Historical ethnic group of the Italian Peninsula of Germanic origin
Not to be confused with the modern inhabitants of the region ofLombardy in Italy or theLombard language.
Lombard possessions in Italy: the Lombard Kingdom(Neustria,Austria andTuscia) and the Lombard Duchies of Spoleto and Benevento
TheLombards,Longobards orLangobards (Latin:Langobardi) were aGermanic people who conquered most of theItalian Peninsula between 568 and 774 AD. They had previously settled in theMiddle Danube in the 5th century, near what is nowAustria,Slovenia andHungary. Their previous homeland was in the north, near present dayHamburg. Roman-era historians in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD mention the Lombards as one of theSuebian peoples, and report them living on theLower Elbe already in the early 1st century. Their legacy is apparent inLombardy, northern Italy, the region deriving its name from them.
There are no contemporary accounts of the Lombards in the 3rd or 4th century, or for most of the 5th century, which is when they reappear, near theDanube river far to the south. Legendary accounts of the Lombard migration are found in several early medieval texts, the oldest being theOrigo Gentis Langobardorum (Origin of the Lombard People). There are two other notable later adaptions, theChronicon Gothanum and the more scholarlyHistory of the Lombards byPaul the Deacon, written between 787 and 796 AD, which contain more information. All three describe the Lombards as a people who moved to the Danube from somewhere near theNorth Sea. The details, however, differ until they enter "Rugiland" soon afterOdoacer's defeat in 487/488 AD of theRugii, who had a kingdom near what is nowVienna.
In the Danube region, the Lombards came into conflict with other small kingdoms, starting with theHeruls, neighbours of the Rugii, and culminating with their defeat of theGepids. The Lombard kingAudoin defeated the Gepid leaderThurisind in 551 or 552 AD, and Audoin's successorAlboin eventually destroyed the Gepids in 567 AD. The Lombards also settled further south inPannonia, in modern-day Hungary. NearSzólád, archaeologists have unearthed burial sites of Lombard men and women being buried together as families, unusual among Germanic peoples at the time. Contemporary traces have also been discovered of Mediterranean Greeks and a possible migrant from France.
Following Alboin's victory over the Gepids, he led his people intonortheastern Italy, which had become severely depopulated and devastated by the longGothic War (535–554) between theByzantine Empire and theOstrogothic Kingdom. The Lombards were joined by numerousSaxons,Heruls,Gepids,Bulgars,Thuringians andOstrogoths, and their invasion of Italy was almost unopposed. By late 569 AD, they had conquered all of northern Italy and the principal cities north of thePo River exceptPavia, which fell in 572 AD. At the same time, they occupied areas in central and southern Italy. They established aLombard Kingdom in north and central Italy, which reached its zenith under the 8th century rulerLiutprand. In 774 AD, the kingdom was conquered by theFrankish kingCharlemagne and integrated into theFrankish Empire. Lombard nobles, however, continued to rule the southern parts of theItalian peninsula well into the 11th century, when they wereconquered by theNormans and added to theCounty of Sicily. During this period, the southern part of Italy still under Lombard control was known to the Norse as Langbarðaland or 'land of the Lombards', as inscribed in Norserunestones.[1]
The standard explanation derives the name fromProto-Germanic: *lang- "long" and*bard- "beard," meaning "the Long-beards".[3]Isidore of Seville stated in the 7th century that it was commonly said that the Langobards got their name because they never cut their beards.[4] The origin stories in theOrigo and theHistory of Paul the Deacon connect this name to a special trick played by the ancestors of the Langobards. TheChronicon Gothanum, on the other hand, skips this episode and says the name of the Langobards simply arose "by the voice of the common people" (ad vulgorum vocem), because of their long and uncut beards.[5] Scholars generally accept this "long-beard" interpretation as linguistically and semantically sound. Other explanations — such as deriving-bard- from a weapon (barta "axe"), or as a synonym for "fighters" parallel to the alternate ethnonym Winnili ("the fighters") — are less convincing. It is possible thatWinnili was the name the tribe used internally, while Langobardi began as a name used by outsiders.[3]
Later sources sometimes also used a rare shortened formBardi.[6] Place-names likeBardengau andBardowick in northern Germany, near the first known homeland of the Langobardi, possibly preserve this same element.[3] On the other hand, scholars have also noted that this type ofBard placename is common throughout northern Germany, and apparently associated with wet or muddy areas.[7]
All three of the legendary accounts state that the Langobards were originally called Winnili, and they begin with the Winnili being ruled by two brothers, Ibor and Aio (or Agio), whose mother and advisor is named Gambara.
TheOrigo and theHistory of Paul the Deacon have them first living an island in the far north which the various manuscripts of these works spell in different ways:Scadan, Scandanan, Scadanan, or Scadinavia. This appears to be an imitation of the 6th-century origin of theGoths written byJordanes.[8] The 7th-century writer Fredegar similarly says that the Langobardi came fromScathanavia, but only says this is "between the Danube and the Ocean."[9]
TheCodex Gothanus was written later than the other two records, but it appears to preserve some older material. It says that the Lombards set out from a river called Vindilicus at the far edge ofGaul, then moved to "Scatenauga", which was a place on the lower Elbe.[10]
In the oldest of the three versions, theOrigo then reports a war between the Winnili and theVandals, who were attempting to force other peoples to pay tribute. The Winnili did not move from their home island until after they won this war, and changed their name to the Langobardi. TheOrigo gives no reason for leaving. Paul the Deacon'sHistory says that one third of the Winnili needed to move because of over-population and a low-lying coast. The war with the Vandals then happened in the new homeland calledScoringa, which is not mentioned in the other two sources. It was here that they fought the Vandals and changed their tribal name according to Paul, but afterwards they decided to move again, this time because of famine.Scoringa was perhaps on theBaltic coast[11] or theBardengau on the banks of theElbe.[12] Scoringa's etymology is uncertain, but it probably refers to a coastal shoreline region.[9]
In the Vandal war reported by theOrigo andHistory, the Winnili were young and brave and refused to pay tribute, saying "It is better to maintain liberty by arms than to stain it by the payment of tribute."[13] The Vandals prepared for war and consulted Godan (the godOdin[14]), who answered that he would give victory to those whom he would see first at sunrise.[15] The Winnili were fewer in number[13] and Gambara sought help from Frea (the goddessFrigg[14]), who advised that all Winnili women should tie their hair in front of their faces like beards and march in line with their husbands. At sunrise, Frea turned her husband's bed so that he was facing east, and woke him. So Godan spotted the Winnili first and asked, "Who are these long-beards?," and Frea replied, "My lord, thou hast given them the name, now give them also the victory."[16] From that moment onwards, the Winnili were known as theLongbeards (Latinised asLangobardi, Italianised asLongobardi, and Anglicized asLangobards orLombards).
In contrast, theChronicon has the Winnili living first on a similarly named river, theVindilicus, near the furthest borders ofGaul. Once they started moving, their new dwellings were on the banks of the Elbe at a place calledStananauge.[5] TheVindilicus had in fact been mentioned in the earlier collection of etymologies byIsidore of Seville, as a river where the Vandals supposedly originated. This sentence however comes immediately after a comment about the etymology of the name of the Langobards.[4] TheChronicon therefore apparently combined two distinct entries of Isidore.[9] TheChronicon does not mention the places on the migration route described by Paul and theOrigo (see below), but it surprisingly says that after living on the Elbe, the Langobardi lived in Saxony atPatespruna, which is probably intended to bePaderborn. TheChronicon says that the new tribal name was a result of the common people's voice (vulgorum vocem).[5]
When Paul the Deacon wrote theHistoria between 787 and 796 he was aCatholic monk and devotedChristian. He thought thepagan stories of his people "silly" and "laughable".[15][17] Paul explained that the name "Langobard" came from the length of their beards.[18] A modern theory suggests that the name "Langobard" comes fromLangbarðr, aname of Odin.[19] Priester states that when the Winnili changed their name to "Lombards", they also changed their old agriculturalfertility cult to a cult of Odin, thus creating a conscious tribal tradition.[17] Fröhlich inverts the order of events in Priester and states that with the Odin cult, the Lombards grew their beards in resemblance of the Odin of tradition and their new name reflected this.[20]
Distribution of Langobardic burial fields at theLower Elbe Lands (according to W. Wegewitz)
The first mention of the Lombards in a near contemporary record occurred between AD 9 and 16, by theRoman court historianVelleius Paterculus, who accompanied a Roman expedition as prefect of the cavalry.[21] Paterculus says that underTiberius the "power of the Langobardi was broken, a race (gens) surpassing even the Germans in savagery".[22]Strabo, writing in about 20 AD, treats them as a branch of theSuebi, and indicates that they had previously lived west of theElbe, but were now forced by Romans to stay on the eastern side.[23]
Tacitus, writing in about 100 AD in hisGermania, emphasized that the Langobardi were a distinctively smallSuebian people, in terms of numbers, but surrounded by the most powerful peoples. They kept safe, according to him, "by daring the perils of war". Beyond the Langobardi were theNerthus-worshipping tribes whose land of rivers and forest stretched to the sea and the remote parts ofGermania.[24]
In hisAnnals, Tacitus also noted the involvement of the Langobardi in the conflicts of the time. 9 AD whenArminius and his allies won theBattle of Teutoburg Forest, the Lombards and Semnones were part of the kingdom ofMarobod, the King of theMarcomanni, who was allied with Rome. However, after the outbreak of war between Arminius and Marobod in 17 AD the Lombards and Semnones switched to the alliance of Arminius. They detested Marobod's title of king, and saw Arminius as a champion of freedom.[25] In the battle the two sides eventually fought, Tacitus believed that the Cherusci and Langobardi were fighting for ancient renown or newly-won freedom, while the other side for the increase of their dominion. Arminius died in 21 AD.[26] In 47 AD, theCherusci were assigned a new leader by Rome,Italicus, and this was controversial. Both his supporters and detractors appealed to neighbouring tribe. When he was eventually dethroned, the Langobardi restored him.[27]
The lands of the lower Elbe fall into the zone of theJastorf Culture and becameElbe-Germanic, differing from the lands betweenRhine,Weser, and theNorth Sea.[28] Archaeologists have identified the probable core region of the Langobard settlements in zone south of Hamburg, separated from the coastalChauci to the west by themoorlands of theOste river, and to the south was the sparsely populatedLüneburg Heath. To the east their borders are hard to define, though they may have reached as far as theIlmenau, orDrawehn, or evenHöhbeck. On the north of the Elbe, cemeteries in the districts ofHagenow,Ludwigslust, and the fringe of the district of Schwerin up toLake Schwerin are considered Langobardic. This whole area was continuously inhabited until the late early Roman period, when parts of the population began to shift.[29] The German archaeologist Willi Wegewitz defined severalIron Age burial sites at theLower Elbe asLangobardic.[30]: 19 The burial sites are crematorial and are usually dated from the sixth century BC through the third century AD, so a settlement breakoff seems unlikely.[31] Archaeological finds show that the Lombards were an agricultural people.[32]
Approximate positions of some major Suebi peoples in the early 2nd century, in purple
Far to the south of the Lower Elbe, in 166 ADCassius Dio reported that just before theMarcomannic Wars, 6,000 Lombards and Obii (sometimes thought to beUbii) crossed theDanube and invadedPannonia.[33][34] The two tribes were defeated, but the non-Roman nations of the region were concerned about the possible Roman reaction. They sent Ballomar, King of theMarcomanni, as ambassador toAelius Bassus, who was then administering Pannonia. Peace was made and the two tribes returned to their homes.[35][36][37][38] However, this was seen as a foretaste of the great war which subsequently broke out.
In the mid-second century, surviving descriptions of Europe based on the work of geographerClaudius Ptolemy appears to describe the Langobardi in two distinct places, probably because the text is partly based upon several different earlier sources.
The "Suebi Langobardi" (Σύηβοι οἱ Λαγγοβάρδοι); were described as living east of the Rhine - south of theBructeri andSugambri, north of theTencteri. To their east stretching northwards to the central Elbe are the SuebiAngili.[21][39]
The "Laccobardi" (Λακκοβάρδοι) are however west of the Lower Elbe, as one of the three tribes between theChauci on the coast. The other two are theAngrivarii and theDulgubnii.[21][40]
This double mention has been interpreted as an editorial error by Gudmund Schütte, in his analysis of Ptolemy.[41]
Difficult to evaluate, theHistoria Langobardorum codicis Gothani mentionsPatespruna inSaxony, probablyPaderborn, as one of the places the early Langobardi lived.[5]
From the second century onwards, many of the Germanic tribes recorded as active during thePrincipate started to unite into bigger tribal unions, such as theFranks,Alamanni,Bavarii, andSaxons.[34][42] The Lombards are not mentioned at first, perhaps because they were not initially on the border of Rome, or perhaps because they were subjected to a larger tribal union, like the Saxons.[34][42] It is, however, highly probable that, when the bulk of the Lombards migrated, a considerable part remained behind and afterwards became absorbed by the Saxon tribes in the Elbe region, while the emigrants alone retained the name of Lombards.[43] However, theHistoria Langobardorum codicis Gothani states that the Lombards were subjected by the Saxons around 300 but rose up against them under their first king, Agelmund, who ruled for 30 years.[5][44] In the second half of the fourth century, the Lombards left their homes, probably due to bad harvests, and embarked on their migration.[36][37][38][45]
The only account of how the Langobards moved from the Lower Elbe to the Danube is found in theOrigo Gentis Langobardorum, and theHistory of Paul the Deacon. The end of their journey was "Rugiland", where they arrived after 387 whenOdoacer defeated the kingdom of theRugii. They stopped in several places:Scoringa andMauringa are only mentioned by Paul the Deacon;Golanda,Anthaib,Banthaib, andVurgundaib (Burgundaib) are mentioned in both texts.[12] According to theRavenna Cosmography, Mauringa was the land east of the Elbe.[46]
The crossing into Mauringa was very difficult. The Assipitti (possibly theUsipetes) denied them passage through their lands and a fight was arranged for the strongest man of each tribe. The Lombard was victorious, passage was granted, and the Lombards reached Mauringa.[47]
The Lombards departed from Mauringa and reached Golanda. Scholar Ludwig Schmidt thinks this was further east, perhaps on the right bank of theOder.[48] Schmidt considers the name the equivalent ofGotland, meaning simply "good land".[49] This theory is highly plausible;Paul the Deacon mentions the Lombards crossing a river, and they could have reachedRugiland from the Upper Oder area via theMoravian Gate.[50]
Moving out of Golanda, the Lombards passed through Anthaib and Banthaib until they reached Vurgundaib, believed to be the old lands of theBurgundes.[51][52] In Vurgundaib, the Lombards were stormed in camp by "Bulgars" (probablyHuns)[53] and were defeated; King Agelmund was killed and Laimicho was made king. He was in his youth and desired to avenge the slaughter of Agelmund.[54] The Lombards themselves were probably made subjects of the Huns after the defeat but rose up and defeated them with great slaughter,[55] gaining great booty and confidence as they "became bolder in undertaking the toils of war."[56]
During the reign ofKing Claffo, the Langobards occupied parts of modern-dayUpper andLower Austria and converted toArian Christianity. In 505 theHerulians attacked and defeated them, obliging them to pay tax and withdraw to NorthernBohemia. In 508,King Rodulf sent his brother to the Lombard court to collect tribute and extend the truce; however, he was stabbed by Rometrud, sister ofKing Tato. Rodulf personally led his forces against Tato, but was ambushed and killed from a hill.[57]
In the 540s,Audoin (ruled 546–560) led the Lombards across the Danube once more intoPannonia.Thurisind, King of theGepids attempted to expel them, and both peoples asked for help from the Byzantines.Justinian I sent his army against the Gepids; however, it was routed on the way by theHerulians and the sides signed a two-year truce. Revenging what he felt as a betrayal, Thurisind made an alliance with theKutrigurs who devastatedMoesia before end of the armistice. The Langobard and Roman army joined together and defeated the Gepids in 551. In the battle,Audoin's son,Alboin killedThurisind's son,Turismod.[58]
In 552, the Byzantines, aided by a large contingent ofFoederati, notably Lombards, Heruls and Bulgars, defeated the last Ostrogoths led byTeia in theBattle of Taginae.[59]
In approximately 560, Audoin was succeeded by his sonAlboin, a young and energetic leader who defeated the neighboringGepidae and made them his subjects; in 566, he marriedRosamund, daughter of the Gepid kingCunimund. In the same year, he made a pact withKhagan Bayan. Next year the Lombards and theAvars destroyed the Gepid kingdom in theLombard–Gepid War, the allies halved theprize of war and the nomads settled inTransylvania.[60]
Rosamund forced to drink from the skull of her father byPietro della Vecchia. According toSamu Szádeczky-Kardoss, the cup could be a gift fromBayan, as it was a nomad habit to make cups from the enemy's skulls.
In the spring of 568, Alboin, now fearing the aggressive Avars, led the Lombard migration intoItaly,[61] which he planned for years.[60] According to theHistory of the Lombards, "Then the Langobards, having leftPannonia, hastened to take possession ofItaly with their wives and children and all their goods."[62] The Avars have agreed to shelter them if they wish to come back.[60]
Various other peoples who either voluntarily joined or were subjects ofKing Alboin were also part of the migration.[61]
At least 20,000 Saxon warriors, old allies of the Lombards, and their families joined them in their new migration.[64]The first important city to fall wasForum Iulii (Cividale del Friuli) innortheastern Italy, in 569. There, Alboin created the first Lombard duchy, which he entrusted to his nephewGisulf. SoonVicenza,Verona andBrescia fell into Germanic hands. In the summer of 569, the Lombards conquered the main Roman centre ofnorthern Italy,Milan. The area was then recovering from the terribleGothic Wars, and the smallByzantine army left for its defence could do almost nothing. Longinus, theExarch sent to Italy by EmperorJustin II, could only defend coastal cities that could be supplied by the powerful Byzantine fleet.Pavia fell after a siege of three years, in 572, becoming the first capital city of the new Lombard kingdom of Italy.
Lombard grave goods (sixth to seventh century),Milan,Lombardy
In the following years, the Lombards penetrated further south, conqueringTuscany and establishing two duchies,Spoleto andBenevento underZotto, which soon became semi-independent and even outlasted the northern kingdom, surviving well into the twelfth century. Wherever they went, they were joined by the Ostrogothic population, which was allowed to live peacefully in Italy with theirRugian allies under Roman sovereignty.[65] TheByzantines managed to retain control of the area of Ravenna and Rome, linked by a thin corridor running throughPerugia.
When they entered Italy, some Lombards retained their native form ofpaganism, while some wereArian Christians. Hence they did not enjoy good relations with theEarly Christian Church. Gradually, they adopted Roman or Romanized titles, names, and traditions, and partially converted to orthodoxy (in the seventh century), though not without a long series of religious and ethnic conflicts. By the timePaul the Deacon was writing, the Lombard language, dress and even hairstyles had nearly all disappearedin toto.[66]
The whole Lombard territory was divided into 36 duchies, whose leaders settled in the main cities. The king ruled over them and administered the land through emissaries calledgastaldi. This subdivision, however, together with the independent indocility of the duchies, deprived the kingdom of unity, making it weak even when compared to the Byzantines, especially since these had begun to recover from the initial invasion. This weakness became even more evident when the Lombards had to face the increasing power of the Franks. In response, the kings tried to centralize power over time, but they definitively lost control overSpoleto andBenevento in the attempt.
In 572, Alboin was murdered in Verona in a plot led by his wife, Rosamund, who later fled toRavenna.[67] His successor,Cleph, was also assassinated, after a ruthless reign of 18 months. His death began an interregnum of years (the "Rule of the Dukes") during which thedukes did not elect any king, a period regarded as a time of violence and disorder. In 586, threatened by a Frankish invasion, the dukes elected Cleph's son,Authari, as king. In 589, he marriedTheodelinda, daughter ofGaribald I of Bavaria, the Duke ofBavaria. The Catholic Theodelinda was a friend ofPope Gregory I and pushed for Christianization. In the meantime, Authari embarked on a policy of internal reconciliation and tried to reorganize royal administration. The dukes yielded half their estates for the maintenance of the king and his court in Pavia. On the foreign affairs side, Authari managed to thwart the dangerous alliance between the Byzantines and the Franks.
Authari died in 591 and was succeeded byAgilulf, the duke ofTurin, who also married Theodelinda in the same year. Agilulf successfully fought the rebel dukes of northern Italy, conqueringPadua in 601,Cremona andMantua in 603, and forcing theExarch of Ravenna to pay tribute. Agilulf died in 616; Theodelinda reigned alone until 628 when she was succeeded byAdaloald.Arioald, the head of the Arian opposition who had married Theodelinda's daughter Gundeperga, later deposed Adaloald.
Arioald was succeeded byRothari, regarded by many authorities as the most energetic of all Lombard kings. He extended his dominions, conqueringLiguria in 643 and the remaining part of the Byzantine territories of innerVeneto, including the Roman city ofOpitergium (Oderzo). Rothari also made the famous edict bearing his name, theEdictum Rothari, which established the laws and the customs of his people inLatin: the edict did not apply to the tributaries of the Lombards, who could retain their own laws. Rothari's sonRodoald succeeded him in 652, still very young, and was killed by his opponents.
At the death of KingAripert I in 661, the kingdom was split between his childrenPerctarit, who set his capital in Milan, andGodepert, who reigned fromPavia (Ticinum). Perctarit was overthrown byGrimoald, son of Gisulf, duke ofFriuli andBenevento since 647. Perctarit fled to theAvars and then to the Franks. Grimoald managed to regain control over the duchies and deflected the late attempt of theByzantine emperorConstans II to conquer southern Italy. He also defeated the Franks. At Grimoald's death in 671Perctarit returned and promoted tolerance between Arians and Catholics, but he could not defeat the Arian party, led by Arachi, duke ofTrento, who submitted only to his son, the philo-CatholicCunincpert.
The Lombards engaged in fierce battles withSlavic peoples during these years: from 623 to 626 the Lombards unsuccessfully attacked theCarantanians, and, in 663–64, the Slavs raided theVipava Valley and theFriuli.
King Liutprand (712–744) "was a zealous Catholic, generous and a great founder of monasteries".[68]
Religious strife and the Slavic raids remained a source of struggle in the following years. In 705, the Friuli Lombards were defeated and lost the land to the west of theSoča River, namely theGorizia Hills and theVenetian Slovenia.[69] A new ethnic border was established that has lasted for over 1200 years up until the present time.[69][70]
The Lombard reign began to recover only withLiutprand the Lombard (king from 712), son ofAnsprand and successor of the brutalAripert II. He managed to regain a certain control overSpoleto and Benevento, and, taking advantage of the disagreements between the Pope andByzantium concerning thereverence of icons, he annexed the Exarchate of Ravenna and the duchy ofRome. He also helped the Frankish marshalCharles Martel drive back theArabs. The Slavs were defeated in theBattle of Lavariano, when they tried to conquer theFriulian Plain in 720.[69] Liutprand's successorAistulf conquered Ravenna for the Lombards for the first time but had to relinquish it when he was subsequently defeated by the king of the Franks,Pippin III, who was called by the Pope.
After the death of Aistulf,Ratchis attempted to become king of Lombardy, but he was deposed byDesiderius, duke ofTuscany, the last Lombard to rule as king. Desiderius managed to take Ravenna definitively, ending the Byzantine presence in northern Italy. He decided to reopen struggles against the Pope, who was supporting the dukes of Spoleto and Benevento against him, and entered Rome in 772, the first Lombard king to do so. But whenPope Hadrian I called for help from the powerful Frankish kingCharlemagne, Desiderius was defeated atSusa and besieged inPavia, while his sonAdelchis was forced to open the gates of Verona to Frankish troops. Desiderius surrendered in 774, and Charlemagne, in an utterly novel decision, took the title "King of the Lombards". Before then the Germanic kingdoms had frequently conquered each other, but none had adopted the title of King of another people. Charlemagne took part of the Lombard territory to create thePapal States.
TheLombardy region in Italy, which includes the cities of Brescia, Bergamo, Milan, and the old capital Pavia, is a reminder of the presence of the Lombards.
Though the kingdom centred on Pavia in the north fell to Charlemagne and theFranks in 774, the Lombard-controlled territory to the south of the Papal States was never subjugated by Charlemagne or his descendants. In 774, DukeArechis II of Benevento, whose duchy had only nominally been under royal authority, though certain kings had been effective at making their power known in the south, claimed that Benevento was thesuccessor state of the kingdom. He tried to turn Benevento into asecundum Ticinum: a second Pavia. He tried to claim the kingship, but with no support and no chance of a coronation in Pavia.
Charlemagne came down with an army, and his sonLouis the Pious sent men, to force the Beneventan duke to submit, but his submission and promises were never kept and Arechis and his successors werede facto independent. The Beneventan dukes took the titleprínceps (prince) instead of that of king.
The Lombards of southern Italy were thereafter in the anomalous position of holding land claimed by two empires: theCarolingian Empire to the north and west and theByzantine Empire to the east. They typically made pledges and promises of tribute to the Carolingians, but effectively remained outside Frankish control. Benevento meanwhile grew to its greatest extent yet when it imposed a tribute on theDuchy of Naples, which was tenuously loyal to Byzantium and even conquered the Neapolitan city ofAmalfi in 838. At one point in the reign ofSicard, Lombard control covered most of southern Italy save the very south ofApulia andCalabria andNaples, with its nominally attached cities. It was during the ninth century that a strong Lombard presence became entrenched in formerly Greek Apulia. However, Sicard had opened up the south to the invasive actions of theSaracens in his war withAndrew II of Naples and when he was assassinated in 839, Amalfi declared independence and two factions fought for power in Benevento, crippling the principality and making it susceptible to external enemies.
The civil war lasted ten years and ended with a peace treaty imposed in 849 byEmperor Louis II, the only Frankish king to exercise actual sovereignty over the Lombard states. The treaty divided the kingdom into two states: the Principality of Benevento and thePrincipality of Salerno, with its capital atSalerno on theTyrrhenian Sea.
Andrew II of Naples hired Islamic mercenaries and formed a Muslim-Christian alliance for his war with Sicard of Benevento in 836; Sicard responded with other Muslim mercenaries. The Saracens initially concentrated their attacks onSicily and Byzantine Italy, but soonRadelchis I of Benevento called in more mercenaries, who destroyedCapua in 841.Landulf the Old founded the present-day Capua, "New Capua", on a nearby hill. In general, the Lombard princes were less inclined to ally with the Saracens than with their Greek neighbours of Amalfi, Gaeta, Naples, and Sorrento.Guaifer of Salerno, however, briefly put himself under Muslim suzerainty.
In 847 a large Muslim force seizedBari, until then a Lombardgastaldate under the control ofPandenulf. Saracen incursions proceeded northwards untilAdelchis of Benevento sought the help of his suzerain, Louis II, who allied with the Byzantine emperorBasil I toexpel the Arabs from Bari in 869. An Arab landing force was defeated by the emperor in 871. Adelchis and Louis remained at war until the death of Louis in 875. Adelchis regarded himself as the true successor of the Lombard kings, and in that capacity he amended theEdictum Rothari, the last Lombard ruler to do so.
After the death of Louis,Landulf II of Capua briefly flirted with a Saracen alliance, butPope John VIII convinced him to break it off.Guaimar I of Salerno fought the Saracens with Byzantine troops. Throughout this period the Lombard princes swung in allegiance from one party to another. Finally, towards 915,Pope John X managed to unite the Christian princes of southern Italy against the Saracen establishments on theGarigliano river. The Saracens were ousted from Italy in theBattle of the Garigliano in 915.
Italy around the turn of the millennium, showing the Lombard states in the south on the eve of the arrival of the Normans.
The independent state of Salerno inspired thegastalds of Capua to move towards independence, and by the end of the century they were styling themselves "princes" and as a third Lombard state. The Capuan and Beneventan states were united byAtenulf I of Capua in 900. He subsequently declared them to be in perpetual union, and they were separated only in 982, on the death ofPandulf Ironhead. With all of the Lombard south under his control, except Salerno, Atenulf felt safe to use the titlePrinceps Gentis Langobardorum ("prince of the Lombard people"), which Arechis II had begun using in 774. Among Atenulf's successors the principality was ruled jointly by fathers, sons, brothers, cousins, and uncles for the greater part of the century.
Meanwhile, the princeGisulf I of Salerno began using the titleLangobardorum Gentis Princeps around mid-century, but the ideal of a united Lombard principality was realised only in December 977, when Gisulf died and his domains were inherited by Pandulf Ironhead, who temporarily held almost all Italy south of Rome and brought the Lombards into an alliance with theHoly Roman Empire. His territories were divided upon his death.
The Principate of Salerno underGuaimar IV (1027-1052) controlled all southern continental Italy (includind Naples as a "vassal" duchy)
Landulf the Red of Benevento and Capua tried to conquer the principality of Salerno with the help ofJohn III of Naples, but with the aid ofMastalus I of Amalfi, Gisulf repulsed him. The rulers of Benevento and Capua made several attempts onByzantine Apulia at this time, but late in the century, the Byzantines, under the stiff rule ofBasil II, gained ground on the Lombards.
According to theCatalogum Principum Salerni, the Prince of "langobard Salerno"Guaimar IV ruled for 34 years and 17 days. He conquered and was:Duke of Amalfi (1039–1052),Duke of Gaeta (1040–1041), andPrince of Capua (1038–1047) inSouthern Italy over the period from 1027 to 1052. He was an important figure in the final phase ofByzantine authority in theMezzogiorno andthe commencement of Norman power. Guaimar's legacy includes his dominion, either by conquest or otherwise, over Salerno, Amalfi, Gaeta, Naples, Sorrento, Apulia, Calabria, and Capua at one time or another. He was the last great Lombard prince of the south, but perhaps he is best known for his character, which theLord Norwich sums up this way: "...without once breaking a promise or betraying a trust. Up to the day he died his honour and good faith had never once been called in question.".[71] Salerno in these decades was the main and more rich city (called "Opulenta Salernum") in southern Italy, even because of the "Schola Medica Salernitana" (the first "university" of medicine in Europe).
After the assassination of Guaimar IV the Principality of Salerno started to be dominated more and more by the Normans: in 1077 ended the history of the Langobards in Italy when this Principality was conquered by the NormanRobert Guiscard.
The principal source for the history of the Lombard principalities in this period is theChronicon Salernitanum, composed late in the tenth century at Salerno.
The diminished Beneventan principality soon lost its independence to thepapacy and declined in importance until it fell in theNorman conquest of southern Italy. The Normans, first called in by the Lombards to fight the Byzantines for control ofApulia andCalabria (under the likes ofMelus of Bari andArduin, among others), had become rivals for hegemony in the south. The Salernitan principality experienced a golden age underGuaimar III andGuaimar IV, but underGisulf II, the principality shrank to insignificance and fell in 1078 toRobert Guiscard, who had married Gisulf's sisterSichelgaita. The Capua principality was hotly contested during the reign of the hatedPandulf IV, theWolf of the Abruzzi, and, under his son, it fell, almost without contest, to the NormanRichard Drengot (1058). The Capuans revolted against Norman rule in 1091, expelling Richard's grandsonRichard II and setting up oneLando IV.
Capua was again put under Norman rule after theSiege of Capua of 1098 and the city quickly declined in importance under a series of ineffective Norman rulers. The independent status of these Lombard states is in general attested by the ability of their rulers to switch suzerains at will. Often the legal vassal of the pope or the emperor (either Byzantine orHoly Roman), they were the real power-brokers in the south until their erstwhile allies the Normans rose to preeminence.
A genetic study published inNature Communications in September 2018 found strong genetic similarities between Lombards of Italy and earlier Lombards of Central Europe. Lombard males were primarily carriers of subclades ofhaplogroup R1b andI2a2a1, both of which are common among Germanic peoples. Lombard males were found to be more genetically homogeneous than Lombard females. The evidence suggested that the Lombards originated in Central/Northern Europe, and were a patriarchal people who settled Central Europe and then later Italy through a migration from the north.[72]
A genetic study published inScience Advances in September 2018 examined the remains of a Lombard male buried at anAlemannic graveyard. He was found to be a carrier of the paternal haplogroupR1b1a2a1a1c2b2b and the maternal haplogroupH65a. The graveyard also included the remains of aFrankish and aByzantine male, both of whom were also carriers of subclades of the paternal haplogroup R1b1a2a1a1. The Lombard, Frankish and Byzantine males were all found to be closely related, and displayed close genetic links toNorthern Europe, particularlyLithuania andIceland.[73]
A genetic study published in theEuropean Journal of Human Genetics in January 2019 examined the mtDNA of a large number ofearly-medieval Lombard remains from Central Europe and Italy. These individuals were found to be closely related and displayed strong genetic links to Central Europe. The evidence suggested that the Lombard settlement of Italy was the result of a migration from the north involving both males and females.[74]
A 2024 paper found that the Lombards of Italy were best modelled by a Jutlandic Iron Age source, consistent with an origin in Jutland or northern Germany.[75]
The West-Germanic languages around the sixth century CE
UnlessCimbrian andMòcheno represent surviving dialects, theLombardic language is extinct.[76] It declined beginning in the seventh century, but may have been in scattered use until as late as about the year 1000. Only fragments of the language have survived, the main evidence being individual words quoted inLatin texts. In the absence of Lombardic texts, it is not possible to draw any conclusions about the language'smorphology and syntax. The genetic classification of the language depends entirely on phonology. Since there is evidence that Lombardic participated in, and indeed shows some of the earliest evidence for, theHigh German consonant shift, it is usually classified as anUpper German dialect descended fromElbe Germanic.[77]
The runic inscription from thePforzen buckle may be the earliest written example of Lombardic language
Lombardic fragments are preserved inrunic inscriptions. Primary source texts include short inscriptions in theElder Futhark, among them the "bronze capsule ofSchretzheim" (c. 600) and the silver belt buckle found inPforzen,Ostallgäu (Schwaben). A number of Latin texts include Lombardic names, and Lombardic legal texts contain terms taken from the legal vocabulary of the vernacular. In 2005, Emilia Denčeva argued that the inscription of thePernik sword may be Lombardic.[78]
Paul the Deacon, writing about 790 AD, mentioned that in his time the Bavarians and Saxons, and "other peoples of the same languagelingua", were still singing songs about King Alboin (died 572 AD).[79] This indicates that at least for the use of such songs, there was still a shared language connecting at least the Saxons and Bavarians, and possibly also the Langobardi.[80]
The Italian language preserves a large number of Lombardic words, although it is not always easy to distinguish them from other Germanic borrowings such as those fromGothic or fromFrankish. They often bear some resemblance to English words, as Lombardic was akin toOld Saxon.[81] For instance,guardia fromwardan (warden),guerra fromwerra (war),ricco fromrikki (rich), andguadare fromwadjan (to wade).
TheCodice diplomatico longobardo, a collection of legal documents, makes reference to many terms of Germanic origin, some of them still in use in the Italian language:
marchio (mark),maniscalco (blacksmith),braida (suburban meadow),borgo (burg, village),fara (fundamental unity of Lombard social and military organization, presently used as toponym),sala (hall, room, also used as toponym),staffa (stirrup),stalla (stable),sculdascio,faida (feud),manigoldo (scoundrel),sgherro (henchman);fanone (baleen),stamberga (hovel);anca (hip),guancia (cheek),nocca (knuckle),schiena (back);gazza (magpie),martora (marten);gualdo (wood, presently used as toponym); verbs likebussare (to knock),russare (to snore).
During their stay at the mouth of the Elbe, the Lombards came into contact with other western Germanic populations, such as the Saxons and theFrisians. From these populations, which had long been in contact with theCelts (especially the Saxons), they adopted a rigid social organization into castes, rarely present in other Germanic peoples.[82]
The Lombard kings can be traced back as early as c. 380 and thus to the beginning of theGreat Migration. Kingship developed among the Germanic peoples when the unity of a single military command was found necessary. Schmidt believed that the Germanic tribes were divided intocantons and that the earliest government was a general assembly that selected canton chiefs and war leaders in times of conflict. All such figures were probably selected from a caste of nobility. As a result of the wars of their wanderings, royal power developed such that the king became the representative of the people, but the influence of the people on the government did not fully disappear.[83] Paul the Deacon gives an account of the Lombard tribal structure during the migration:
... in order that they might increase the number of their warriors, [the Lombards] confer liberty upon many whom they deliver from the yoke of bondage, and that the freedom of these may be regarded as established, they confirm it in their accustomed way by an arrow, uttering certain words of their country in confirmation of the fact.
Complete emancipation appears to have been granted only among the Franks and the Lombards.[84]
Lombard society was divided into classes comparable to those found in the other Germanic successor states of Rome,Frankish Gaul andSpain under theVisigoths. There was a noble class, a class of free persons beneath them, a class of unfree non-slaves (serfs), and finally slaves. The aristocracy itself was poorer, more urbanised, and less landed than elsewhere. Aside from the richest and most powerful of the dukes and the king himself, Lombard noblemen tended to live in cities (unlike their Frankish counterparts) and hold little more than twice as much in land as the merchant class (a far cry from provincial Frankish aristocrats who held vast swathes of land, hundreds of times larger than those beneath his status). The aristocracy by the eighth century was highly dependent on the king for means of income related especially to judicial duties: many Lombard nobles are referred to in contemporary documents asiudices (judges) even when their offices had important military and legislative functions as well.
The freemen of the Lombard kingdom were far more numerous than in Frankish lands, especially in the eighth century, when they are almost invisible in surviving documentary evidence. Smallholders, owner-cultivators, and rentiers are the most numerous types of person in surviving diplomata for the Lombard kingdom. They may have owned more than half of the land in Lombard Italy. The freemen wereexercitales andviri devoti, that is, soldiers and "devoted men" (a military term like "retainers"); they formed thelevy of the Lombard army, and they were sometimes, if infrequently, called to serve, though this seems not to have been their preference. The small landed class, however, lacked the political influence necessary with the king (and the dukes) to control the politics and legislation of the kingdom. The aristocracy was more thoroughly powerful politically if not economically in Italy than in contemporary Gaul and Spain.
The urbanisation of Lombard Italy was characterised by thecittà ad isole (or "city as islands"). It appears from archaeology that the great cities of Lombard Italy—Pavia,Lucca,Siena,Arezzo,Milan—were themselves formed of small urban cores within the old Roman city walls. The cities of the Roman Empire had been partially destroyed in the series of wars of the fifth and sixth centuries. Many sectors were left in ruins and ancient monuments became fields of grass used as pastures for animals, thus theRoman Forum became theCampo Vaccino, the field of cows. The portions of the cities that remained intact were small, modest, contained a cathedral or major church (often sumptuously decorated), and a few public buildings and townhouses of the aristocracy. Few buildings of importance were stone, most were wood. In the end, the inhabited parts of the cities were separated from one another by stretches of pasture even within the city walls.
The legend from Origo may hint that initially, before the passage from Scandinavia to the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, the Lombards worshiped theVanir. Later, in contact with other Germanic populations, they adopted the worship of theÆsir: an evolution that marked the passage from the adoration of deities related to fertility and the earth to the cult of warlike gods.[85][86]
In chapter 40 of hisGermania, Roman historianTacitus, discussing the Suebian tribes of Germania, writes that the Lombards were one of the Suebian tribes united in worship of the deity Nerthus, who is often identified with theNorse goddessFreyja. The other tribes were theReudigni,Aviones,Anglii,Varini,Eudoses,Suarines andNuitones.[87]
They expressed a religious veneration to a golden viper, and prostrated themselves before it: they paid also a superstitious honour to a tree, on which they hung the skin of a wild beast, and these ceremonies were closed by public games, in which the skin served for a mark at which bowmen shot arrows over their shoulder.
The Lombards first adopted Christianity while still in Pannonia, but their conversion and Christianisation was largely nominal and far from complete. During the reign ofWacho, they were Orthodox Catholics allied with theByzantine Empire, butAlboin converted toArianism as an ally of theOstrogoths and invaded Italy. All these Christian conversions primarily affected the aristocracy, while the common people remained pagan.[89]
In Italy, the Lombards were intensively Christianised, and the pressure to convert to Orthodox Catholicism was great. With theBavarian queenTheodelinda, an Orthodox Catholic, the monarchy was brought under heavy Catholic influence. After initial support for the anti-Rome party in theSchism of the Three Chapters, Theodelinda remained a close contact and supporter ofPope Gregory I.[89] In 603,Adaloald, the heir to the throne, received Orthodox Catholic baptism.[90] However, the lack of spiritual involvement of most of the Lombards in religious disputes remained constant, so much so that the opposition between Orthodox Catholics, on the one hand, and pagans, Arians and schismatics, on the other, soon took on political significance. The supporters of Roman orthodoxy, led by theBavarian dynasty, were politically the proponents of greater integration with the Romans, accompanied by a strategy of preserving the status quo with the Byzantines. Arians, pagans and schismatics, rooted above all in the northeastern regions of the kingdom (Austria), were instead interpreters of the preservation of the warlike and aggressive spirit of the people. Thus, to the "pro-Catholic" phase ofAgilulf, Theodolinda and Adaloald followed, from 626 (Arioald's accession to the throne) to 690 (definitive defeat of the rebelAlahis), a long phase of the revival of Arianism, embodied by militarily aggressive kings likeRothari andGrimoald. However, tolerance towards Orthodox Catholics was never questioned by the various kings, also safeguarded by the influential contribution of the respective queens (largely chosen, for reasons of dynastic legitimacy, among the Orthodox Catholic princesses of the Bavarian dynasty).[91]
In the seventh century, the nominally Christian aristocracy of Benevento was still practising pagan rituals such as sacrifices in "sacred" woods.[92] By the end of the reign ofCunincpert, however, the Lombards were more or less completely Catholicised. UnderLiutprand Orthodox Catholicism became tangible as the king sought to justify his titlerex totius Italiae by uniting the south of the peninsula with the north, thereby bringing together his Italo-Roman and Germanic subjects into one Catholic State.[93]
The Duchy and eventually Principality of Benevento in southern Italy developed a unique Christianrite in the seventh and eighth centuries. TheBeneventan rite is more closely related to the liturgy of theAmbrosian rite than to theRoman rite.[94] The Beneventan rite has not survived in its complete form, although most of the principal feasts and several feasts of local significance are extant. The Beneventan rite appears to have been less complete, less systematic, and more liturgically flexible than the Roman rite.
Characteristic of this rite was theBeneventan chant, a Lombard-influenced[94] chant that bore similarities to theAmbrosian chant of Milan. The Beneventan chant is largely defined by its role in the liturgy of the Beneventan rite; many Beneventan chants were assigned multiple roles when inserted into Gregorian chantbooks, appearing variously as antiphons, offertories, and communions, for example. It was eventually supplanted by theGregorian chant in the eleventh century.
The chief centre of the Beneventan chant wasMontecassino, one of the first and greatest abbeys ofWestern monasticism.Gisulf II of Benevento had donated a large swathe of land to Montecassino in 744, and that became the basis for an important state, theTerra Sancti Benedicti, which was a subject only to Rome. The Cassinese influence on Christianity in southern Italy was immense.[95] Montecassino was also the starting point for another characteristic of Beneventan monasticism, the use of the distinctBeneventan script, a clear, angular script derived from theRoman cursive as used by the Lombards.[96]
During their nomadic phase, the Lombards primarily created art that was easily carried with them, like arms and jewellery. Though relatively little of this has survived, it bears resemblance to the similar endeavours of other Germanic tribes of central Europe from the same era.
The first major modifications to the Germanic style of the Lombards came in Pannonia and especially in Italy, under the influence of local,Byzantine, andChristian styles. The conversions from nomadism and paganism to settlement and Christianity also opened up new arenas of artistic expressions, such as architecture (especially churches) and its accompanying decorative arts (such as frescoes).
Lombardshield boss northern Italy, seventh century, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Few Lombard buildings have survived. Most have been lost, rebuilt, or renovated at some point, so they preserve little of their original Lombard structure. Lombard architecture was well-studied in the twentieth century, and the four-volumeLombard Architecture (1919) byArthur Kingsley Porter is a "monument of illustrated history".
The smallOratorio di Santa Maria in Valle inCividale del Friuli is probably one of the oldest preserved examples of Lombard architecture, as Cividale was the first Lombard city in Italy. Parts of Lombard constructions have been preserved inPavia (San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro,crypts of Sant'Eusebio and San Giovanni Domnarum) andMonza (cathedral). TheBasilic autariana inFara Gera d'Adda nearBergamo and the church of San Salvatore inBrescia also have Lombard elements. All these buildings are in northern Italy (Langobardia major), but by far the best-preserved Lombard structure is in southern Italy (Langobardia minor). TheChurch of Santa Sofia inBenevento was erected in 760 byDuke Arechis II, and it preserves Lombard frescoes on the walls and even Lombard capitals on the columns.
Lombard architecture flourished under the impulse provided by the Catholic monarchs likeTheodelinda,Liutprand, andDesiderius to the foundation of monasteries to further their political control.Bobbio Abbey was founded during this time.
Some of the late Lombard structures of the ninth and tenth centuries have been found to contain elements of style associated withRomanesque architecture and so have been dubbed "first Romanesque". These edifices are considered, along with some similar buildings insouthern France andCatalonia, to mark a transitory phase between thePre-Romanesque and full-fledged Romanesque.
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^Štih, Peter; Simoniti, Vasko; Vodopivec, Peter (2008). "The Settlement of the Slavs". In Lazarević, Žarko (ed.).A Slovene history: society – politics – culture. Ljubljana: Institute of Modern History. p. 22.ISBN978-961-6386-19-7.
^Amorim 2018. "[B]iological relationships played an important role in these early medieval societies... Finally, our data are consistent with the proposed long-distance migration from Pannonia to Northern Italy."
^O'Sullivan 2018. "Niederstotzingen North individuals are closely related to northern and eastern European populations, particularly from Lithuania and Iceland."
^Vai 2019. "[T]he presence in this cluster of haplogroups that reach high frequency in Northern European populations, suggests a possible link between this core group of individuals and the proposed homeland of different ancient barbarian Germanic groups... This supports the view that the spread of Longobards into Italy actually involved movements of people, who gave a substantial contribution to the gene pool of the resulting populations...This is even more remarkable thinking that, in many studied cases, military invasions are movements of males, and hence do not have consequences at the mtDNA level. Here, instead, we have evidence of maternally linked genetic similarities between LC in Hungary and Italy, supporting the view that immigration from Central Europe involved females as well as males."
^Hauk, Karl.Lebensnormen und Kultmythen in germanischen Sammes- und Herrscher genealogien [Norms of life and cult myths in Germanic collection and ruler genealogies] (in German).
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