After relations between the Frankish kings had settled down, Theudebert found himself embroiled in the Gothic War started when the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I attempted to subdue the Ostrogoths in Italy. Justinian saw Theudebert as an ideal ally: Austrasian lands flanked the Ostrogoths in northern Italy. The emperor paid Theudebert handsomely for his assistance, but Theudebert proved an untrustworthy ally. The Frankish armies saw the Italian conflict as an opportunity for plunder and a chance to exert their own claims to northern Italy. In the event the Byzantines were forced to fight the Franks as much as the Ostrogoths.
After relations between the Frankish kings had settled down, Theudebert found himself embroiled in the Gothic War started when the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I attempted to subdue the Ostrogoths in Italy. Justinian saw Theudebert as an ideal ally: Austrasian lands flanked the Ostrogoths in northern Italy. The emperor paid Theudebert handsomely for his assistance, but Theudebert proved an untrustworthy ally. The Frankish armies saw the Italian conflict as an opportunity for plunder and a chance to exert their own claims to northern Italy. In the event the Byzantines were forced to fight the Franks as much as the Ostrogoths