legend: the Lombards (also called Langobards) (originally called the Winnili tribe) migrated from Scandinavia to the European Continent under the brothers Ibor (Ebbe) and Agjo (Agio), the two sons of Gausus, who gave the Gungingi Dynasty its name. Agjo was the father of Agila, aka 01. AEgelmund, "1st" King of Lombards. The name of his wife and queen is recorded to have been Gambara. They were childless. Here enters the story that a prostitute gave birth to a boy and threw him into a pond to drown, when King AEgelmund and Queen Gambara happened to ride by and rescued the boy and adopted the abandoned infant, whose name was 02. Lamicho (Lamissio), who succeeded his adoptive father as King of the Lombards. His dynasty ended in an heiress, who married the Balthae Prince Letho (Lethu), from whom his descendants were called the Lethinge Dynasty. The Balthae Prince Letho may also be identified with King Chlodio of France. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- 03. Letho, Balthae Prince, King of the Lombards [founder of the Lethinge Dynasty of Italy]; identified with King Chlodio of France =1 the Frankish heiress [her 2nd =]; he =2 the Lombard heiress issue of 1st wife: a. Lotric (Clodric) (d451), who warred with half-bro Merovee [same mother] over the Frankish throne b. Hildeoc [4], id. with King Childric I of France & Lombardy c. Gudeoc [5], id. with Guntheric of Burgundy & Lombardy issue of 2nd wife: d. Claffo [6], King of Lombards e. Utfora, prince, had issue 04. Claffo, [6th] King of Lombards issue: a. Tato, 7th Lombard King b. Winta (Winichis) (Zuchilo), Prince (below) c. Pero, Prince 05. Winta (Winichis) (Zuchilo), Prince (above) issue: a. Pissa, poss. id. with Cissa of Sussex (below) b. Waccho, 8th Lombard King (d540) (below) c. Vecta, poss. id. with Wecta of Kent --------------------------------------------------------------- 06 Pissa, poss. id. with Cissa of Sussex (above) = Menia [or Adela] issue: a. Audoin, 10th Lombard King (below) -------------------------------------------------------------- 07 Audoin, 10th Lombard King (above) (d565) =1 Rodelinde, dau of Ermenfrit of Thuringia & Amalaberga, the dau of Amalafreya, the sis of Theodoric "The Great", Ostro-Goth King of Italy =2 Visigarde, his cousin, wdw of King Thibert I of France, &, dau of [his father's bro] Waccho, 8th Lombard King (see) issue of 1st wife: a. Alboin, reckoned "1st" Lombard King of Italy 572 (below) b. Masane (dau) = Cleph (Cleophis) (Klef), 2nd Lombard King of Italy 572-574 [son of Beleo], & begot Autharic, 3rd Lombard King of Italy 584-590 c. [name] (dau) = Zottone, Duke of Forum Iulii, bec "1st" Duke of Benevento 571 d. [name] (dau) note: if the Lombard Prince Pissa is identified with Cissa of Sussex then this daughter would be the Sussex heiress Alhilda, who, married to a native British regional-king, remained in Britain in 541 when her "barbarian" family was expelled from Britain by the British Celto-Romans ------------------------------------------------------------------- 08 Alboin, reckoned "1st" Lombard King of Italy 572 (above) =1 Clotsinde of France; =2 Rosamunde (Rosalinte), a Gepidae pss issue of 1st wife: a. Alpsuinda (dau) -------------------------------------------------------------------- 06.Waccho, 8th Lombard King (d540) (above) =1 Ranigund, a Thurgingian pss; =2 Austrisa (Austrigusa), a Gepidae pss; =3 Salinga, a Heruli pss issue of 1st wife: a. Visigarde (dau) =1 Thibert I, King of France (d548); =2 Audoin, 10th Lombard King [his 2nd = too] issue of 2nd wife: b. Valdarada (Walderade) (dau) (below) issue of 3rd wife: c. Waltari, 9th Lombard King (d546) ------------------------------------------------------------------- 07.Valdarada (Walderade) (above) =1 Thibaut, King of France; =2 Clothaire I, King of France; =3 Garibald I, King of Bavaria issue of 1st husband: a. Theudelinde (Theodelinda) (Thilinda) (dau) (d625/7) (below) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 08: Theudelinde (Theodelinda) (Thilinda) (dau) (d625/7) (above) =1 Autharic, 3rd Lombard King of Italy 584-590, son of Cleph (Klef) (Cleophis), 2nd Lombard King of Italy, &, wife, Masane, sis of Albion, "1st" Lombard King of Italy =2 Agilulfo, 4th Lombard King of Italy 590-615 issue of 2nd husband: a. Adaloald, 5th Lombard King of Italy 615-624 abd (d626), begot a single son [Faroaldo] (d611) b. Gundiperg (dau) (below) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 09: Gundiperg (dau) (above) =1 Arioaldo, 6th Lombard King of Italy 624-636; =2 Rothari, 7th Lombard King of Italy 636-652 issue of 1st husband: a. Gundoald, Duke of Asti (d641), father of Ariperto I, 9th Lombard King of Italy 653-661 issue of 2nd husband: b. Rodoald, 8th Lombard King of Italy 652-653 --------------------------------------------------------- 10. Gundoald, Duke of Asti (d641) 11. Ariperto I, 9th Lombard King of Italy 653-661 issue: a. Perctarit, 10-A & 13th Lombard King (below) b. Godeperto, 10-B, co-king 661(below) c. dau = Grimoaldo, 11th Lombard King 661-671[his 2nd =], father of Garibaldo, 12th Lombard King 671-674 ----------------------------------------------- 12. Perctarit, 10-A & 13th Lombard King 661 & 674-686/8 (above) = Rodelinde issue: a. Cuincpert, 14th Lombard King 686/6-690 dep (d700), who, of his wife, Hermelinde of England, begot Liutperto, 15th Lombard King 700 dep (d702) b. Vigilinda (dau) = Grimoaldo [II], Duke of Benevento -------------------------------------------------- 12. Godeperto, 10-B, co-king 661 (above) = Ragnatrude of East Anglia issue: a. Ragimpert, 16th Lombard King b. Regintrude (dau) (below) = Theodo II, King of Bavaria ----------------------------------------------------------------- 13. Ragimpert, 16th Lombard King 700-1 14. Ariperto II, 17th Lombard King 701-712 dep issue: a,b,c. 3 sons d. Ratberg (dau) (below) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 15. Ratberg (Redburh), dau of King Ariperto II (above) = Pemmo, son of Billo, a Lombard duke issue: a. Astolfo, 22nd Lombard King; [also] reckoned "1st" King of Italy b. Ratchis, 21st & 23rd Lombard King --------------------------------------------- 16. Astolfo, 22nd Lombard King 749-756; reckoned "1st" King of Italy 752 upon his abolishment of the Byzantine Exarchate = Giseltrude, sis of Eutychius, last Exarch of Ravenna 728-752 deposed issue: a-e:_five_daus_[all_nuns] ------------------------------------------------------- 16. Ratchis, 21st & 23rd Lombard King 744-749 abd & 756 = Tasia, sis of Ildeprand (Hiltiprand), 20th Lombard King, & Ansia, wife of Desiderio, 24th & last Lombard King issue: a. Vastrada, one of the many wives of Charlemagne & the mother of his daughter Ratperg (Redburh), wife of the English Bretwalda Egbert of Wessex ---------------------------------------------------------------- 13. Regintrude, dau of Lombard King 10B Godeperto (above) = Theodo II, King of Bavaria issue: a. Thedebert (d722) (below) a. Theodorata (dau) (below) --------------------------------------------------------------------- 14. Thedebert (d722) (above) issue: a. Swanhild = Charles "Martel", Duke of France b. Guntrude = Liutprand, 19th Lombard King -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14. Theodorata (above) = Ansprand, 18th Lombard King 712 issue: a. Liutprand, 19th Lombard King 712-744 = Guntrude [cousin] (above) b. Sigiprand (below) ------------------------------------------------------------------------15. Sigiprand (above) issue: a. Ildeprand (Hiltiprand), 20th Lombard King 744 dep b. Tasia (dau) = Ratchis, 21st & 23rd Lombard King (above) c. Ansia (dau) = Desiderio (Desiderius) [appears as Didier/Dedier in medieval romance], 24th & last Lombard King (below) --------------------------------------------------- note: Desiderio [id. with Desiderius, son of Erminulphus, son of Alachisus], 24th & last Lombard King 756-774 dep (d775) (above) = Ansia, sis of Ildeprand, 20th Lombard King, &, niece of Liutprand, 19th Lombard King issue: a. Adelchis, associate-ruler 759-774 (d788), had issue b. Gerberga (dau) = Carloman of France, mother of Pepin & Sigar c. Desidere (Bertrade), one of the wives of Charlemagne, who conquered the Lombards and annexed their territory [Lombardy] to his realm d. Adelperg (dau) = Arechi II, Duke of Benevento e. Liutperg (dau) = Tassilo IV, Duke of Bavaria f. Ansperga, abbess -------------------------------------------------------------------------
descents traceable from:
a. Vastrada, dau of Ratchis, 21st & 23rd Lombard King, &, wife Tasia, sis of Ildeprand (Hiltiprand), 20th Lombard King, & Ansia, wife of Desiderio, 24th & last Lombard King, one of Charlemagne's wives & the mother of his daughter Ratperg (Redburh), wife of the English Bretwalda Egbert of Wessex b. Adelchis (d788), son of Desiderio, 24th & last Lombard King, had issue & was the ancestor of an Italian noble house c. Adelperg, dau of Desiderio, 24th & last Lombard King, &, her husband Arechi II, Duke of Benevento
--------------------------------------------------------------------- compiled by David Hughes RdavidH...@AOL.com
> 01. AEgelmund, "1st" King of Lombards. The name of his wife and queen > is recorded to have been Gambara. They were childless. Here enters the > story that a prostitute gave birth to a boy and threw him into a pond > to drown, when King AEgelmund and Queen Gambara happened to ride by > and rescued the boy and adopted the abandoned infant, whose name was > 02. Lamicho (Lamissio), who succeeded his adoptive father as King of > the Lombards
[snip]
It's perhaps worth noting that this story -- of a child drawn from the water who becomes a king -- is, with variations, extremely old and widespread. It is, I think, the story of Shield Sheafing; it's certainly the story of Moses; and it was, with details corresponding quite closely to the version attached to Moses, that of Sargon [Sharrukhin, Chris?] I the Great, which takes us back, in round numbers, 40 or so centuries. (One of the 19th-century versions of the story of King Arthur -- by an English poet laureate whose name escapes me {Tennyson?} --has Merlin hauling him, a preternatural baby, from the last and greatest of nine oceanic waves to crash ashore.) I wouldn't be surprised if this element of Sargon's *vita* had still earlier antecedents, tho' if so, we're pushing the extremity of the envelope of recorded history, which begins only around 3,000 BCE -- perhaps just a tad earlier. (Again -- Chris? have the scholars changed their opinion as to when cuneiform became something colorably classifiable as writing? I'm afraid I'm still mired in Woolley's scheme of dating, which I suspect is far too early.)
In any event, it's an old story, told of many a nobody who made good. As a matter of fact, however, *I* was found in a steamer trunk adrift on the reflecting pool before the Washington monument; tho' I don't seem to have made good, so the story's wasted on me.
Comments interspersed - I haven't read through this post from David Hughes, but someone has written to me off-list asking for a response to a couple of points in it, as follows:
david hughes wrote:
<chomp>
> 16. Ratchis, 21st & 23rd Lombard King 744-749 abd & 756 > = Tasia, sis of Ildeprand (Hiltiprand), 20th Lombard King, & Ansia, > wife of Desiderio, 24th & last Lombard King > issue: > a. Vastrada, one of the many wives of Charlemagne & the mother of his > daughter Ratperg (Redburh), wife of the English Bretwalda Egbert of > Wessex
This is wrong. Charlemagne's wife Fastrada, or Fastradana, was the daughter of a Franconian count named Radolf, and not of a Lombard king. This is stated plainly in the royal Frankish annals, see _Annales regni Francorum..._, edited by Friedrich Kurze, MGH SSrG 6 (Hanover, 1895) p 67 (under the year 783): [Carolus] duxit uxorem filiam Radolfi comitis natione Francam, nomine Fastradam, ex qua duas filias procreavit.
The two daughters of Charlemagne & Fastrada mentioned were Theodrada, an abbess, and Hiltrude. No marriage is recorded for either of these ladies.
In any case, Ecgbehrt's consort/s are not known. A late manuscript of dubious authority named his wife as Redburh, adding that she was related to of the Frankish king (his "sororia", which could mean sister, sister-in-law or even cousin) - and this would have been Charlemagne himself, so any rationale for making her his daughter must be even more slender than this.
<snip>
> note: Desiderio [id. with Desiderius, son of Erminulphus, son of > Alachisus], 24th & last Lombard King 756-774 dep (d775) (above) > = Ansia, sis of Ildeprand, 20th Lombard King, &, niece of Liutprand, > 19th Lombard King > issue: > a. Adelchis, associate-ruler 759-774 (d788), had issue > b. Gerberga (dau) > = Carloman of France, mother of Pepin & Sigar
This is highly uncertain. The name of Carloman's wife (or, if he had more than one, of the mother of his sons) _may_ have been Gerberga, but whether or not she was a daughter of King Desiderius is questionable.
_Annales Lobienses_, edited by GH Pertz, MGH SS II 195 (under 771) staes: "Karlomannus...defunctus est Salmontiaco; uxor eius cum duobus filiis et Otgario marchione ad Desiderium regem patrem suum confugit" (Carloman died at Samoussy; his wife with two sons and Marquis Otgar fled to her father King Desiderius). Most historians, including Christian Settipani, follow earlier suggestions that this detail was recorded through confusion with the supposed Lombard wife of Carloman's elder brother Charlemagne - however, there is no obvious reason why this is more plausible than the straightforward reading of the statement as true. Other sources confirm that the widow of Carloman fled to Italy with her two infant sons, and unless this was a return to her own family it is hard to explain the choice of destination in her predicament. In the next entry of same annals are details of the exile in Francia of King Desiderius and his wife and sons, indicating some interest in his family.
Gerberga would fit with the Germanic names given to the known daughters of Desiderius, Adelberga, Luitberga (wife of Tassilo of Bavaria) and Anselberga (abbess of San Salvatore, Brescia). Carloman was married to a woman recognised as queen, who had given birth to sons by 771 if we take literally a letter from Pope Stephen II to Carloman in that year ("cum excellentissima ac christianissima filia nostra, regina, dulcissima vestra coniuge, et amantissimis natis", (with our most esteemed and Christian daughter, the queen, your dearest wife, and most beloved sons - see _Codex Carolinus_, edited by Wilhelm Gundlach, MGH Epistolae III, second edition (Berlin, 1957) 566 no 47).
It is usually presumed that this lady was of a similar background to that of Charlemagne's first wife (or concubine) Himiltrud; however, a marriage between either prince and a daughter of Desiderius had evidently not taken place when Pope Stephen II wrote to Charlemagne and Carloman, evidently about the same time as the letter quoted above, bewailing that one of the brothers might be persuaded to marry a daughter of the Lombard king (ibid 561 no 45, "cum magno cordis dolore dicimus: eo quod Desiderius Langobardorum rex vestram persuadere dinoscitur excellentiam, suam filiam uni ex vestra fraternitate in conuvio copulari"). If the dating of these two letters to 770/1 is correct then the pope can hardly have supposed that Carloman would have cast aside his established queen who was pregnant, or newly-delivered of a first son, in order to marry a Lombard princess.
Perhaps Carloman's widow was Frankish and yet thought her sons' best chance of safety was over the Alps with a royal adversary of her brother-in-law, although she and Desiderius were unrelated. It should be noted that Desiderius himself took a marked interest in the sons of Carloman after their flight to his court, and apparently tried to secure their rights to the Frankish kingdom even after Charlemagne had already been anointed by a pope, when it was too late for mere one-upmanship over an enemy.
> c. Desidere (Bertrade), one of the wives of Charlemagne, who conquered > the Lombards and annexed their territory [Lombardy] to his realm
This Lombard marriage of Charlemagne is generally accepted, but not absolutely definite. In any event, the name of the princess is not "Desidere".
St Paschasius Radbertus, abbot of Corbie, in the biography of his predecessor (and Charlemagne's cousin) Adalhard, wrote "imperator Carolus desideratam Desiderii regis Italorum filiam repudiaret" (Emperor Charlemagne repudiated the....daughter of Desiderius, king of the Italians, see _Patrologia latina..._ 120 column 1511). It is not clear whether "desiderata" should be taken to mean "beloved" (by her father) or "sought after" (by Charlemagne or on his behalf). However, it is more certain that this should not be taken for her given name; elsewhere she appears to have been called "Bertrada", but possibly "Gerberga" was the correct reading in this manuscript too. At any rate, the account in question is as likely to be confused, since Bertrada was her putative mother-in-law's name.
According to the account by Paschasius Radbertus, Adalhard is supposed to have taken exception to Charlemagne's marrying again while the repudiated Lombard princess was still living, and to have left the palace for the cloister as a result of his objection to this irregularity; but it seems more plausible that Adalhard, Charlemage's first cousin, would have had time at court to become deeply loyal to Himiltrude, the longstanding Frankish consort, and that he was concerned for her status as spouse. As a good son of the Church, he might also have been concerned about the keeping of Frankish promises to defend the apostolic patrimony against the wiles of Desiderius, rather than attaching himself to a recently arrived and childless foreign bride who was the daughter of this inveterate enemy of the pope.
Paschasius used the official royal annals as a source, and was perhaps led into error by knowledge of a projected Lombard marriage for Charlemagne, while Himiltrude had been in fact directly displaced by the next Frankish wife, Hildegarde, in late 770/early 771. It is equally possible that Charlemagne's and Carloman's mother Bertrada, who had gone to Italy and arranged the Lombard marriage project, was determined to see it through and paired the bride with Carloman instead when such a union was rejected her elder son. If so, Gerberga might have been only the step-mother to the boys she took with her to Italy, and Desiderius might have used them simply as political pawns.
