Garibald I of Bavaria
Duke (or King) of Bavaria
535 CE to 591 CE
Garibald I (also Garivald) (born 540) is Duke (or King) of Bavaria from 555 until 591.
He stands at the head of the Agilolfings and the Bavarian Dynasty that ruled the Kingdom of the Lombards.
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The Bavarians had emerged in a region north of the Alps originally inhabited by the Celts, which had been part of the Roman provinces of Raetia and Noricum.
The Bavarians speak Old High German but, unlike other Germanic groups, probably did not migrate from elsewhere.
Rather, they seem to have coalesced out of other groups left behind by Roman withdrawal late in the fifth century.
These peoples may have included the Celtic Boii, some remaining Romans, Marcomanni, Allemanni, Quadi, Thuringians, Goths, Scirians, Rugians, Heruli.
The name "Bavarian" ("Baiuvarii") means "Men of Baia" which may indicate Bohemia, the homeland of the Celtic Boii and later of the Marcomanni.
They first appear in written sources around 520.
By the sixth century, there is evidence of the foundation of a Bavarian stem duchy whose leadership is related to the ruling Frankish (and possibly Alemannic/Swabian) houses.
The dukes of Bavaria choose the site of a first century CE Roman camp (later called Regensburg) as their seat; it will remain the capital of Bavaria from about 530 to the first half of the thirteenth century.
From about 554, the house of Agilolfing rules the Duchy of Bavaria, subordinate to the Franks.
Three early dukes are named in Frankish sources: Garibald I may have been appointed to the office by the Merovingian kings and married the Lombard princess Walderada when the church forbade her to King Chlothar I in 555.
Guntram and Childebert lead two armies across the Alps in 590, respectively over Mont Cenis and the Brenner to Milan and Verona.
Though Authari shuts himself up in Pavia, the Franks accomplish little as the exarch's army does not meet them and they can not even join up with each other.
Pestilence turns them around and they leave the Lombards much chastened, but hardly defeated.
On May 15, 589, Authari had married Theodelinda, daughter of the Bavarian duke Garibald I.
A Catholic, she has great influence among the Lombards for her virtue.
When Authari dies in Pavia on September 5, 590, possibly by poison, he is succeeded as king by Agilulf, duke of Turin, on the advice, sought by the dukes, of Theodelinda, who marries the new king.