Amalafrid
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Amalafrid (Amalafridas) was the son of the last Thuringian king Hermanafrid and his wife Amalaberga, daughter of Amalafrida and niece of the Ostrogoth king Theodoric the Great.
After the fall of the Royal Thuringian seat of Scithingi to the Frankish king Theuderic in AD 531, Amalaberga fled to the Ostrogoth king Theodahat, her brother, with Amalafrid and his sister Rodelindis. They were captured by the Byzantine general Belisarius and sent to Constantinople, together with the captured Ostrogoth king Wittigis. Justinian made Amalafrid a Roman general and married his sister Rodelindis to the Lombard king Audiun.
When the Lombards applied to Emperor Justinian for help against the Gepids, he send an army under the command of Justinus and Justinianus, the sons of Germanus, Aratius and Suartuas (a former ruler of the Herulii) and Amalafrid. All the former remained in Ulpiana, Illyria to decide on a question of doctrine among the local Christians. Amalafrid led part of the Roman army against the Gepids. As Auduin afterwards sent envoys to Justinian to complain about the lack of Imperial help, this seems to have been only a small part of the original army. Nevertheless, Amalafrid and the Lombard host under Auduin won a mayor victory over the Gepids.
Amalafrid had a son named Artachis (Venantius Fortunatus, but nothing further is known of his fate.
Sources
- Procopius, Gothic war VII, 25
- Venantius Fortunatus, Carm. App. 3