Theudelinda, Catholic Protector of the Langobards: Model Queenship in Paul the Deacon's Historia Langobardorum

Abstract

The Early Medieval Ages have a reputation of containing fewer sources than the Later Medieval Ages. These ‘few’ sources require thorough analysis, as they can sometimes be the only sources we have on certain aspects of human history. Our knowledge of the history of the Langobards, who controlled many parts of Italy for over two centuries in early medieval Italy, relies much on Paul the Deacon’s H.L., which therefore requires thorough academic consideration; new perspectives shed new light on its origin and, therefore, on early medieval history itself. Paul’s description of Theudelinda, queen of the Langobards (r. 590-628), in the H.L. indicates a certain ‘model of queenship’ Paul envisioned in his text. Through an analysis of her central role in Paul’s vision of the history of the Langobards and comparisons with other female characters, Rumetruda, Rosemunda and Romilda, in this text, we will try to distil Paul’s queenship model. This thesis will demonstrate Paul’s ideas on queenship and indicate that this queenship model is possibly Langobard in origin. This analysis will, therefore, give a possible new perspective on the origin of Paul’s work, which could prove useful for our knowledge of the period. Women and queens, in particular, have often been an overlooked part of history; the focus was mostly on men and kings. This thesis aims to analyse exactly this mostly overlooked aspect of the H.L.