medieval Europe''. London: Hambledon Press, 1986. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Grasulf 01 Of Friuli Dukes of Friuli Lombard warriors 6th-century Lombard people 6th-century rulers in Europe