Figure 1.--. |
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The Lombards were one of the eastern Germanic tribes. They were a relatively small tribe. Little is known about their origins. Tribal myths saw their origins in an island named Scandanavia. The Romans first encountered the Lombards when they settled along the lower Elbe (1st century AD). They wre noted as being particularly ruthless, even for barbarians. Their subsequent migrations are not well understood.
Byzantine Emperor Justinian I allowed the Lombards to settle in Pannonia and Noricum (modern Hungary and eastern Austria) (547). The Lombards fight as Roman allies against the Goths. They ally with the Avars to destroy their primcipal enemies--the Guelpi. Rather than take on the Avars, they move west. Under Alboin, a particularly effective war chief, the Lombards invaded Italy and established a kingdom in the north with a capital at Pavia (568). The Lombards seized much of Italy including areas in the south. Some areas continued to be held by the Byzantine Empire (Ravenna, the Pentapolis (Rimini, Ancona, Fano, Pesaro, and Senigallia) as well as much of the eastern coast. Here the Byzantine navy played a major role. Areas of western-central Italy comtinued to be he;d by the papacy. The popes for a while continued to recognize the authority of the Byzantine Empire. Emperor Leo launched a campaign against icons. Pope Gregory III openly broke with the Empire. After Alboin’s death (572?) and the the death of his successor Cleph (d. 575) the Lombard monarchy declined. Lombard-dominated Italy became an area divided among 36 independent-minded dukes. The pope encouraged this increasing disunity. In particulat the duchies of Spoleto and Benevento in central and southern Italy persued sepratist policies. the Lombard nobles united to elect Cleph’s son, Authari, as a new king to resist the encroachments of the Franks, the Byzantines, and the popes (584). The Lombard kingdom dominated Rome for two centuries (7th and 8th centuries). The Lombards were Pagan, but gradually after entering Italy became Christiam. Arianism was at first important, but Catholicism eventually predominated. The Lombards were increasingly Romanized and accepted the Latin speech of the larger and more sophisticated Italian population. Catholic bishops gradually became accepted as chief magistrates in cities. Lombard law came to combine Germanic and Roman traditions. King Liutprand (712–44) became the greatest Lombard king. He consolidated the territoral expanse of the kingdom. He brought Spoleto and Benevento back within the Kingdom.
King Aistulf sought to complete Lombard control of Italy. He seized Ravenna, long a Byzantire stronghold (751). Aistulf then threatened the Papal states. Pope Stephen II in desperation
appealed to Frankish King Pepin the Short for aid. Pepin invaded Italy.
Pepin seized Lombard territory which he turned over to the pope. This area became known as the Donation of Pepin. King Desiderius, the next Lombard king, renewed the advances on the papacy (772). This time Pepin's successor, Charlemagn, came to pope;s aid. He crossed the Alps with a massive army. He defeated the Lombards and was crowned with the iron Lombard crown at Pavia (774). Charlemagne's rescue of the papacy is ironic in that one of the great conflicts of the medieval era would develop between the German emperor and the pope. Charlemagne's victory destroyed the Lombard kingdom and gave him control of almost all of Italy. The Lombard duchy of Benevento remained in the south. Lombard Benevento was conquered by the Normans (11th century). The iron crown of the Lombard kings appeared again in history. The first Holy Romam Emperor Otto I was crowned with the iron Lombard crown (951). Although the Lombards disappeared with their defeat at the hands of Charlemagne, a rehion of northern Italy came to be called Lombardy.
Hallenbeck, J.T. Pavia and Rome: The Lombard Monarchy and the Papacy in the Eighth Century (1982).
Hodgkin, T. Italy and Her Invaders, Vol. V and VI (1895, repr. 1967).
Paul the Deacon.
Villari, P. Barbarian Invasions of Italy (2 vol., tr. 1902).
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