Rodelinda

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Rodelinda (also called Rodelinde ) was a noblewoman who lived in the 7th century. She was married to the Agilolfinger Perctarit , with whom she had two children, the son Cunincpert and the daughter Wigilinde , who married the dux Grimoald II of Benevento . Rodelinda was Queen of the Lombards at Perctarit's side from 661 to 662 and again from 671 to 688 .

Life

After Aripert's death in 661, the Godepert brothers , based in Ticinum ( Pavia ) and Perctarit from Mediolanum ( Milan ), ruled the Longobard Empire together as kings with equal rights . The Duke of Benevento , Grimoald , took advantage of the unstable situation caused by the change of government and began to usurp power. He murdered Godepert and drove Perctarit into exile with the Avars , while his wife Rodelinda and his young son Cunincpert were taken to Benevento as hostages. Grimoald, who had his kingship confirmed by the nobility and who married Perctarit's sister, who was not known by name, in 662, thus ruled the Lombards unchallenged as the new king. Perctarit, who finally returned from exile with the Franks with the death of Grimoald in 671 , was unanimously re-elected King of the Lombards after the expulsion of Garibald , Grimoald's minor son and successor, and left his wife and son from Beneventin exile bring back. Under Perctarit, who, unlike his Arian predecessors, was a devout Catholic , the Catholic faith became the state religion in the Longobard Empire. Perctarit had the Agatha monastery built in Pavia , while Queen Rodelinda had the Basilica Sanctae Dei Genitricis (Church of the Holy Mother of God) built on the pagan cult site of Ad Perticas in front of the city .

reception

Rodelinda is a main character in the operas Rodelinda, regina de 'Longobardi by Georg Friedrich Handel and Flavius ​​Bertaridus, King of the Longobards by Georg Philipp Telemann , which premiered in London in 1725 and in Hamburg in 1729 .

swell

literature

Web links

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

Remarks

  1. ↑ The Rodelinda described here is not to be confused with the Rodelinda from the 6th century, which was the first wife of the Lombard king Audoin .
  2. ^ Paulus Diaconus , Historia Langobardorum V, 1.
  3. ^ Paulus Diaconus, Historia Langobardorum IV, 51
  4. ^ A b Paulus Diaconus, Historia Langobardorum V, 33
  5. ^ The New Cambridge Medieval History , Vol. 2, p. 321
  6. ^ Paulus Diaconus, Historia Langobardorum V, 34
personal data
SURNAME Rodelinda
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Toboggan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Wife of the Longobard King Perctarit
DATE OF BIRTH 7th century
DATE OF DEATH 7th century