 Between 584 and 590, he warred extensively against Authari, king of the Lombards, who eventually forced him to retreat to Ravenna while the region of Brescello was taken by the Lombards and the walls of the city razed to the ground.After his failure in Italy, Droctulf was called to the Balkans and Thrace to fend off the army of Slavs and Avars then besieging Adrianople (586).The Byzantines granted him burial in the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, where his lengthy epitaph survived to be recorded by Paul.