Theodelinda

Theodelinda was a Bavarian princess of the later sixth century, the daughter of Duke Garibald I of Bavaria. Her marriage into the Lombard royal house belonged to a wider pattern of Alpine dynastic alliances in the generation after the Lombard settlement of Italy. In the late 580s the Lombard king Authari sought a Catholic bride from north of the Alps; the marriage with Theodelinda was celebrated about 589. Authari died the following year, in 590, without leaving a son by her who could succeed. The principal narrative of her life is that of Paul the Deacon in the Historia Langobardorum, written in the eighth century, together with letters of Pope Gregory the Great.

Rather than allow the dukes to fragment the succession, the Lombard magnates invited the widowed queen to remain on the throne and to choose a new husband who would rule as king. Theodelinda selected Agilulf, duke of Turin. Their marriage, contracted in 590 or 591, made her again queen of the Lombards and gave her a lasting political role. She was a Nicene Catholic, whereas a large part of the Lombard elite still followed Arian Christianity. Throughout Agilulf’s reign she used her influence in favor of the Catholic Church in Italy. She maintained a well-attested correspondence with Pope Gregory the Great, who sent her relics, a copy of his Dialogues, and pastoral encouragement for the conversion of the Lombards. The Catholic baptism of the royal heir was a public sign of this policy.

Theodelinda’s most enduring material legacy was her patronage at Monza, then a royal residence in the Lombard kingdom. She founded a palatine church dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, the origin of the later Cathedral of Monza, and endowed it with precious votive objects. The so-called Treasure of Theodelinda, including metalwork and other gifts associated with her, and the later tradition of the Iron Crown of Lombardy, are tied to this foundation. With Agilulf she had a son, Adaloald, born in the early seventh century and raised a Catholic, and a daughter, Gundeberga, who later became queen through marriage to Arioald and subsequently to Rothari.

After Agilulf died in 616, Adaloald succeeded under Theodelinda’s regency. His rule ended in deposition about a decade later, amid reports that he had become mentally unstable; the crown passed to Arioald, husband of Gundeberga. Theodelinda herself died in 628 and was buried in the church of Saint John at Monza. In later centuries the church and city of Monza preserved her memory as a pious foundress and as a figure who had helped draw the Lombards toward Catholic Christianity. She has been the object of local religious veneration, especially on 22 January, though she was not the subject of a formal process of universal canonization.