Thurisind (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: ''Turisindus'', died ) was king of the

Gepids The Gepids (; ) were an East Germanic tribes, East Germanic tribe who lived in the area of modern Romania, Hungary, and Serbia, roughly between the Tisza, Sava, and Carpathian Mountains. They were said to share the religion and language of the G ...

, an East Germanic Gothic people, from c. 548 to 560. He was the penultimate Gepid king, and succeeded King Elemund by staging a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

and forcing the king's son into exile. Thurisind's kingdom, known as

Gepidia The Gepids (; ) were an East Germanic tribes, East Germanic tribe who lived in the area of modern Romania, Hungary, and Serbia, roughly between the Tisza, Sava, and Carpathian Mountains. They were said to share the religion and language of the G ...

, was located in

Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

and had its centre in

Sirmium Sirmium was a city in the Roman province of Pannonia, located on the Sava river, on the site of modern Sremska Mitrovica in the Vojvodina autonomous province of Serbia. First mentioned in the 4th century BC and originally inhabited by Illyrians ...

, a former Roman city on the Sava River (now the town of

Sremska Mitrovica Sremska Mitrovica (; sr-Cyrl, Сремска Митровица, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city in Serbia. It is situated on the left bank of the Sava, Sava river. , the city has a total population of 36,764 inhabitants, while its adminis ...

, Serbia). His reign was marked by multiple wars with the

Lombards The Lombards () or Longobards () were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people who conquered most of the Italian Peninsula between 568 and 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written betwee ...

, a Germanic people who had arrived in the former

Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, on the west by Noricum and upper Roman Italy, Italy, and on the southward by Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia and upper Moesia. It ...

under the leadership of their king,

Audoin Alduin (Langobardic: ''Aldwin'' or ''Hildwin'', ; also called Auduin or Audoin) was List of kings of the Lombards, king of the Lombards from 547 to 560. Life Audoin was of the Gausian dynasty, Gausi, a prominent Lombard ruling clan, and accordin ...

. Thurisind also had to face the hostility of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

, which was resentful of the Gepid takeover of Sirmium and anxious to diminish Gepid power in the

Pannonian Basin The Pannonian Basin, with the term Carpathian Basin being sometimes preferred in Hungarian literature, is a large sedimentary basin situated in southeastern Central Europe. After the Treaty of Trianon following World War I, the geomorpholog ...

, a plain covering most of modern Hungary and partly including the bordering states. The Byzantines' plans to reduce the Gepids' power took effect when Audoin decisively defeated Thurisind in 551 or 552. The Byzantine Emperor

Justinian Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

forced a peace accord on both leaders so that equilibrium in the Pannonian Basin could be sustained. Thurisind lost his eldest son, Turismod, in the Battle of Asfeld, during which the prince was killed by

Alboin Alboin (530s – 28 June 572) was List of kings of the Lombards, king of the Lombards from about 560 until 572. During his reign the Lombards ended their migration period, migrations by settling in Kingdom of the Lombards, Italy, the northern ...

, son of Audoin. In about 560, Thurisind died and was succeeded by his remaining son Cunimund, who was killed by Alboin in 567. Cunimund's death marked the end of the Gepid Kingdom and the beginning of the conquest of their territories by the Lombards' allies, the Avars, a nomadic people migrating from the

Eurasian Steppe The Eurasian Steppe, also called the Great Steppe or The Steppes, is the vast steppe ecoregion of Eurasia in the temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands biome. It stretches through Manchuria, Mongolia, Xinjiang, Kazakhstan, Siberia, Europea ...

Early sources

Hanoverae MDCCCLXXVII simply Hangover 1878

Of the four early

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

sources relevant to Thurisind that survive, the only one providing independent evidence of the king, accounts of

's wars, and a detailed account of the relations between

and

and their kings is ''De Bellis'' (550s), the most important work of

Procopius Procopius of Caesarea (; ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; ; – 565) was a prominent Late antiquity, late antique Byzantine Greeks, Greek scholar and historian from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman general Belisarius in Justinian I, Empe ...

. Considered the greatest historian of the 6th century, Procopius was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

writer born in Caesarea in

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

in 527. The Lombard–Gepid wars are well described in Procopius' work, as the conflict played an important part in the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

plans to invade Italy by a land route. Less relevant is the other 6th-century source,

Jordanes Jordanes (; Greek language, Greek: Ιορδάνης), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat, claimed to be of Goths, Gothic descent, who became a historian later in life. He wrote two works, one on R ...

' '' Romana''. Of Gothic ancestry, Jordanes served as a

notarius A notarius is a public secretary who is appointed by competent authority to draw up official or authentic documents (compare English "notary"). In the Roman Catholic Church there have been apostolic notaries and even episcopal notaries. Document ...

for a Byzantine Master of the Soldiers before entering into the ranks of the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

and writing his two surviving books, the ''Romana'' and the ''

Getica ''De origine actibusque Getarum'' (''The Origin and Deeds of the Getae''), commonly abbreviated ''Getica'' (), written in Late Latin by Jordanes in or shortly after 551 AD, claims to be a summary of a voluminous account by Cassiodorus of the ori ...

''. The latter is a summary of Gothic history, while the lesser known ''Romana'' is an abridged account of Roman history written in 551 or 552. According to James O'Donnell, the two works share a pessimistic view of human life in which all secular accomplishments are insignificant compared to religious goals. Jordanes does not explicitly mention Thurisind in the ''Romana'', but speaks of the third Lombard–Gepid War, in which Thurisind participated, in the last passages of the work.

Paul the Deacon Paul the Deacon ( 720s 13 April in 796, 797, 798, or 799 AD), also known as ''Paulus Diaconus'', ''Warnefridus'', ''Barnefridus'', or ''Winfridus'', and sometimes suffixed ''Cassinensis'' (''i.e.'' "of Monte Cassino"), was a Benedictine monk, sc ...

was the most important Italian writer of the 8th century.Goffart 1988, p. 329 Born in the 720s or 730s, he came from a noble Lombard family from

Friuli Friuli (; ; or ; ; ) is a historical region of northeast Italy. The region is marked by its separate regional and ethnic identity predominantly tied to the Friulians, who speak the Friulian language. It comprises the major part of the autono ...

. He entered the clergy early, and eventually became a

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

of the

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

Monte Cassino The Abbey of Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a Catholic Church, Catholic, Benedictines, Benedictine monastery on a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Valle Latina, Latin Valley. Located on the site of the ancient ...

. His most famous work is the ''

Historia Langobardorum The ''History of the Lombards'' or the ''History of the Langobards'' () is the chief work by Paul the Deacon, written in the late 8th century. This incomplete history in six books was written after 787 and at any rate no later than 796, maybe at ...

'', a history of the Lombard nation. Written after 787, it is a continuation of his previous major historical work, the '' Historia Romana'', which was based on the ''Breviarium'' of Eutropius, with six books added describing historical events up to Justinian's empire. Both of these works mention Thurisind and the third Lombard–Gepid War, which represent the only overlap between the ''Historia Langobardorum'' and the ''Historia Romana''. Both books also mention the duel between the kings' sons, an event which is absent in Procopius' writing and is thought to have originated through

oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication in which knowledge, art, ideas and culture are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (19 ...

. Similarly, the meeting between Thurisind and Audoin's son at the former's court derives from an oral source.

Rise to power

The Gepids were a major Germanic people in what is now eastern Hungary, western Romania, and northern

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. Although the details of his early life are not known, Thurisind is believed to have risen to power in about 548.Boná 1976, p. 19 After the death of Elemund, the previous king, he seized the throne in a coup d'état and forced Elemund's son Ostrogotha into exile. Ostrogotha and his followers found refuge among the Gepids' neighbours and enemies, the Lombards, another Germanic people who had just settled in the western part of the

.Amory 2003, p. 431 The Gepids had inhabited parts of the basin since the 3rd century. They reached prominence in the 5th century when, under King

Ardaric Ardaric (; c. 450 AD) was the Germanic kingship, king of the Gepids, a Germanic peoples, Germanic tribe closely related to the Goths. He was "famed for his loyalty and wisdom," one of the most trusted adherents of Attila the Hun, who "prized him a ...

, they played a key role in destroying the

Hunnic Empire The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th centuries AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was pa ...

. Ardaric and his people benefited more than anybody else from this victory, gaining the former Roman province of

Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus ro ...

. In 504 the Gepids' power was significantly reduced by the

Ostrogoths The Ostrogoths () were a Roman-era Germanic peoples, Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Goths, Gothic kingdoms within the Western Roman Empire, drawing upon the large Gothic populatio ...

, who cut short their expansion into the Danubian plains. The Gepids restricted themselves to the eastern part of the Pannonian Basin; this was to form the core of Thurisind's dominions, just as it had under the previous Gepid kings. By the early 6th century, the Gepid nobility converted to

Arian Arianism (, ) is a Christological doctrine which rejects the traditional notion of the Trinity and considers Jesus to be a creation of God, and therefore distinct from God. It is named after its major proponent, Arius (). It is considered he ...

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

, while most of the Gepids remained pagans. According to the scholar István Boná, Thurisind's rise to power is a typical example of the conflicts among the leading families for the kingship that plagued Gepidia in the 6th century and made it difficult to maintain the succession within the king's family. To contain these obstacles Thurisind made Turismod, his oldest son, commander of the Gepid forces in

, an important position that made Turismod the king's

heir apparent An heir apparent is a person who is first in the order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. A person who is first in the current order of succession but could be displaced by the birth of a more e ...

(in early Germanic custom the eldest son was not necessarily the first in line of succession). After Turismod died, his younger brother Cunimund became commander in Sirmium and thus heir apparent.Boná 1976, p. 70

First war with the Lombards

On becoming king in 548, Thurisind immediately found himself in a difficult situation. Sometime during 546Martindale 1992, ''s.v. Audoin'', pp. 152–153–548,Wolfram 1997, p. 283 the Byzantine Empire had conspired to convince the Lombards under Audoin to move into

(modern Hungary), a former Roman province bordering the Danube river. Justinian hoped this would keep open the land route from the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

to Italy while containing the Gepids, who he considered a serious menace to Byzantine interests on the Balkan frontier. The Gothic War between the Ostrogoths and the Byzantines had been raging on the Italian peninsula since 535; Justinian wanted to be able to rush troops to Italy if they were needed.Sarantis 2006, pp. 17–18 According to the contemporary

in the ''De Bello Gothico'' (the section of the ''De Bellis'' regarding the Gothic War), Justinian resented the takeover by the Gepids of the formerly Roman city of Sirmium in 537, which may have been voluntarily surrendered by the Ostrogoths to create difficulties for the Byzantines. The Ostrogoths were also occupied with the war in Italy and sought to retain their possessions in the peninsula. Sirmium's takeover was followed in 539 by a bloody confrontation between the Gepids and the Byzantines that had cost the latter the life of Calluc, their Master of the Soldiers, and also the loss to the Gepids of

Dacia ripensis Dacia Ripensis () was the name of a Roman province in the northern Balkan peninsula, immediately south of the Middle Danube. Its capital was Ratiaria (modern Archar, Bulgaria). It was a district less urban than neighbouring Dacia Mediterranea ...

(Serbia) and Singidunum (

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

). Because of this, Justinian ended the alliance that had bonded the Gepids and Byzantines, and had ceased paying tributes to the Gepids, finding an enemy to set them against in the Lombards.Pohl 1997, p. 90 The build-up towards a war involving Lombards, Gepids, and Byzantines started possibly in 548 or 549, with Audoin and Thurisind each sending an embassy to Justinian's court at

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, in attempts to obtain military support from Justinian or at least, in the case of Thurisind, to get a pledge of neutrality. To sway Justinian, Thurisind's envoys reminded him of their long tradition of alliance and promised to fight against Byzantium's enemies. However, the emperor sided with the Lombards; he made them formal allies and promised to provide troops against the Gepids. From Justinian's perspective, this war was of major importance in the larger context of the Gothic War, because possession of Pannonia was strategically necessary to keep open land communications between Italy and the Balkans.Pohl 1997, pp. 90–91 Historians debate as to when the conflict started. Proposed dates for the first war are either 547Jarnut 1995, p. 20 or 549. At the same time as the two peoples took the field, a 10,000-strong Byzantine horse army under the command of John, the magister militum of Illyricum, marched against the Gepids. Before John's arrival, Thurisind offered a truce to Audoin that was accepted. As a result, when the Byzantines arrived, the war had already ended, but not before they had clashed with the Gepids'

Heruli The Heruli (also Eluri, Eruli, Herules, Herulians) were one of the smaller Germanic peoples of Late Antiquity, known from records in the third to sixth centuries AD. The best recorded group of Heruli established a kingdom north of the Middle Danu ...

an allies.Boná 1976, p. 18Pohl 1997, pp. 91–92 To seal the truce, Audoin demanded that Thurisind should give up Ildigis, a pretender to the Lombard crown who lived as a guest at his court. Thurisind refused, but he did force Ildigis to leave the Gepids and search for another refuge.

Second Lombard–Gepid War and tensions with Justinian

In either 549 or 550, the Gepids and Lombards again marched against each other but, according to Procopius, both armies panicked and no battle took place. As a result, a new war was avoided and Thurisind accepted Audoin's request for a two-year truce. According to István Boná, the panic may be linked to a natural phenomenon: a

lunar eclipse A lunar eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six months, during the full moon phase, ...

took place on June 25/26, 549. Confronted by an openly hostile Byzantine Empire, and faced with the eventuality that the war with the Lombards would be renewed at the truce's expiration, Thurisind searched for new allies as a way to pressure Justinian. He found assistance from the Kutrigurs, who he ferried across the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

into the Byzantine Illyricum in 550Boná 2001, p. 188 or 551,Pohl 1997, p. 93 before the truce expired and probably before the Gepids were ready to precipitate a new conflict.Mitchell 2006, p. 404 In retrospect, it may be they arrived too late instead of too early, if the agreement had been made with the Second Lombard–Gepid War in mind. Faced with the Kutrigur invasion, Justinian activated his alliance against the invaders, mobilizing the neighbouring Utigurs, who in turn asked for help from the allied Crimean Tetraxites. The latter invaded the Kutrigur homeland, taking advantage of the fact that many warriors were employed at that moment in the Balkans. Informed of the attack, the Kutrigurs were forced to leave the Balkans to defend their homeland on the north-western shore of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

. Thurisind protected and promoted another enemy of Byzantium, the

Sclaveni The ' (in Latin language, Latin) or ' (Sclaveni#Terminology, various forms in Greek language, Greek) were Early Slavs, early Slavic tribes that raided, invaded and settled in the Balkans in the Early Middle Ages and eventually became one of the p ...

. As with the Kutrigurs, Thurisind used his control of the Danube to ferry Slavic raiders to and from Byzantine territory, and obtained payment from them in the process.

Third Lombard–Gepid War

Justinian's plans to send expeditionary forces against the Ostrogoths in Italy were repeatedly hampered by Thurisind's initiatives. For example,

Narses Narses (also spelled Nerses; ; ; ; c. 478–573) was a distinguished Byzantine general and statesman of Armenian heritage, renowned for his critical role in Emperor Justinian I’s military campaigns. Alongside the famed Belisarius, Narses was ...

' army left Constantinople in April 551 for

Salona Salona (, ) was an ancient city and the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia and near to Split, in Croatia. It was one of the largest cities of the late Roman empire with 60,000 inhabitants. It was the last residence of the final western ...

, with hopes of finally defeating the Goths, but found itself blocked at Philippopolis (Plovdiv) by the Kutrigurs.Pohl 1997, pp. 93–94 This brought Justinian to search for an accord with Thurisind to stop the trans-Danubian raids, and the latter was more than happy to accept. Thurisind's envoys asked for an alliance like the one bonding Byzantines and Lombards. In addition to strengthening the alliance, they demanded, and got, 12 senators to swear to uphold the treaty. After this, in 551, 400 Gepids were sent to fight in Narses' army, which was sent to Italy—a modest army compared to the 5,500 Lombards sent by Audoin and the thousands of Heruli.Christie 1998, p. 36 When the truce expired in 552, Thurisind and Audoin again took to the field, and this time the clash was unavoidable. Audoin had reached an agreement with Justinian by which the Byzantines promised to send him military support in exchange for the 5,500 Lombards sent to help the Byzantine general Narses in the Emperor's war in Italy.Wolfram 1997, pp. 283–284 Nuremberg chronicles f 147v 1

The two-year truce was now close to expiry and the Lombards asked the Byzantines to respect the alliance which had been established between them. The Emperor found an excuse to break the new alliance with the Gepids by claiming they had again ferried Slav raiders. He put together an army with renowned commanders in its ranks such as Germanus' sons

Justin Justin may refer to: People and fictional characters * Justin (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Justin (historian), Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire * Justin I (c. 450–527) ...

and

, Aratius, the Herulian Suartuas, and Amalafrid, brother-in-law of Audoin. A revolt that erupted in Ulpiana diverted the bulk of the army; only a force under Amalafrid reached the battlefield. Scholars debate when the third Lombard–Gepid War started; it is agreed that it took place two years after the second war. The possible dates are either 551Schutz 2001, p. 80 or 552. The 551 date is upheld by those who argue that since in 552 Audoin had already dispatched 5,500 of his warriors to Narses' Italian campaign, the third Lombard–Gepid War must have already ended by then; against this scholars such as Walter Pohl protest that this is in contradiction with Audoin's reproaches to Justinian on the few troops sent against the Gepids, despite his massive support to Narses. When the treaty expired, Audoin attacked the Gepids and Thurisind was crushed in the decisive battle of the Asfeld held west of Sirmium. The battle was mentioned by Jordanes in the ''Romana'' as one of the most bloody ever fought in the region, with no fewer than 60,000 warriors killed. The king's son Turismod also died, killed by Audoin's son

in a duel that according to Paul the Deacon decided both the battle and the war. After the battle, the Gepids were never again able to play a formative role in the shaping of events.

Peace

The Gepids' defeat caused a geopolitical shift in the Pannonian Basin, as it ended the danger represented by the Gepids to the Empire. The Gepids' utter defeat could have meant the end of their kingdom and its conquest by the Lombards, but Justinian, wanting to maintain an equilibrium in the region, imposed an "eternal peace" that saved the Gepids; it was observed for ten years, surviving both Thurisind and Audoin. It may be on this occasion, and not before the war, that Lombards and Gepids sent troops to Narses as part of the peace treaty imposed by the Byzantines. In this interpretation, the small number of Gepid warriors sent could be explained with the heavy losses taken in the war and the resentment felt towards Justinian. The Emperor also imposed some territorial concessions on Thurisind, obligating him to return Dacia ripensis and the territory of Singidunum. To reach a complete peace Thurisind had first to deal with Ildigis who had found hospitality at Thurisind's court. Audoin demanded yet again to have him turned in, and Justinian joined in the request. Thurisind, despite his reluctance to resume the war with both Audoin and Justinian, did not want to openly breach the rules of hospitality and thus tried to evade the request by demanding in his turn to have Ostrogotha given to him; in the end, to avoid both openly giving in and at the same time renewing the war, both kings murdered their respective guests but kept secret their involvement in the act. Thurisind features prominently in a tale told by Paul the Deacon set in 552, just after the death of the king's son Turismod and the end of the war. The story, generally thought to track its origins to an heroic poem dedicated to Alboin,Boná 1976, p. 12 revolves around the characters of Alboin and Thurisind: in accordance with a custom of the Lombards, to obtain the right to sit at his father's table, Alboin must ask for hospitality from a foreign king and have the latter arm him. To submit himself to this initiation, Alboin went with 40 companions to Thurisind's court.Boná 1976, pp. 7–8 Thurisind, in observance of the laws of hospitality, received Alboin and his companions and organized a banquet in their honour, offering Alboin the place where his dead son habitually sat. Following a mockery by Turismod's brother Cunimund and Alboin's rejoinder, a clash was avoided by Thurisind's intervention, who restored the peace and sent Alboin away with Turismod's arms. According to István Boná, who believes in the veracity of the story, the event may have taken place as described by Paul, but it also could reflect a secret peace condition imposed by Audoin on Thurisind under which the Gepid king had to arm his son's killer. Thurisind died around 560 and was succeeded by his son Cunimund, last king of the Gepids; under him Thurisind's people were annihilated in 567 by a joint coalition of the Lombards and the Avars, a Turkic nomad people that in 558 had migrated to Central Europe. Cunimund was killed on the battlefield by the new Lombard King Alboin, and his daughter Rosamund was taken captive.Martindale 1992, ''s.v. Cunimundus'', p. 364

Notes

References

* Amory, Patrick. ''People and Identity in Ostrogothic Italy, 489 – 554''.

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, 2003, . * Ausenda, Giorgio. "Current issues and future directions in the study of Franks and Alamanni in the Merovingian period", ''Franks and Alamanni in the Merovingian Period: An Ethnographic Perspective''. Ian Wood (ed.). Woodbridge: Boydell, 1998, pp. 371–455. . * Baldwin, Barry. "Prokopios of Caesarea", ''

Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium The ''Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium'' (ODB) is a three-volume historical dictionary published by the English Oxford University Press. With more than 5,000 entries, it contains comprehensive information in English on topics relating to the Byzan ...

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Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

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Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

Manchester University Press Manchester University Press is the university press of the University of Manchester, England, and a publisher of academic books and journals. Manchester University Press has developed into an international publisher. It maintains its links with t ...

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Mondadori Arnoldo Mondadori Editore () is the biggest publishing company in Italy. History The company was founded in 1907 in Ostiglia by 18-year-old Arnoldo Mondadori who began his publishing career with the publication of the magazine ''Luce!''. In 19 ...

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Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

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000 Triple zero, Zero Zero Zero, 0-0-0 or variants may refer to: * 000 (emergency telephone number), the Australian emergency telephone number * 000, the size of several small List of screw drives, screw drives * 0-0-0, a Droid (Star Wars)#0-0-0, dro ...

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, 1990 997 . {{DEFAULTSORT:Thurisind 6th-century deaths 6th-century monarchs in Europe Gepid kings Gepid warriors Year of birth unknown