Page "Alboin" Paragraph 3

Alboin was assassinated on June 28, 572, in a coup d ' état instigated by the Byzantines.

It was organized by the king's foster brother, Helmichis, with the support of Alboin's wife, Rosamund, daughter of the Gepid king whom Alboin had killed some years earlier.

The coup failed in the face of opposition from a majority of the Lombards, who elected Cleph as Alboin's successor, forcing Helmichis and Rosamund to flee to Ravenna under imperial protection.

Alboin's death deprived the Lombards of the only leader who could have kept the newborn Germanic entity together, the last in the line of hero-kings who had led the Lombards through their migrations from the vale of the Elbe to Italy.

For many centuries following his death Alboin's heroism and his success in battle were celebrated in Saxon and Bavarian epic poetry.