Kunimund

Kunimund († 567 ) was a king of the Gepids in the 6th century.

Life

Kunimund was a son of the Gepid king Turisind , whom he succeeded to the Gepid king's throne around 560. At that time the Gepids settled on the central Danube, where they had established their own domain under Ardarich after the collapse of the Attila Empire in the 5th century (see Migration ).

Since the mid-540s, however, considerable tensions had built up between the Gepids and the Lombards who had settled nearby , which had ultimately led to fighting. Turisind, however, had reached an agreement with the Lombards under Audoin . He died around the same time as Turisind; Audoin's son and successor Alboin again pursued an expansive policy towards the Gepids. Paulus Diaconus , who wrote in the 8th century, reports that there was also personal enmity between Kunimund and Alboin, especially since he had killed Kunimund's brother in battle some time before. A first attack in 565/66 failed because the Eastern Roman Emperor Justin II intervened in favor of the Gepids. After they did not cede the fortress Sirmium to Ostrom, Justin withdrew his support from the Gepids. Alboin secured the backing of the Avars , who had only recently appeared in the Danube region and now represented a considerable power factor. Finally, in 567, Alboin attacked the Gepids again and this time no one came to their aid. They suffered a complete defeat, Kunimund himself was killed in the battle; Alboin allegedly had a drinking cup made from his skull. The remaining Gepids came under Lombard and Avar rule; some Gepids, however, preferred to enter Eastern Roman services.

Kunimund's daughter Rosamunde took Alboin as his wife, but this event is overgrown with legend. According to another source, Alboin robbed Rosamunde, which started the war in the first place, but this tradition is not credible. However, Rosamunde was later involved in the murder of Alboin.

literature

• Wilfried Menghin : The Lombards . Stuttgart 1985.
• Walter Pohl : The Avars . 2nd edition Munich 2002.

Remarks

1. ↑ See Paulus Diaconus , Historia Langobardorum , 1:24.
2. ↑ Basically: Pohl (2002).
3. ↑ Paulus Diaconus, Historia Langobardorum , 1, 27.Cf. also Menghin (1985), pp. 85f.
4. ↑ See Pohl (2002), p. 56f.