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Amalafrid
Amalafrid ( la, Amalafridas, el, 'Αμαλαφρίδας Martindale, Jones & Morris (1992), p. 50) was the son of the last Thuringian king Hermanafrid and his wife Amalaberga, daughter of Amalafrida and niece of the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great. After the fall of the royal Thuringian seat of Scithingi to the king of Metz, Theuderic I in 531, Amalaberga fled to the Ostrogothic king Theodahad, her brother, with Amalafrid and his sister Rodelinda. They were captured by the Byzantine general Belisarius and sent to Constantinople, together with the captured Ostrogothic king Witiges (or Wittigis). Justinian made Amalafrid a general and married off his sister Rodelinda to the Lombard king Audoin. When the Lombards applied to the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I for help against the Gepids, he sent an army under the command of Justinus and Justinianus, the sons of Germanus; Aratius and Suartuas (a former ruler of the Heruli); and Amalafrid. All the former remained in Ulpian ...
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Amalafrida
Amalafrida (fl. 523), was the daughter of Theodemir, king of the Ostrogoths, and his wife Erelieva. She was the sister of Theodoric the Great, and mother of Theodahad, both of whom also were kings of the Ostrogoths. In 500, Theodoric, ruler over the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy, arranged a marriage alliance with Thrasamund, king of the Vandals in North Africa, to further cement his authority over the Vandals. Thrasamund became Amalfrida's second husband. She brought a very large dowry, but also 1 000 Gothic elite warriors plus 5 000 armed retainers. After her husband Thrasamund's death, his successor Hilderic issued orders for the return of all the Catholic bishops from exile, and Boniface, a strenuous asserter of orthodoxy, bishop of the African Church. In response, Amalfrida headed a party of revolt; she called in the assistance of the Moors, and battle was joined at Capsa, about three hundred miles to the south of the capital Carthage, on the edge of the Libyan desert. I ...
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Hermanafrid
Hermanfrid (also Hermanifrid or Hermanafrid; , died 532) was the last independent king of the Thuringii in present-day Germany. He was one of three sons of King Bisinus and the Lombard Menia. His siblings were Baderic; Raicunda, married to the Lombard king Wacho; and Bertachar. Hermanfrid married Amalaberga, daughter of Amalafrida who was the daughter of Theodemir, between 507 and 511. Amalberga was also the niece of Theodoric the Great. It is unclear when Hermanfrid became king, but he is called king (''rex thoringorum'') in a letter by Theodoric dated to 507. He first shared the rule with his brothers Baderic and Bertachar, but later killed Bertachar in a battle in 529, leaving the young Radegund an orphan. According to Gregory of Tours, Amalaberga now stirred up Hermanfrid against his remaining brother. Once she laid out only half the table for a meal, and when questioned about the reason, she told him "A king who owns only of half of his kingdom deserved to have half of ...
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Amalaberga
Amalaberga was the daughter of Amalafrida, daughter of Theodemir, king of the Ostrogoths. Her father is unknown, her uncle was Theodoric the Great. Around 510, she was married to Hermanfrid, son of the Thuringian ruler Bisinus and his Lombard wife Menia. Hermanfrid and his brothers Baderic and Bertachar succeeded their father as co-rulers, while their mother returned to her people, where their sister, Raicunda, married Wacho, king of the Lombards. Hermanfrid and Amalaberga had two children: a son named Amalafrid and a daughter Rodelinda. Amalaberga is said to have encouraged Hermanfrid to make war on his brothers and become sole ruler. Bertachar was killed in battle, possibly as early as 525. Hermanfrid then sought the help of Theuderic I, the Merovingian king of Austrasia, to attack Baderic and seize control of all of Thuringia. After Baderic was defeated and beheaded by the Franks, Hermanfrid reneged on certain promised land concessions. Theuderic then persuaded his brothe ...
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Theodahad
Theodahad, also known as Thiudahad ( la, Flavius Theodahatus , Theodahadus, Theodatus; 480 – December 536) was king of the Ostrogoths from 534 to 536. Early life Born at in Tauresium, Theodahad was a nephew of Theodoric the Great through his mother Amalafrida. He is probably the son of Amalafrida's first husband because her second marriage was about 500 AD. His sister was Amalaberga. His father's identity remains unknown. He may have arrived in Italy with Theodoric and was elderly at the time of his accession. Massimiliano Vitiello states the name "Theodahad" is a compound of 'people' and 'conflict'. Before becoming king, his kinswoman Amalaswintha ruled. During her rule, potential enemies were murdered or humiliated. Theodahad was accused of land grabbing and forced to return land he had supposedly stolen. Letters written in the name of King Theodoric to Theodahad imply that the land was taken by force. King After the death of Theodahad's nephew Athalaric, the q ...
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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 son of Menia, the Lombard wife of Basinus, king of the Thuringii.Wolfram Brandes, "Das Gold der Menia: Ein Beispiel transkulturellen Wissenstransfers", ''Millennium'' 2 (2005): 175–226, esp. 181ff. Audoin was half-brother to Hermanafrid (king of the Thuringii peoples) and Raicunda, the wife of the Lombard king Wacho. According to the ''Decem Libri'' of Gregory of Tours, in 531, Hermanafrid was defeated at the Battle of Unstrut, and so Thuringia was annexed to the Frankish empire. Hermanafrid traveled under safe conduct to meet with Theuderic at Zülpich. While walking along the city walls with Theuderic, Hermanafrid was thrown from the ramparts to his death. According to Procopius (History of the Wars V, 13), after Hermanafrid's de ...
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Theodoric The Great
Theodoric (or Theoderic) the Great (454 – 30 August 526), also called Theodoric the Amal ( got, , *Þiudareiks; Greek: , romanized: ; Latin: ), was king of the Ostrogoths (471–526), and ruler of the independent Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy between 493 and 526, regent of the Visigoths (511–526), and a patrician of the Eastern Roman Empire. As ruler of the combined Gothic realms, Theodoric controlled an empire stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Adriatic Sea. Though Theodoric himself only used the title 'king' (''rex''), some scholars characterize him as a Western Roman Emperor in all but name, since he ruled large parts of the former Western Roman Empire, had received the former Western imperial regalia from Constantinople in 497, and was referred to by the title ''augustus'' by some of his subjects. As a young child of an Ostrogothic nobleman, Theodoric was taken as a hostage to Constantinople, where he spent his formative years and received an East Roman education ...
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Aratius
Aratius ( el, 'Αράτιος, d. 552) was an Armenian military commander of the 6th century whose brother was Narses. He served at first the Sasanian Empire, then defected to the Byzantine Empire. He is primarily known for his activities in the Iberian War and the Gothic War. He was eventually killed in an ambush. Primary sources about him include Choricius of Gaza and Procopius of Caesarea.Martindale (1992), p. 102-104 Biography Aratius was a native of Persian Armenia. He was a brother of Isaacius (Isaac) and Narses. His brother should not be confused with the famous general Narses the Eunuch. Choricius of Gaza describes Aratius as originating from a good family and having distinguished brothers. He does not identify this family. Modern historians suggest that they could be part of the Kamsarakan family, also ancestral to Narses. Iberian War Aratius and Narses are first mentioned in 527. They were fighting for the Sassanid Empire in the Iberian War (526-532). The two of t ...
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Rodelinda (6th Century)
Rodelinda (6th-century), was a Lombard queen by marriage to king Audoin, and mother of king Alboin. Life She was the first wife of Audoin, regent for the infant king of the Lombards Walthari from 540 to 546/547 and king in his own right from 546/547 to an uncertain date after 552, and gave him a son, his successor Alboin.Martindale 1992, ''s.v. Audoin'', pp. 152 – 153 When the marriage took place is unclear. The contemporary Procopius speaks of a marriage arrangement between Audoin and an unnamed sister of Amalafrid, a prince of mixed royal Ostrogothic and Thuringian stock. The betrothal had been organized by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian at a date spanning from ca. 540 to 552, and this unnamed female may be the Rodelinda named by Paul the Deacon; but it has been objected to by the ''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'' that it is not certain that the marriage Procopius speaks of eventually took place. A major difficulty added to this is that in 552 Alboin was alr ...
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Procopius
Procopius of Caesarea ( grc-gre, Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; la, Procopius Caesariensis; – after 565) was a prominent late antique Greek scholar from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman general Belisarius in Emperor Justinian's wars, Procopius became the principal Roman historian of the 6th century, writing the ''History of the Wars'', the ''Buildings'', and the ''Secret History''. Life Apart from his own writings the main source for Procopius's life was an entry in the ''Suda'',Suda pi.2479. See under 'Procopius' oSuda On Line a Byzantine Greek encyclopaedia written sometime after 975 which discusses his early life. He was a native of Caesarea in the province of '' Palaestina Prima''. He would have received a conventional upper class education in the Greek classics and rhetoric, perhaps at the famous school at Gaza. He may have attended law school, possibly at Berytus (present-day Beirut) or Constantinople (now Istanbul), ...
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Justin (consul 540)
Flavius Mar. Petrus Theodorus Valentinus Rusticius Boraides Germanus Iustinus, simply and commonly known as Justin ( la, Iustinus, el, ; ), was an East Roman (Byzantine) aristocrat and general. A member of the Justinian Dynasty and nephew of Emperor Justinian I (), he was appointed as one of the last Roman consuls in 540, before going on to assume senior military commands in the Balkans and in Lazica. He fought against the Slavs, the Sassanid Persians and supervised the Byzantine Empire's first contacts with the Avars. At the time of Justinian's death, he was seen as a probable successor, but was beaten to the throne by his cousin, Justin II (), who exiled him to Egypt, where he was murdered. Biography Early life and campaigns Justin was born around 525, the eldest son of Germanus and his wife Passara. Germanus was a cousin of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I () and thus a member of the wider Justinian dynasty and cousin to Justinian's successor, Emperor Justin II ().. In 54 ...
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Germanus (cousin Of Justinian I)
Germanus ( el, Γερμανός; died 550) was an East Roman (Byzantine) general, one of the leading commanders of Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565). Germanus was Emperor Justinian's cousin, and a member of the ruling dynasty. He held commands in Thrace, North Africa, and the East against Persia, and was slated to command the final Byzantine expedition against the Ostrogoths. Having married into the Gothic Amal royal line through his second wife Matasuntha and a distinguished service record, at the time of his sudden death, he was considered the probable heir to Emperor Justinian. Biography Origins and early career Germanus was born before 505, the nephew of Emperor Justin I (r. 518–527) and thus cousin of Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565), and not his nephew, as is often erroneously stated... According to a statement in Jordanes's ''Getica'', Germanus was a descendant of the noble Roman clan of the Anicii. The exact nature of his connection, however, if indeed it is anythi ...
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