Thurisind was king of the
Gepids, an
East Germanic Gothic people, from c. 548 to 560. He was the penultimate Gepid king, and succeeded King
Elemund by staging a
coup d'état and forcing the king's son into exile. Thurisind's kingdom, known as Gepidia, was located in
Central Europe and had its centre in
Sirmium, a former
Roman city on the
Danube River. His reign was marked by multiple wars with the
Lombards, a Germanic people who had arrived in the former
Roman province of
Pannonia under the leadership of their king,
Audoin. Thurisind also had to face the hostility of the
Byzantine Empire, which was resentful of the Gepid takeover of Sirmium and anxious to diminish Gepid power in the
Pannonian Basin, a plain covering most of modern Hungary and partly including the bordering states. The Byzantines' plans to reduce the Gepids' power took effect when Audoin decisively defeated Thurisind in 551 or 552. The Byzantine Emperor
Justinian forced a peace accord on both leaders so that equilibrium in the Pannonian Basin could be sustained. Thurisind lost his eldest son,
Turismod, in the
Battle of Asfeld, where the prince was killed by
Alboin, son of Audoin. In about 560, Thurisind died and was succeeded by his remaining son
Cunimund, who was killed by Alboin in 567. Cunimund's death marked the end of the Gepid Kingdom and the beginning of the conquest of their territories by the Lombards' allies, the
Avars, a nomadic people migrating from the
Eurasian Steppe. (
more...)
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