Alboin

King of the Lombards (r. c. 565-572)

• Born: Sixth century
• Birthplace: Pannonia (now in Hungary)
• Died: 572
• Place of death: Verona, Lombardy (now in Italy)

Alboin was a powerful and aggressive king of the Lombards who successfully invaded northern Italy in 568, countering the Byzantines and establishing a kingdom that lasted for more than two centuries.

Early Life

The Lombards, a northwestern Germanic tribe that may have originated in Scandinavia, flourished on the borders of the Roman Empire during the fifth century. They moved across the Danube to occupy Hungary in the 520's under the leadership of Waccho. It was there, in Pannonia, that Alboin (al-BOH-uhn) was born to the Lombard king Audoin, ruler from approximately 547 to 565, by his first wife, Rodelinda. Little is known about Alboin's early years, since much of his life remained undocumented until the Lombards moved into Italy in 568.

Alboin's childhood and young adulthood were shaped by an ongoing conflict with a neighboring tribe, the Gepids, a feud that continued into Alboin's rule. As a young adult, Alboin killed a Gepid prince, Thorismund, in a Gepid-Lombard battle that took place around 554. Alboin's success made such an impression on the other Lombard warriors that on their return to his father's court, the warriors proclaimed Alboin's power and bravery to Audoin.

Alboin is described as a young man by the historian Paulus Diaconus (Paul the Deacon) in Historia Langobardorum (c. 770-786). According to Diaconus, Alboin was tall, with the frame and attitude of a born warrior and leader. Alboin's appearance and demeanor, his lineage, and his triumphant encounter with the Gepids made him an obvious favorite for the Lombard throne, and on Audoin's death sometime prior to 565, Alboin became king.

On Alboin's succession to the throne, he married Chlotsuinda, daughter of Chlotochar I, king of the Franks. The two had a daughter, Albsuinda, who would be Alboin's only child; he thus would leave no suitable heir to the Lombard throne. It is probable that Alboin married Chlotsuinda primarily because of her Frankish background. This would have been a strategic maneuver for two reasons. First, the Franks were located to the west of the Lombards and were often invading periphery lands, and this union would have helped to protect the Lombards. Second, the Franks were Catholic, as were the Holy Roman and Byzantine Empires. A tie to Catholicism would have been of value to the Lombards, who practiced the Arian version of Christianity. Alboin apparently used the association with Catholicism as a political tool, and he allowed Arian religious practices to continue through his reign.

Life's Work

Although he was king of the Lombards for a relatively short period, Alboin did much to change the nationalistic map of developing Europe. His greatest accomplishment was the successful move of his people into northern Italy, where they established a Lombard kingdom. His first task, however, was to put to rest the long-running feud with the Gepids. The feud had taxed the resources of both tribes for such a long time that it had kept either side from advancing economically or growing in numbers and strength.

By the time Alboin became king of the Lombards, the Gepid king Thorisind, father of the slain Thorismund, had died and been succeeded by Cunimund. Therefore, the two major figures in the Gepid-Lombard war had changed, with Alboin and Cunimund now heading the feuding nations. Further, a new threat came from the northeast as the Avars, a group of Asiatics of Hunnish origin, menaced the peoples and lands of Europe. At the time of Alboin's accession, the Avars were situated to the east of the Gepid lands, with the Lombards to the west of the Gepids. To gain favor with the Avars and to remove the Gepids as a threat, Alboin suggested that the Avars and the Lombards together attack the Gepids, after which the Avars could have all the Gepid land and half the spoils of war. In addition, Alboin promised the Avars the Lombard lands of Pannonia, since he planned to invade northern Italy and move his people there after the destruction of the Gepids.

The Avars agreed to the combined invasion, and the Gepids were overthrown quickly and nearly completely. Alboin himself killed the Gepid king, Cunimund, in battle. Alboin allegedly removed Cunimund's head and had the skull made into a drinking goblet, which afterward was filled with wine and given to the king during festivals and receptions. The other “trophy” that Alboin claimed from the Gepid war was Cunimund's daughter, Rosamund. Because Alboin's first wife Chlotsuinda had died, Alboin took Rosamund as his queen. The Gepids essentially ceased to exist as a tribe, as the survivors became subjects of either the Lombards or the Avars.

Alboin then began to prepare to invade northeastern Italy. He gathered men and supplies and began the march in the early spring of 568. The Lombard troops crossed the Alps at the Predil Pass, where, according to legend, Alboin looked down and viewed Italy for the first time. The march through Venetia, including Verona, proceeded rather easily, and there is speculation that the invasion may not have been opposed. Alboin and his troops spent the winter of 568-569 in Venetia, during which time he set up a Lombard government, the duchy of Forum Julii, in a town now called Cividale. Alboin appointed his nephew Gisulf as first duke of Forum Julii.

In 569, Alboin continued west through the province of Liguria, into Milan, and to the Alps. Once he conquered Milan, Alboin began to refer to himself as the “lord of Italy,” and he counted that date as the beginning of his reign in Lombard Italy. The whole invasion was met with little resistance except at Pavia, just south of Milan. Pavia held out through a siege for three years but finally succumbed to hunger and disease. Despite the barbaric tradition of the Lombards, the Italian people seem to have suffered little during the invasion; when Pavia finally surrendered under the conditions that its church be left intact and its people unharmed, Alboin did not seek vengeance on the city.

Alboin did choose Pavia as the new Lombard capital and the depository of the Lombard riches. While Pavia was under siege, Alboin also conquered the Po Valley, moved into central Italy to conquer Tuscia and Umbria, and progressed into southern Italy, laying the foundations for the Lombard duchies of Spoleto and Benevento.

Throughout these conquered regions, the Lombards held many of the major cities and much of the countryside, but the Lombard hold was not exclusive and many important areas, including Genoa, Perugia, Rome, Naples, Salerno, and much of the Riviera and the province of Bruttii, remained out of their hands. Nevertheless, in Alboin's time, much of Italy came under Lombard rule, and the stage was set for eventual Lombard domination.

Several factors assisted Alboin's conquest of Italy. First, when the Lombards entered Italy, the country had already been devastated by the long years of the Gothic Wars. Second, disease had decreased the population of Italy so severely that towns had become almost extinct; large regions of the country had become deserted. Finally, a famine that raged in 570 across northern Italy further decreased the population. With these factors in mind, there has been some speculation among historians that Alboin was invited to “invade” Italy by the Byzantines in the hope of seeing the country repopulated. Regardless, by the close of Alboin's career, the Lombard people had successfully settled northern Italy and moved well into central and southern Italy.

In 572, shortly after Alboin's greatest successes, his career was cut short by murder. In the spring of that year, Alboin attended a banquet in Verona. At the festivities, he reportedly asked for the goblet fashioned out of the Gepid king Cunimund's skull, and he forced his wife Rosamund, Cunimund's daughter, to drink from it. Rosamund, apparently seeking vengeance, entered into a deal with Alboin's adviser and foster brother, Helmechis, and chamberlain Peredeo, to kill Alboin. Together, the assassins conspired to stab Alboin during an afternoon nap.

The Lombard people mourned their king. Although Helmechis apparently had hoped to be chosen as Alboin's successor, he, Peredeo, Rosamund, and Alboin's daughter Albsuinda fled to Ravenna. Peredeo and Albsuinda were taken to Constantinople, but nothing more is known of their fates. Helmechis and Rosamund were found poisoned in Ravenna.

Significance

As a side effect of his campaigns and conquests, Alboin helped to spread Lombard traditions of government, society, and aesthetics. The Lombards were more artistically and architecturally advanced than the then-dominant Byzantines, and the influence of Lombard law codes and economic traditions is evident in later Italian practices.

Alboin's most notable achievement, however, was the Lombard invasion of Italy. To accomplish this, Alboin had to engineer the displacement of a huge number of people, as the entire Lombard nation moved from the area of modern Hungary into northern Italy. Further, because of his maneuvering, the Gepids were eliminated from history, and the Avars ceased to ravage Europe. Moreover, the north of Italy, in Alboin's time severely underpopulated, became sufficiently populated to continue its economic and social progression. Regions not directly affected by Alboin's invasion included unconquered areas of Italy and southern France. Peoples along the south of France moved to higher and less accessible grounds to protect themselves from the Lombards, and the occupants of unconquered areas of Italy built up and fortified their towns. In all, Alboin caused a huge number of people to change the ways they lived, worked, and ultimately developed.

Lombard Kings, 565-774

Reign

• Ruler

565-572

• Alboin

573-575

• Celph

575-584

• Unstable

584-590

• Authari

590-591

• Theodelinda

591-615

• Agilulf

615-625

• Adaloald

625-636

• Arioald

636-652

• Rotharis

652-661

• Aribert I

661-662

• Godipert

662-671

• Grimoald

671-674

• Garibald

674-688

• Bertharit

688-700

• Cunibert

700-701

• Liutpert

701

• Raginpert

701-712

• Aribert II

712-744

• Liutprand

744-749

• Rachis of Friuli

749-756

• Aistulf of Friuli

756-774

• Desiderius

774

• Frankish conquest

Bibliography

Christie, Neil. The Lombards: The Ancient Longobards. Cambridge, England: Blackwell, 1992. Incorporates material-culture and archaeological evidence on the Lombards, addressing issues thematically and chronologically.

Geary, Patrick J. The Myth of Nations: The Medieval Origins of Europe. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2002. Analyzes nation-building in Europe including Italy during the Middle Ages, and discusses nationalism in relation to immigration, ethnicity, race, and xenophobia.

Harrison, Dick. The Early State and the Towns: Forms of Integration in Lombard Italy, A.D. 568-774. Lund, Sweden: Lund University Press, 1993. A look at the history of the towns of Lombard Italy. Includes maps, bibliography, and index.

Hodgkin, Thomas. Italy and Her Invaders, 553-600. 1895. Reprint. New York: Russell and Russell, 1967. Covers the history of Italian invasions, from the expulsion of the Goths from Italy to the death of the Lombard king Liutprand.

Koenigsberger, Helmut G. Medieval Europe, 400-1500. Harlow, England: Longman, 1987. An insightful study of medieval Europe that discusses political events, society, and culture.

Tabacco, G. The Struggle for Power in Medieval Italy: Structures of Political Rule. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1989. Deals with the many political struggles in medieval Italy, emphasizing the ways in which power is set up and rationed.

Villari, Pasquale. The Barbarian Invasions of Italy. 2 vols. New York: Scribner, 1902. Discusses in clear and well-documented detail the ancient and medieval invaders of Italy, from the Goths and Byzantines to the Franks.

Wolfram, Herwig. The Roman Empire and Its Germanic Peoples. Translated by Thomas Dunlap. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. Includes a chapter on the Lombards in northern Italy and how their new kingdom affected the transformation of the Roman world. Includes maps, bibliography, and index.