Grimoald (Longobard)

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Grimoald , also: Grimuald, Grimwald , (* around 600; † 671 ) was Duke of Benevento from 647 to 662 and King of the Lombards from 662 to 671 .

Life

Origin and youth

Grimoald was born around 600 as the youngest son of dux Gisulf II of Friuli and his wife Romilda. Around 610 his father was killed in defense of Friuli against the Avars . Grimoald and his brothers Taso, Cacco and Raduald were captured with their mother and four sisters and abducted. On the way to Pannonia, the brothers escaped and returned to Friuli. The circumstances of the flight were handed down in legendary embellishments by Paulus deacon.

Around 614, Grimoald's brothers Taso and Cacco, the duces of Friuli, were murdered by patricius Gregor in Opitergium ( Oderzo ). Grimoald's uncle Grasulf II took over the ducat. The brothers Raduald and Grimoald, both “almost of their youth” ( iam prope iuvenilem aetatem ), went to Arichis I , their former teacher, who received them kindly. Hodgkin assumes that Arichis was the tutor of her father Gisulf II and her uncle Grasulf II.

Marriages and offspring

Grimoald was married to Ita (probably Uta de Bavaria , daughter of Theodo I. von Baiern and the Gleisnod de Friuli ), with whom he had three children: the son Romuald I , the daughter Gisa († around 672 in Sicily) and one Daughter not known by name, who married Transamund I of Spoleto in 663 .

In 662 he married the unknown daughter of the late King Aripert I with whom he had the son Garibald .

Duke of Benevento

In 647 he succeeded his brother Raduald as Duke of Benevento. When Byzantine raiders attacked the sanctuary of the Archangel Michael on Monte Garganus ( Gargano ), Grimoald came with his army and killed them all.

Godepert , who ruled together with his brother Perctarit as King of the Lombards, sought the support of Grimoald against Perctarit in 661/662 and offered him his sister as a wife. Grimoald planned to usurp the kingdom himself and saw in marriage a welcome legitimation of his claim. He handed his duchy over to his son Romuald in 662 and marched with a small band of warriors to the royal seat in Pavia. On the way Grimoald gathered allies around him and sent Transamund, the comes (Count) of Capua , to Spoleto and Tuscia to find more allies. In the Emilia both departments combined. Grimoald stabbed Godepert in his palace in 662. Perctarit fled into exile with the Avars , while his wife Rodelinda and young son Cunincpert were taken hostage to Benevento.

King of the Lombards

Italy around 662

A popular assembly confirmed Grimoald as king. He married Godepert's sister and dissolved his army except for a small retinue . Nevertheless resistance spread; The supporters of the deposed dynasty formed in Asti and Turin and made contact with the Frankish Empire . Meanwhile, Grimoald threatened the Avars with war if they did not hand over Perctarit. This returned to the Longobard Empire and submitted to Grimoald, who initially welcomed him in Pavia. He received a severance payment and a stately home from the king, but as a pretender to the throne he remained a danger. Apparently Grimoald was planning his assassination, at least he fled again, this time to the Franks .

A military intervention by the Franconian Empire in favor of the Agilolfinger failed in a battle near Asti, which was costly for the Franks. Relations with the Franks improved obviously: Paul the Deacon reports that Grimoald with Dagobert II. In the late 660 he years a Pacis firmissimae to have closed (highly durable peace). Dagobert II was living in exile in Britain at that time, so Georg Waitz suspected that the contract with Childerich II. Or Chlothar III. has been closed. Even Ludo Moritz Hartmann holds the contract for historical, but excludes Scrooge as a contractor also made.

In 662, the Byzantine emperor Constans II landed with his army near Taranto . He conquered numerous cities in Benevento. Luceria ( Lucera ) was razed to the ground, the strongly fortified Agerentia ( Acerenza ) was able to hold out. Dux Romuald sent messengers from besieged Benevento to his father Grimoald, asking for reinforcements. Grimoald left his palace in the care of the dux Lupus of Friuli and marched on Benevento. When Konstans II learned of the near Grimoald, he was u. a. Romuald's sister Gisa hostage and started peace negotiations. The negotiations failed and he withdrew to Naples fighting. After the Byzantine Optimat (general) Saburrus and 20,000 soldiers were defeated by Romuald on the Forino River , Konstans withdrew to Sicily in 663. After the fighting was over, Grimoald married his other daughter in 663 to Transamund, the comes of Capua, and appointed him dux of Spoleto after Atto's death .

Around 664 dux Lupus of Friuli rebelled against Grimoald. The king did not want to risk a civil war and agreed with the Avars that they should put down the uprising. In a four-day battle on the Fluvius Frigidus 'Cold River' (today: Hubelj ), Lupus falls and the Avars sack Friuli. With diplomatic skill, Grimoald was able to persuade the Avars to retreat. Then he married his son Romuald to Theuderada, daughter of dux Lupus of Friuli. Others who took advantage of his absence and fell away from him were also punished. In the Byzantine city of Forum Populi ( Forlimpopoli ), he caused a bloodbath. Around 667 Grimoald completely destroyed the city of Opitergium, in which his older brothers had been murdered, and distributed the area and its inhabitants to the ducats of Friuli, Treviso and Ceneda.

Alzeco (also Alzek), a Chagan (prince) of the Proto-Bulgarians , crossed the Alps in 667 and moved peacefully with his army to northern Italy in the area around Ravenna . Grimoald sent him to Benevento, where dux Romuald received him kindly. Alzeco were u. a. the cities of Sepinum ( Sepino ), Bovianum ( Bojano ) and Isernia in the Molise region were awarded, provided that he renounced his title dux and claim to power and accepted the title gastaldius .

In 668 he added a few chapters to the Edictum Rothari : The divine judgment through a duel was largely replaced by sacred oaths. Bigamy was made a criminal offense. The inheritance law was changed based on Roman law so that the grandchildren were now also entitled to inheritance instead of their deceased parents.

Grimoald died aged 671 as a result of bloodletting and was buried in the St. Ambrose basilica in Pavia, which he built .

A brief interlude followed when Garibald, Grimoald's son, was made king, but three months later, Perctarit came to the throne a second time.

swell

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Historia Langobardorum  - Sources and full texts (Latin)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Historia Langobardorum IV, 37
  2. ↑ a b c Historia Langobardorum V, 33
  3. ↑ Thomas Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders Vol VI p. 53 ff
  4. ↑ a b Thomas Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders Vol VI pp. 74-79
  5. ↑ Paulus Diaconus, Historia Langobardorum IV, 38–39
  6. ↑ a b c Historia Langobardorum IV, 46
  7. ↑ a b Historia Langobardorum V, 8
  8. ↑ Historia Langobardorum IV, 14
  9. ↑ Historia Langobardorum V, 16
  10. ↑ a b Historia Langobardorum V, 1
  11. ↑ Thomas Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders Vol VI p. 81
  12. ↑ Historia Langobardorum IV, 51
  13. ↑ Historia Langobardorum V, 2
  14. ↑ Historia Langobardorum V, 5
  15. ↑ Historia Langobardorum V, 32
  16. ^ Georg Waitz: Pauli historia Langobardorum. In: Monumenta Germaniae, Scriptores Rerum Langobardicarum. P. 155.
  17. ^ Hartmann: History of Italy in the Middle Ages. Vol. 2.1. Leipzig 1900, p. 277.
  18. ↑ Historia Langobardorum V, 6
  19. ↑ Historia Langobardorum V, 7
  20. ↑ Historia Langobardorum V, 17
  21. ↑ Historia Langobardorum V, 9
  22. ↑ Historia Langobardorum V, 10-11
  23. ↑ Historia Langobardorum V, 16
  24. ↑ Historia Langobardorum V, 18-21
  25. ↑ Historia Langobardorum V, 25
  26. ↑ Historia Langobardorum V, 26-27
  27. ↑ Historia Langobardorum V, 28
  28. ↑ Thomas Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders Vol VI p. 43
  29. ↑ Friedhelm Winkelmann u. a .: Prosopography of the Middle Byzantine Period , Vol. 1, Walter de Gruyter Verlag, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3110151790 , p. 62f.
  30. ↑ Historia Langobardorum V, 29
  31. ↑ a b Thomas Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders Vol VI p. 291f
predecessor Office successor
Raduald Duke of Benevento
647–662 		Romuald I.
Godepert
perctarite 		King of the Lombards
662–671 		Garibald
personal data
SURNAME Grimoald
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Grimwald; Grimuald
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of the Lombards
DATE OF BIRTH around 600
DATE OF DEATH 671