Rodelinde VON THÜRINGEN

Rodelinda was a Lombard queen who lived in the 6th century. She was the wife of king Audoin and mother of king Alboin.[1]

She was the first wife of Audoin, regent for the infant king of the Lombards Walthari from 540 to 546/547 and king in his own right from 546/547 to an uncertain date after 552, and gave him a son, his successor Alboin.[2]

When the marriage took place is unclear. the contemporary Procopius speaks of a marriage arrangement between Audoin and an unnamed sister of Amalafrid, a prince of mixed royal Ostrogothic and Thuringian stock. The bethrothment had been organized by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian at a date spanning from c.540 to 552, and this unnamed female may be the Rodelinda named by Paul the Deacon; but it has been objected to by the Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire that it is not certain that the marriage Procopius speaks of eventually took place. A major difficulty added to this is that in 552 Alboin was already a warrior. The PLRE believes the marriage between Audoin and Rodelinda took place in the 530s.[2][3]

Other scholars instead tend to accept the identification, observing its importance in linking the Lombard kings with the bloodline of the Amali, the royal house of the Ostrogoths. Such a marriage would have made Audoin a legitimate heir to both the Ostrogothic and Thuringian thrones, the latter in particular as Audoin was already half-brother of the last king of the Thuringians, thus putting him in opposition to the Franks who had taken over most of the Thuringian lands.[4][5]

Another explanation of Rodelinda's origins is given by István Boná: according to him she was probably a Bavarian princess, to be considered distinct from the Thuringian princess Audoin was engaged to later on.

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