LOMBARDS, a northern nation, who settled in Italy in the fourth century, and for some time made a considerable figure.

The name of Lombards, or Longobards, is by some derived from the word lack, or lache, signifying in the German tongue winter, because the Lombards, whilst in Seandinavia, lived in marshes, or near to the sea; whilst others think that it comes from the two German words langen harden, or helleborden, that is, from the long halberts they were supposed to use in war. But Paulus Diaconus their historian, and who was himself a Lombard, tells us that they were called Longobards, from the length of their beards. A nation called Lombards is mentioned by Tacitus, Strabo, and Ptolemy; but these are different from the Lombards who afterwards settled in Italy, and are reckoned the same with the Gepidae, whom the Italian Lombards almost exterminated. The Lombards who settled in Italy are first mentioned by Prosper Aquitanus, [7:13:465]bishop of Rhegium in the year 379. That writer tells us, that about the time referred to, the Lombards, abandoning the distant coasts of the ocean, and their native country Scandinavia, and seeking for new settlements, as they were overstocked with people at home, first attacked and overcame the Vandals in Germany. They were then headed by two chiefs, Iboreus and Aion, who, having died about the year 389, were succeeded by Agilmund, who is commonly reckoned the first king of the Lombards.

Before the time of Odoacer, Lombard history presents nothing very remarkable; in his time, however, they settled on the Danube, in the country of the Rugians, whom Odoacer had almost totally exterminated or carried into captivity. During their stay in this country, they rendered themselves formidable to the neighbouring nations, and carried on successful wars with the Heruli and Gepidae. In 526 they were allowed by the Emperor Justinian to settle in Pannonia; and here they made war a second time with the Gepidae. Alboin, the Lombard king, killed the king of the Gepidae with his own hand, put his army to the route, and cut in pieces such numbers of them, that they ceased from that time to be a nation. Having caused the deceased king’s head to be cut off, he made a cup of his skull, called in the language of the Lombards schala, which he made use of in all public entertainments. However, having, amongst many other captives of great distinction, taken the last king’s daughter, by name Rosamunda, he married her after the death of his former wife Clodisvinta, the daughter of Clothaire king of France.

By this victory Alboin gained such reputation that his friendship was courted by Justinian; and, in consequence of the emperor’s application, a body of six thousand Lombards was sent to the assistance of Narses against the Goths. The success of the Romans in this expedition, the invasion of Italy by the Lombards, and their successes in that country, have been noticed under the article Italy. At last, Alboin having made himself master of Venetia, Liguria, Aemilia, Etruria, and Umbria, was slain by the treachery of his wife, in the year 575, being the fourth of his reign. This princess was the daughter of the king of the Gepidae, whom Alboin had killed in battle, and made a cup of his skull, as above related. As he was one day feasting at Verona, with his chief favourites and principal officers, in the height of his mirth he sent for the queen, and, filling the detested cup, he commanded her to drink merrily with her father. Rosamund, struck with horror, hurried out of the room; and, highly incensed against her husband for thus barbarously triumphing over the misfortunes of her family, resolved, at all events, to make him pay dear for his inhuman and insulting conduct. She discovered her intention to Helmichild the king’s shield-bearer, a youth of great boldness and intrepidity; but he peremptorily refused to imbrue his hands in the blood of his sovereign, or to be in any way accessory to his death; and in this resolution he persisted, until, by a shameful stratagem, forced to comply with the queen’s .vishes. Knowing that he carried on an intrigue with one of her ladies, Rosamund placed herself one night in that ady’s bed, and receiving the youth, indulged him in his imorous desires, as if she had been his own mistress. Then liscoveriug herself to the deceived lover, she told him liât he must now either put the king to death, or be out to death by him. Helmichild, well apprised that, af- ' er what he had done, his safety depended upon the death if the king, engaged in the treason, which he otherwise ιbhorred. One day, therefore, whilst Alboin was reposing n his chamber after dinner, Helmichild, with some others vhom he had made privy to his design, broke in unex-ιectedly, and fell upon the king with their daggers. Al- >oin started up and laid hold of his sword, which he had ffivays by him; but having in vain attempted to draw it, the queen having beforehand fastened it in the scabbard, he defended himself for some time with a footstool. In the end, however, he was overpowered, and despatched with many wounds.

Rosamund had promised to Helmichild, that, as soon as he had despatched the king she would marry him, and, with her person, bestow upon him the kingdom of the Lombards. The first part of her promise she immediately performed; but she was so far from being able to bestow the crown upon him, that both of them were obliged to save themselves by flight. They fled to Longinus the exarch of Ravenna, taking with them all the jewels and treasure of the late king. Longinus received her with the greatest marks of friendship and kindness, and assured her of his protection. But she 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, imparted his design to her, and declared his intention to marry her, provided, by some means or other, she despatched Helmichild. Rosamund, highly pleased with the proposal, resolved to satisfy her ambition by getting rid of the person whom she had only married in order to gratify k 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 his sword pointed at the queen’s breast, compelled her to drink the rest. The poison had the same effect on both, for they died in a few hours. Longinus, on the death of the queen, laid aside all thoughts of making himself king of Italy, and sent the king’s treasure to Constantinople, together with Albisoinda, the daughter of Alboin by Rosamund, whom she had brought along with her.

After the death of Alboin, the Lombards chose Clephis, one of the nobility, as their king. But he was murdered after a short reign of eighteen months; upon which ensued an interregnum of ten years. During this time, they extended their conquests in that country; but at length the Romans, jealous of their progress, resolved to put a stop to their victories, and, if possible, to expel them from the country. For this purpose, they entered into an alliance with the Franks; which so alarmed the Lombards that they re-established the monarchical form of government amongst themselves, and chose Aιιtharis the son of Clephis as their king. This monarch, considering that the power of the dukes, who had governed Lombardy for the space of ten years, was during that time tolerably well established, and that they would not probably 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 one moiety of their revenues towards the maintenance and support of his royal dignity, suffering them to dispose of the other as they thought proper. 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 the dukes at pleasure, yet he deprived none of them of their dukedoms, excepting in cases of treason, nor gave them to others, except when their male issue failed. Having settled matters in this manner, he enacted several very wholesome laws against theft, rapine, murder, adultery, and other vices which prevailed amongst his subjects, and was the first of the Lombard kings who embraced Christianity. Most of his subjects followed the example of their monarch; 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.

From the re-establishment of the monarchy under Au [7:13:466]tharis, until the reign of Kotharis in 636, the history of the Lombards affords nothing memorable. * This period is remarkable for the introduction of written laws amongst the Lombards. Before his time they had been governed only by tradition but Rotharis, in imitation of the Romans and Goths, undertook the publication of written laws; and to those which he enacted many were added by succeeding princes. Grotius prefers the method which the Lombards followed in making laws, to that which was practised by the Romans themselves. Amongst the latter the emperor was the sole lawgiver; and whatsoever he decreed had the force of a law. But the Lombard kings did not assume that power to themselves, since their laws were enacted in public assemblies convened for the purpose, after they had been maturely examined and approved of by all the lords of the kingdom. From these assemblies were excluded the ecclesiastical order, and the people; so that the legislative power was lodged exclusively in the king and the nobles.

The reign of Rotharis is remarkable, not only for his introducing written laws amongst his subjects, but for the conquests which he made, and the successful wars which he carried on with the exarch of Ravenna, whom he totally defeated in several engagements, at the same time making himself master of some part of his territories. This monarch died in 652; and the affairs of the Lombards went on prosperously, till the ambition of Luitprand laid the foundation of the total ruin of his kingdom. He ascended the throne of Lombardy in 711, and watched every opportunity of enlarging his dominions at the expense of the emperor. For this a fair occasion offered in 716. The Emperor Leo Isauricus, who at that time reigned in the East, having, by his famous edict, forbidden the worship of images, and ordered them to be everywhere pulled down, the people were so incensed at that innovation, that, in several places, they openly revolted, and, falling upon the emperor’s officers, drove them out of the cities. In the East, Germanus, the patriarch of Constantinople, opposed the emperor’s design with great warmth; but Leo caused him to be deposed, and Anastasius to be raised to that see in his room, at the same time ordering that all the images in the imperial city should be pulled down and publicly burned. He strictly enjoined his officers in the West, especially the exarch of Ravenna, to see his edict punctually obeyed in their respective governments. In compliance with these orders, Scholasticus, then exarch, began to pull down the images in all the churches and public places in Ravenna; a proceeding which incensed the superstitious multitude to such a degree, that, taking arms, they openly declared that they would rather renounce their allegiance to the emperor than give up the worship of images.

A kind of civil war being thus kindled in the city, Luitprand thought he had now a favourable opportunity of making himself master of the seat of the exarch, not doubting but the conquest of such an important place would be followed by that of the whole exarchate. Having therefore drawn together all his forces, he unexpectedly appeared before Ravenna, which he closely besieged. The exarch had little expected such a surprise, a friendly correspondence having been maintained for many years between the exarchs and the Lombard kings. However, he 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 loss of this place, and the severe treatment which the inhabitants met with from the king, threw the citizens of Ravenna into the utmost consternation. Informed of this, Luitprand resolved to take advantage of their fears, and, returning before Ravenna whilst the inhabitants were thus disheartened, to attempt once more the reduction of the place. Accordingly he led his whole army against it, and, by frequent attacks, tired the inhabitants and garrison to such'a degree, that the exarch, finding they could hold out no longer, and despairing of relief, withdrew privately. 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, who found in it an immense booty. The king stripped it of most of its valuable monuments of antiquity, and, amongst the rest, caused an equestrian statue of an emperor, of wonderful workmanship, to be conveyed to Pavia, where it is to be seen to this day. The reduction of Ravenna was followed by the surrender of several cities of the exarchate, which Luitprand reduced to a dukedom, appointing Hildebrand his grandson to govern it with the title of duke, and giving him, as he was yet an infant, Peredeus duke of Vicenza as his guardian.

The conquest of Ravenna and the greater part of the exarchate alarmed Gregory II. bishop of Rome. He was then at variance with the emperor, whose edict against the worship of images he had opposed with all his might, and thereby provoked Leo to such a degree that he had threatened to drive him from the see, and send him into exile. However, the pope, no less jealous of the power of the Lombards than all 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, for the love of the holy faith, to attempt with him the recovery of the exarchate, which the wicked nation of the Lombards had unjustly taken from his sons Leo and Constantine, emperors. 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 accordingly fitted out a considerable fleet, pretending that it was designed for the service of the emperor against the Saracens. At the same time the exarch, who had taken refuge in Venice, abandoning that place as it were in despair of bringing the duke over to his party, raised, in the places still subject to the emperor, what forces he could; and having got together a considerable body, he marched with them towards Imola, giving out that he designed to besiege that city; but turning on a sudden towards Ravenna, as had been agreed upon between him and the Venetians, he laid siege to that city by land, whilst almost at the same instant they invested it by sea. Peredeus defended the town for some time with great courage and resolution, obliging all those who were able to bear arms to repair to the walls. But the Venetians having, in spite of all opposition, forced open one of the gates on the seaward face, the city was taken, and Peredeus slain, whilst he was attempting, at the head of a chosen body, to drive the enemy from the posts they had seized. As for Hildebrand, he fell into the hands of the Venetians, who, having thus recovered Ravenna to the emperor, returned home, leaving the exarch in possession of the city. Luitprand was then at Pavia; but the town was taken before he could assemble troops to relieve it.

Gregory, bishop of Rome, to whom the recovery of Ravenna was chiefly owing, having persuaded himself that the emperor would, out of gratitude, give ear to his remonstrances and admonitions, began to solicit him more pressingly than ever to revoke his edict against the worship of images; but Leo, apprised that the bishop, in all the measures he had taken, had been more influenced by a regard to his own interest than to that of the empire, instead of listening to his remonstrances, was still more provoked against him for thus obstinately opposing the execution of his edict. Being therefore resolved at all events to cause it ’ ι to be observed in Rome itself, and, on [7:13:467]the other hand, not doubting but the pope would oppose it to the last, in order to remove all obstacles, he sent three officers to Rome, with private orders, either to despatch the pope, or to take him prisoner and convey him to Constantinople. At the same time, he wrote to Mauritius, duke of Rome, secretly enjoining him to assist his officers in their undertaking; but no favourable opportunity having offered to put their design in execution, the emperor, in the year 725, recalled Scholasticus, and sent Paul, a patrician, into Italy, to govern in his stead, with private instructions to encourage the officers already mentioned with the promise of great rewards, and to assure them of his protection.

But, in the mean time, the plot was discovered, and two of the conspirators having been apprehended by the citizens of Rome, were put to death; the third escaped into a monastery, where he took the monastic habit, and ended his days. Hereupon the exarch, 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 set out at their head, on his march to Rome, with the design of seizing the pope, and sending him, as he had engaged to do, in chains to Constantinople. But, on this occasion, Luitprand, though highly provoked against Gregory for having stirred up the Venetians against him, resolved to assist him and the citizens of Rome against the exarch, in order to keep the balance even between them, and, by aiding sometimes the one, and sometimes the other, to weaken both. Pursuant to this resolution, he ordered the Lombards of Tuscany, and those of the dukedom of Spoletto, to join the pope and the inhabitants of Rome, who being by this reinforcement far superior in strength and number to the exarch, obliged him to return to Ravenna, and give over all thoughts of any further attempt on the person of the pope.

In the mean time, Leo, persisting in his former resolution of suppressing throughout his dominions the worship of images, sent fresh orders to the exarch Paul, strictly enjoining him to cause his edict to be put in execution in ah the cities of Italy, especially in Rome. At the same time, he wrote to the pope, promising him his favour and protection, if he complied with the edict; and declaring him, if he continued to oppose it, 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 solemnly excommunicated the exarch for attempting to put the imperial edict in execution, and at the same time wrote circular letters to the Venetians, to King Luitprand, to the Lombard dukes, and to all the chief cities of the empire, exhorting them to continue stedfast in the Catholic faith, and to oppose with all their might such a detestable innovation. These letters made such an impression on the minds of the people in 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, in so glorious a cause, at the expense of their own; nay, the citizens of Rome, and the inhabitants of Pentapolis, now the March of Ancona, not content with such r protestation, openly revolted against the emperor, and oulling down the statues, elected, by their own authority, nagistrates to govern them during the interregnum. We ire even told, that, transported with a blind zeal, they were for choosing a new emperor, and conducting him to Constantinople, not doubting that the people would everywhere join them. But the pope, thinking this resolution 'mseasonable and impracticable, opposed it.

In the mean time, the exarch Paul, having gained a considerable party in Ravenna, began, pursuant to the repeated orders from the emperor, to remove the images, as so many idols, out of the churches. Hereupon the adverse party, supported and encouraged by the pope, flew to arms, and, falling upon the iconoclasts, or image-breakers, as they styled them, raised a civil war within the walls of Ravenna. Great numbers were killed upon both sides; but those who were for the worship of images prevailed in the end; a dreadful slaughter was made of the opposite party; and, amongst the rest, the exarch himself was murdered. However, the city of Ravenna continued faithful to the emperor; but most of the citizens of Romagna belonging to the exarchate, and all those of Pentapolis or the March of Ancona, abhorring the emperor as an heretic, submitted to Luitprand, king of the Lombards, who, pretending a zeal for the Catholic religion, took care to improve the discontent of the people to his advantage, by representing to them that they could never maintain their religious rights under a prince who was not only an heretic, but a persecutor of the faithful.

In Naples, Exhilaratus, duke of that city, having received peremptory orders from the emperor to cause his edict to be put in execution, did all that lay in his power to persuade the people to receive it; but finding his endeavours thwarted by the bishop of Rome, for whom the Neapolitans had a great veneration, he hired assassins to murder the pontiff. But the plot being discovered, though carried on with great secrecy, the Neapolitans, highly provoked against the duke, tore both him and his son to pieces, and likewise put to death one of his chief officers, who had composed a libel against the pope. Luitprand, and Gregory, at that time Duke of Benevento, laying hold of so favourable an opportunity to make themselves masters of the dukedom of Naples, did all in their power to persuade the Neapolitans to submit to them. But the Neapolitans, bearing an irreconcilable hatred to the Lombards, with whom they had been constantly at variance, rejected every overture of that kind with the utmost indignation; and continuing stedfast in their allegiance to Leo, received from Constantinople one Peter, who was sent to govern them in the room of Exhilaratus. Some writers suppose that the Neapolitans, in this general revolt of the cities of Italy, had shaken off the yoke along with the rest, and appointed magistrates of their own election to govern them, in the room of the officers hitherto sent from Constantinople, or named by the exarch. But they are certainly mistaken; for it is manifest from history that Peter succeeded Exhilaratus in that dukedom, and that the Neapolitans continued to live under the emperors until they were conquered many years afterwards by the Normans.

In the mean time, 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 into Italy, with the title and authority of exarch, strictly enjoining him to get the pope despatched by some means or other, since his death was absolutely necessary for the tranquillity of Italy. The exarch spared no pains to get the pope into his power. But a messenger, whom he had sent to Rome, being apprehended by the citizens, and an order from the emperor being found upon him to the imperial officers in that city, commanding them to put the pope to death at all events, the pontiff’s friends thenceforth guarded him with such care, that the exarch’s emissaries could never afterwards find an opportunity of executing their design. As for the messenger, the Romans were for putting him to death; but the pope interposed to save him, and contented himself with excommunicating the exarch.

And now the Romans, provoked more than ever against Leo, and, on the other hand, unwilling to live under the Lombards, resolved to revolt against the emperor, and appoint their own magistrates, keeping themselves united [7:13:468]under the pope, not as their prince, but only as their head. This they did accordingly; and from these slender beginnings the sovereignty of the popes in Italy took its rise, though the pontiffs did not then, as is commonly supposed by historians, become sovereign lords of Rome, but many years afterwards.

Eutychius failed in his design upon the life of the pope; but having brought with him from Constantinople a good number of troops, he easily quelled the rebellion in Ravenna, and severely punished the authors of the late disturbances. As for the rebellious Romans, he was well apprized that he could never reduce them, as long as they were supported by the king of the Lombards; and therefore he employed all his art and policy to detach that prince from the party of the Romans, and to bring him over to his own interest.

Luitprand for some time withstood all his offers; but Thrasimund, duke of Spoletto, having revolted at that juncture, the exarch, taking advantage of the opportunity which presented itself, offered to assist the king with all his means against the rebellious duke, provided he would, in like manner, assist him against the pope and the Romans. With this proposal Luitprand readily closed; and a league being concluded upon these terms, between him and the exarch, the two armies joined, and began their march towards Spoletto. At their approach, the duke, despairing of being able to resist two such powers, came out with a small attendance to meet them, and, throwing himself at the king’s feet, sued, in that humble posture, for pardon; which Luitprand not only granted him, but confirmed him in the dukedom, after he had obliged him to take a new oath of allegiance, and to give hostages for his fidelity in time to come. From Spoletto, 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 caused the city of Rome to be fortified in the best manner he could; but being sensible that the Romans alone could not long hold out against two such armies, and reflecting on the kind treatment the duke of Spoletto had met with upon his submitting to the king, he resolved to follow his example; and accordingly, taking with him some of the clergy, and the principal inhabitants of the city, he went to wait upon the king in his camp, where, by a pathetic speech, he softened Luitprand to such a degree, that throwing himself at his feet, in the presence of the whole army, he 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 in the presence of his principal officers, 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 thereupon received into the city, where he continued for some time, maintaining a friendly correspondence with the pope. At this time an impostor, taking the name of Tiberius, and pretending to be descended from the emperors, seduced a great many people in Tuscany, and was by them proclaimed emperor. The exarch resolved to march against him; but as he had not sufficient forces to oppose the rebels, Gregory, who let slip no opportunity of obliging Leo, persuaded the Romans to attend the exarch in this expedition, by which means the usurper was taken in a castle, his head sent to the emperor, and the rebellion utterly suppressed.

But the emperor still insisting upon his edict against the images being received in Rome, the Romans, at the instigation of the pope, publicly renounced their allegiance to Leo, paid him no more tribute, and withdrew for ever their obedience to the emperors of the East.

Leo, informed of this revolt, and not questioning that the pope was the author of it, immediately caused all the patrimony of the church of Rome in Sicily, Calabria, and his other dominions, to be confiscated. At the same time he ordered a powerful army to be raised, with the design of recovering the towns which had revolted, chastising the Romans for their rebellion, and, above all, being revenged on the pope, who had raised these disturbances, by himself opposing, and persuading others to oppose, the execution of bis edict. Gregory, alarmed at the warlike preparations which were making throughout the empire, and well apprised that they were chiefly designed against himself and the Romans, resolved to recur to the protection of the French, the only nation at that time capable of coping with the emperor, and upon whom, on account of their zeal for religion, he thought he might depend. The Lombards were then very powerful; but, as they wanted to be masters of Rome, he did not think it advisable to trust them. The Venetians, though zealous in the defence of the pope, were not yet in a condition to withstand the power of the emperor, and, besides, were jealous of the Lombards, who watched all opportunities of enlarging their dominions at the expense of their neighbours. As for Spain, it was then in a deplorable condition, being overrun, and almost wholly ruined, by the Saracens.

The French nation was at this time governed by the celebrated Charles Martel, who had distinguished himself in an eminent degree in the wars of France and Germany; and having, not long before, gained a signal victory over the Saracens in the neighbourhood of Tours, he was generally reputed the best commander, and the greatest hero, 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, and to defend them against the attempts of Leo. The ambassadors were received with extraordinary marks of honour, and a treaty was soon concluded between them and Charles, who engaged to march into Italy in person, at the head of a powerful army, in defence of the Romans and the church, if they should be attacked either by the emperor or the Lombards. On the other hand, the Romans were bound to acknowledge him as their protector, and to 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. The ambassadors returned from France loaded with rich presents. But Gregory did not long enjoy the fruit of their negociations; for he died the same year, 731, and was succeeded by Gregory III., in whose time some have placed the embassy here mentioned.

At this time the French nation had just recovered from its distressed situation under the descendants of Clovis; and, by the bravery and conduct of Charles Martel, it had become the most powerful kingdom in the west. His successor Pepin was no less wise and powerful than his father had been; and as the ambition of the Lombard princes would be satisfied with nothing less than the entire conquest of Italy, the French monarch, Charlemagne, under colour of assisting the pope, at last put an end to the empire of Lombardy.
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