ALBOIN, a king of the Lombards. Having slain the son of Turisund, king of the Gepitht, when fighting under the banners of his father Audoin; the Lombards requested that Alboin should be permitted to sit at the royal feast, by which the victory was to be commemo rated. But, as this was contrary to the custom of the country, till the young prince should be invested with arms by a foreign king, Alboin set out with 40 of his companions to visit the court of Turisund. At the en tertainment prepared for the occasion, Alboin occupied the seat of the prince, whom he had slain in battle. This circumstance awakened the feelings of the father ; and his survis ing son Cunismund, with the other Gepidx, who perceived his agitation, determined to be revenged upon the Lombard prince. They addressed their visiters in the language of reproach and contumely. The Gepidx sprung from their seats at the appointed signal. The young hero and his brave associates grasped their swords; but the rising tumult was instantly assuaged by the in terference of Turisund, who generously dismissed Al boin with the blood-stained arms of the prince whom he had slain.
When Alboin succeeded to the throne, he asked in marriage the beautiful Rosamond, the daughter of Cu nismund, who now swayed the sceptre of the Gepidx. This request being refused, the Lombard king, with the assistance of the Avars, overturned the kingdom of the Gepithe in 566 ; and Cunismund having fallen in battle, his fair daughter became the prize, and afterwards the wife, of her victorious lover. Having relinquished these territories to the Avars, who promised to restore them, in the event of misfortunes, the Lombards attacked Italy, and made themselves masters of the whole coun try, from the mountains of Trent to the gates of Raven na and Rome, which henceforth became the kingdom of the conquerors.
In a feast at Verona, given by Alboin to his fellow-sol diers, a cup, formed of the skull of Cunismund, was in troduced upon the table. The brutal and unfeeling Lorn bard placed it in the hands of Rosamond. She touched the sacred cup with trembling lips, which at the same instant muttered vengeance against her savage lord. After some fruitless attempts to procure an accomplice, she selected Peredens, one of the Lombard chiefs ; but found it necessary to employ art to secure his assistance. Rosamond secretly supplied the place of one of Pere deus's mistresses, and then assured her deceived com panion, that either his death, or that of Alboin, must be the consequence of their criminal indulgence. Pere deus did not hesitate about the alternative which lie was to choose. He introduced the assassin into the chamber of his master : Alboin starting from his sleep, attempted to draw his sword, but Rosamond had secured it in the scabbard ; and the Lombard king, with only a stool to de fend him, fell by the spears of his murderers, A. D.573. Thus it is, that domestic treachery, or female revenge, often humbles the tyrants, who hale forced the hearts, or insulted the honour of their helpless captives. Sec Univers. Hist. vol. xvii. p. 337. Gibbon, vol. viii. p. 107. chap. 44. Giannone, Hist. de .7Vaple.s,liv. iii. cap. 4. (o)