Friday, April 19, 2013

Eam ut cum patre suo laetanter biberet invitavit




Once upon a time Alboin, warrior king of the Lombards, made war against the neighbouring kingdom of the Gepids. He overthrew them, killed their king and seized the king's daughter Rosamund to be his wife.

Some years later, Alboin led his people south across the Alps and set up a new realm in what we now call Northern Italy. One day, in his court at Pavia - about half-an hour south of Milan - he had too much wine at dinner.

He called for Rosamund. When she arrived, he took out the cup he had made from the skull of the dead king, and invited her to enjoy a drink with her father.

Whether she drank or not is unrecorded. 
What we do know is that soon afterwards she had him murdered.

The story allegedly took place around 570. The written version that still survives, and from which I took the Latin title, was written perhaps in the 770s.

Although the picture illustrates a historical event, it does not attempt to be accurate. Even if the story is true, we know so little of how people appeared in the 500s that attempting a reconstruction would be futile. And also tedious.

Instead, I've tried to imagine how the scene might appear in a modern stage production, in which accuracy is less important than visual impact and the impression of exotic antiquity.



This drawing appeared in the 2013 edition of the Hart House Review.

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