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LOXB^RDO-VEKBTIAH KIKODOIL 



LOMBARDO-VBKETIAN KtKQDOlL 



Darii^ th* Sd and 4th ocntariea of our arm tha LoDgobardt followed 

 Um gwaial moTemsnt of tbs Dortbern unUonii toward! d>a aoutb, and 

 •Mm to tba baoki of tha Danube, whers wa And th«m Ating ai allie* 

 of Odoaear, tdog of Italy, whoae dominion axtanded alto oTor Norioum, 

 •ad bordered on tha region than oooupied bjr the Longobards. The 

 I<OBgobBrda afterward* totally defaatad and almoat axterminatad the 

 Hamli ; and about the middle of tha 6th oautury they oooupied part 

 of PanBOOia, under their kiog Andoin. Here they cnme in eoutaot 

 with tiia Qe^«, a nation aattled in Dacia, on the borders of the 

 Eaatam empire, and which the Longobart]^ with the aw i atance of the 

 Avari, a tribe of tba Hunni, totally defnited. 



In the year 6M Alboin croeaed tha Julian Alpa, near Fonim Julii, 

 and lad the Longoberda to the oonqiieet of the plains of NortU Italy, 

 wUoh hare ever aince bera called by the name of tha oonquerore. 

 Phvia beoame the capital of the Longobarda. After Alboin's death 

 the liOngobaida alectod Clefo as bis suooessor, a.d. 573 ; but on his 

 beinc murdered by a servant, eighteen months after, the nation became 

 divided among a nnmber of dukes, a duke of Tioino, or Pavia, a duke 

 of Fnuli, a duke of Trento, a duke of Bergamo, a duke of Brescia, 

 baridae thirty dukea in as many other cities. Under these dukes the 

 Longobards penetrated south of the A)>emiines, and conquered Tuscany, 

 Liguria, Umbria, and part of Campania^ The Byzantine emperors 

 letained Ravenna, Rome and its ducby, Padua, Qenoa, Apulia, Cala- 

 bria, Kaplea, and the southern extremity of Italy with Sicily. After 

 tea years of this diaorderty dominion of the dukes, the Longobards 

 eboae for their king Autaris, son of Clefo, 686—692. His reign w.ts 

 prosperous : he repulsed the attacks of the Franks on one side, and 

 of the By tantinea on the other ; and he carried his arms into southern 

 Italv, where he founded the cluktMiom of Benevento. After the death 

 of Autaris, his widow Theodolinda, who was a daughter of the king 

 of Boiaria, or Bavaria, married Agilulfua, duke of Turin, who was 

 acknowledged by the Longobards as tbelr king. Agilulfus, thruiigfa 

 the persuasion of his wife, became a Catholic, most of his couutrymen 

 being Arians, and made peaoe with Oregory the Great, bishop of Rome. 

 The<xlolinda built the church and pnlaoe of Munza, where was depo- 

 aited tlie iron-erown (xo ealle<l from a nail, said to be from the croas 

 of our Sarionr, which is riveted inside of the crown), which has 

 •rrve<i ever since for the coronation of the kings of Lombardy. 

 Agilnlfus took Cremona, Padua, and other towns which still sided 

 with the Extern Emperor. Agilulfus died in 616, and was succeeded 

 by bis son Adaloaldus, under the regency of Theodolinda. Adaloaldus, 

 ten years after, was deposed, and Ariovaldus was elected in his stead. 

 Ariovaldus reigned twelve years, and died A.D. 6S6. It was under his 

 reign tlutt Columbanus, the Irish monk and misaionary, after passing 

 through Helvetia and Rbtctia, catne into Itily and founded the mo- 

 nastery of Bobbio, near the Ligurian Apennines, which afterwards 

 beoame celebrated for ita wealth and its collection of manuscripts. 



After the death of Ariovaldus, Rothar, son-in-law of Agilulfus, was 

 elected in his plaoe. Rothar was the Tint who made a compilation of 

 the unwritten laws and usages of the LongubHrds, and ptibliahed them 

 in a kind of baibarooa Latin, under the name of ' Edict,' with his 

 own preface and oWservations. This edict drew a marked distinction 

 between the Longobards and the Roman or subject population, which 

 continued tu live under the Roman law. I!y a subsequent law of 

 King Liutprand, who made considerable additions to the edict of 

 Rothar, it was enactetl that if a Roman married a Longobard woman, 

 tlie children bom from such a marriage were Roman, and followed the 

 condition of the father. Pecuniary compensation was avrarded far 

 Tnoet peraonal injuriea. Adultery and theft were punished with death. 

 The judges were enjoined to decidv causes within a limited number 

 of daya Duelling was tolerated, though ita practice was characterised 

 by Liiitprnnd as alisurd. 



With r<gard to the political system of the Longobordi, it may be 

 eonaidered aa a fMeration under an elective king, who waa the chief 

 of the natioa. Whan Autaris was elected king, the dukea in a general 

 assembly agreed to give one half of their revenues for the support of 

 the royal office and state, but in other nspecta they acted aa sovereigns 

 in their respective duchies, each making wars and conquests on his 

 own scconnt, as apprsra by tlie chronicles and also by the letten of 

 I'ope On-gory the Ijrest. The onUrs and enactments of the kin^- 

 required the sanction of the people, or army (for the two word* are 

 nsed aa synonymous) of the Longobard*. The king was supreme 

 Jadge and oommand<T, but not absolute legislator. Theae relation* 

 were maintained with tolera><le faimeas among tha Longobarda them- 

 aelvea, but the ' Roman ' or Italian subjects of the Longobard* were 

 looked upon aa a con(|iiered and subject nee. They had neither the 

 ■ame pohtical nor civil right* aa the oonquerora ; they had no voice in 

 their aaamblies ; they bad no appeal against the caprice of their Longo- 

 bard rulers ; they lived among themaelves according to the Roman 

 law, but in any tihin between them and tha Longobard* ther were 

 judged by Longobard judms and Moording to the Longobard law. 



Rothar. having cooqoered the town* of the Thoscia Lunensi«, or the 

 Riviera of Oenoa, and defeated the trrxipa of the exarch of Ravenna, 

 died A.V. 658, and waa sneoeeded by hi* son Rodoalilun, who afUT 6vc 

 yeaiV reign waa killed by a Longobard for having swluced his wife. 

 Aripertns, a nephew of qneen Theodolinda, being elocteil in his plaoe, 

 reigned till the year 661, when he di«l, and liia two sons Pertharitns 

 and Oodebertua divided the supreme authority between them. 



Oodeberto* however oonapired againat hia brother, who waa obliged 

 to run away ; but Oodebertua himself was killed by Orimoaldus, a 

 chief from Etenavento, who took poeseasion of tlie crown, A.O. 662. 

 Urimoaldus was an able and wariika uaurpar. Ha defeated the Franks, 

 who had entered Italy, and had advanced to near AstL Shortly after, 

 Coostana II., emperor of Constantinuple, and grandson of Heraclius, 

 having landed with an army at Tarcutum with the intention of 

 raoovnHng Italy from the Longobards, took Luoeria, and laid siege to 

 Benevento, of which liomualdus, aon of Orimoaldus, waa duke. Urimo- 

 aldu* marched with an army to tha asaistanco of bis son, and obliged 

 Coostana to raise the liege and retire to Naplesi Under the reign of 

 Orimoaldus, Alseck, a chief of Bulgarians, emigrated to Italy with all 

 his tribe, and put himself under the protection of the Longobard king. 

 Tba king aent him to hia son the duke of Benevento, who assigned to 

 him the towns and territories of Boianum, Saepinum, .^aemia, and 

 other plaoea in tha country of Samuiuiu, which had remained deaolate 

 in oonaequence of tha wara. Warnefridua (b. v, oh. 29) adds that the 

 descendants of thoae Bulgariaua oontinued there in hia dsya, "and 

 although they spoke Latin, had not loat the use of tha language of 

 their auceston ;" a remarkable paasaga, which ahowa that the general 

 language of ItaJy in the time of Charlemagne waa atill the Latin, and 

 was adopted by the northern tribes which settled in the country. 



Orimoaldus died at I'avia, a. a 671. After his death the exile 

 Pertbaritus, who had wandered as far as England, returned, and by 

 universal consent resumed ti>a crown. Pertharitu* reigned seventeen 

 years, and died in 688, leaving his son Cunipertua, who bad married 

 Ermelinda, an Anglo-Saxon lady. Cunipertus was driven away by 

 Alachis, duke of Torentum, but he returned, defeated and killed 

 Alachia, and resumed the frown. In tha meantime Romualdus, duke 

 of Benevento, took Tarentom and all the neighbouring country from 

 the Byzantines, and annexed it to his dominions. Cunipertus died in 

 the year 700. His infant son Linpertus was put to death by Aripertus, 

 duke of Turin, who atitumed the cruwn. A^pranilus, whom Cuni- 

 pertua had appointed guardian to his son, fled into Boiaria with 

 Liutprand, the son of A^praudus. Nine years afterwards they returned 

 at the head of an army of Bavarians, and after a battle, in which Ari- 

 pertus waa drowned in attempting to cross the Ticinus, Asprandus 

 was aoknowU-dged king of the Longobards ; he died soon after, and his 

 son Liutprandus auooeeded him by common conaent, a.d. 71S. 



Liutprandus reigned thirty-two years. He was the moat illustriou* 

 of the Longobard kingit. Retook lUvenna and the Pentapolia, but after- 

 wards made peaoe with tlie Byeantines and restored Ravenna, wo* 

 friendly with the Pope Zacharias and the people of Rome, who at 

 that time were alienateil from the Eaatem emperors in conaequeiice of 

 the schism of the Iconoolaats ; and he waa also friendly with Charie* 

 Hartel, to whom he aent aasistanoe against the Saracens, who hod 

 entered Prureuce in the year 739. Liutprand raised many churohea 

 and other buildings. His laws are joined to thoae of hi* prede- 

 oesaora Itothar and Orimoald, in tha collection of the laws of the 

 Longobards. Liutprand died in 744, and was sucoeoded by his nephew 

 Hildebrand, who waa deposed a few months after for his misconduot, 

 when Ratchis, duke of Friuli, waa elected king. Ratchis, after five 

 years' reign, voluntarily renounced the crovrn, and went to Rome, 

 and afterwards to Monte Casino, where he beoame a monk. Ratchia 

 waa aucceeded by his brother Astolphus. Astolphus took Ravenna 

 in 7S1, and put an end to the dominion of the Exarobs, attacked the 

 duchy of Rome, and aimed at aubjaoting that city alao to his authority. 

 Pepin, king of tjie Franks, came twice to the aas i s ta n oe of the pope, 

 and each time defeated Astolphua near Pavia, and obliged him to give 

 up Ravenna, the Pentapolia, and other towns, which i'epin bestowed 

 upon the Roman see. Aiitolpbos died in 756, and De-id<>rius, a 

 Longobard duke, waa elected his aueeeaaor. Desidsrius renewed the 

 quarrel of Astolphus with the pope, and not only seized tha towna 

 given up by Aatolphus, but likewise devaatated the duchy of Rome. 

 The Pope Adrian I. applied to Chariemagne for aasistanoe. Charie- 

 magne came into Italy A.D. 774, defeated Desiderius, and carriail him 

 prisoner into France, where he beoame a monk. Adelchis, son of 

 Desiderius, fled to Constantinople, from whence he returned to Italy 

 with some troops, and fell in battle. The kingdom of the IxingoUrds 

 ended with Desiderius, and the Longobard nation and its territorie* 

 became subject to Charlemagne. 



The ovi!rthrow of the kingdom of the Longobards by Charlemagne 

 did not destroy the political existence of that people. They retained 

 their laws and institution!!, their property, and their numerous and 

 powerful nobility ; they oontinued a nation and a kingdom, subject 

 however to tha monarchy of the Franks. At Pavia, which waa then 

 the capital of the country, the ancoaaaon of Charlemagne were 

 crowned with the iron crown of Lombardy as kings of Italy, previona 

 to their coronation at Rome aa emperora of the West and kings of 

 the Romans. The Longobard code continued in force for the 

 Longobard population, while the descendants of the ancient inhabit- 

 ants, or Romans, as they were ealUtd, lived under the Roman law. 

 The name of Lombardy waa retained, but only for a part of the 

 former dominions of the Longobards : the duchies of S|>oleto, Friuli, 

 Tua.'any, and Benevento, although some of them continued ti> l>e 

 rule<l by Longobard dynasties, were not included in the general 

 name. 



The feudal eyitem, oeoording to which the poaaeasion of land wa* 



