Zaban was the Lombard

Lombards

The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...

 dux

Dux

Dux is Latin for leader and later for Duke and its variant forms ....

(or duke) of Pavia

Pavia

Pavia , the ancient Ticinum, is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It is the capital of the province of Pavia. It has a population of c. 71,000...

 (Ticinum) during the decade-long interregnum known as the Rule of the Dukes

Rule of the Dukes

The Rule of the Dukes was an interregnum in the Lombard Kingdom of Italy during which Italy was ruled by the Lombard dukes of the old Roman provinces and urban centres...

 (574

574

Year 574 was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 574 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Byzantine Empire :* Emperor Justin II retires,...

 – 584

584

Year 584 was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 584 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Asia :* Fourth Turkic khagan Taspar dies. Interregnum...

). Pavia had been the capital of the Lombard kingdom, but after the death of King Cleph

Cleph

Cleph was king of the Lombards from 572 or 573 to 574 or 575.He succeeded Alboin, to whom he was not related by blood. He was a violent and terrifying figure to the Romans and Byzantines struggling to maintain control of the peninsula...

, it became the centre of a great duchy, one of thirty five into which the Lombard state was then divided. It seems that, as the ruler of the ancient capital, Zaban held a certain superiority of rank over his fellow duces and may have acted as their commander-in-chief.

In 574, Zaban invaded the lands of Guntram

Guntram

Saint Guntram was the king of Burgundy from 561 to 592. He was a son of Chlothar I and Ingunda...

, King of Burgundy

King of Burgundy

The following is a list of the Kings of the two Kingdoms of Burgundy, and a number of related political entities devolving from Carolingian machinations over family relations.- Kings of the Burgundians :...

, in what is today Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, but was repulsed and had to return to Italy.

In 575

575

Year 575 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 575 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Europe :* The Kingdom of East Anglia is founded by...

, Zaban and his fellow dukes Amo and Rodanus invaded the valleys of the Rhône

Rhône River

The Rhone is one of the major rivers of Europe, rising in Switzerland and running from there through southeastern France. At Arles, near its mouth on the Mediterranean Sea, the river divides into two branches, known as the Great Rhone and the Little Rhone...

 and Saône

Saône

The Saône is a river of eastern France. It is a right tributary of the River Rhône. Rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department, it joins the Rhône in Lyon....

. Amo passing by Embrun

Embrun, Hautes-Alpes

Embrun is a commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.-Description:...

 encamped near Manosque

Manosque

Manosque is the largest town and commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in southeastern France. However, it is not the préfecture of the département, which resides in the smaller town of Digne-les-Bains...

, a city of Mummolus

Mummolus

Mummolus, Mommolus, or Mummulus, born Eunius to one Peonius, Count of Auxerre. He was a Gallo-Roman patrician and prefect who served Guntram, King of Burgundy, as a general....

, the Gallo-Roman general of Burgundy. Rodanus besieged Grenoble

Grenoble

Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...

 and Zaban passing down the valley of the Durance

Durance

The Durance is a major river in south-eastern France.Its source is in the south-western Alps, in Montgenèvre ski resort near Briançon and it flows south-west through the following départements and cities:* Hautes-Alpes: Briançon, Embrun.* Alpes-de-Haute-Provence: Sisteron, Manosque.* Vaucluse:...

 by Die

Die, Drôme

Die is a commune, former episcopal see, and sub-prefecture of the Drôme department in southeastern France.Die is best known for the Clairette de Die, a sparkling wine. It was a county in the High Middle Ages.-Population:-External links:*...

, laid siege to Valence

Valence, Drôme

Valence is a commune in southeastern France, the capital of the Drôme department, situated on the left bank of the Rhône, south of Lyon on the railway to Marseilles.Its inhabitants are called Valentinois...

. Amo successfully subdued the regions of Arles

Arles

Arles is a city and commune in the south of France, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture, in the former province of Provence....

 and Marseilles, while Mummolus rescued the city of Grenoble and sent Rodanus and his army of 500 to the protection of Zaban's forces. The two then marched on Embrun, plundered it, and met an army of Mummolus'. Defeated, they retreated back to Susa

Susa

Susa was an ancient city of the Elamite, Persian and Parthian empires of Iran. It is located in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris River, between the Karkheh and Dez Rivers....

, in Italy, which was a Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 possession of the magister militum

Magister militum

Magister militum was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine. Used alone, the term referred to the senior military officer of the Empire...

, Sisinnius. Mummolus invaded Italy and forced Zaban and Rodanus to return to their own duchies, while Amo had to abandon his booty while crossing the Alps

Alps

The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....

. Guntram's kingdom was extended at the expense of the Lombard to include the cisalpine cities of Aosta

Aosta

Aosta is the principal city of the bilingual Aosta Valley in the Italian Alps, north-northwest of Turin. It is situated near the Italian entrance of the Mont Blanc Tunnel, at the confluence of the Buthier and the Dora Baltea, and at the junction of the Great and Little St. Bernard routes...

 and Susa. The Lombards hereafter ceased their Gaulish invasions.

Sources

• Paul the Deacon
  Paul the Deacon
  Paul the Deacon , also known as Paulus Diaconus, Warnefred, Barnefridus and Cassinensis, , was a Benedictine monk and historian of the Lombards.-Life:...
  
  . Historia Langobardorum. Available at Northvegr.
• Hodgkin, Thomas. Italy and her Invaders. Clarendon Press, 1895.