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How did Queen Theodelinda help improve relations between the Lombards and Rome?

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St. Gregory the Great Pope Gregory I (the Great) depicted in a stained glass window at St. Michael & All Angels Church in Brinkworth, Wiltshire, England.

Queen Theodelinda, the Catholic wife of the Lombard king Agilulf, played a pivotal role in improving relations between the Lombards and Rome. Through her relationship with Pope St. Gregory the Great, she helped foster an environment where Catholics became welcome at the Lombard court.1

This connection facilitated a rapprochement between the two powers, as friendship and patronage achieved what military strategy and imperial policies could not. By cultivating these ties, Theodelinda helped lay the foundation for the peaceful conversion of the Lombards to Catholicism, and after 600, relations between Lombard and Roman Italy improved significantly.12