Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 2.djvu/264

252 B. THEODOLIND surprise and saw him stand up in his stirrups and hurl his short axe crashing into a distant tree, as he shouted his battle cry, " So strikes AutharL" Soon after this, war arose between France and Bavaria. Garibald was killed and Theodolind fled into Italy and sent messengers to Authari to tell him what had happened. He came to meet her and the marriage was solemnized with great splendour, at Sard! above Verona, May 15, 589. During the wedding festivities a tree in the palace garden was struck by a thunderbolt. A soothsayer in the train of AgiluK, duke of Turin, divined the portent to mean that Theodolind would in a short time become his master^s wife. Agilulf threatened, if he repeated the prophecy, to cut off his head. Scarcely more than a year later Au- thari died. Theodolind had so won the trust and love of the Lombards, that they wished to keep her as their queen, and offered to accept as king, any man she chose to marry. By the advice of her counsellors, she selected Agilulf, a brave and able ruler. She sent for him to Court and went to meet him as far as Somellino, a few miles from Pavia. There she ordered a cup of wine to be brought to her, and when she had half emptied the cup, she handed it to him. He drained it, and as he gave it back, he stooped and kissed her hand. *<You may have rights and privileges," she said, that will render such homage unnecessary." The marriage was cele- brated at Pavia in November 590. Al- though the dukes had agreed to abide by Theodolind*s choice, each had hoped for some particular personal advantage from the election, and several were dissatisfied. It was the policy of Constantinople to aid and abet such discontent, to incite powerful vassals to rebel against their lord and secretly to encourage rival pretenders. Agilulf had been successful in obtaining a treaty with Burgundy, and peace made the Lombards again a source of danger to the empire. The exarch of Bavenna, the Emperor's repre- sentative, had orders to foster rebellion among the Lombard chiefs. He induced Maurice, duke of Perugia, to quarrel witb Agilulf. This conduct of the Imperial- ists, freed the Lombards from their promise to respect the territory of the empire. Agilulf declared war, took Perugia, beheaded Maurice and marched to attack Bome. At that time Gregory the Great was Pope. He was sorely distressed by the evils that were falling on his people, for the Lombards, whom he describes as " more like bears than men," waged a savage and merciless warfare, against an enervated and demoralized population. The cornfields and vineyards were trampled to the earth, the cattle de- voured by the invaders, the churches and houses burned and people killed or carried off for slaves. In a happy hour St. Gregory bethought him of Theodo- lind. Her beauty, her wisdom, and her blameless conduct, gave her a great influence with her husband and his people. The Pope wrote to her to be- speak the clemency of Agilulf for the Italiansand his toleration of the Catholics in his dominions. Agilulf and Theodolind listened re- spectfuUy to the advice and petition of the holy Father, but the exarch of Bavenna was determined to make the most of the opportunities for pillage which the war afforded. It was not until 598 when a new exarch was ap- pointed, that peace was made with the Lombards. St. Gregory wrote to Theo- dolind a letter of thanks for her media- tion : " We knew that we might reckon on your Christianity for this, that you woidd by all means apply your labour and your goodness to the cause of peace." (Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders,) It is clear that St. Gregory attached great importance to her influence and estimated rightly that she would be an important factor in converting Lombardy from Arianism to Catholicism. Though Agilulf never became in name a Catholic, she seems to have induced him to treat Catholics with toleration, and Catholic clergy held the chief churches in his dominion. The historian Panlus writes of her, By means of this queen, the Church of God obtained much advantage, for the Lombards, when they were stUl