or more correctly Longobards, a northern nation who settled in Italy in the sixth century, and founded a kingdom, which lasted 206 years, 568–774.

The name of Longobards is of doubtful origin, some derive it from *lack*, a word signifying winter, whilst others think that it comes from the two German words *langen harken*, or the long halberds they were supposed to use in war. But Paulus Diaconus, their historian, and himself a Longobard, who lived in the eighth century, tells us that they were called Longobards from the length of their beards, having formerly been called Winiuli:—“Certum est Longobarulos, ab intactae ferro barber longitudine, cum primis Winiuli dicti fuerint, ita postmodum appellatus.” Nam jus ta illorum linguae, lang longam, baer barbam significat.” (De Gestis Longob. i.9.) Possibly they may have received this name on their first arriving among the Germanic nations, who wore no beard.

Scanty, and often contradictory, are the earliest records of the Longobards, until they settled on the Danube, in the time of Odoacer. They are supposed to have left Scandinavia at an unknown period, under the conduct of their chiefs, Ibor and Aion, and after attacking and overcoming the Vandals, to have settled in the N. of Germany. Velleius Paterculus, who attributes to them more than German ferocity, states that they were conquered under Augustus by Tiberius Caesar; and Strabo and Ptolemy mention them as established on the right bank of the Elbe, and forming part of the confederation of the Suevi. Tacitus adds, that, being few in number, and surrounded by powerful neighbours, they maintained their independence by constant warfare. Ibor and Aion were succeeded by Agilulf, who is commonly reckoned the first king of the Longobards.

Towards the end of the fifth century they settled on the left bank of the Danube, in the country of the Rugians, who had been almost exterminated by Odoacer. During their stay in this country they rendered themselves formidable to the neighbouring nations, and carried on successful wars with the Heruli. In 526 they were allowed by the Emperor Justinian to settle in Pannonia and Noricum, under their king, Alboin. It was here that the enmity which had long existed between them and the Gepids broke out into open war. In a great battle fought in 551, Turismund, the son of the king of the Gepids, was slain in single combat by the son of Alboin, Alboin, who shortly after succeeded his father as king of the Longobards. The first act of Alboin was to form an alliance with Balan, the chagan of the Avars, in order jointly to attack the Gepids, whose country was to be given up to the Avars. In 566 the two allied nations, from different sides, invaded the country of the Gepids, whose king, Cunimund, a brother of Turismund, hastened to meet the Longobards, and give them battle. Alboin slew him with his own hand, defeated his army, and killed so great a number of them, that the Gepid ceased from that time to be a nation. He cut off Cunimund's head, and had a cup made of his skull, called, in the language of the Longobards, *scala*, which he made use of in all public entertainments. Having, among other captives, taken the king's daughter, Rosamund, he married her after the death of his former wife, Clotisinda, the daughter of Clothaire, King of the Franks.

By this victory Alboin gained such reputation, that his friendship was courted by Justinian, on whose application 6000 Longobards were sent to the assistance of Nares against the Goths. The success of the Romans in this expedition, and the subsequent invasion of Italy by the Longobards, have been noticed under the art. ITALY. Alboin was slain in his own palace, through the treachery of his wife, on the 28th June 573, being the fourth year of his reign in Italy. As he was one day feasting at Verona, in the height of his mirth he sent for the queen, and filling the cup which he had made of Cunimund's skull, he commanded her to drink merrily with her father. Rosamund struck with horror, hurried out of the room, and, incensed against her husband for thus barbarously triumphing over the misfortunes of her family, resolved to make him pay dear for his inhuman and insulting conduct. She discovered her intention to Helmichild, the king's shield-bearer, who suggested that Peredeus, a youth of great courage and bodily strength, should be called into the conspiracy. Peredeus refused to be in any way accessory to the death of his sovereign, and in this resolution he persisted, until, by a shameful stratagem, he was forced to comply with the queen's wishes. Knowing that he carried on an intrigue with one of her ladies, Rosamund placed herself one night in that lady's bed, and received the youth as if she had been his mistress. Then discovering herself to the deceived lover, she told him that he must now either put the king to death, or be put to death by him. Peredeus, knowing that after what he had done, his safety depended upon the death of the king, engaged at length in the treason. One day, therefore, the queen having lulled Alboin to sleep after dinner, introduced Peredeus into his chamber, who fell upon the king with his dagger. Alboin started up and laid hold of his sword, which he had always by him; but having in vain attempted to draw it, the queen having beforehand fastened it in the scabbard, he defended himself with a footstool till he was at last overpowered and despatched with many wounds. Such is the story related by Paulus Diaconus, who adds that he had himself seen the fatal cup of Cunimund's skull in the hands of King Rachis. Agnellus of Ravenna, however, tells the story somewhat differently, as he does not mention Peredeus, and makes Helmichild the deceived lover and unwilling murderer of Alboin.

Rosamund had promised to Helmichild that, as soon as the king was despatched, she would marry him, and bestow upon him the kingdom of the Longobards. The first part of her promise she immediately fulfilled, but she was so far from being able to bestow the crown upon him, that they were both of them obliged to save themselves by flight. They fled to Longinus, the exarch of Ravenna, taking with them the jewels and treasure of the late king and were received with great marks of friendship and kindness. But Rosamund had not been long in Ravenna, before the exarch, thinking that a favourable opportunity now offered for making himself king of Italy by her means, declared that it was his intention to marry her, provided, by some means or other, she despatched Helmichild. Rosamund, highly pleased with the proposal, resolved to get rid of the person whom she had only married in order to gratify her revenge. Accordingly, having prepared a strong poison, and mixed it with wine, she gave it to her husband as he came out of the bath and called for drink, according to his custom. Helmichild had not half emptied the cup when, by the sudden and strange sensation which he felt in his bowels, he concluded what it was, and with the sword pointed at the queen's breast, compelled her to drink the rest. They both died in a few hours; and Longinus, laying aside all thoughts of making himself king of Italy, sent Alboin's daughter, the daughter of Alboin by Rosamund, and the king's treasure to Constantinople.

The Longobards then chose Clephis, one of the nobility, as their king. He exercised great cruelty on the conquered Italians; but, after a short reign of eighteen months, both he and his wife were murdered by a servant; and there ensued an interregnum of ten years, during which the country was governed by thirty-six dukes, whose appointment dated from the first days of the invasion of Italy. The dukes now acted as independent sovereigns, and, in order to extend their respective territories, they carried on constant wars with the Greeks and the Franks. Lombards, and even among themselves. Their government was characterized by great cruelty to the conquered race, whose towns were repeatedly pillaged and burnt. Many of the Roman nobles were put to death to get possession of their wealth, and all the others whose lives were spared were divided among their guests,—hospites, as the Longobards insultingly called themselves,—and compelled to pay them one-third of the raw produce of their lands. The Romans at length resolved to avail themselves of the anarchy which the private warfares of the dukes had produced among the Longobards, and, by the aid of the Greeks or the Franks, to try to expel them altogether from the country. Accordingly, Pope Pelagius II. sent a Roman patrician with money to implore succour from Constantinople. The Emperor Mauritius being prevented by his wars with the Arabs and the Persians from attending personally to the application, appointed Smaragdos, a general of great reputation, to replace Longinus at Ravenna, and, at the same time, sent an embassy with a present of 50,000 golden solidi to Childebertus, the King of the Franks of Austrasia, requesting him to move against the Longobards. The threatened invasion so alarmed the Longobards, that they re-established the monarchical form of government, and chose Autharis, the son of Clephis, as their king (584-590).

Autharis, considering that the power of the dukes was well established, and that they would not be willing to part with the authority which they had so long enjoyed, allowed them to continue in their government, but obliged them to contribute a moiety of their revenues towards the maintenance and support of his royal dignity. He reserved to himself the supreme dominion and authority, and took an oath from the dukes, that in time of war they would readily assist him to the utmost of their power. Though he could remove them at pleasure, yet he deprived none of them of their dukedoms except in cases of treason, nor gave them to others except when their male issue failed. From an obscure and questionable passage of Paulus Diaconus, it would seem that Autharis also released the Italians from the tribute of one-third of the raw produce of the soil, and caused them instead to give up one-third of their lands to the Longobards, who from that time ceased to be hospites, and became settlers in the country. Autharis succeeded in checking theft, murder, and adultery, and was the first Longobard king who embraced Christianity. Most of his subjects followed his example; but, as they were all instructed by Arian bishops, they continued long infected with that heresy, which occasioned great disputes between them and the orthodox bishops of the cities subject to their sway.

Three times did Childebertus descend into Italy in fulfilment of his engagement with the emperor, but he was always repulsed by the young and brave Autharis, who, in his victorious career, is said to have overrun the whole peninsula as far as Reggio, and, planting his halbert in the Sicilian Straits, to have said, that those would be the limits of the Longobard kingdom. The fourth Italian campaign of Childebertus had an origin quite characteristic of the times. He had asked in marriage Theodelinda, a daughter of Garibald, Duke of Bavaria, but afterwards he had changed his mind and refused to marry her. She was then sought and obtained by Autharis, who, in his youthful impatience to see his bride, sent a second embassy, in which he himself went as one of the number. On the embassy being introduced to the presence of the duke, Autharis advanced to the throne and stated that, though not the ambassador, he was the friend of the king, who had trusted him with the delicate commission of giving him a faithful report of the beauty of his bride. Theodelinda being sent for, Autharis, greatly captivated with her charms, after a pause of silent rapture, hailed her as the Queen of the Longobards, and requested that, according to the custom of the nation, she would present a goblet of wine to the first of her new subjects. The request being granted, Theodelinda handed round the goblet. When Autharis's turn arrived, on returning the goblet, he made the fair princess blush by softly pressing her hand, and stealthily bringing it to his lips and forehead. Theodelinda confided to her nurse the indiscreet familiarity of the stranger, and was cheered by the assurance that such boldness could proceed only from the king her husband, who by his beauty and courage appeared worthy of her love. The embassy returned, escorted by Bavarian envoys. No sooner did they reach the Italian frontier than Autharis made himself known to them by raising himself on his horse, darting his battle-axe with incomparable strength and dexterity against a tree, and adding, "Such is the wound that Autharis can inflict." Childebertus, on hearing of the intended marriage, resolved to prevent it, and immediately attacked Bavaria. Theodelinda was obliged to escape for her safety, with her brother Gundbad, to Italy, where she was met near Verona by Autharis, and the marriage celebrated with great solemnity on the 16th May 589. The following year Childebertus invaded Italy with a powerful army; but, after pillaging several towns, and in vain attempting to besiege Pavia, he withdrew without any lasting conquests.

Autharis died the same year, and his youthful widow was allowed to bestow, with her hand, the sceptre of the Longobard kingdom. Her choice fell on Agilulfus, Duke of Turin, 590-615, who concluded a peace with the Franks, reduced several rebellious dukes to obedience, and carried on a successful war with the Greeks. His reign marks an important period in the history of the Longobards and of Italy. Through the influence of Theodelinda, to whom we have several interesting letters from Pope Gregory the Great, he renounced the erroneous tenets of Arius, and joined the Catholic church. His example was eventually followed by his whole nation, whose gradual fusion with the conquered race dates from that time. Many churches had then their property restored; bishops, hitherto persecuted, began to be honoured; numerous monasteries were founded. The palace formerly erected by Theodoric at Monza, near Milan, was restored and enlarged; and adjoining it, the piety of Agilulfus and Theodelinda erected and richly endowed a basilica in honour of St John the Baptist. In this basilica are still preserved three crowns offered by them, one of which, the famous iron crown with which the kings of Italy, and occasionally the emperors, were afterwards crowned, is supposed to be the identical crown placed by Theodelinda on the head of Agilulfus. St Columba, the Irish monk, when he was obliged to escape from Theodoric, King of Burgundy, found a hospitable reception at the court of Pavia, 612 or 613, whence he soon retired to a desert valley of the Apennines, and, under the auspices of Theodelinda, founded the monastery of Bobbio. Both he and his early successors brought together to Bobbio many manuscripts from France and Brittany, which, being scattered among the Vatican, the Ambrosian, and other libraries, at the suppression of that monastery during the late French wars, acquired great celebrity in our times as the Codices Palimpsesti, among which Cardinal Mai, then librarian of the Ambrosian, discovered the lost work De Republica of Cicero, and other fragments of the ancient writers.

The next two reigns afford nothing remarkable. Ada- loald, the son of Agilulfus, who was proclaimed king at the age of twelve, under the regency of Theodelinda (615-625) having gone mad, was dethroned and succeeded by Arioald, Duke of Turin, the husband of his sister Gundeberga (625-636). On a false accusation of infidelity, Arioald threw Gundeberga into prison; but, after having kept her three years in confinement, he consented, at the intercession of her relative, Clotharius, King of the Franks, that her innocence should be tested by a single combat between her accuser and a nobleman who undertook to defend her. The ac- Lombards. Gundeberga having been slain, she was declared innocent, and released; this was the first instance of a trial by combat in the history of Italy.

On the death of Ariold, Gundeberga was allowed, as it had been previously permitted to her mother Theodeinda, to choose a husband and king. She proposed to Rotharis, Duke of Brescia, who was married, to give up his wife, and take with her hand the Longobard crown. Rotharis (636-652) however, was not more attached to her than he had been to his first wife. Gundeberga was soon shut up in a room of the palace at Pavia, whence she was released after five years at the intercession of the Frank king Clovisus. Rotharis carried on successful wars with the Greeks of Ravenna, and made himself master of part of their possessions near Venice. He took also and destroyed Genoa, and conquered all the maritime country from the Gulf of Spezia to Nice. But his reign was chiefly remarkable for the introduction of written laws amongst the Longobards, who, before his time, had been governed only by tradition.

He was succeeded by his son Rodald, who perished after six months by the hand of an assassin, whose wife he had violated. Of the reign of his brother-in-law and successor, Arigertus (652-661), very little is known, except that, at his death, he divided his kingdom between his two sons, Godbertus and Bertharius, who resided, the former at Pavia, and the latter at Milan. Each brother soon endeavoured to get possession of the whole kingdom. Godbertus applied for support to Grimoald, the powerful Duke of Benevento, who, availing himself of the fraternal dissensions, betook himself to Pavia, where he treacherously slew Godbertus in his own palace, and proclaimed himself King of the Longobards (662-671). Bertharius fled from Milan, and repaired for safety to the chagan of the Avars.

To give a shadow of right to his usurpation, Grimoald married Godbertus' sister, a granddaughter of Theodeinda, whose memory was still worshipped by the Longobards. He was no sooner seated on his throne, than he was obliged to go to the assistance of Benevento, which had been besieged by the Emperor Constans II., with a large army collected from the various Greek possessions in Southern Italy. After several engagements, Constans was compelled to raise the siege and withdraw to Rome, whence after a few days he departed, carrying with him the brass roof of the Pantheon, and all the ancient bronzes, of which he stripped the old capitol. On his return from Benevento, Grimoald sent an embassy to the chagan of the Avars, asking that Bertharius should be delivered to him. The chagan refused to give up his guest, but, to avoid a war, expelled him from his country. Bertharius, aware of the chivalrous disposition of his rival, returned to Italy, and from Lodi, sent his faithful shield-bearer to ask him for hospitality and security. Grimoald generously received him, and assigned him a dwelling and a large pension from the public treasury; but his house was soon frequented by so many noblemen as to excite the suspicion of Grimoald, who was prevailed upon by his courtiers to despatch him. Bertharius, informed of the plot against his life, sought refuge among the Franks, whom he induced to make a descent into Italy. Grimoald rushed to meet them near Asti, and defeated them (665) by a stratagem. He had encamped himself near the enemy, but suddenly, as if inspired by fear, he raised the camp, leaving behind baggage, food, and a large quantity of wine. The Franks entered and pillaged the deserted camp, and gave themselves up to drinking till past midnight, when they were suddenly fallen upon, and completely routed by Grimoald.

The usurpation of Grimoald was one of the causes of the subsequent anarchy, gradual decay, and final overthrow of the Longobard kingdom. By the great honours and gifts he was obliged to bestow on the dukes who had supported it, he so much raised their power and importance, that, instead of mere delegates of the royal authority, they began Lombards to consider themselves, and to act as independent princes; whilst, on the other hand, his success encouraged every one of them to aim at the supreme power. After his death, his son Garibald, a boy, was on the throne a few months, but was easily expelled by Bertharius, who, on hearing the news of his rival's death, hurried to Italy, and was welcomed by the Longobards as their king. During his long reign (671-688), with the exception of the rebellion of Alachis, Duke of Trent, peace generally prevailed in the country. In 678 he associated with himself on the throne his son Cunibert, whose reign (688-700), after the death of his father, was a constant struggle with the rebellious dukes. One of these, the same Alachis who had revolted against Bertharius, and been forgiven, was, for a short time, so successful as to drive him from Pavia, and oblige him to take refuge on an island of the Lake of Como, where he fortified himself. But Alachis was finally routed, and slain in a great battle fought near Coronata, and Cunibert remained in the undisputed possession of the kingdom. He left the throne to his son Luithert, a boy, under the guardianship of Ansprandus, a nobleman of great wisdom and influence; but Ragimbertus, his own cousin, deposed him, and remained a few months in power. He was succeeded by his son, Aribertus II. (701-712), who seized Luithert, and had him killed in a bath, and defeating the remnants of his party, compelled Ansprandus to seek safety at the court of Theodebertus, Duke of Bavaria. Ansprandus succeeded, after nine years, in obtaining the support of a Bavarian army, which, swelled by numerous Longobard exiles, enabled him to attack and defeat Aribertus, who was drowned in swimming across the Ticino on his flight to France. Ansprandus survived his victory only three months, and left the throne to his son Luiprand (712-744), who proved by far the greatest of Longobard kings; although his ambition prepared the ruin of the kingdom.

Luiprand was impatient to enlarge his dominions, and for this opportunity was soon offered by the dissensions which at this time arose between the Greeks and the Romans; the origin of which, however, as well as the events to which they gave rise, are obscurely and differently told by the contemporary chroniclers. The first misunderstanding between Gregory II. and Leo Isauricus, who had ascended the imperial throne in 717, seems to have arisen out of a new tax which the latter imposed on the Italians, and the pope resisted. The emperor, resorting at first to fraud, sent three officers to Rome, with private orders either to despatch the pope, or to convey him prisoner to Constantinople. At the same time, he wrote to Marinus, Duke of Rome, enjoining him to assist his officers in their undertaking. Before they were able to put their design into execution, Marinus died and the whole plot was discovered. Two of the conspirators were apprehended by the Romans and put to death; the third escaped into a monastery, where he took the monastic habit, and ended his days. A new duke was sent from Constantinople, with orders to depose the pope, but he did not even dare to attempt it. Hereupon Paul, the new exarch, who had been sent in 725 to govern Italy, in compliance with the emperor's orders, resolved to proceed no longer by secret plots, but by open force. Accordingly, he drew together a considerable body of troops, and sent them against Rome, with orders to seize the pope and send him in chains to Constantinople. But on this occasion the Duke of Spoleto, and other powerful Longobards, joined the inhabitants of Rome, who, being by this reinforcement far superior in strength and number, met the Greeks near Pons Salarium, and completely routed them.

It was easy to foresee the storm which the news of this defeat would raise at the imperial court against Rome. But a new and more irritating cause came at this time to widen the breach between Greeks and Romans. The Emperor Lombards. Leo, by his famous edict, forbidding the worship of images, and ordering them to be everywhere pulled down and destroyed, so far incensed his eastern subjects, that, in many places, they openly revolted, and, falling upon the emperor's officers, drove them out of the cities. Leo strictly enjoined his officers in the west, especially the exarch of Ravenna, to see his edict obeyed in their respective governments, and wrote to the pope, promising him his favour if he complied with the edict; and, if he opposed it, declaring him a rebel, and no longer invested with the papal dignity. But Gregory was so far from yielding to the emperor's threats or promises, that, on the contrary, he excommunicated the exarch for attempting to put the edict in execution, and at the same time wrote to the Venetians, to Luitprand, and to the Lombard dukes, exhorting them to continue steadfast in the Catholic faith, and to oppose with all their might such an innovation. Gregory's letters made such an impression on the minds of the people of Italy, that, though of different interests, and often at war with one another, they all united, protesting they would defend the Catholic faith, and the life of the pope, at the expense of their own.

In the meantime, the exarch Paul, having gained a party at Ravenna, began to remove the images out of the churches: a proceeding which incensed the adverse party to such a degree, that, rushing to arms, and falling upon the Iconoclasts, or image-breakers, as they styled them, a civil war was raised within the walls of Ravenna. Great numbers were killed on both sides; but those who were for the worship of images having prevailed in the end, a dreadful slaughter was made of the Iconoclasts, and, among the rest, the exarch himself was killed. In Naples, Exharlatus, duke of that city, in compliance with the imperial orders, did all that lay in his power to persuade the people to receive the edict; but finding his endeavours thwarted by the pope, he hired assassins to murder him. But the plot being discovered, both he and his son were torn to pieces by the Neapolitans, and they shortly after expelled his successor Peter, who had published a libel against the pope.

Leo, hearing of the murder of the exarch, and the general revolt of the cities, and not doubting that the pope was the chief author of so much mischief, sent the eunuch Eutychius to Italy as exarch, strictly enjoining him to have the pope despatched by some means or other. Eutychius went to Naples, and spared no pains to get the pope into his power. He sent a messenger to Rome with an order from the emperor, commanding his officers in that city to put the pope to death without fail. But the messenger being apprehended, and the order found upon him, he was only saved from death by the interposition of the pope himself, who thereupon issued an excommunication against the exarch. Eutychius having brought with him from Constantinople a good number of troops, quelled the rebellion at Ravenna, and severely punished its authors. As for the rebellious Romans, he was well apprised that he could never reduce them, as long as they were supported by the Longobards; and, therefore, he employed all his art and policy to bring Luitprand over to his own interests.

Luitprand, however, far from detaching himself from the Romans, thought that the religious feuds afforded him now a favourable opportunity for extending his dominions at the expense of the Greeks. Having, therefore, drawn together all his forces, he unexpectedly appeared before Ravenna, which he closely besieged. The exarch, who had little expected such a surprise, defended the place with such courage and resolution, that Luitprand, despairing of success, raised the siege, and led his army against Classis, at a small distance from Ravenna, which he took, plundered, and levelled with the ground. The severe treatment which its inhabitants met with from the king, threw the citizens of Ravenna into such consternation, that Luitprand resolved to take advantage of their fear, and returning before the city, by frequent attacks, harassed the inhabitants to such a degree, that the exarch, finding they could hold out no longer, withdrew privately to Venice. Luitprand, informed of his retreat, attacked the town with more violence than ever, and, having carried it by storm, gave it up to be plundered by his soldiers. The reduction of Ravenna was followed by the surrender of several towns of the exarchate, which Luitprand reduced to a dukedom, appointing Hildebrand, his young nephew, to govern it, and giving him Peredeus, Duke of Vicenza, as his guardian. Among the cities taken by Luitprand at this time, we find Sutri, near Rome, of which the king, at the request of the pope, made a gift to the apostles Peter and Paul: the first instance, often repeated in later years, of restoring to St Peter the cities taken from the empire.

The progress of the Longobards greatly alarmed Gregory II., who, being no less jealous of their power than his predecessors had been, resolved by some means or other to put a stop to their conquests. The only prince in Italy to whom he could have recourse, was Ursus, Duke of Venice. To him, accordingly, he wrote a very pressing letter, conjuring him to assist his worthy son, the exarch, and to attempt with him the recovery of Ravenna. Ursus and the Venetians, moved with the pope's letter, and, at the same time, alarmed at the growth of so powerful a neighbour, promised to assist the exarch with the whole strength of the republic, and fitted out a fleet, pretending that it was designed for the service of the emperor against the Saracens. The exarch, meanwhile, abandoning Venice as it were in despair of bringing Ursus over to his party, raised, in the places still subject to the emperor, what forces he could, and marched with them towards Imola; but turning suddenly towards Ravenna, he laid siege to that city by land, whilst the Venetians invested it by sea. Peredeus defended the town with great courage and resolution; but the Venetians having at length forced open one of the gates on the seaward face, the city was taken, and he himself slain in attempting to drive the enemy from the posts they had seized. Luitprand was then at Pavia; but Ravenna was taken before he could assemble troops to relieve it.

In the meantime, Thrasimund, Duke of Spoleto, who had expelled his father from the dukedom, and forced him to take the habit of a monk, and Romuald, Duke of Benevento, having both revolted, the exarch offered to assist the king with all his means, provided he would in return support him against the pope and the Romans, who had sided with the rebellious dukes. Luitprand readily closed with this proposal, and the two armies joined and marched towards Spoleto. At their approach, the duke, despairing of being able to resist, came out with a small attendance to meet them, and throwing himself at the king's feet, sued for pardon; which Luitprand not only granted, but confirmed him in the dukedom. From Spoleto the two armies marched, in pursuance of the treaty, to Rome, and encamped in the meadows of Nero between the Tiber and the Vatican. Gregory had fortified the city in the best manner he could; but being sensible that the Romans alone could not long hold out against two such armies, taking with him some of the principal inhabitants, he went to wait upon the king in his camp, where he softened Luitprand to such a degree, that throwing himself at his feet, in the presence of the whole army, the king begged pardon for entering into an alliance against him, and assuring him of his protection for the future, he went with them to the church of St Peter, where, disarming himself, he laid his girdle, his sword, and his gauntlet, with his royal mantle, his crown of gold, and cross of silver, on the apostle's sepulchre. After this, he reconciled the pope with the exarch, who was received into the city, where he remained for some time, maintaining a friendly correspondence with the pope.

Gregory did not long survive his success. At his death (February 731), his successor, Gregory III., wrote several Lombards. letters to Leo, soliciting him more pressingly than ever to revoke the edict; and, at the same time, held in the Vatican a council of 93 Italian bishops, who issued an anathema against the Iconoclasts. Leo, however, instead of listening to the pope's remonstrances, not only insisted upon his edict being received in Rome, but confiscated all the patrimony which the Roman Church had in Sicily and Calabria. On this the Romans, provoked more than ever against Leo, renounced their allegiance to him, paid him no more tribute, and appointed their own magistrates under the pope, not as their prince but as their head. From these slender beginnings the sovereignty of the popes in Italy took its rise.

At this time Luitprand having fallen dangerously ill, the Longobards chose his nephew, Hildebrand, as his successor; but as the king recovered, Hildebrand remained, in name more than in power, his companion on the throne. Luitprand was soon called upon to put down a new rebellion of the Duke of Spoleto, who was obliged to flee for safety to Rome. Gregory having refused to give him up, the king, before returning to Pavia, took possession of four towns of the Roman territory. Thrasimund, with the aid of the Romans, regained his estates, but did not care to retake and restore to the pope the four towns. Gregory then, finding himself at once betrayed by a faithless ally, and threatened by the warlike and victorious Luitprand, resolved to recur to the protection of the Franks, the only nation capable of coping with the Longobards. They were at this time governed by Charles Martel, who having gained a signal victory over the Saracens in the neighbourhood of Tours (October 732), was generally reputed the best commander of his time. To him, therefore, Gregory sent a solemn embassy, with a great number of relics, earnestly entreating him to take the Romans and the Church under his protection. The ambassadors were received with extraordinary marks of honour, and concluded a treaty by which Charles engaged to march into Italy in person, in defence of the Romans and the Church, if they should be attacked by the Longobards. On the other hand, the Romans were to acknowledge him as their protector, and confer upon him the honour of the consulship, as it had been formerly conferred on Clovis by the Emperor Anastasius, after that prince had defeated the Visigoths.

Luitprand in the mean time marched against Thrasimund, and besieged him at Spoleto; but Gregory did not live to see the fruit of his negotiations. He died in 741, the year in which the Emperor Leo and Charles Martel died, and was succeeded by Zachary, a Greek, who, trusting more to his own means than to the aid of the Franks, gave up the alliance of the faithless duke, and came to terms with Luitprand. Thrasimund, finding all resistance hopeless, surrendered to the king, who compelled him to take the dress of a monk, as he had done to his father. Zachary not only obtained the restoration of the four cities from the king, as well as of a district of the Sabina, which had been seized thirty years before, but in 743 prevailed also upon him to give up his intended attack against Ravenna, and to restore Cesena to the exarch.

At the death of Luitprand, his colleague Hildebrand was left on the throne only seven months, when, being expelled, Rachis, Duke of Friuli, was elected in his place (744-749). During the first years of his reign, Rachis remained at peace with his neighbours, but in the year 749 he invaded the Roman territory, and marched against Perugia. It was whilst he besieged this town, that Zachary, the able and successful negotiator, accompanied by a large number of ecclesiastics and Roman noblemen, went to meet him, and, by vividly painting the punishment that would be hereafter inflicted in the other world on those who violated the rights of the Church, so powerfully operated on his mind, that the king raised the siege, and proceeding to Rome, received from the pope the tonsure and the habit of a monk, and retired to the Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino. Tasia, his wife, and Ratreide, his daughter, who had accompanied him to Rome, took the habit of nuns, and founded a convent at Piombino, in the vicinity of his. Even in our days, the traveller who visits Monte Cassino is shown a spot where the vineyard planted and cultivated by King Rachis is said once to have stood.

Astholphus, his brother, succeeded him on the throne (749-756), and soon showed his warlike and grasping disposition. After making himself master of Ravenna and the Pentapolis, as the five allied cities of Rimini, Pesaro, Fano, Sinigaglia, and Ancona, were then called, he marched towards Rome; and, treating it already as a conquered town, demanded a yearly tax of a golden solidus from each citizen. Stephen II., who, on the death of Zachary (March 12, 752), had been raised to the papal chair, after vain attempts to appease Astolphus by negotiations, and a fruitless application for aid to Constantine Copronimus, the successor of Leo on the imperial throne, had at last recourse to the assistance of Pepin, the son, and no less wise and powerful successor of Charles Martel. After the preliminary negotiations, whilst a Longobard army was encamped near Rome, Stephen went to Pavia, and having again in vain tried to soften Astolphus, he proceeded to France, and met Pepin at the chateau of Pontyon, on the 6th of June 754. In the spring of the following year, Pepin, accompanied by the pope, crossed the Alps, defeated Astolphus near Susa, and besieging him at Pavia, obliged him to sue for peace. It was granted upon the condition that the exarchate and the towns taken from the Romans should be given up, not to the emperor, but to the pope.

No sooner, however, had Pepin recrossed the Alps than Astolphus, far from fulfilling the terms agreed upon, marched against Rome, laid waste its neighbourhood, and repeatedly stormed the city itself. Stephen had again recourse to Pepin, who descended rapidly by Mount Cenis into Italy, invested Pavia, and, by a vigorous prosecution of the siege, forced Astolphus to add to the restitution of the exarchate and the Pentapolis, the surrender of Comacchio. Fulrad, Abbot of St Denis, was despatched to the ceded towns to take hostages, and to receive the keys, which he deposited in the confessional of St Peter's at Rome.

Astolphus died shortly after by a fall from his horse, and Desiderius, Duke of Tuscany, was proclaimed king by the army. Many of the Longobards, however, would not yield him allegiance, and adhered to Rachis, who came out of his monastery with the desire to resume the sceptre. The two rivals were on the point of deciding their contest by arms, when, through the interference of the pope, the monk was prevailed upon to return to Monte Cassino, and Desiderius remained in the undisputed possession of the kingdom (756-774).

At the beginning of his reign, Desiderius tried to establish such a close alliance with the Franks as might further his projects of aggrandizement in Italy, by giving his daughter Ermengarda in marriage to Charles, usually called Charlemagne, the son of Pepin. Pope Stephen III. endeavoured in vain to prevent an alliance which afterwards was to be a source of enmity between the two sovereigns. Charles, in 771, divorced his wife, on the pretext of barrenness, and sent her back to her father, who, in revenge, not only received with hospitality the two sons and the widow of Carleman, but supported their claims to the paternal estates, of which Charlemagne had deprived them. The following year, 772, Desiderius occupied Sinigaglia, Montefeltro, and other Roman towns, and extended his depredations to the gates of Rome. Adrian, who had just been raised to the papal chair, having failed in his efforts to induce the king to leave Rome unmolested, and to restore the places occupied, following the example of his Lombardy, predecessors, applied at length to Charlemagne. In the autumn of 773, the French monarch marched with a large army across the Mount Cenis to Susa, where he was stopped by the strong line of fortifications, called the Chiusa d'Italia, erected by the Longobards. Whilst unsuccessfully endeavouring to force his passage, a deacon from Ravenna, said to have been sent by the pope, showed him a detour, by which he was able to descend into the valley and attack the Longobards on their rear. They, taken by surprise, fled from the enemy with scarcely any resistance. Desiderius sought refuge within the walls of Pavia, and his son Adelchis fled to Verona. The latter place was soon captured, and Adelchis obliged to retire to Constantinople. The defence of Pavia was brave and protracted, but compelled at length by famine and pestilence to surrender (774). Desiderius and his family were made prisoners, and sent to spend the rest of their days in France.

Thus ended the kingdom of the Longobards, who in the course of 206 years had neither been able to complete the conquest of Italy, nor to make the conquered race their friends; had neither preserved their original barbarity, nor adopted the polished manners of the Latin race. It is impossible to know what their language was; though, from those few words that are found with a Latin termination in their laws and in Paulus Diaconus, it may be inferred that it was a dialect of the German, not very different from the ancient Saxon. It would seem, however, that it was never a written language, and that it was soon dropped, even in their national songs, as Paulus Diaconus quotes none of them, though he quotes some in the Saxon and Bavarian languages. Paulus Diaconus, their only national writer, composed his History in Latin; after the fall of the monarchy even their laws were written in Latin, and evidently framed by Latin jurists or clergymen.

It has already been mentioned, that Rotharis was the first king of the Longobards who introduced written laws among them. Grimoald, Luitprand, Rachis, and Astolphus were the other legislators. Their edicts, as they were called, after they had been maturely examined and approved by the principal lords of the kingdom, were enacted in public assemblies, from which the ecclesiastical order and the people were excluded; so that the legislative power was lodged exclusively in the king and the nobles. These laws, having been respected by Charlemagne, survived for several centuries the fall of the kingdom; and many of them, embodied in the local traditions and statutes of the Italian communes of the middle ages, continued to have their influence till very recent times.

We shall conclude this short historical sketch of the Longobards with the observation, that the two centuries of their power mark the worst period, both for arts and literature, in Italy. The evil genius of destruction was constantly and unsparring at work. Bad taste, ignorance, and blind superstition, spread all over the country. Even some of the heathen practices, which the Longobards had brought with them from their native forests, when they adopted Christianity, crept into their new religion. Many centuries elapsed before the worshipping of images of vipers, the holding an old walnut-tree as sacred, and such like superstitions, were totally uprooted at Benevento, where Longobard sway lasted the longest. The first glimpses of an improvement and of some learning, though in a monastic form, do not appear till some time after the fall of the Longobard kingdom. Though the later sovereigns, after they had renounced the tenets of Arius, founded many churches and monasteries, yet there are no monuments standing which are supposed to show what really Longobard architecture was in those times; what is sometimes called the Lombard style, belongs undoubtedly to a much later period. Of the original Longobard nation scarcely anything remained but their name, preserved in its shortened form of Lombards, to the inhabitants of that part of Italy where their principal settlement and the residence of their government had been.

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