The Lombards in Italy

The story

A people on the move

The Lombards were a Germanic people. Historians reconstruct that their origins lie in the north, near the lower part of the river Elbe, and that over a few centuries, from the 2nd to the 6th, they moved south-east, along the Danube, as far as Pannonia, a region that today corresponds largely to Hungary.

While the Lombards were living in Pannonia, Italy was going through a terrible war: for almost twenty years the armies of Justinian and those of the Ostrogoths had been fighting each other. When the war ended, the country was exhausted. It was at that moment of weakness that the Lombards decided to come down.

The arrival in 568

In AD 568, led by King Alboin, the Lombards crossed the river Isonzo and entered Italy. According to the historian Paul the Deacon, the arrival took place in spring. How many were they? We do not know for certain: some estimates suggest a figure between 100,000 and 150,000 people, counting however the women, children and old people too, not only the warriors. It was not a simple invasion of soldiers: it was the migration of a whole people.

The Byzantine army, after the war, was not able to stop them. The first town to fall was Cividale del Friuli. In September 569 Milan and Lucca surrendered. Pavia held out longer: the siege began in 569 and the city fell in 572. Alboin chose it as his capital and kept it for the rest of his reign.

Alboin did not have time to enjoy it: in 572 he was killed at Verona in a plot organised by his wife Rosamund with some warriors. Confused years followed. After the murder of the new king Cleph, in 574, the dukes, that is, the chiefs of the individual bands, governed without a king for about ten years. In 584 the kingdom started again with Authari, who in 589 married Theodelinda; after him Agilulf became king, and he in turn married Theodelinda.

A broken Italy

The Lombards never conquered the whole peninsula. Their kingdom extended above all over the north and the centre, with its capital at Pavia. In the south great duchies arose, such as that of Benevento, which remained independent for centuries. The Byzantines, instead, kept some areas: Ravenna, Rome and others. In this way Italy was divided into several parts, with different borders and governments.

The Lombards, moreover, were few compared with the Italian inhabitants, and lived in a different way: they were Arians, according to tradition, and had laws of their own. Towards the end of the 7th century they converted to Catholicism. In 643 King Rothari had the laws of his people written down in the so-called Edict of Rothari: the law replaced the blood feud, that is, the right of families to take revenge, with a payment in money, called wergild. It was an important step towards a more civilised law.

The greatest king and the end

King Liutprand, who reigned longer than any other Lombard king of Italy, brought the kingdom to its greatest splendour. Then came Charlemagne: in 773-774 he took Pavia and defeated the last king, Desiderius, who was sent to a monastery in France. The independent kingdom was over. Only the duchy of Benevento remained standing for a long time, in the south.

What they left us

The Lombards have left traces that can still be seen. At Cividale del Friuli there is the Lombard Temple, a small early medieval building (8th-9th century, the date is debated). At Monza the Iron Crown is kept, from the early Middle Ages and linked by tradition to the Lombards, used for the coronation of the kings of Italy until the 19th century. The name “Lombardy” recalls the Lombards, who for two centuries were the masters of that part of Italy.