Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 5, 2026

Corvulus of Friuli

Corvulus was the Duke of Friuli for a brief spell in the early eighth century AD. Virtually nothing is known about his origin and life; he replaced Ferdulf, but he apparently offended King Aripert II and was arrested and had his eyes gouged out. He "lived ignominiously" in shame as an obscure, blind exile thereafter, according to Paul the Deacon. He was ultimately replaced by Pemmo.

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Corvulus (also Corvolus) was the Duke of Friuli for a brief spell in the early eighth century AD (c. 705 or 706). Virtually nothing is known about his origin and life; he replaced Ferdulf, but he apparently offended King Aripert II and was arrested and had his eyes gouged out. He "lived ignominiously" in shame as an obscure, blind exile thereafter, according to Paul the Deacon. He was ultimately replaced by Pemmo.

Name

"Corvulus" literally means "little raven" in Latin, so this may have been a hypocoristic or Latinization for the duke's real birth name (as a likely ethnic Lombard who assimilated to Italo-Roman culture as many like him; cf. Rabanus Maurus, the first name from Old High German raban).

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