Editing Alboin (section)

== Reign in Pannonia ==
Alboin came to the throne after the death of his father, sometime between 560 and 565.<ref name="DBI"/> As was customary among the Lombards, Alboin took the crown after an election by the tribe's freemen, who traditionally selected the king from the dead sovereign's clan.<ref>Jarnut 1995, p. 25</ref><ref>Wolfram 1997, p. 284</ref> Shortly, in 565, a new war erupted with the Gepids, now led by [[Cunimund]], Thurisind's son. The cause of the conflict is uncertain, as the sources are divided; the Lombard Paul the Deacon accuses the Gepids, while the Byzantine historian [[Menander Protector]] places the blame on Alboin, an interpretation favoured by historian [[Walter Pohl]].<ref name="Pohl96">Pohl 1997, p. 96</ref>

An account of the war by the Byzantine [[Theophylact Simocatta]] sentimentalises the reasons behind the conflict, claiming it originated with Alboin's vain courting and subsequent kidnapping of Cunimund's daughter [[Rosamund (Gepid)|Rosamund]], that Alboin proceeded then to marry. The tale is treated with scepticism by Walter Goffart, who observes that it conflicts with the ''[[Origo Gentis Langobardorum]]'', where she was captured only after the death of her father.<ref name="WG392"/><ref>Martindale 1992, ''s.v. Cunimundus'', p. 364</ref> The Gepids obtained the support of the Emperor in exchange for a promise to cede him the region of [[Sirmium]], the seat of the Gepid kings. Thus in 565 or 566 Justinian's successor [[Justin II]] sent his son-in-law [[Baduarius]] as ''[[magister militum]]'' (field commander) to lead a Byzantine army against Alboin in support of Cunimund, ending in the Lombards' complete defeat.<ref name="DBI"/><ref name="Pohl96"/><ref>Rovagnati 2003, p. 30</ref><ref name="JJ22">Jarnut 1995, p. 22</ref><ref>Martindale 1992, ''s.v. Baduarius (2)'', pp. 64–65</ref>

Faced with the possibility of annihilation, Alboin made an alliance in 566 with the [[Avars (Carpathians)|Avars]] under [[Bayan I]], at the expense of some tough conditions: the Avars demanded a tenth of the Lombards' cattle, half of the war booty, and on the war's conclusion all of the lands held by the Gepids. The Lombards played on the pre-existing hostility between the Avars and the Byzantines, claiming that the latter were allied with the Gepids. Cunimund, on the other hand, encountered hostility when he once again asked the Emperor for military assistance, as the Byzantines had been angered by the Gepids' failure to cede Sirmium to them, as had been agreed. Moreover, Justin II was moving away from the foreign policy of Justinian, and believed in dealing more strictly with bordering states and peoples. Attempts to mollify Justin II with tributes failed, and as a result the Byzantines kept themselves neutral if not outright supportive of the Avars.<ref name="DBI"/><ref>Pohl 1997, pp. 96–97</ref>

In 567 the allies made their final move against Cunimund, with Alboin invading the Gepids' lands from the northwest while Bayan attacked from the northeast. Cunimund attempted to prevent the two armies from joining up by moving against the Lombards and clashing with Alboin somewhere between the [[Timiş River|Tibiscus]] and [[Danube River|Danube]] rivers. The Gepids were defeated in the ensuing battle, their king slain by Alboin, and Cunimund's daughter Rosamund taken captive, according to references in the ''Origo''. The full destruction of the Gepid kingdom was completed by the Avars, who overcame the Gepids in the east. As a result, the Gepids ceased to exist as an independent people and were partly absorbed by the Lombards and the Avars.<ref name="DBI"/><ref name="JJ22"/><ref>Rovagnati 2003, pp. 30–31</ref> Sometime before 568, Alboin's first wife Chlothsind died, and after his victory against Cunimund Alboin married Rosamund, to establish a bond with the remaining Gepids.<ref name="SG20">Gasparri 1990, p. 20</ref> The war also marked a watershed in the geo-political history of the region, as together with the Lombard migration the following year, it signalled the end of six centuries of Germanic dominance in the Pannonian Basin.<ref>Curta 2001, p. 204</ref>