Ferdulf of Friuli

Ferdulf, originally from Liguria, was the Duke of Friuli very briefly in 705. Paul the Deacon accused him of using "trickery" to seize the duchy after the death of Duke Ado.

He was said to have desired "the glory of a victory over the Slavs" (Paul, VI, xxiv). He paid some Slavs to invade his country in order that he might fend them off, but some of the Slav army raided the pastureland and carried off livestock as booty. Argait, the local magistrate, or "sculdahis", chased them, but could not overtake them. A few days later, the real Slav army which Ferdulf had paid arrived and took up a position on a hill. Ferdulf initially decided to try and challenge them on more level ground, but Argait charged up the hill and, fearful of being labelled a coward, Ferdulf followed. The entire Lombard cavalry was killed and the Friulian nobility decimated. Both Argait and Ferdulf died.

ources

*Paul the Deacon. [http://www.northvegr.org/lore/langobard/index.php "Historia Langobardorum"] . Translated by William Dudley Foulke. University of Pennsylvania: 1907.
*Hodgkin, Thomas. "Italy and her Invaders". Clarendon Press: 1895.