Father’s Last Kiss

In 567 AD, Queen Rosamund of the Gepids saw her realm overrun by the Lombards, one of the Germanic “barbarian” tribes now pressing into what was once Roman territory in northern Italy. Her father, King Cunimund, was slain and beheaded at Verona—a stark testament to the shifting power that followed the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476.

That same year, the victorious King Alboin forced Rosamund into marriage to cement his claim. At a grim victory feast he made her drink from her father’s skull, a brazen display of dominance and a symbol of Rome’s faded glory. (I didn’t depict this gruesomeness exactly.)

Undeterred, Rosamund bided her time. In 572 AD she conspired with her chamberlain, Helmichis, to assassinate Alboin in Verona—then betrayed him, seizing both power and treasure before slipping away under the cover of night. Her double-cross encapsulates the ruthless intrigue as Italy fragmented into early medieval kingdoms.