
Italy at the time of Agilulf.
'Agilulf', called ''the Thuringian'', was the duke of
Turin and king of the
Lombards (
590 –
616) in
Italy, the cousin of his predecessor
Authari and husband of his widow. Son of the Duke
Ansvald of Turin, he was raised on the
shield by the warriors in
Milan in May
591, on the advice, sought by the Lombard council, of the
Catholic queen
Theodelinda, whom he soon married himself.
He was
baptised to appease his wife and his nation followed suit, though they adopted the
Arian denomination, not the Roman faith. In
603, under the influence of his wife, he abandoned Arianism for Catholicism, and had his son
Adaloald baptised. He and his wife built and endowed the
Basilica of
Monza, where the
Iron Crown of Lombardy is still preserved and where Agilulf's crown, dedicated to
St John, exists, bearing the incription ''rex totius Italiae'', meaning "king of all Italy", as Agilulf evidently saw himself.
His long reign was marked by the cessation of war with
Francia, whose chief peacemaker
Guntram,
king of Burgundy, had died in
592. Without him, the Franks descended into civil war which prevented a united assault on Lombardy throughout Agilulf's rule. A truce with the
Papacy negotiated in
598 temporarily ended thirty years of Lombard terror in the
''Ducatus Romanus'' and he spent most of his warmaking energies on the Byzantine threat. In that year, he consolidated Lombard power, extending the dominion of his kingdom by taking
Sutri and
Perugia among other
Umbrian cities from the
exarchate of Ravenna, while maintaining good relations with the
Bavarians. He fought the
Avars and
Slavs, and entered a truce with the Byzantine emperor
Maurice in 598 with the aid of
Pope Gregory the Great. The next year, Exarch
Callinicus broke the truce by kidnapping the travelling daughter of the Lombard king. War erupted and, in
602, the
Byzantine emperor Phocas lost
Padua, which Authari had cut off from Ravenna a decade prior. The loss of Padua in turn cut off
Mantua and, before the year was out, that city too fell to Agilulf.
In
607,
Witteric, king of the
Visigoths, initiated a quadruple alliance against
Theuderic II of Burgundy involving
Theudebert II of
Austrasia,
Clotaire II of
Neustria, and Agilulf. Theuderic's grandmother and sister had murdered Theuderic's wife, the daughter of Witteric. The alliance does not seem to have had success. Nothing of any actual combat is known except that it took place, probably around
Narbonne.
In
605, he was recognized by the emperor Phocas, who paid a tribute and ceded
Orvieto among other towns. The
Persian Wars drew Byzantine attention to the Orient and gave respite to Agilulf's final decade on the throne. He had to put down some insurrections and the Avars did not decist from invading
Friuli, where they slew its duke, Gisulf, in
610. Otherwise, his reign ended peacefully and he died in
616, after reigning for more than a quarter of a century. He was succeeded by Adaloald, his son by Theodelinda, who was still an
adolescent, though he had been associated with the throne. He had a daughter
Gundiberga who married
Arioald who later became king.

The Triumph of Agilulf, National Museum, Florence.