The origin: the monastery of the queen
The origin of the monastery: the monastery of the queen
An old tradition of Cividale, which is surely a legend but with a kernel of truth, attributes the foundation of the monastery to a Longobard queen. In the middle of the 8th century, between 74 and 759, two noble brothers from Cividale, Ratchis and Aistulf, Duke Pemmo’s sons, became the kings of the Longobard kingdom. One of their wives, Tassia and Giseltrude, may have been the queen who founded the Monastery. However, now it is no more than a legend, plausible but with no documentary evidence. Foundation between the late Longobard era and the early Carolingian period, in the second half of the 8th century, therefore seems probable.
Its foundation might be related to the great fervour of the monastic foundations promoted in the late Longobard period by the notables of the kingdom, which also saw the active participation of the nobles connected with the Duchy of Friuli and with Cividale elsewhere.