No More Learning

During the kingless time Benevento and Spoleto grew so
strong that they were able to keep up their independence.
In the north of Italy too the incoherent government of the dukes
did not permit any uniform action. Even in Alboin's time various
troops had detached themselves and pillaged in Gaul, but upon the whole
these adventurers had no success against Mummolus, commander-in-chief
of the Burgundian king Guntram. The Saxons, who did not want to
assimilate with the Lombards and intended to make their way home
through the land of the Franks, were likewise beaten in the following
years.
But these bands had shewn the way into the neighbouring kingdom
to the dukes of North Italy. Some of these marched into the upper
valley of the Rhone and were beaten by the Burgundians near Bex (574)
and no better did they fare next year, as they were repulsed by
Mummolus, after having laid waste the land between the Rhone, the Isere
and the Alps. At this time Susa and Aosta, the most important passage
over the West Alps, seem to have fallen into the hands of the Franks,
^


## p. 199 (#231) ############################################

684] Authari 199
and on the other side, a Frankish duke, Chramnichis, advanced from
Austrasia into the dukedom of Trent, but was, after a short success, totally
defeated with his troops by the duke Evin near Salurn. These conflicts
took a dangerous aspect when the Emperor Maurice sent subsidies
(50,000 golidi) to the young king Childebert of Austrasia in order to drive
out the Lombards.
In 584 King Childebert conducted an army against Italy, and so weak
had the want of monarchical leading rendered the Lombard dukes that
they dared not offer resistance, and sent presents in token of submission.
Besides this their force of resistance had been weakened by the treason
of some of their fellow-countrymen who were not ashamed of joining
the imperialists against their own people. The imperial policy was to
combat barbarians with barbarians, and to spend abundant means for
this purpose. In this manner they had won over the duke Drocton
of Brexillum, a Lombard duke of Suevic family, who succeeded in
expelling Faroald from Classis, and other deserters were found as well.
Standing in danger of losing all their booty by dispersing their forces,
the dukes of West Italy at last resolved to unite again under a king's
leading.
They elected Authari the son of Cleph (584), and conceded to him
(as we hear), in order to give material foundation to the new kingdom,
half of their own lands, which were later administered by royal gantaldi.
The dukedom had, in consequence of the settlements during the last
ten years, become quite a different thing from what it had been at the
time of Alboin, and also the new kingdom was obliged to represent
not only the leading power of the army as before but also territorial
power.
The king's attempt to strengthen the new central power against the
forces of disunion, grown strong during the last period, now formed the
most important part of the Lombard State's politics, as it was the king's
task to form a really united State. He was no longer satisfied with the
dignity of a barbarian chieftain, but aspired to reign lawfully within
the territory of the Roman Empire. We see this from the fact that
Authari first took up the name Flavius, which all his successors kept,
though he was not acknowledged by the Empire, as for instance Theodoric
had been.
The Lombards wanted this territory to comprise all Italy, and a
legend illustrating the fact tells us that Authari rode into the sea at the
south point of Italy, and touched a solitary column, projecting out of
the waves, with his spear and called out: "This is to be the boundary
of the Lombard realm"; but in reality Authari's task was of a more
modest character and limited to the north of Italy. A new attack of
the Austrasians failed in consequence of the leaders' disagreements, and as
the Exarch Smaragdus felt too weak to offer resistance to the Lombards
without their help, Authari managed to conclude an armistice for three


## p. 200 (#232) ############################################

200 Theodelinda [588-590
years, the first that was concluded between the Lombards and the
Empire. Authari seems to have availed himself of this opportunity
partly to restore order in North Italy and partly to ensure his boundary
in the north, and above all to destroy the Franco-Byzantine league,
which threatened the existence of his realm. He therefore betrothed
himself to Childebert's sister, but the engagement was soon broken by
the Franks when the Frankish imperial and catholic party of Brunhild
got the ascendant. Authari however married Theodelinda (588 ? ), the
Catholic daughter of the Bavarian duke Garibal, who, by her mother,
belonged to the old Lombard royal family of the Lethings. The other
daughter was married to the mighty duke Evin of Tridentum, and her
brother Gundoald was made duke of Asti by Authari. When the
Franks, by this time, repeated their invasion of Italy under the leading
of a few dukes, they were entirely beaten after a hot battle. Childeberfs
revenge was prevented by AutharTs negotiations with him (589) and by
his offer to become even a dependent confederate and pay tribute.
Meanwhile, after the armistice had ended, Authari had succeeded in
removing the last remnants of imperial power on the northern boundaries
of Italy, and had probably also obtained his acknowledgment by the
duke of Friuli. Nevertheless his position was much impaired when a
new exarch, Roman us, appeared in Ravenna with reinforcements,
regained Altinum, Modena and Mantua, and induced the Lombard
dukes of the Emilia, as well as the duke of Friuli, to join the imperialists.
The negotiations were broken off, and imperialists and Franks planned
to destroy the Lombard power by a systematic and simultaneous attack
from north and south, and had even agreed already on the distribution of
the booty. Twenty Frankish dukes broke forth from the Alps in two
divisions, one marching against Milan, the other under the duke Chedinus
against Verona, after having broken through the fortification of the
frontier and devastated the land all around (summer 590); but no
important conflicts took place, because the Lombards retired into their
fortifications, fearing the enemy's overwhelming numbers. The exarch
came to meet the Franks at Mantua, and intended to march in a line
parallel to them against Pavia, to which Authari had drawn back; but
this plan was not put into practice, it is said, in consequence of misunder-
standings.
The Frankish dukes tried to secure their moveable booty, and Duke
Chedinus is said to have concluded an armistice for ten months; but
epidemics and famine caused great losses on their way back. After
these efforts, which had brought no real success to them, the Franks
ceased to invade Italy for more than a century and a half. Authari
lived to manage the negotiations for peace which led to a lasting
friendship between the Franks and Lombards later on, though only on
condition of paying tribute to the Franks—a burden which was, as it
seems, not for a long time thrown off by the Lombards. The northern


## p. 201 (#233) ############################################

590-605] Agilulf 201
boundary, at all events, was secured, and the Lombards were only
threatened from one side, by the imperials. But Authari did not live
to see the definite treaty of peace; he is said to have been poisoned
and died (5 Sept. 590). The result of his active life was the establish-
ment of a kingdom and the Lombard State, though many difficulties
still awaited the Lombards from within and without.
Two months after Authari's death, Agilulf, duke of Turin, obtained
the crown and married his predecessor's widow, Theodelinda. In May
591 an assembly of Lombards at Milan acknowledged him solemnly, but
a number of North Italian dukes had then to be subdued in repeated
battles; also Piacenza and Parma were again subjected, and in the
latter town the king's son-in-law was established as duke, as the king
generally claimed the right to nominate the dukes himself. He ensured
the northern boundary by an agreement with the Avars which became
a defensive and offensive alliance later on. The time had now come
for a systematic attack on the imperialists. The newly-nominated
duke of Benevento, Arichis, who had consolidated his duchy by gaining
nearly all the territories in South Italy with the exception of a few
towns on the coast, had the especial task of marching against Naples and
threatening Rome from the south, while Ariulf of Spoleto had already
destroyed the land communication between Rome and Ravenna in
April 592, and even appeared before Rome in the summer, afterwards
turning to the north and taking the castles on the upper Tiber. To
be sure, the exarch succeeded in regaining them during the time he
was free of Agilulf; but in 593 the king himself advanced southward,
occupied Perusia and appeared before Rome. The siege ended in a
treaty with Pope Gregory who only wished for peace, but it was
not acknowledged by the exarch after the king had marched off;
the war did not cease, and the Lombards made constant progress.
It was only after the Exarch Romanus' death (596) that, by the pope's
urging, the transactions were renewed seriously; it is true that the new
exarch, Callinicus, carried on the war in North Italy, but he concluded an
armistice of a year in autumn 598 on the basis of the status quo and
engaged himself to pay 500 pounds in gold to the Lombard king. The
armistice was renewed for the time from spring 600-601 but, when the
war was taken up again, the exarch succeeded in making prisoners of
the duke of Parma and his wife, Agilulf s daughter; but the Lombard
king took Padua, devastated Istria with Slav and Avar troops, con-
quered the fortified town of Monselice, enforced peace on the rebellious
dukes of Friuli and Tridentum and occupied in 603 Cremona and
Mantua. The central position of the imperialists at Ravenna appeared to
be endangered after the subjugation of all the north of Italy, and the
Exarch Smaragdus, who was again sent to Italy after the fall of the
Emperor Maurice, hastily concluded a new armistice till 605, and
surrendered the king's daughter. Then Agilulf crossed the Apennines



## p. 202 (#234) ############################################

202 Theodelinda and Adaloald [605-628
once more, occupied Balneum Regis and Orvieto, but in November 605
the imperialists obtained a new armistice at the price of paying a tribute
of 12,000 solidi. From that time till Agilulf s death and even afterwards,
this armistice was continually prolonged. It is true that a definite state
of peace, which would have naturally led to a legal partition of the
Italian soil, was not effected, though Agilulfs ambassador Stablicianus
seems to have entered into negotiations on this subject in Constantinople.
Agilulf died in 616 after 25 years of a warlike reign, in which he had
expanded and strengthened his empire and obliged the Romans to pay
tribute.
To Agilulf his son Adaloald (a minor) followed in name, but
Theodelinda exercised the ruling influence on government in his place.
While Authari had never allowed Lombard children Catholic baptism,
a Catholic chapel had been conceded to Theodelinda at Monza and
Adaloald himself was already baptised as a Catholic, though by a
schismatic, and Theodelinda, who exchanged occasional letters with
Pope Gregory, was schismatic in relation to the Three Chapters. In this
way Agilulf had not tolerated the organisation of the Roman Church
within the reach of his power, but the schismatic bishop of Aquileia and
his schismatic suffragans had taken refuge with the Lombards. Agilulf
had also given deserted land in the Apennines at the confluence of the
torrent Bobbio and the Trebbia to the Irish monk Columba (Columbanus)
who had fled from Gaul, and differed dogmatically from Rome. He also
gave permission to lay the foundations of a monastery at Bobbio, but the
monks soon turned to orthodoxy after Columbanus1 death, and even got
a privilege in 628, by which they were exempted from the power of the
neighbouring bishop of Tortona. In contrast to the national chiefs, who
were still Arian, the government favoured the Catholics or at least the
schismatics, and in consequence Roman influence made rapid progress
in the Lombard kingdom, favoured partly by the social influence
of the Roman subjects, partly by the intercourse with the Roman
neighbours, which the long armistices had so well prepared. Neverthe-
less the peace was once more broken at the beginning of AdaloakTs
reign between the Exarch Eleutherius and the Lombards under the
commander Sundrarius, who owed his training to Agilulf, but this
war was ended by another armistice, the exarch consenting to pay
a tribute of 500 pounds in gold. In the following years the Roman
influence on the king was so great that he was generally said to be
either mad or bewitched. Perhaps it was the national party among the
Lombards which raised upon the buckler Arioald, the duke of Turin,
the husband of AdaloaWs sister Gundeberga, and after several combats
dethroned King Adaloald, who was then said to have been removed by
poison (626). Arioald reigned ten years too, without much change in
the course of Lombard politics. He came in conflict with his Catholic
wife, who was released from prison by the intervention of the Franks


## p. 203 (#235) ############################################

626-652]
Duchy of Friuli
203
and allowed Catholic service in a church of John the Baptist at
Pavia.
The alliance which Agilulf had formed with the Avars was dissolved.
They invaded Italy and killed Gisulf, duke of Friuli, with nearly the
whole of his army; his widow perfidiously surrendered Cividale which
was entirely burnt down and the open country was devastated, the
Lombards offering resistance only in the fortified castles at the frontier,
till the Avars turned back to Pannonia after their raid. No help was
to be expected for Friuli at that time from the weak kingdom; but at
last Gisulfs sons escaped from the Avars, and the two eldest, Taso
and Cacco, took the reins of government into their hands. While the
power of the Avars was decreasing, the young dukes in alliance with
Bavarians and Alemans fought successfully against the Slavs, and during
Arioald's reign penetrated victoriously into the valleys of the Alps
perhaps as far as Windisch-Matrei and the valley of the Gail, and
obliged the Slavs to pay tribute. But, following the intention of
Arioald, it is said, the exarch quietly removed Taso and Cacco, and their
uncle Grasulf was nominated duke of Friuli while the two younger sons
of Gisulf, Radoald and Grimoald, appealed to the protection of the
mighty duke Arichis of Benevento.
After Arioald's death the nobles in the kingdom elected the duke
Rothari of Brescia, an ardent Anan, who was connected with the former
dynasty by his marriage with the widowed queen Gundeberga. Never-
theless his policy (unlike that of his predecessors in the last twenty years)
was decidedly hostile to the Romans, though he tolerated the gradual
establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in the Lombard kingdom. He
sought to keep order in all internal matters and to raise the king's authority
over the nobles, and to this purpose war against the imperials, which had
rested during two decades, was taken up again, in order to strengthen the
king's royal domain by new conquests. He passed the Apennines and
conquered the coast between Luna and the Frankish boundary; he did not
instal dukes here but kept the conquered land under direct royal adminis-
tration, so that the greatest part of the west of Italy was royal. He
destroyed Oderzo in the east, the last remnant of Roman power on the
Venetian mainland, and slew the imperials in a bloody battle on the borders
of the Scultenna not far from the central seat of Roman dominion; he
concluded a suspension of hostilities shortly before his death (652). His
son Rodoald followed him, but was killed after a few months' reign.
More famous even than by his victorious enterprises and by the
saga that attaches itself to the name of "King Rother," Rothari was the
first legislator of the Lombards. Up to that time, the Lombards, like
all barbarian nations, had been ruled by customary laws, handed down
to them verbally by their ancestors. Rothari ordered them to be written
down, published as Edictus after having consulted his nobles, and con-
firmed according to Lombard custom by an assembly of warriors at Pavia




## p. 204 (#236) ############################################

204
Rothari
[643-662

(22 Nov. 643). Of course it was a territorial law, for only the Lombard,
who alone was " fulc-free,11 was subject to Lombard law in the Lombard
State, and the fact of its being written down shewed clearly enough that
the Lombard State placed itself in the same line with the respublica (the
Empire) and the other acknowledged States as perfectly equal to them.
When Rothari declares the law should protect the poor against the oppres-
sions of the mighty, we can find therein part of the means he employed
to keep order in internal matters. The kingdom was not only protected
by some of the laws of the Edictus but also shewed its power by the
fact of issuing legal regulations for the whole country, which, if not
at once, were at all events after a short time accepted irrevocably from
Benevento to Cividale. Its matter is essentially German law, but in
the supplements which Rothari's successors added, we can trace alien
influence; and, moreover, the form is naturally influenced by Roman
patterns. Comparative science of law has proved that Lombard law
had the greatest likeness to Saxon, Anglo-Saxon, and Scandinavian law
—a proof that the Lombards preserved their law unchanged in essential
matters since their departure from the lower Elbe. The Edictus is
systematically arranged, and treats of crimes against king, state or
man, especially compensations for bodily injuries, law of inheritance
and family right, and manumission, then obligations and real estate,
crimes against property, oath and bail. It can well be called the best
juridical codification of barbarian law.
The successor of Rotharfs son was Aripert, the son of that duke
Gundoald of Asti, who had come from Bavaria with his sister Theo-
delinda. During the nine years of his reign he, as a Catholic, carried on
the traditions of Theodelinda, in opposition to Rothari. He built a
Catholic church at Pavia and favoured the Catholic hierarchy, although
the assertion of a poem which celebrates the merits of his dynasty
about the year 700, that "the good and pious king11 abolished the
Arian heresy, is probably exaggerated. The bishop of Pavia was
converted to Catholicism. A change of policy took place only after his
death (661), when his two young sons Godepert in Pavia and Perctarit
in Milan, to whom he had left the government, fell out, and Godepert
claimed the help of the mighty duke Grimoald of Benevento against
his brother. After the death of Arichis, and of his son Ajo, who
had perished in a battle against Slav pirates near Sipontum (662), the
two sons of Gisulf of Friuli, Radoald and Grimoald, attained the
dignity of dukedom consecutively, and energetically maintained their
power in several battles against the imperialists. Grimoald, duke of
Benevento since 657, now marched into North Italy by the east
side of the Apennines against the centre of the Lombard realm, while
his subordinate, the count of Capua, marched through Spoleto and
Tuscia and joined the duke by Piacenza. Assisted by the treachery of
the duke Garibald of Turin, Grimoald seized the reins of government


## p. 205 (#237) ############################################


662-671]
Grimoald
205
himself after having killed King Godepert with his sword; Perctarit
had fled from Milan to the Avars and his wife and young son Cuninc-
pert had been sent into exile to Benevento. Grimoald now married
Aripert's daughter, who was already betrothed to him, and legitimated
his power by a later election at Pavia; for the purpose of gaining
firm support he bestowed royal domains in upper Italy on several
of his faithful followers of Benevento. He was the first Lombard
king who united the king's royal domain in the north with Bene-
vento under his actual government.
Mighty as he was, Grimoald had a long struggle for the preservation
of his royal power. Perctarit came back, and seemed to submit himself,
but was soon obliged to fly to the Franks, after the discovery of a
conspiracy between his followers and some disaffected dukes. The inter-
vention of a Frankish army in favour of the banished dynasty had no
success; by stratagem Grimoald contrived to attack them suddenly near
Asti and slew them. In the year 663 the Emperor Constans had landed
at Tarentum, in order to obtain a new base for his heavily oppressed
empire by conquests in the West, and the expulsion of the Lombards was
naturally the first condition for this enterprise. The Emperor occupied
Luceria with superior forces, assaulted Acerenza without success, and
then besieged Grimoald's young son Romuald at Benevento. The latter
pledged his sister Gisa in token of submission after having offered resistance
bravely; but Grimoald had already reached the river Sangro with a
relieving army, though many Lombards had left him, and young Romuald
did not fulfil his pledge; the Emperor gave up his siege and moved on
to his own city of Naples. This imperial army was said to have been
defeated twice: at all events Constans gave up war against the Lombards
for a time and after a short visit to Rome went on to Sicily, where he was
murdered. Romuald then occupied Tarentum, Brundusium and all the
rest of the imperial dominion on the Adriatic coast of South Italy, with
the exception of Hydruntum ; and Grimoald, after having installed Tran-
samund, a duke of his choice, in Spoleto, again devoted himself to his most
urgent tasks in North Italy, where he found in rebellion the duke Lupus
of Friuli, whom he had left in his place at Pavia. Evidently menaced
by other rebellions as well, the king himself appealed to the Khagan of
the Avars, for help against the duke; Lupus perished in the battle, but
the Avars now prepared to occupy Friuli as conquered land. But, in
spite of the insufficiency of his military forces, Grimoald induced them to
depart, and set up Wechthari, a powerful soldier and the terror of the
Slavs, as duke of Friuli in place of Arnefrit, the son of Lupus, who had
tried to regain his father's inheritance by help of the Slavs, but had
been beaten and killed near Nimis. Grimoald took away Forli from
the imperials and razed to the ground Oderzo, where his brothers had
once been murdered: then he made peace with the Franks, so that
Perctarit did not feel safe any longer in his asylum, and prepared to fly


## p. 206 (#238) ############################################

206 The Bavarian Dynasty [671-698
to England. At this time the mighty king Grimoald died, after
having made sure the limits of his realm, and broken the dukes1 power,
in the ninth year of his reign (671). His eldest son Romuald took his
place in the dukedom of Benevento, while the young boy Gari bald, his
son by Aripert's daughter, inherited the royal crown.
By this time Perctarit returned from his exile and dethroned his
nephew Garibald with the help of his numerous followers; he and his
dynasty now held the throne for more than 40 years consecutively. He
made his son Cunincpert co-regent (680) and entered into friendly terms
with Romuald of Benevento, whose son, the younger Grimoald, married
Perctarit's daughter. In the south as well as in the north-west
Catholicism gained exclusive power, and in Benevento and Pavia many
foundations of cloisters spoke of a growing piety, shewn especially by the
two princesses. Numerous Lombard bishops had already assisted at the
Roman synod of 680; on the other hand the Three Chapters Schism
lasted on in Austrasia, on the east border of the Adda, in contrast to
Neustria westwards, where royalty had taken root more decidedly. The
duke Alahis of Tridentum, who had extended his territory northward in
the direction of the Bavarians, was too strong for Perctarit and even
added the dukedom of Brescia to his own. After Perctarit's death he
also occupied Pavia, drove King Cunincpert to a refuge on an isle in the
Lake of Como and acted as king, acknowledged by the greater part of the
north of Italy. But passing for a heretic and acting recklessly against
the Church, he made an enemy of the hierarchy, and Cunincpert was soon
able to return to Pavia, protected by their adherents. Between Neustria
and Austria on the field of Coronate a battle was fought between them;
Alahis fell, and a great part of his followers perished in the flood of the
Adda. This was at once a victory of kingdom over dukedom, and
orthodoxy over the Three Chapters Schism. An insurrection in Friuli
was also subdued; at a synod that had been convoked at the king's
request in Pavia (698? ) even those bishops of Austrasia who were still
schismatic acknowledged the fifth and sixth oecumenical councils, and
thus the unity of Catholic faith was established in Lombard Italy. The
only lasting effect of this schism was the division of the patriarchate of
Aquileia between the bishops of Grado and of Old-Aquileia, following
the civil boundaries between Lombards and Romans. Even before the
Roman Church triumphed throughout the whole Lombard realm, after
the Emperor Constans1 attempt to reconquer what he had lost had failed,
and the Bavarian dynasty's traditional policy of peace had replaced
Grimoald's belligerent policy—even at that time definite peace had
been made between the Empire and the Lombards, thereby placing the
Lombard State amid the States which were officially acknowledged by the
respublica. The acknowledgment of the status quo, the limits, which
had been fixed by a hundred years of war, formed the basis of peace;
and the Lombards renounced any further policy of conquest. This peace


## p. 207 (#239) ############################################

671-712] Roman Influence 207
seems to have been concluded between 678-681 at Constantinople, and
from that time the Lombard bishops, when the pope confirmed their
nomination at Rome, swore to provide that "peace, which God loves,
be maintained in eternity between the Respublka and us, that is, the
Lombard people. 11
Roman influence affected the Lombards in different ways. Inter-
course with the half-free Roman subjects had always been a strong force
since the beginning of the settlement; the schismatics coming from the
Roman Empire had found reception even at a very early period, as had
the merchants during the times of armistice, who maintained friendly
relations and profited by the great Lombard market; but when definite
peace had been made, lasting relations and safe intercourse with the new
allies were possible, so that free Romans and above all Catholic clergy
established themselves in the lands of their new friends and allies, who
also acknowledged their right to be tried by Roman law. Intermarriage
must have frequently happened at a very early period, and was furthered by
Lombard laws, which considered the freedman and free as equal, so that
marriages with freedmen or freedwomen were allowed and very common;
after the definite peace even unions between Lombards and women of the
Roman Empire were not a rare thing either. As the Lombards were in
a small minority, even in their own territory, intermarriage naturally
had a marked effect. The adaptation of the reigning people to the
Roman culture they had found led the same way. Thus they came to
the knowledge of new forms of culture and luxury, which could only be
satisfied in the Roman manner, partly by the industry of Roman subjects,
partly by booty made in war, and since the peace also by regular imports.
Trade and art are of Roman stamp, although the workmanship is decayed
and accommodates itself somewhat to barbarian taste. It was only in
Italy that the Lombards learnt to erect stone buildings, to construct
larger ships and use weapons of metal; their clothing changed similarly
and they gradually accepted the vulgar Latin language, especially because
all the terms of their new culture belonged to that language, the only
written language used, not only for written law, but all other documents
which were drawn up by Roman ecclesiastics and notaries following
Roman formulae. As their importance grew, the written word gained
supremacy in all matters of law. The oldest stories of Lombard history
and tradition are also written in Latin, and whatever there was of science,
in connexion with the Roman Church, was of course Latin. So the
lasting peace, and especially the peace with the Catholic Church, essentially
accelerated the process of assimilation in this sphere as well as in all others.
Constitutional development, as well as culture, was conditioned by the
fact and manner of settlement. The territorial State develops a central-
ising kingship in combat with centrifugal forces, and hides the original
basis of German freedom. The sept or clan had already lost every
economical foundation by the settlement, and we find no traces of the


## p. 208 (#240) ############################################

208 Government [671-712
centena among the Lombards. Politically the sept recedes as well, but
in matters of right it is only gradually superseded by the State. Rothari's
legislation endeavours to restrain the feud-right to the sept; high
penalties are fixed for the purpose of making the injured choose these
instead of feud; guiltless acts are not to lead to feud. The members of
the sept intervene as assistants at an oath, as combatants for a woman's
right at an ordeal; and the mundium of an unmarried woman is due to
the members of the sept if she has no nearer family relations. In contrast
to these poor remnants of the sept's power, which once had been so great,
family-connexion is very powerful, so that even by a disposal a last will
was allowed only very late and quite exceptionally. The national
assembly, that is the assembly of arimanni, still existed, and this as
well as the kingship expressed the Lombard unity; but this assembly
also was naturally entirely changed by the territorial State, having lost
its organic foundations in the septs, and as an assembly comprising all
or nearly all warriors was quite impossible considering the territorial
extension of the State. In reality it consisted only in the army that was
just ready for military operations, the king's attendants and the dukes
and nobles present, and, whereas the nobles were actually often sum-
moned to the preparatory council, the assembly of warriors had no
possibility of influencing current state affairs and only served to
heighten solemnities at a king's election or law-giving. The other
element of unity, which had probably been born only in the time of
wanderings—the kingship—predominated more and more in comparison;
it seems to have been attached to one family at a very early period,
and up to the eighth century connexion with the Lethingians was kept up
at least by the feminine line; but besides this inherited right, general
German custom demanded election, raising upon the buckler, and a solemn
act of fealty from the fideles. On the other hand, the territorial State and
Roman influence soon decided the extent of the king's power, though he
called himself rex gentis Langobardorum. This influence expresses itself
not only in the addition of the Roman name of Flavius and the Roman
name of honour, vir exceUentissimus, but also in the assertion of the
king's nearly unlimited power, which is already expressed in Rothari's
Edict: "we believe that the hearts of the kings are in the hands of
God. " The king has not only the arriere-ban, and all rights in connexion
with it. As supreme justice and protector of peace, he has his own
peace secured by a high penalty, intercedes wherever all other forces
give way, is the Lombard State's supreme guardian in a certain sense,
and being the State's only representative, no difference is made between
his own rights and those of the State. His alone is the right of coinage,
since the Lombards—before Rothari even—had learnt the art and use
of coining from the Romans; and that the duke of Benevento coined as
well as the king only shews how independent he kept himself of the
Lombard State.


## p. 209 (#241) ############################################

671-712]
Government
209
Opposed to the centralising kingdom is the particular power of the
dukes, their different positions varying of course from the mmmus dux
gentis Langobardorum down to the duke of a small provincial town in
North Italy. But on the whole the dukes endeavoured to found their
power on inherited rights, and to exercise in their own territory the
same authority which belonged to the king in the whole State, whereas
the king claimed for himself the right of nominating the dukes and treated
them as his officials. But the foundation of the king's royal domain
was especially intended to counterbalance the power of the dukes; the
larger this royal domain, the greater was the power of the State.
Except those duchies which were in the hands of the royal family, this
royal domain is said to have been partly formed by the half of all ducal
property, which was given up to Cleph—though this cession can only
relate to the dukes of a part of northern Italy—and partly by the
conquest of new land, which was not left to the dukes. The whole
royal domain has its own royal administration, lying in the hands of
the gastcUdi who are partly royal stewards, partly the king's repre-
sentatives with competence in matters of arriere-ban and judgment, but
being only the king's officials they have, in contrast to the dukes, no
independent jurisdiction. In Benevento and Spoleto, where immediate
royal power does not reach, the gastaldi are officials of the duke in the
district of a civitas. Subordinated to these indices, that is the dukes
and gastaldi who generally reside in walled towns and whose office
consists in a whole iudiciaria, stand the adores (sculdahis, centenarius,
locopositus) out of town, and these are assisted by saltarii, decani, etc.
Change of social structure caused a change of power in the Lombard
State. Although differences in distribution of the land had always
been made in correspondence with a family's rank, and although the
wergeld was not uniform but varied by habit and secundum qualitatem
personae, every Lombard was not only warrior but also landlord and lord
of the manor. This ruling nation stood in contrast only to those who
had no political rights, the coloni and aldii and massarii (unfree farmers
on holdings), as well as the likewise unfree ministeriales of the Sal-land
and the unfree agricultural assistant labourers; the Lombards only were
taken into account politically as well as economically. But this distribu-
tion having been made but once, gave no security whatever for a lasting
condition; the natural increase of population and the accidental im-
poverishment of Lombard families, as well as manumissions to complete
freedom, created a class of Lombards without land. Part of them
worked as tenants, that is small tenants, who took holdings on lease for
29 years, remaining legally free, but losing in social standard (libellarii);
another part may have become merchants, trade developing on account
of the definite peace, and so commercial capital stood alongside of land
rent. This new state of economic affairs expressed itself also in military
service which was varied according to property as early as the eighth
C. MED. H. VOL. II. CH. VII.
14



## p. 210 (#242) ############################################

210 Society [671-712
century, commercial capital being placed on a par with landed property.
A law of 750 dictates cavalry service with coat of mail and horse and com-
plete equipment to all who possess at least seven casae massariae; the
landlord of at least 40 iugera has to follow with one horse, lance and
shield; those who possess still less, with shield and bow; a part of the
poor was obliged to do socage service in the fields at home. This economic
development rendered it possible for the king to form for himself a
power independent of its former limitations within the State, creating a
central organisation of power by investing the free poor with landed
property out of his royal domain. The king, that is the State, at this
time of natural economy owed his income to landed property and
payments in kind, for instance the different munera (augariae and operae)
to preserve public streets and buildings, and different duties, market
duties, port duties, which were raised by royal adores and were of
entirely Roman origin. The royal property was naturally increased by
every new conquest, and the coloni and slaves paying duties were used
as if they were private property; or the king took possession of the
land which had been public before the conquest, and let it to the neigh-
bouring hordes for pasture.
The royal court lived on the income from the landed property,
but this court was composed of followers who stood in a special
relation of fealty to the king, the Gasindi, who on that account were
greatly honoured, and had a higher wergeld than the other free Lombards.
The king entrusted them with all sorts of commissions and delegations,
chose all court officers from them, especially to the royal marshal
(marpahis), the majordomus (stolesaz), the treasurer (vesterarius), the
sword-bearer (spatharius), the chancellor (referendarius). In this manner
a special court-nobility developed itself through the king's favour, stand-
ing in contrast and competition with the Lombaid nobility. But it was
also the custom that such Gasindi were endowed with land by the king,
so that the king's landed estate provided for this new nobility not only
indirectly by keeping up the royal household, but also directly. This
new institution was only rendered possible by the fact that a considerable
part of the population, when the original conditions of the Lombard
settlement were changed, was obliged to seek a new existence, and
found it by the king's favour. On the other hand the king's possessions
diminished continually by these donations, so that for him and his
adherents it was necessary periodically to gain new land; and this was
generally only possible through new conquests, and so the peaceful period
of the Bavarian dynasty was followed by a belligerent period.
After Cunincpert's death (700), his young son Liutpert reigned under
the wise Ansprand's guardianship. Raginpert, duke of Turin, son of
Godepert and nephew of Perctarit, claimed the throne and defeated
Ansprand near Novara, eight months after Cunincpert's death. When
he died, shortly afterwards, his son and co-regent Aripert (II), after a



## p. 211 (#243) ############################################


700-738] The Fall of the Bavarian Dynasty
211
second battle, took prisoner Liutpert, who had again advanced against
Pavia, and sent the duke Rothari of Bergamo, who aspired to the throne,
into exile to Turin, where he was killed after a few days. Now Ansprand
was also obliged to leave his refuge on Lake Como and fly to the duke
Teutpert of Bavaria. Liutpert was killed, Ansprand's eldest son blinded,
his wife and daughter mutilated, and only his youngest son Liutprand
spared. So the family of Godepert ruined the race of Perctarit.
But no change of policy took place.
King Aripert II was peaceable and
friendly towards the Romans, and even gave back to the pope the
patrimony in the Cottian Alps. He was dethroned in winter 712,
when Ansprand came back to Italy, after nine years of exile, with a
Bavarian army. Aripert fled to Pavia and was drowned when trying to
swim through the Ticino, burdened with all his treasures. Ansprand
was acknowledged as king but only reigned for three months; but on his
death-bed he was told that the Lombards had raised his son Liutprand
upon the buckler and thereby legitimated his own usurpation as well.
He died 13 June 712.
Though Liutprand did not reverse the Lombard State's development
during the last hundred and fifty years, he favoured Roman influence with-
in his realm in every way. He left no doubt concerning his orthodoxy and
attachment to the Roman faith, while nobody surpassed his generosity
towards churches and monasteries, but he still followed the glorious
traditions of the victorious kings which had been interrupted after
Grimoald, and strictly kept in view his aim of uniting Italy under the
Lombard kingdom, although he chose various ways of approaching
it in the course of his reign. For this reason he was opposed by the
Roman Empire and the dukes of Spoleto and Benevento, who had been
nearly independent during the Bavarian dynasty's reign. Mixed up in
quarrels about the Bavarian throne through his affinity with the dukes
of Bavaria, he advanced the Lombard boundaries to Mais near Meran;
for the rest the northern frontier was well defended by his friendship
with the Frankish Charles Martel, whose son Pepin he had adopted by
shaving of the hair according to an old custom, and to whom he had
even brought help against the Saracens in Provence (737-738). In
domestic politics be continued his predecessor's legislation, endeavoured
to protect his subjects against denial of legal help, and intervened with
great energy in administration and jurisdiction by the royal court of
justice in Pavia and by special missi. His aim was naturally to replace
the loose structure of the Lombard State by a series of officials ruled by
the king, and one of his most efficient means was to give the preference
to the Gamndi, and another was to instal relations and other Jideles in
all duchies and bishoprics. His ideal of kingship, which is evident
in his laws, already shews a great difference from that of the former
Lombard kings and is strongly influenced by Roman and ecclesiastical
interpretations.
oh. vii. 14—2


## p. 212 (#244) ############################################


212
Liutprand
[727-732

The time was favourable for an aggressive policy, because Roman
Italy, led by the pope, rose in rebellion against the Emperor. Common
hostility against the Emperor formed a link between Liutprand and
Pope Gregory II for a while, but the pope soon came to see clearly that
the king near him was more dangerous than the distant Emperor. As a
token of friendship Liutprand, following the pope's admonition, restored
to him his confiscated patrimony in the Cottian Alps. For the moment
peace was only endangered by the duke Romuald II of Benevento, who
attacked the castle of Cumae by surprise; but after the duke of Naples,
aided by the pope's militia, had regained the place and killed the garrison,
the pope even paid Romuald the indemnification which he had offered for
a peaceable evacuation, and thereby won his friendship. Meanwhile the
duke Faroald of Spoleto began to move as well; Narni was taken,
Liutprand occupied Classis, the port of Ravenna, and carried booty and
prisoners away. He gained other successes at the cost of the respublica;
the frontier castles surrendered to him and so he was able to extend the
Lombard boundary to Bologna; Osimo in Pentapolis went over to him as
well. Then he turned southwards, and attacked the castle of Sutri by
surprise (728); this was too much for the pope; the king approached too
nearly his own sphere of action. After Liutprand had been in possession
of the castle for one hundred and seventy days, the pope insisted on his
"restoring and donating" it to the apostles Peter and Paul. Meanwhile
the dukes of Spoleto and Benevento had entered into a league with the
pope and defended the frontier of the ducatus Romae against the troops
of the Emperor. The new exarch Eutychius, who had landed at Naples,
did not succeed in making the two dukes desert the league with the
pope; his entreaties had no effect on Liutprand till he offered a very
important service to the king, placing his own troops at the king's
disposal against the independent dukes, so as to take them in the rear
and force them to render homage to the king and send hostages in token
of their fidelity. The king repaid this service by leading the exarch to
Rome, and as the pope could not think of resistance, he again submitted
to the Emperor. But the Lombard troops did not enter the imperial
town and Liutprand paid homage to the graves of the Principes apo-
stolorum whom he had never intended to combat (729). So the Italian
revolution brought double success to Liutprand: territorial acquisition
of land in the north and the two dukes' formal submission in the south;
and at the same time he had appeared as principal arbiter in these
differences on Italian soil.
Liutprand's next care was to make the two duchies' formal dependency
real and effective. When difficulties arose after the death of Romuald II
of Benevento (731-782), on account of the succession, he marched on
Benevento, carried away the young duke Gisulf for education, and
installed his own nephew Gregorius, relying upon his own sovereign
power. Nearly at the same time, after a breach of the league with the


## p. 213 (#245) ############################################

732-740]
Liutprand
213
exarch, a plot of the Roman dtix of Perusia against Bologna miscarried,
and a Lombard army led by Hildeprand, another nephew of Liutprand,
occupied the impregnable town of Ravenna, the centre of the imperial
administration. But the exarch succeeded in regaining the capital by
a sudden attack and making Hildeprand prisoner, with help of the navy
of the lagoons, against which the Lombards were helpless. Soon after
this misfortune Liutprand seems to have concluded an armistice, on
account of which Hildeprand was sent back. Then Liutprand fell ill at
Pavia (735), Hildeprand was proclaimed king by the Lombards, and
Liutprand acknowledged him as co-regent after his recovery. New
difficulties arose in Friuli, where the duke Pemmo had covered the
Lombard name with fame in different combats with the Slavs and
displayed great splendour in his princely court at Cividale; he got
entangled in a quarrel with the king's favourite Calistus, whom Liut-
prand had made patriarch of Aquileia, because the latter wanted to
remove his residence from the small town of Cormons to Cividale, and
had taken by force the bishop's palace, which the dukes had resigned to
the fugitive bishop of Julia Carnica. Liutprand interceded in the
patriarch's favour, dismissed the duke Pemmo and set up in his place his
son Ratchis, who proved himself the king's faithful subject. No king
had ever reigned so powerfully.
But now the time had come when Liutprand thought it necessary
to deal the death-blow to the Roman Empire in Italy, as soon as the
independence of the duke in middle Italy was broken. This duke,
Transamund of Spoleto, had taken the Roman castle Gallese and might
have been of great use to the king in barring the communication between
Ravenna and Rome, but he preferred to deliver up the castle to the pope
Gregory III, engaging himself never to carry arms against him any more.
But Liutprand, crossing the Pentapolis, arrived at Spoleto in June 739,
and appointed a new duke Hilderich, while Transamund fled to Rome.
The king demanded in vain the rebel's delivery before the walls of Rome,
took away the castles of Ameria, Horta, Polimartium, and Bleda from
the ducatus Romae, but then returned to North Italy. Meanwhile a
Roman party in Benevento set up one Godescalc in the duchy in place
of the deceased duke Gregorius, without regard to the king's claims. In
the following year (740) Liutprand and Hildeprand attacked Ravenna
and laid the exarchate under contribution, and at the same time Lom-
bard hordes breaking out of the castles devastated the Campagna. The
pope sent an embassy, praying the king to give back these border forts, and
also claimed the help of the Lombard bishops by a circular letter. At
the same time the army of the ducatus Romae, aided by Benevento,
reinstated in Spoleto the duke Transamund, who was accepted with open
arms by his own people (Dec. 740). But even now Transamund did not
dare to attack the king and win back to the Romans the four castles, as
the pope had wished. Pope Zachary, who had followed Gregory at the



## p. 214 (#246) ############################################

214
Liutprand
[741-744

end of 741, gave up his predecessor's Spoletan policy in consequence,
and offered to the king the help of the Roman army against Spoleto,
on condition of his promise to restore the four castles. Attacked on
two sides (742) Transamund surrendered to the king; then the latter
advanced against Benevento, and as Godescalc abandoned his own
country and was surrendered before he reached the ship destined to
bring him to Constantinople, the king gave back his ancestral duchy to
Gisulf who had by now grown up and was faithfully devoted to him.
But after he had brought all difficulties in South Italy to an end the
pope himself overtook him on his way back in his camp at Terni,
reminding him of his promise. The Catholic king received the pope
with all customary marks of reverence, and gave him the desired charter
concerning the restoration of the four towns. After this several nobles
escorted the pope on his return journey, and handed over to him the
keys of the surrendered towns, and the parts of the patrimony which had
been conquered were also restored to him. In exchange for this the
pope concluded an armistice with the king for twenty years in the name
of the ducatus Romae. In this way the king meant to eliminate one
enemy, in order to concentrate all his forces against the other part of
the Roman dominion. After having appointed his nephew Agiprand
duke of Spoleto, he crossed the Apennines and sent his army against
Ravenna at the beginning of the following year (743). The exarch
and the archbishop of Ravenna in their desperation begged for the
pope's intervention, and the latter actually came to meet the king at
Pavia, by way of Ravenna. The king condescended to conclude an
armistice, occupying the castles of Caesena and part of the territory of
Ravenna meanwhile as a pledge, until the embassy he sent to Constanti-
nople should have concluded a definite peace. We do not know Liut-
prand's real motives for giving up the attack; but it seems possible
that changes of foreign politics, especially with the Franks, as well as
sympathy with the Romans within the Lombard realm, nourished by
the bishops, joined with personal motives to cause his compliance.
Though he had not attained his aim when he died at the beginning of
the year 744, he had brought the Lombard State's power to a height
which it had never before attained.
Liutprand's former co-regent Hildeprand followed him on the throne,
but was not acknowledged everywhere. Transamund returned to Spoleto.
Ratchis of Friuli was proclaimed king and Hildeprand dethroned after
eight months' monarchy. The imperialists greeted the elevation of
Ratchis with joy, and the new king actually concluded peace with Rome
for twenty years. In Spoleto he asserted his authority, and Transamund
was replaced by a new duke, Lupus. We may judge by the severity of
his orders concerning passports, and by his rules against riot that Ratchis
was prepared to meet dangers from within and without, and so he tried
to increase his party by ample distributions of land to the Church, and
N


## p. 215 (#247) ############################################

749-753 J Ratc/tis. Aistulf 215
to the Romans, the countrymen of his wife Tassia. He evidently strove
to lessen the disparity between Romans and Lombards. Nevertheless
he saw himself compelled to invade the imperial Pentapolis and besiege
Perusia. But when he desisted from this blockade upon the pope's
personal intervention, the Lombards gave vent to their indignation over
their king's romanising policy. The nobles raised Aistulf, the king's
brave and fierce brother, upon the buckler at Milan (June 749); Ratchis
was forced to abdicate, went to St Peter's on pilgrimage, was accepted as
a monk by the pope, and retired to Monte Cassino.
Aistulf immediately took up again with the greatest energy Ljut-
prand's conquering policy. The donations which Ratchis had made
before Aistulfs elevation were annulled, intercourse with Romans was
forbidden, commerce with a foreign country keenly watched, the frontier
well guarded, and military duty regulated on the basis of the new social
structure. The important towns of Comacchio and Ferrara were occupied
and the Lombard king gave forth a charter as early as 7 July 751 in the
palace of Ravenna, which the last exarch, Eutychius, was said to have
surrendered. The north of Italy was now entirely in the hands of the
Lombards, except the district of the Lagoons and the towns of Istria.
Aistulf turned to central Italy, where Duke Lupus had died, and took
into his own hands the government of Spoleto, the key-city of Rome.
His next assault was of course directed to Rome. He stood before the
walls of Rome in June 752 and received a papal embassy; it is alleged
that he promised peace for forty years but broke the armistice after
four months. His conditions were very hard: tribute paid by the
inhabitants of the ducatus Rornae and acknowledgment of his sovereignty.
He ordered the abbots of Monte Cassino and St Vincenzo, who had
appeared as the pope's envoys before him, to follow his commands as
Lombard subjects, and return to their monasteries without entering
Rome. The Emperor's embassy, which was conducted to Ravenna by
the pope's brother, only so far succeeded that Aistulf sent an envoy to
Constantinople with proposals that seemed unacceptable, at least to the
pope. But the two envoys returned to Italy without having effected
their object, while the Lombards had taken the castle of Ceccano, which
belonged to the Church. Now Pope Stephen obtained a safe conduct
and at the Emperor's command marched himself to Aistulfs court at
Pavia (autumn 753). The king sent to meet him with orders not
to venture a word about restoring the conquered territory. But the
pope was not to be deterred, and fervently entreated the king to fulfil
the conditions contained in a letter which an imperial envoy had
brought. But it was in vain. Then the Frankish ambassadors, who
had accompanied the pope, intervened and required Aistulf to let the
pope go to Gaul. When the pope, at his next audience, declared
that it was actually his intention to cross the Alps, Aistulf, it is said,
roared with rage like a wild beast. But after vain endeavours to change


## p. 216 (#248) ############################################

216 The Frankish Intervention [753-756
the pope's resolution, he was obliged to dismiss him, not daring to detain
him by force and expose himself to immediate conflict with the Franks.
The pope left Pavia on 5 November. The new Frankish king Pepin was
clearly resolved upon interfering in Italy, and Aistulf saw himself face
to face with a new situation immediately before reaching the aim he had
longed for so fervently.
But all links had not yet been broken off. Pepin sent embassies
over the Alps three times in order to induce Aistulf to yield, but in
vain. The public feeling among the Frankish nobles was by no means
favourable to war, and Aistulf, wishing to profit thereby, sent to Gaul
Pepin's brother and former co-regent Carloman, who was now monk in
Monte Cassino. While the Frankish army was already advancing, the
pope once more sent a letter full of entreaties to Aistulf, and Pepin
offered 12,000 solidi as recompense for the disputed territories; Aistulf
refused with threats and brought the whole of his forces, and the military
material he had stored up for his enterprise against Rome, to Susa at
the foot of Mont Cenis, awaiting the Franks' attack. He was too
impatient however to hold out behind the fortified clusae, and attacked
the Frankish vanguard by surprise; but not being able to deploy his
superior forces in the narrow vale, he was thrown back and was himself
very nearly killed; then he concentrated the rest of his army in the
fortified city of Pavia, where the main army of the Franks appeared
after a few days. But as the Franks shrank from a long siege and the
Frankish nobles, who had kept up friendly relations with the Lombards
dating perhaps from the time of Charles Martel, tried to mediate,
peace was made, Aistulf confirmed the treaty by oath, promising to
surrender those territories of Italy he had occupied illegally and to
acknowledge formally the Frankish king's sovereignty. He sent forty
hostages and made lavish presents to the king and the nobles as recom-
pense for the expenses of war (autumn 754). The pope returned to
Rome, accompanied by the Frankish ambassador Fulrad, and Pepin
retired over the Alps. But Aistulf did not think of keeping his oath.
Of all the towns he only surrendered Narni, and seeing that Pepin did
not interfere again, he resolved to put an end to the quarrel by a master
stroke. On 1 Jan. 756 a Lombard army again encamped before Rome
on the right bank of the Tiber, Aistulf rapidly approached from Spoleto
and the Beneventans from the south. With terrible threats, he re-
quired the pope's surrender while his bands plundered the Campagna.
Pepin's envoy, the abbot Warnehar, fought against the Lombards in
full harness and then informed his prince of what he had seen. But
Rome's strong walls saved her again; Aistulf gave up the siege after
five months and returned to Pavia (5 April) to await a new attack
from Pepin when winter was over and the melting snow rendered the
passage possible.
The Lombards were once more dispersed by the Franks near the


## p. 217 (#249) ############################################

756-763] Desiderius 217
clusae of Mont Cenis, and Aistulf again took refuge behind the walls
of Pavia. Shut up in this fortress, he again entreated forgiveness
and peace of Pepin by the nobles1 intervention. The latter granted
the rebel life and realm, which he had forfeited. Following the Frankish
verdict to which he had appealed, he was obliged to pay as indemnity
a third of the great royal hoard and costlier presents than two years before
to guarantee his further submission, and engage himself to pay a yearly
tribute of 12,000 solidi, as the I^ombards had once done in the time of
Agilulf. He actually now yielded up the towns whose surrender had
been stipulated two years earlier and Comacchio besides, and so the same
boundaries were re-established which had parted the two territories
before Aistulfs accession to the throne. Liutprand's conquests however
remained to the Lombard dominion, so that to the great disappoint-
ment of pope and emperor the status of the peace made in 680 was
not restored. Nevertheless this was the greatest humiliation the
Lombard realm had ever suffered for more than a century and a half,
since that first league between the Byzantine Emperor and the Franks
had been broken. Aistulfs eager policy of attack was crossed by a
new factor which had not entered into his predecessor's calculations.
The proud king did not long survive his fall. He died in consequence
of an accident while hunting (December 756).
After Aistulfs death a grave crisis broke out in the Lombard State.
The monk Ratchis left Monte Cassino and was acknowledged as ruler,
"servant of Christ and prince of the Lombard people," especially in the
north of the Apennines. But Spoleto as well as Benevento detached
itself from the kingdom and set up Alboin as duke of Spoleto, who
swore an oath of allegiance to the pope and the Frankish king. The
duke Desiderius was raised upon the buckler in Tuscany, and as he
engaged himself by document and by oath to surrender the towns
belonging to the Empire, and to live in peace and friendship with the
pope and the Frankish king, the Frankish plenipotentiary in Rome
supported him with great energy and the pope prepared the Roman
army for his defence. Ratchis then abdicated for the second time. On
the pope's demand, Desiderius actually ceded Faenza and Ferrara, but
as soon as he felt himself sure on the throne, he entered Spoleto by
force without consideration of the pope's wishes, made Duke Alboin
prisoner as a rebel, drove away the duke Liutprand of Benevento, who
was obliged to take refuge behind the walls of Otranto, and set up
Arichis as duke in his place, and gave him his daughter Adelperga to
wife. He made a proposal of co-operation against the pope and the
duke of Benevento to an imperial embassy which passed by: at the
same time he tried to render the pope's connexion with his former
allies as difficult as possible, appeared at St Peter's grave in Rome,
pretending friendly intentions, and forced the pope to write a letter to
Pepin, interceding for the surrender of the Lombard hostages. To be


## p. 218 (#250) ############################################


218
Desiderius
[763-771
i
sure the pope recalled this letter by means of the very messenger who
brought it, but still Desiderius succeeded in averting a new Frankish
intervention, greatly desired by the pope, by making certain concessions,
especially in relation to the patrimonies. At his next visit to Rome,
Desiderius framed a compact on the Frankish embassies'1 advice about
763 on the basis of mutual acknowledgment of the status quo; and
Desiderius promised to come to the pope's aid with all his forces in
case of an attack from the Emperor. It was only after Pope Paul's
death (767) that new difficulties with Rome arose when a party, hostile
to the late government, had raised Constantine to the papal throne, and
the defeated party's leader, the primiceriiis Christophorus, claimed the
Lombards' help. The defeated party entered Rome by force, led by
I-ombard troops and the Lombard priest Waldipert, but the Lombard
candidate Philip was not able to maintain himself on the papal throne
in place of Constantine; Stephen III was elected and Waldipert himself
slain by his former adherents (768). Shortly after this failure Desiderius
tried to procure the archbishopric of Ravenna for Michael, one of his
confidants (769); but Frankish commissioners dismissed him at the
pope's wish.
A new combination in foreign politics seemed to change the present
situation to the disadvantage of the pope and in favour of Desiderius.
Desiderius and Tassilo of Bavaria, both menaced by the Frankish pre-
ponderance, had entered into friendly relations, and Tassilo had married
Liutperga, daughter of Desiderius. Pepin's widow Bertrada conceived
the plan of securing peace by bringing one of her sons into relationship
with the Lombard royal family. Notwithstanding the pope's amaze-
ment, she crossed the Alps and asked one of Desiderius' daughters in
marriage for her son Charles. The betrothal took place under the
guarantee of the Frankish nobles and the marriage was accomplished.
Meanwhile Bertrada had endeavoured to reassure the pope about her
transactions with Desiderius. The latter had evidently renewed his
promise to respect the territorial status quo and restore the patrimonies
which were the private property of the Roman Church. Of course the
next consequence was the fall of the anti-Lombard party prevailing in
Rome. This was approved of by the pope, who wanted to escape his
minister's predominant influence. Desiderius appeared before Rome
with military forces, but under pretence of praying at the Apostle's
grave and arranging disputed questions. The pope came out to him
and received his promise by oath. But a papal chamberlain named
Paulus Afiarta, the leader of the Lombard party, raised up within the
town a revolt against Christophorus, whereupon the pope maintained
that Christophorus and his party conspired against his life. The accused
offered resistance within the town, but were betrayed by the Romans,
abandoned by the pope, and cruelly killed by Paulus Afiarta and his
accomplices. Desiderius did not now want to hear anything more


## p. 219 (#251) ############################################

759-772] End of the Lombard Kingdom 219
about transactions with the pope. But the Frankish kings seem to have
taken offence at his way of acting. Car Ionian died in Dec. 771,
but Charles, who laid claim to the whole Frankish realm without
considering Carloman's children, resolved to depart from the last year's
policy. He repudiated Desiderius, daughter, well knowing that he made
an enemy of the Lombard king by this insult. Carloman's widow
Gerberga with her children and followers fled to the Lombard king,
who was ready to use them as weapons against Charles. The new pope
Hadrian was naturally on the side of Charles, and so the political com-
bination of the time before Bertrada's intervention was re-established.
Embassies between the pope and Desiderius had no effect, because the
pope did not trust the king's promises, and for fear of losing his hold
upon the Frankish king firmly refused to anoint as kings Carloman's
children at the wish of Desiderius. Paulus Afiarta and his followers
(the Lombard party) were removed and punished, so that the Frankish
influence again decided the papal policy.
Meanwhile Desiderius had again occupied Faenza, Ferrara, Comacchio
(spring 772), and threatened Ravenna on every side; then he took
Sinigaglia, Jesi, Urbino, Gubbio, commanded his troops to attack Bieda
and Otricoli, in order to frighten the pope, and marched against Rome
with Carloman's children, after having vainly entreated the pope to
come to him. The latter made all preparations for defence and raised
his forces in Rome, but sent three bishops to the royal camp at Viterbo
with a bull, threatening with excommunication the king and all who
dared to step upon Roman soil. Desiderius actually broke up his camp
and retired; but the answer he made to the Frankish embassies, which
appeared in Italy at the pope's wish, in order to become acquainted with
the state of things, shews clearly enough that he expected to meet
a decisive stroke. He had prepared himself for this moment during the
whole time of his reign, trying to ensure the dynasty by the nomination
of his son Adalgis as co-regent (759), and to restrain the independence
of the dukes, though still attaching them to his person. He had made
costly presents to the great monasteries, and endowed them with
privileges, and had strengthened his party by new donations of landed
property. But nevertheless the Lombard kingdom did not offer united
resistance to the Franks. A number of emigrants had already fled to
the Franks even before the beginning of the war, and many nobles now
left Spoleto and went to Rome. Benevento did not take any part in
the war, and after the first failure not only the Spoletan contingents but
also a number of towns submitted to the pope voluntarily. Charles only
found resistance from the towns where the Lombard kings defended
themselves. Treason played a great part in the fall of the Lombard
realm, a fact which can be traced even in the sagas. After having
refused Charles' last offer, to pay 17,000 solidi if he fulfilled the pope's
demand, Desiderius put his trust in the strong position near the clusae
CB. VII.


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220 End of the Lombard Kingdom [773-774
of Susa, which he had fortified. Here, at the Porta d' Italia, he expected
Charles, who marched over Mont Cenis, while another corps took its
way over the Great St Bernard. But, owing to this circuit, no battle
seems to have taken place. Desiderius was obliged to retire to Pavia
(Sept. 773) with the warriors who were still faithful to him, while
Adalgis sought refuge with Carloman's children behind the fortified walls
of Verona, but fled from here also after a time and went into exile
at Constantinople. But except at Pavia and Verona Charles found no
resistance whatever in the Lombard realm. Verona with Carloman's
children surrendered even before Christmas to a detached troop under
Charles himself, whereas the siege of Pavia was prolonged to the
beginning of June 774, though famine and epidemics raged within the
town.
After the capitulation Charles brought Desiderius and his wife to
Gaul with the royal treasure, having received homage of the Lombards
who had gathered at Pavia, leaving there a Frankish garrison.
This was the end of the independent Lombard realm, and Charles
dated his succession in this realm from the fall of the royal town of
Pavia.
To be sure, the duchy of Benevento in the south had succeeded in
keeping its independence throughout all these disasters, and the prince
Arichis, Desiderius1 son-in-law, considered himself the Lombard king's
successor; but, important as this fact has proved for Italian history,
the Lombard kingdom had always been rooted in the north. The
occasion for its fall was given by the renewal of that combination
between the remnants of the respublica, now represented by the pope,
and the Franks, who had developed into a consolidated power; and
the Lombard State had never been equal to these combined forces.
A deeper reason lay in the structure of the Lombard State, which
had not been able, even in the intervals of peace, to attain any organic
unity. The small number of the Lombard people in connexion with
their form of settlement, conditioned as it was by the state of affairs
in the Roman Empire, had given too great importance from the first
to the single local groups and their dukes. Kingship, which had
been re-established in the distress of those times, exerted its uniting
and centralising power very slowly, and a perfect union had never
been accomplished. For the kingdom was founded on its royal domain,
and the latter on new conquests of land, with which the king's followers
had to be furnished. As was always the case in the medieval State
in which agriculture was practised, the warriors who were rewarded
in this way did not permanently attach themselves to the king, and
thus formed a continual danger to the kingship. The king was con-
tinually forced to new conquests and then obliged to give them up
again voluntarily, so that even the mightiest rulers made little lasting
impression on the State, especially when the possibilities of donations


## p. 221 (#253) ############################################


Causes of its Fall
221
diminished as the Lombard element drew nearer to the Roman. On
the other hand, the assimilation with the inhabitants of Italy in race
and culture had been rapidly carried out just on account of the smallness
of the conquering tribe and the necessary adaptations resulting; and it
was not the cultural and racial difference, but rather a difference of
organisation, resulting from the land's history and settlement, which
separated the three parts of Italy—the kingdom, the ecclesiastical State
and Benevento—through more than a thousand years.
r


## p. 222 (#254) ############################################

222
CHAPTER VIII.
(A)
IMPERIAL ITALY AND AFRICA: ADMINISTRATION.
When in the year 534 Justinian organised the imperial administration
in Africa, and after the year 540 in Italy, it was not so much his intention
to create a new civil code as to restore in the main the conditions which had
existed before the break in the Roman rule. In Africa this break had been
complete owing to the constitution of the Vandal kingdom. In Italy the
Roman civil administration had remained unaltered, even at the time
when the rule of the Gothic king had superseded the direct imperial
government, and therefore, after the expulsion of the Gothic army
quartered on the land, only the military administration had to be created
completely anew. Maintenance of the continuity, which from an im-
perial point of view had legally never been broken, and equal rights with
those provinces which had never bowed to the yoke of the barbarians,
are therefore the natural principles upon which Justinian founded his
reorganisation of the West. It was, however, impossible in practice to
ignore altogether the development of the last century. Africa and Italy
had for so many years lived in political independence of each other, that
it was no longer possible to look upon them as a united whole; in
consequence of this, their administration remained entirely separate, as
before. Whereas the dioecesis of Africa had been under the rule of the
praefectus praetorio per Italian, until its occupation by the Vandals, it
now received its own praefectus praetorio, who took the place of the
former, henceforth superfluous vicarius AJHcae, so that the praefectus
Italiae was limited to Italy. Sardinia and Corsica, however, which had
been in the possession of the Vandals and were now won back by
Justinian together with the Vandal kingdom, remained united with
Africa. It was further of decisive importance for Italy that it was no
longer, as before the so-called fall of the West-Roman Empire, ruled by
two emperors with a local division of power, but by one only, and that he
resided in the East. For the consequence was, that the court offices and
central offices proper, such as the magister officiorum, the quaestor, the
comites sacrarum largitionum, rerum privatarum and patrimonii, which
as the highest administrative offices in Italy had been maintained within



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