Wechtar (or Wechthari), [1] a Lombard from Vicenza, was the Duke of Friuli from 666 to 678. He took control of Friuli at the command of King Grimoald following the rebellion of Lupus and Arnefrit and the invasion of the Avars. According to Paul the Deacon, he was a mild and fair ruler.
Soon after Grimoald pacified the region, Wechtar was appointed duke. Soon after his appointment, he travelled to Pavia and, while he was away, the Slavs, formerly allies of Arnefrit, invaded his duchy. They intended to take Forum Julii (modern Cividale) and camped at Boxas, the location of which remains uncertain. Some have put it at Purgessimus, [2] some at Prosascus near the source of the Natisone (Natisio), still others at Borgo Bressana, [3] and finally, and most definitively, near Brischis just outside the city. [4] Paul relates that Wechtar had just returned from Pavia at the same time when he heard of their encampment and marched against them with twenty five men. At a bridge over the Natisone, [5] Wechtar met them and, again according to Paul, defeated them in a route. [6] The historical accuracy of Paul's account has, on the basis of its outrageous numbers, been called into question.
Wechtar died and was succeeded by Landari.
The Lombards or Langobards were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774, with origins near the Elbe in northern Germany and Scania in southern Sweden before the Migration Period.
Paul the Deacon, also known as Paulus Diaconus, Warnefridus, Barnefridus, or Winfridus, and sometimes suffixed Cassinensis, was a Benedictine monk, scribe, and historian of the Lombards.
Ratchis was the Duke of Friuli (739–744) and King of the Lombards (744–749).
Cunincpert was king of the Lombards from 688 to 700. He succeeded his father Perctarit, though he was associated with the throne from 680.
The Origo Gentis Langobardorum is a short, 7th-century AD Latin account offering a founding myth of the Longobard people. The first part describes the origin and naming of the Lombards, the following text more resembles a king-list, up until the rule of Perctarit (672–688).
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 Montecassino.
The Rule of the Dukes was an interregnum in the Lombard Kingdom of Italy (574/5–584/5) during which Italy was ruled by the Lombard dukes of the old Roman provinces and urban centres. The interregnum is said to have lasted a decade according to Paul the Deacon, but all other sources—the Fredegarii Chronicon, the Origo Gentis Langobardorum, the Chronicon Gothanum, and the Copenhagen continuator of Prosper Tiro—accord it twelve. Here is how Paul describes the dukes' rule:
After his death the Langobards had no king for ten years but were under dukes, and each one of the dukes held possession of his own city, Zaban of Ticinum, Wallari of Bergamus, Alichis of Brexia, Euin of Tridentum, Gisulf of Forum Julii. But there were thirty other dukes besides these in their own cities. In these days many of the noble Romans were killed from love of gain, and the remainder were divided among their "guests" and made tributaries, that they should pay the third part of their products to the Langobards. By these dukes of the Langobards in the seventh year from the coming of Alboin and of his whole people, the churches were despoiled, the priests killed, the cities overthrown, the people who had grown up like crops annihilated, and besides those regions which Alboin had taken, the greater part of Italy was seized and subjugated by the Langobards.
Grimoald II was the duke of Benevento from 687 to his death. He was the son and successor of Romuald I of Benevento. He was possibly under the regency of his mother, Theodrada, daughter of Lupus of Friuli. His reign of three years was uneventful: Paul the Deacon records nothing but his marriage and death. He is said to have been an opponent of the crown. He was succeeded by his brother Gisulf. He was married to Wigilinda, daughter of King Perctarit.
Gisulf II was the Duke of Friuli from around 591 to his death. He was the son and successor of Gisulf I.
Tasso was the joint Duke of Friuli with his younger brother Kakko from their father's death (611) to their own. Their father was Gisulf II and their mother Romilda of Friuli. In or around 611, Gisulf was killed fending off an Avar invasion.
Kakko was the joint duke of Friuli with his elder brother Tasso from their father's death (611) to their own. Their father was Gisulf II and their mother Romilda of Friuli. In or around 611, Gisulf was killed fending off an Avar invasion.
Grasulf II, son of Duke Gisulf I, was the Duke of Friuli after the assassination of his nephews, Tasso and Kakko, in Oderzo in 616 or 617. His other nephews, Radoald and Grimoald, left Friuli for the Duchy of Benevento because they did not wish to live under Grasulf. Nothing more is known about Grasulf and the date of his death is uncertain. He died at Cividale.
Pemmo was the Duke of Friuli for twenty-six years, from about 705 to his death. He was the son of Billo of Belluno.
The Kingdom of the Lombards also known as the Lombard Kingdom; later the Kingdom of (all) Italy, was an early medieval state established by the Lombards, a Germanic people, on the Italian Peninsula in the latter part of the 6th century. The king was traditionally elected by the very highest-ranking aristocrats, the dukes, as several attempts to establish a hereditary dynasty failed. The kingdom was subdivided into a varying number of duchies, ruled by semi-autonomous dukes, which were in turn subdivided into gastaldates at the municipal level. The capital of the kingdom and the center of its political life was Pavia in the modern northern Italian region of Lombardy.
Ago was the Duke of Friuli from between 651 and 661 until about 663. He succeeded Grasulf II.
Lupus was the Duke of Friuli from between 660 and 663 to his death around 666.
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.
The Duchy of Friuli was a Lombard duchy in present-day Friuli, the first to be established after the conquest of the Italian peninsula in 568. It was one of the largest domains in Langobardia Major and an important buffer between the Lombard kingdom and the Slavs, Avars, and the Byzantine Empire. The original chief city in the province was Roman Aquileia, but the Lombard capital of Friuli was Forum Julii, modern Cividale.
Austria was, according to the early medieval geographical classification, the eastern portion of Langobardia Major, the north-central part of the Lombard Kingdom, extended from the Adda to Friuli and opposite to Neustria. The partition had not only been territorial, but also implied significant cultural and political differences.
Slavia Friulana, which means Friulian Slavia, is a small mountainous region in northeastern Italy and it is so called because of its Slavic population which settled here in the 8th century AD. The territory is located in the Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, between the town of Cividale del Friuli and the Slovenian border.