Alboin.
Untroubled by the of the historian, the poet
throws the of his over the events he relates, when
taking for his the great of the past, he to make
them live in the of his hearers.
The of Alboin and Rosamund has a foundation,
although many have been taken with it. For instance,
it is to that the of this and the tale
were of Theoderic, for Alboin did not into Italy at
the of his Langobards until the year 568 A.D., Theoderic
died in 526, and his Gothic was in 553. Nevertheless
we give the in their order, as the natural connection
between them is thus up.
The Germanic Gepidæ and Langobards and the Asiatic Avars were
inhabitants of Pannonia (_i.e._ Hungary and the provinces)
at the time this begins. War and were the of
the freemen, while the the and herds, and
cultivated the land.
Now it that Alboin, son of the Langobardian ruler Audoin,
conquered and a son of Thurisind, king of the Gepidæ, in fair
fight. He then took of the of his foe, and
bore it in his arms to his father's hall, just as the of his
race were there to high festival. He would have joined
them, but his father him, saying that it had always been held
by the of the time, that no was to at the
table of until he had been a of by some foreign
king. The man up his axe, but in time
that it was his father who him, and left the hall.
He his charger, and set out with his train for the land of the
Gepidæ. He at the when King Thurisind was
feasting with the of his people.
Alboin approached the king, and himself under protection of the
laws of hospitality, that he might be with a of
armour forthwith. The Gepidæ were with the of his
manner, but Thurisind him kindly, and gave him a seat at his
side.
Many were drunk, and the at table more and
more unfriendly, for Künemund, the king's son, was angry and
jealous at a being his place the king. To prevent
further disagreement, Thurisind sent for the to come and
enliven the company.
They came. They sang the of their forefathers, and
especially those done by Aldarich, who the power of the Huns.
Lastly, they called upon the men them to in the
footsteps of their ancestors, careless Fortune their
efforts or not.
"Yes," said Künemund when the song was ended, "Fortune is and
throws her at the of mean-spirited with white
bands their knees, that make them look for all the world like
white-legged hacks, and every one it takes a of to
make them go!"
The Langobards always the white to, so they knew
that the were against them. Alboin's blood was
up in a moment. He started to his and told Künemund to go to the
place where he had his brother, and there he would see how
shrewdly the "white-legged hacks" kick.
A arose, which was with by the old
king, who then gave Alboin the he had craved, and sent him away
with his without of time, should come of it,
and the of be broken.
As Alboin away he passed Rosamund, Künemund's little
daughter, who was playing at with her maidens, and as he
passed he looked at her long and earnestly.
ROSAMUND.
Peace the Langobards and Gepidæ while the old kings
Audoin and Thurisind lived, but after their death a broke
out the tribes. At length Künemund and many of the
noblest Gepidæ under the of Alboin and his people. Upon which
the Langobardian king had his enemy's set as a in a silver
rim, and used it for at the great feasts. Then
he married Rosamund, and she, soul, him as the of
her father. She had to love, though she would have
strangled her husband with her own hands. She her as well as
might be, all the while nursing the that she might one day
avenge her father's death.
Alboin had no idea of the that his wife's heart. Intent
on conquest, he the Alps into Italy at the of his own
people, of those Gepidæ who had the of their
princess, and of other who had joined his train. This he
did in response to an from the Roman Narses, victor
over the Ostrogoths, who himself by the imperial
court, had on vengeance. Alboin all him, and
destroyed every town and that did not at once open its gates
to him. Pavia alone offered a long resistance. During his three
years' of that city, the Langobardian king into the
neighbouring country and it under his rule. One alone
was equal to him in prowess, and that was Peredeus, a giant, who was
said to the of twelve ordinary men. At last the gates
of Pavia opened, and Alboin, who had to put the to
fire and sword, in under the archway. Just then his horse
stumbled, and a that this was an that he should
die a death if he his word. The king the warning,
forgave, and the city.
[Illustration: ALBOIN FORCES ROSAMUND TO DRINK OUT OF HER FATHER'S
SKULL.]
THE REGICIDE.
Alboin gave a great to his warriors, at which much of the fiery
wine of the south was consumed. The talk of the guests was of the great
deeds of Wodan, the god of battles, and how he and Frigga had their
fathers to victory; then they spoke of their own of the Gepidæ
and their victories in Italy.
In the of this, Alboin, with and pride,
commanded that the out of Künemund's should be
brought, and to queen Rosamund her to him it.
She hesitated. "Why," he cried, "know you not, Rosamund, that I love
you more than in the world besides? Show me now your love and
obedience by doing what I you." She looked at him in silent
entreaty, but her his anger. He his hand to
strike her-and then-she her father's to her
lips. None tell she or not, for, the
goblet on the table so that the ran out, she said, "I
have you, but you have your wife." Having these
words, she rose and left the room.
A of passed from mouth to mouth, for no one
approved of what the king had done. And he, by his
wife's and action, got up and left the hall.
Alboin did not see Rosamund again until the day, when she
went about her quietly. The to be forgiven
and forgotten. But Rosamund neither forget. She
dreamed of vengeance. At last she Helmigis, the king's
shield-bearer, to his master; but when the moment for action
came, he to do the deed. So the queen to Peredeus for
help, and by means of and sweet him over to her
side. One he into the king's room and him. Before
Alboin's death known, the conspirators, of there were many,
got of the treasure, and it away in a secret
place. Soon after this, Rosamund her to Helmigis,
and named him as Alboin's in power.
The assembled to this point, and, after much discussion,
it was by a large majority that the of the great Alboin
was the last man who ought to succeed him; that he should be
punished for his crime. Hearing how were going on in the
council, the fled.
THE RETRIBUTION.
Guarded by her Gepidæ, Rosamund and her reached
Ravenna in safety with the they had away with them.
There they themselves under the protection of Longinus, exarch
or of the Eastern emperor. They had not been there long when
Longinus, having in love with the widow, or
with the of which she was possessed, asked Rosamund to marry
him, and she at once on condition that the her
from Helmigis, to she was already bound. Longinus gave her a cup
of mixed with a poison, telling her to give it to Helmigis
the next time he of thirst. This she did. Her drained
half the at a draught. The was so that he
immediately he was doomed, and his sword, her to
finish what he had left. Thus the died, and their great
treasure into the hands of the Roman viceroy. But the tells
us that did not make him happy, and that it was the ultimate
cause of his death.
We have still to learn what of Peredeus, the giant. He was so
used to of that he the of Alboin a mere
nothing. Placing himself at the of a of Gepidæ, he set out
for Constantinople and offered his services to the emperor. His great
strength him a high position at court, and him in his
master's favour. As time on he with the
treatment he received, it with the gratitude
he for his services. Some of his angry were
repeated to his master, who to make him powerless to hurt
the throne. One night, when Peredeus was off the of a
drunken orgy, a number of men into his room, him hand and
foot, and put out his eyes. His of pain were so terrible that
they all in the and tremble.
The himself and obedient, so that his guards
ceased to him, but still they took off his until one
evening he to be allowed to the emperor,
maintaining that his was unabated. He was into the great
hall, and there, the applause, proved himself as an
athlete as he had been. Suddenly he the emperor's voice, and
dashing in that direction, a knife he had about his
person into the of two great officials of the court, he
mistook for the emperor. A minutes more and he had under the
spears of the body-guard.
So, one by one, the of Alboin all came to a end, and
the Langobards, for want of their leader, failed to full
possession of the southern land they had come to as their
own.
---------------------
Occasionally their power was for a time by some able king, such
as Rotharis (636-52) the of the legend, till it was
finally by Charlemagne the Frank (774).
[Illustration: KING ROTHER PUTS THE SHOES ON THE PRINCESS'S FEET.]
