Cunimund

Cunimund was a king of the Gepids, a Germanic people who inhabited the Pannonian Basin in the 6th century AD. He is primarily known through the accounts of the Byzantine historian Jordanes and the Lombard historian Paul the Deacon. Cunimund's reign is significant for the final conflict between the Gepids and their rivals, the Lombards.

The Gepids and Lombards had a long-standing animosity, with the Gepids initially holding a dominant position in the region. However, by the mid-6th century, the Lombards, under their king Alboin, began to gain the upper hand. The conflict culminated in a decisive battle in 567 AD, where the Gepids were annihilated. Cunimund himself was killed in this battle, and Alboin is said to have fashioned a drinking cup from Cunimund's skull, a detail that underscores the brutality of the period.

The defeat and death of Cunimund marked the end of the Gepids as a distinct political entity. Their territory was subsequently absorbed by the Lombards, who then moved further west into Italy. Cunimund's legacy is thus tied to the dramatic shift in power in Central Europe and the decline of one of the prominent Germanic groups of the Migration Period.