Duchy of Friuli

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Duchy of Friuli" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Duchy of Friuli Ducatus Foroiuliensis (Latin)
568–828
The Duchy of Friuli in the northeast within Lombard Italy
Status	Duchy of the Lombards (568-774) Duchy of Francia (774-828)
Capital	Cividale
Common languages	Friulian Lombard Latin
Government	Duchy
Duke of Friuli
• 568-~584 or 568/c.584–590	Grasulf I or Gisulf I (first)
• 774-776	Hrodgaud
• 819-828	Baldric (last)
Historical era	Early Middle Ages
• Established	568
• Avar invasion	610
• Lombard Kingdom conquered	773-774
• Divided into smaller counties	828
• Reestablished as the March of Friuli	846
Preceded by Succeeded by Byzantine Empire under the Justinian dynasty March of Friuli
Today part of	Friuli-Venezia Giulia

The Duchy of Friuli (Latin: Ducatus Foroiuliensis) was a Lombard duchy in present-day Friuli, the first to be established after the conquest of the Italian peninsula in 568. It was one of the largest domains in Langobardia Major and an important buffer between the Lombard kingdom and the Slavs,^[1] Avars, and the Byzantine Empire. The original chief city in the province was Roman Aquileia, but the Lombard capital of Friuli was Forum Julii, modern Cividale.

Along with the dukes of Spoleto, Benevento and Trent, the lords of Friuli often attempted to establish their independence from the royal authority seated at Pavia, though to no avail. After the Lombard campaign of Charlemagne and the defeat of King Desiderius in 774, the last Friulian duke Hrodgaud ruled until 776. Upon his death, Friuli was incorporated as a march of the Carolingian Empire.