Thurisind was king of the Gepids, an East Germanic Gothic people, from c. 548 to 560. He was the penultimate Gepid king, and succeeded King Elemund by staging a coup d'état and forcing the king's son into exile. Thurisind's kingdom, known as Gepidia, was located in Central Europe and had its centre in Sirmium, a former Roman city on the Danube River. His reign was marked by multiple wars with the Lombards, a Germanic people who had arrived in the former Roman province of Pannonia under the leadership of their king, Audoin. Thurisind also had to face the hostility of the Byzantine Empire, which was resentful of the Gepid takeover of Sirmium and anxious to diminish Gepid power in the Pannonian Basin, a plain covering most of modern Hungary and partly including the bordering states. The Byzantines' plans to reduce the Gepids' power took effect when Audoin decisively defeated Thurisind in 551 or 552. The Byzantine Emperor Justinian forced a peace accord on both leaders so that equilibrium in the Pannonian Basin could be sustained. Thurisind lost his eldest son, Turismod, in the Battle of Asfeld, where the prince was killed by Alboin, son of Audoin. In about 560, Thurisind died and was succeeded by his remaining son Cunimund, who was killed by Alboin in 567. Cunimund's death marked the end of the Gepid Kingdom and the beginning of the conquest of their territories by the Lombards' allies, the Avars, a nomadic people migrating from the Eurasian Steppe. (more...)

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1848:

James W. Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California, leading to the California Gold Rush. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Gold_Rush

1900:

Second Boer War: Boer forces stopped a British attempt to break the Siege of Ladysmith in the Battle of Spion Kop. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Spion_Kop

1961:

A Boeing B-52 Stratofortress carrying two Mark 39 nuclear weapons broke up in mid-air near Goldsboro, North Carolina; one bomb was recovered intact, the other disintegrated. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Goldsboro_B-52_crash

1972:

Japanese soldier Shoichi Yokoi was found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been since the end of World War II. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoichi_Yokoi

1993:

Turkish journalist and writer Uğur Mumcu was assassinated by a car bomb outside his home in Ankara. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U%C4%9Fur_Mumcu

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

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