Audoin was of the
Gausi, a prominent Lombard ruling clan, and according to the
Historia Langobardorum, the son of
Menia, the Lombard wife of
Basinus, king of the
Thuringii. Audoin was half-brother to
Hermanafrid (king of the
Thuringii peoples) and
Raicunda, the wife of the Lombard king
Wacho. According to the
Decem Libri of
Gregory of Tours, in 531, Hermanafrid was defeated at the Battle of Unstrut, and so
Thuringia was annexed to the
Frankish empire. Hermanafrid traveled under
safe conduct to meet with Theuderic at
Zülpich. While walking along the city walls with Theuderic, Hermanafrid was thrown from the ramparts to his death. According to
Procopius (History of the Wars V, 13), after Hermanafrid's death, his widow
Amalaberga fled with her children,
Amalafrid and
Rodelinda, to her brother
Theodahad who was at that time (534–536) king of the Ostrogoths. Around 539, during the
Gothic War, they were captured by the Byzantine general
Belisarius and sent to
Constantinople.
Justinian I made Amalafrid a general and married off his sister Rodelinda to Audoin. Around 540, Audoin was elected regent for
Walthari, the minor son of King Wacho and his third wife Silinga. He led the Lombards to
Pannonia, where they were settled by Justinian I and in 541 signed a treaty becoming
fœderati of the
Byzantines, entrusted with the task of securing the Danube border against the Franks. Audoin probably killed Waltari before he reached manhood, in order to gain the throne for himself around 546, and led the Lombards into Pannonia. After Walthari's death around 547, Audoin became king of the Lombards. Beginning in 551, Audoin was obliged to send troops to serve
Narses in Italy in the
Gothic War against the
Ostrogoths. The next year, he sent over 5,000 men to defeat the Goths on the slopes of
Vesuvius. That same year Audoin had been able to inflict a heavy defeat on the
Gepids with the help of his brother-in-law
Amalafrid. The Gepid king
Thurisind lost his eldest son,
Turismod, in the
Battle of Asfeld. Turismod was killed by
Alboin, son of Audoin. He died in 563 or 565 and was succeeded by his son, Alboin, who brought the Lombards into the
Italian peninsula. == Notes ==