The Lethings () were a dynasty of

Lombard kings The kings of the Lombards or ''reges Langobardorum'' (singular ''rex Langobardorum'') were the monarchs of the Lombard people from the early 6th century until the Lombardic identity became lost in the 9th and 10th centuries. After 774, the 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 out of obscurity and into history. The Lethings were elected by an assembly of warriors. They took their dynastic name from Lethuc, the first known Lombard king. When Lethuc died and was replaced by Aldihoc, the Lombards took a step towards institutional stability. Under the Lethings, too, the Lombards, who had thitherto wandered around northern Europe, migrated south to the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

and

Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, on the west by Noricum and upper Roman Italy, Italy, and on the southward by Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia and upper Moesia. It ...

. In 510, the reigning Lething,

Tato Tato (died 510) was an early 6th century king of the Lombards. He was the son of Claffo and a king of the Lething Dynasty. According to Procopius, the Lombards were subject and paid tribute to the Heruli during his reign. In 508, he fought with ...

, was displaced by his nephew,

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 assassina ...

, and thereafter until 546 a cadet branch of the original house ruled. Under the last dynasts, the Lombards became a power in terms of their threat to the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

on par with the

Ostrogoths The Ostrogoths () were a Roman-era Germanic peoples, Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Goths, Gothic kingdoms within the Western Roman Empire, drawing upon the large Gothic populatio ...

and

Franks file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...

. The Lething were displaced when the child ruler

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 ...

was killed by his regent,

Audoin Alduin (Langobardic: ''Aldwin'' or ''Hildwin'', ; also called Auduin or Audoin) was List of kings of the Lombards, king of the Lombards from 547 to 560. Life Audoin was of the Gausian dynasty, Gausi, a prominent Lombard ruling clan, and accordin ...

, who then assumed the throne, inaugurating the Gausi dynasty. The Lething lineage did not die out, however, as

Waldrada Waldrada or Walderada (French ''Waldrade'', Italian ''Gualdrada'') is a feminine given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle n ...

, a daughter of Wacho, had married

Garibald I of Bavaria Garibald I (also Garivald; ; born 540) was Duke (or King) of Bavaria from 555 until 591. He was the head of the Agilolfings, and the ancestor of the Bavarian dynasty that ruled the Kingdom of the Lombards. Biography After the death of the Merovi ...

, and fostered a daughter,

Theodelinda Theodelinda, also spelled ''Theudelinde'' ( 570 – 628 AD), was a queen of the Lombards by marriage to two consecutive Lombard rulers, Autari and then Agilulf, and regent of Lombardia during the minority of her son Adaloald, and co-regent when ...

, who married

Authari Authari ( 550 – 5 September 590) was king of the Lombards from 584 to his death. He was considered the first Lombard king to have adopted some level of ''Romanitas'' (Roman-ness) and introduced policies that led to drastic changes, particul ...

and became Queen of the Lombards. Her descendants were the

Bavarian dynasty The Bavarian dynasty was those kings of the Lombards who were descended from Garibald I, the Agilolfing duke of Bavaria. They came to rule the Lombards through Garibald's daughter Theodelinda, who married the Lombard king Authari in 588. The B ...

, a cadet branch of the

Agilolfings The Agilolfings were a noble family that ruled the Duchy of Bavaria on behalf of their Merovingian suzerains from about 550 until 788. A cadet branch of the Agilolfings also ruled the Kingdom of the Lombards intermittently from 616 to 712. They ...

, themselves Frankish.

Sources

* * {{cite book , last=Rovagnati , first=Sergio , title=I Longobardi , language=it , location=Milano , publisher=Xenia , date=2003 , isbn=88-7273-484-3 Medieval royal families Lombard families