The Leggend of Rosamunda 572 AD

Alboin was a Lombard warrior who fought against the Francs and the Burgundians and made many conquests. It was just after his last conquist in Verona that he fell victim to a conspiration by his wife Rosamunda and her lover Elmichi. The leggend would have it known that Rosamunda was the daughter of the king of the Gepides. It is said that Alboin after killing her father, made her drink from his skull and then forced her to marry him.This could well have been true because we know from documents that Alboin killed her father and we know that he was murdered by them. .Alboin is buried under the steps of the Palazzo Reale in Verona. Rosamunda and Elmichi had the intention of taking over the throne but the conspiracy was discovered and they seized all the treasure they could and fled to the Imperial City of Ravenna on The Adriatic under the protection of the Bizantine governor Longino who could hardly believe his eyes when they showed him the Lombard treasure. Rosamunda and Longino then began to conspire against Elmechi, to kill him and then to marry. Rosamund takes a bath with her unsuspecting lover Elmichi and offers him poison wine. It is soon only too obvious to Elmichi that he has been poisoned and in excruciating pain he finds the strength to get hold of the goblet in which there is still some poison left. He holds a dagger to her throat and makes her drink what is left. The two of them contorted with pain fall dead in a macabre embrace.