Editing Alboin (section)

=== Siege of Ticinum ===
{{main|Siege of Pavia (569–572)}}
[[File:Alboin's entrance into Pavia.jpg|thumb|alt=A book illustration with an armed man on a horse in a town, and below the writing "Alboin in Pavia"|A modern rendering of Alboin's entrance into Ticinum]]
The first attested instance of strong resistance to Alboin's migration took place at the town of [[Ticinum]] ([[Pavia]]), which he started to besiege in 569 and captured only after three years. The town was of strategic importance, sitting at the confluence of the rivers [[Po (river)|Po]] and [[Ticino (river)|Ticino]] and connected by waterways to Ravenna, the capital of Byzantine Italy and the seat of the [[Praetorian prefecture of Italy]]. Its fall cut direct communications between the garrisons stationed on the [[Alpes Maritimae]] and the [[Adriatic Sea|Adriatic coast]].<ref name="DBI"/><ref name="JJ30"/><ref>Christie 1998, p. 79</ref><ref name="SG26">Gasparri 1990, p. 26</ref><ref name="HW290">Wolfram 1997, p. 290</ref>

Careful to maintain the initiative against the Byzantines, by 570 Alboin had taken their last defences in northern Italy except for the coastal areas of Liguria and Venetia and a few isolated inland centres such as [[Aosta|Augusta Praetoria]] (Aosta), [[Susa (Italy)|Segusio]] (Susa), and the island of [[Comacina|Amacina]] in the [[Lake Como|Larius Lucus]] (Lake Como).<ref>Rovagnati 2003, p. 36</ref> During Alboin's kingship the Lombards crossed the [[Apennine Mountains|Apennines]] and plundered [[Tuscia]], but historians are not in full agreement as to whether this took place under his guidance and if this constituted anything more than raiding. According to [[Herwig Wolfram]], it was probably only in 578–579 that [[Tuscany]] was conquered, but Jörg Jarnut and others believe this began in some form under Alboin, although it was not completed by the time of his death.<ref name="PLRE3"/><ref name="HS82"/><ref name="JJ30"/><ref name="CAH19"/><ref name="HW290"/>

Alboin's problems in maintaining control over his people worsened during the siege of Ticinum. The nature of the Lombard monarchy made it difficult for a ruler to exert the same degree of authority over his subjects as had been exercised by Theodoric over his Goths, and the structure of the army gave great authority to the military commanders or ''duces'', who led each band (''fara'') of warriors. Additionally, the difficulties encountered by Alboin in building a solid political entity resulted from a lack of imperial legitimacy, as, unlike the Ostrogoths, they had not entered Italy as ''foederati'' but as enemies of the Empire.<ref name="DBI"/><ref name="CAH19"/><ref>Azzara 2009, pp. 95–96</ref><ref name="WP99">Pohl 1997, p. 99</ref>

The king's disintegrating authority over his army was also manifested in the invasion of Frankish [[Burgundy (region)|Burgundy]] which from 569 or 570 was subject to yearly raids on a major scale. The Lombard attacks were ultimately repelled following [[Mummolus]]' victory at [[Embrun, Hautes-Alpes|Embrun]]. These attacks had lasting political consequences, souring the previously cordial Lombard-Frankish relations and opening the door to an alliance between the Empire and the Franks against the Lombards, a coalition agreed to by [[Guntram]] in about 571.<ref name="PLRE3"/><ref name="DBI"/><ref name="HW290"/><ref name="WP99"/><ref>Jarnut 1995, p. 35</ref> Alboin is generally thought not to have been behind this invasion, but an alternative interpretation of the transalpine raids presented by Gian Piero Bognetti is that Alboin may actually have been involved in the offensive on Guntram as part of an alliance with the Frankish king of [[Austrasia]], [[Sigebert I]]. This view is met with scepticism by scholars such as [[Christopher Wickham|Chris Wickham]].<ref>Wickham 1989, pp. 30–31</ref>

The weakening of royal authority may also have resulted in the conquest of much of southern Italy by the Lombards, in which modern scholars believe Alboin played no role at all, probably taking place in 570 or 571 under the auspices of individual warlords. However it is far from certain that the Lombard takeover occurred during those years, as very little is known of [[Faroald I of Spoleto|Faroald]] and [[Zotto]]'s respective rises to power in [[Duchy of Spoleto|Spoletium]] ([[Spoleto]]) and [[Duchy of Benevento|Beneventum]] ([[Benevento]]).<ref name="WP99"/><ref>Palmieri 1996, pp. 52–53</ref><ref>Moorhead 2005, p. 153</ref><ref>Christie 1998, pp. 80–82</ref>