Lupus of Friuli
Encyclopedia
Lupus was the Duke of Friuli
from between 660 and 663 to his death around 666.
Immediately after succeeded to Friuli, Lupus invaded Grado
with a body of cavalry and plundered the city, then proceeding to Aquileia
, where he stole the treasures of the Patriarchate.
When King Grimoald
went south to rescue his son Romuald
and the Duchy of Benevento
from the invasion of the Byzantine Emperor Constans II, he put Lupus in charge of Pavia
. Lupus played the tyrant during Grimoald's absence, believing that the king would not return and, so, was forced to flee to Cividale, seat of Friuli, and enter into rebellion when the king did come north again. Grimoald promptly asked the Khagan of the Avars to attack Friuli in order to prevent a civil war in Italy. Fighting lasted for four days at Flovius, during which Lupus held his own for three, taking much booty and slaughtering many men, before his own losses and the arrival of Avar reinforcements forced his army to retreat. He himself was killed in battle.
Lupus' son Arnefrit
claimed Friuli on his father's death, but was unseated by Grimoald. Lupus' daughter Theuderada (or Theodorada) married the aforementioned Romuald. She acted as regent of Benevento for their son Gisulf
.
Duke of Friuli
The dukes and margraves of Friuli were the rulers of the Duchy and March of Friuli in the Middle Ages.The dates given below, when contentious, are discussed in the articles of the respective dukes.-Lombard dukes:* 568–c.584 Grasulf I...
from between 660 and 663 to his death around 666.
Immediately after succeeded to Friuli, Lupus invaded Grado
Grado, Italy
Grado is a town and comune in the north-eastern Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located on a peninsula of the Adriatic Sea between Venice and Trieste....
with a body of cavalry and plundered the city, then proceeding to Aquileia
Aquileia
Aquileia is an ancient Roman city in what is now Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about 10 km from the sea, on the river Natiso , the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times...
, where he stole the treasures of the Patriarchate.
When King Grimoald
Grimoald I of Benevento
Grimoald I was duke of Benevento and king of the Lombards .Born probably before 610 to Duke Gisulf II of Friuli and the Bavarian princess Ramhilde, daughter of Duke Garibald I of Bavaria, he succeeded his brother Radoald as duke of Benevento...
went south to rescue his son Romuald
Romuald I of Benevento
Romuald I , duke of Benevento was the son of Grimoald, king of the Lombards. He received Benevento when his father usurped the throne in 662. Grimoald sent the deposed king Perctarit's wife Rodelinde and son Cunincpert to the court of his son in Benevento.Romuald betrothed his sister Gisa to...
and the Duchy of Benevento
Duchy of Benevento
The Duchy and later Principality of Benevento was the southernmost Lombard duchy in medieval Italy, centred on Benevento, a city central in the Mezzogiorno. Owing to the Ducatus Romanus of the popes, which cut it off from the rest of Lombard Italy, Benevento was from the first practically...
from the invasion of the Byzantine Emperor Constans II, he put Lupus in charge of Pavia
Pavia
Pavia , the ancient Ticinum, is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It is the capital of the province of Pavia. It has a population of c. 71,000...
. Lupus played the tyrant during Grimoald's absence, believing that the king would not return and, so, was forced to flee to Cividale, seat of Friuli, and enter into rebellion when the king did come north again. Grimoald promptly asked the Khagan of the Avars to attack Friuli in order to prevent a civil war in Italy. Fighting lasted for four days at Flovius, during which Lupus held his own for three, taking much booty and slaughtering many men, before his own losses and the arrival of Avar reinforcements forced his army to retreat. He himself was killed in battle.
Lupus' son Arnefrit
Arnefrit of Friuli
Arnefrit, Arnefrid, Amefrit, or Amefrith was the son of Lupus of Friuli who claimed the Duchy of Friuli after his father's death in 666....
claimed Friuli on his father's death, but was unseated by Grimoald. Lupus' daughter Theuderada (or Theodorada) married the aforementioned Romuald. She acted as regent of Benevento for their son Gisulf
Gisulf I of Benevento
Gisulf I was the duke of Benevento from 680, when his brother Grimoald died. His father was Romuald I. His mother was Theodrada , daughter of Lupus of Friuli, and she exercised the regency for him for the first years of his reign....
.
Sources
- Paul the DeaconPaul the DeaconPaul the Deacon , also known as Paulus Diaconus, Warnefred, Barnefridus and Cassinensis, , was a Benedictine monk and historian of the Lombards.-Life:...
. Historia Langobardorum. Translated by William Dudley Foulke. University of Pennsylvania: 1907. - Hartmann, Ludo Moritz. Geschichte Italiens im Mittelalter. Gotha, 1903.
- Hodgkin, ThomasThomas Hodgkin (historian)Thomas Hodgkin , British historian, son of John Hodgkin , barrister and Quaker minister, and Elizabeth Howard ....
. Italy and her Invaders. Clarendon Press: 1895. - Oman, CharlesCharles OmanSir Charles William Chadwick Oman was a British military historian of the early 20th century. His reconstructions of medieval battles from the fragmentary and distorted accounts left by chroniclers were pioneering...
. The Dark Ages 476–918. Rivingtons: London, 1914.