Droctulf was a Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 general of Suevic or Alemannic origin. According to Paul the Deacon

Paul the Deacon

Paul the Deacon , also known as Paulus Diaconus, Warnefred, Barnefridus and Cassinensis, , was a Benedictine monk and historian of the Lombards.-Life:...

, Historia Langobardorum, he was raised with among the Lombards

Lombards

The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...

, with whom he entered the Italian peninsula

Italian Peninsula

The Italian Peninsula or Apennine Peninsula is one of the three large peninsulas of Southern Europe , spanning from the Po Valley in the north to the central Mediterranean Sea in the south. The peninsula's shape gives it the nickname Lo Stivale...

 in 569. He eventually joined the Byzantine army

Byzantine army

The Byzantine army was the primary military body of the Byzantine armed forces, serving alongside the Byzantine navy. A direct descendant of the Roman army, the Byzantine army maintained a similar level of discipline, strategic prowess and organization...

 to fight against them, becoming an important ally of both Emperor and Pope

Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...

.

After Faroald

Faroald I of Spoleto

Faroald I was the first Duke of Spoleto, which he established during the decade of interregnum that followed the death of Alboin's successor . He led the Lombards into the centre of the Italian peninsula while Zotto led them into the south.In 579, he sacked Classis, the harbour of Ravenna...

, the Lombard duke of Spoleto, captured Classis

Port of Ravenna

The Port of Ravenna, is an Italian seaport on the North Adriatic Sea in Ravenna, ItalyThe coordinates for this canal port are 44° 29’ N and 12° 17’ Efor Marina di Ravenna sideWP2 44° 29’,58 N 12° 17’,48 EWP3 44° 29’,42 N 12° 17’,43 E...

, the port of Ravenna

Ravenna

Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome...

, Droctulf recaptured for the Empire it in 575–76. He was briefly imprisoned (Paul refers to a captivitas), but was released to the Empire and served as the commander (dux

Dux

Dux is Latin for leader and later for Duke and its variant forms ....

, duke) of the Byzantine post of Brescello

Brescello

Brescello is a comune in the Province of Reggio Emilia in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about 80 km northwest of Bologna and about 25 km northwest of Reggio Emilia...

 (Reggio nell'Emilia), which guarded a bridge over the river Po leading to Classis, from around 584. Between 584 and 590, he warred extensively against Authari

Authari

Authari also known as Agilolf, was king of the Lombards from 584 to his death. After his father, Cleph, died in 574, the Lombardic nobility refused to appoint a successor, resulting in ten years interregnum known as the Rule of the Dukes.In 574 and 575 the Lombards made the blunder of invading...

, king of the Lombards, who eventually forced him to retreat to Ravenna

Ravenna

Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome...

 while the region of Brescello was taken by the Lombards and the walls of the city razed to the ground.

After his failure in Italy, Droctulf was called to the Balkans

Balkans

The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...

 and Thrace

Thrace

Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...

 to fend off the army of Slavs and Avars

Eurasian Avars

The Eurasian Avars or Ancient Avars were a highly organized nomadic confederacy of mixed origins. They were ruled by a khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit entourage of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of Turko-Mongol groups...

 then besieging Adrianople (586). The Byzantines granted him burial in the Basilica of San Vitale

Basilica of San Vitale

The Church of San Vitale — styled an "ecclesiastical basilica" in the Roman Catholic Church, though it is not of architectural basilica form — is a church in Ravenna, Italy, one of the most important examples of early Christian Byzantine Art and architecture in western Europe...

 in Ravenna, where his lengthy epitaph survived to be recorded by Paul.

Croce and Borges recorded the fact in their works

Sources

• Paul the Deacon
  Paul the Deacon
  Paul the Deacon , also known as Paulus Diaconus, Warnefred, Barnefridus and Cassinensis, , was a Benedictine monk and historian of the Lombards.-Life:...
  
  . Historia Langobardorum.
• Theophylact Simocatta
  Theophylact Simocatta
  Theophylact Simocatta was an early seventh-century Byzantine historiographer, arguably ranking as the last historian of Late Antiquity, writing in the time of Heraclius about the late Emperor Maurice .-Life:His history of the reign of emperor Maurice is in eight books...
  
  . Historiae
• S. Gasparri. "Droctulfo". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani.