Theodelinda (c. 570–628), the daughter of Garibald I, fresco byZavattari
TheAgilolfings were a noble family that ruled theDuchy of Bavaria on behalf of theirMerovingiansuzerains from about 550 until 788. A cadet branch of the Agilolfings also ruled theKingdom of the Lombards intermittently from 616 to 712.They are mentioned as the leading dynasty in theLex Baiuvariorum (c. 743). Their Bavarian residence was atRegensburg.
The dynasty's eponymous ancestor isAgilulf, a semi-legendary prince of theSuebi and descendant ofHermeric, the 5th-century Suevic king ofGalicia, possibly identical with one Agilulf, a steward of theVisigothic kingTheoderic II, who was executed in 457.[1]
The first duke identified with the Agilolfing line in German historiography isGaribald I (Gariwald). However, doubt has been cast on Garibald's membership in the Agilolfing family in modern scholarship,[2] which makesTassilo I (r. 591–610) the first ascertained member of the dynasty.
The Agilolfings had close ties to the Merovingians. Garibald I himself marriedWaldrada, the widow of Merovingian kingTheudebald, in 555, after her marriage toChlothar I was annulled on grounds ofconsanguinity.As they had their fate intertwined with the Merovingian dynasty, they opposed the rise of theCarolingianmayors of the palace, who finally deprived the Agilolfings of their power.
^Jörg Jarnut:Agilolfingerstudien. Untersuchungen zur Geschichte einer adligen Familie im 6. und 7. Jahrhundert. Stuttgart 1986. Diese Ansicht wird weitgehend geteilt in: Wilhelm Störmer:Die Baiuwaren. Von der Völkerwanderung bis Tassilo III. München 2007.
^Carl I. Hammer:From Ducatus to Regnum. Ruling Bavaria under the Merovingians and early Carolingians. 2007; Britta Kägler:„Sage mir, wie du heißt …“. Spätantik-frühmittelalterliche Eliten in den Schriftquellen. Das Beispiel der frühen Agilolfinger. In: Hubert Fehr, Irmtraut Heitmeier (eds.):Von Raetien und Noricum zur frühmittelalterlichen Baiovaria. EOS, St. Ottilien 2012, S. 183–196.
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