Table Of ContentPAUL THE DEACON
HISTORY OF THE
LOMBARDS
'1 K.ASSLyrFIl BY
WILLIAM DUDLEY FOULKE, LL.D.
ELlI'l'EIl l iY
ED\t7ARD PETERS
PENN
UNIVERSITY O F PENNSYLVANIA PRESS
Philadelphia
T H E M I D D L E A G E S S E R I E S
Ruth Mazo Karras, Series Editor
Edward Peters, Founding Editor
A complete list of books in the series
is available from the publisher.
Originally published in 1907 by the Lniversiy of Pennsylvania Press
as History of the Lnngobol-ds.
Introduction and Appendix copyright 0 1974 Lniversity of
Pennsylvania Press.
Bibliographical Note copyright 0 zoo3 Universit). of Pennsylvania
Press.
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
Published by
Universit). of Pennsylvania Press
Ph~ladelphiaP, ennsylvania I 9104-401 I
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Paul, the Deacon, ca. 720-799'
History of the Lombards / Paul the Deacon ; translated by
W~lliamD udley Foulke ; edited, with introd. by Edward Peters.
[De gestis Langobardorum. English]
329 pp. ; 2 0 cnl.
ISBN 0-8122-1079-4 (pbk.) (Sources of ~nedievalh istory)
Translation of De gestis Langobardorum.
Bibliography: p. 3 I j-329.
1. Lombards-Italy-Histov-Sources. 2 . Germanic peoples-
Italy-History-Sources. 3. Middle Ages-Sources. 4. Italy-
History-476-774-Sources. I. Title.
D G ~ I .IP 413 1974
74-016829
CIP
TABLE OF CONTENTS
APPENDIXSO: MES OURCEASN D ANALOGUE. .S. . . . . 315
T h e Origo Gentis Langobardorum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 1 5
T h e Codex Gothanum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 2 I
An Account of the Provinces of Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 2 6
A S O T E O S T H E TITLE
OF T H I S R E P R I N T EDITIOS
Although the Lat in title of Paul 's His tory is the His-
tnria Langobardorurrr and J\'illian~ Dudley Foullte trans-
lated it as T h e His tory o f tllp Larigobards, modern usage
favors T h e His tory o f the Lorribards, and I have used the
Inore recent style. T h e running heads of the text, of course,
retain Foullte's usage, hut this should be a minor inconven-
ience. For a discussion of the question of Langobarn /Lon~-
bard usage, see T h o m a s Hodgkin, Italy n17d H e r Inzlatlers,
1'01. V I , T h e Lon16ard Inzlasion (Oxford , 1 8 9 i ) , pp. 174-
I 7 5
E X P L A N A T I O N OF REFERENCES.
" Waitz" indicates the edition of Pauli Historia Langobard-
orum" in " hlonumenta Germaniae, Scriptores Rerum Lango-
bardicarum," from which this translation is made, and unless
otherwise stated, the matters referred to ail1 Ee found in connec-
tion n.ith the bock and chapter (the page not being given) corre-
sponding to those of this translation.
6 6 Abel " refers to the German translation entitled " l'aulus
Diakonus und die ubrigen Geschichtschreiber der Langobarden,"
by Dr. Otto Abel." (Second edition revised b y Cr. Reinhard
Jacobi, Leipsic, 1888 ; published as Vcl. I 5 of the series
" Geschichtschreiber der deutschen Vorzeit," and t l ~ er a t t e r s
referred to, unless otherwine stated, will Ee found either in the
test or notes of the book acd chapter corresponding to thcse of
this translation.
" Giansevero " indicates the Italian translation entitled ' ' Pa010
Diacono, Dei Fatti de' Langobardl," by Prcf. Uberti Giansevero
(Cividale, 1899), and the matters referred to uill be found in the
book and chapter correspondin: to those cf this translatic n.
I ' Bethmann " unless other\vise stated refers to one c f his articles,
I ' Paulus Diakonus Lc1:en. " " l'a~111.s Diakcnvs Schriften, "
" Die Geschichtschreil~rngd er Langobarden," ccntained in the
t-nth volume cf the ' ' Archiv der Cesellschaft fi:r altere deutsche
Geschichtkunde " (Hanover, I 849).
"Jacobi" refers to ' I Die Quellen der Langobardengeschichte
des Paulus Diacon~is. Ein Ceitrag zc-r Ceschichte deutscher His-
toriographie," by Dr. R. Jacobi (Halle, 1877).
'' Mommsen " to an article " Die Quellen der Langobarden-
geschichte des Paulus Diaconus " L-y Th. Mommsen in volume V,
EXPLANATION O F REFERENCES.
p. 5 j, of the " Necez Archiv der Gesellschaft fiir iiltere deutsche
Geschichtskunde " (Wanover, I 879).
Hartmann " to the second volt.me of " Geschichte Italiens im
Mittelalter," by Lrdo A:cl-itz Finrtmann, being the j zd work of
the series " Geschichte der eiiropaischen Staaten," edited by
Heeren, Vkert, (:iesebrecht and Lamprecht (Cotha, 1903).
Dahn " to ' ' I'aulus Iliaconus," by Felix Dahn, Part I (Leip-
sic, 1876).
Hodgkin " to " Italy and her Invaders," by Thomas Hodg-
kin (Clarendcn Press, I Sg 5) .
Zeuss " to Die Deutschen und die Nachbarstamme," by
Kaspar Zeuss (Gottingen, 1 9 ~ 3 ) .
" Schmidt " to " Zur Geschichte der Langobarden," by Dr.
Ludwig Schmidt (Leipsic, I 885).
" Pabst " to ' ' Geschichte des langobardischen Herzogthums "
in 5'01. 11, p. 405, " Forsch~~ngeznu r deutschen Geschichte,"
(Gottingen, 1862.)
' I Bruckner " to ' ' Die Sprache der Langobarden," by XVilhelm
Briickner (Quellen und Forschungen, Part 75, Strasburg, 1895).
Koegel" to " Geschichte der deutschen Litteratur," by Ru-
dolf Koegel, 1'01. I , I'art I (Strasburg, 1894).
" \Viese " to " Die aelteste Geschichte der Langobarden,"
by Robert Wiese (Jena, 1877).
I N T R O D U C T I O N
PA4ULT H E DELICON, T H E LOMBA4RDS,
AND ,1 SOMETIICIE MEDIEVA1,IST
FROICl INDIANA
"The translation of Pau l the Deacon has just come, and
I ha l e already begun to read it. I t is such a pleasure
to have triends \rho do such things as you do! W h a t a
delightful old boy the Deacon \r a s ; and n h a t an interesting
mixture of fact and fable he wrote!"
-Theodore Roosel elt to
W i l l i a n ~D udley Foulke, 1907
T h e route i rom the court o i Charlemagne and the monas-
tery of i l lonte Cassino, where Pau l the Deacon wrote his
History o f the Lor~~bar-AlaSt e in the eighth century, to the
circle of government officials and confidants around Theo-
dore Roosevelt, where Paul's History found its first English
translator, is long, circuitous, oiten improbable, and remark-
ably ill-lit. T h e r e are few reliable guides to the history o i
the idea oi , and interest in, the l l i d d l e Ages. N o r is there
much in the may o i explanation, except his own, as to why
Wi l l i am Dudley Foulke, lawyer, newspaper publisher, Pro-
gressive Republican state legislator, Civil Service Commis-
sioner, and sometime man o i letters in Indiana and W a s h -
ington. D.C., decided to t rans la te P a u l the Deacon's
remarkable History :
I had come across an attractive book writ ten in Latin by
Pau l the Deacon, a Benedictine monk, during the reign of
Clinrlemngne. " T h r His tory oi the Lnngobnrds." I n liis
gar ru lous stor!--telling he scernctl to me :I sort me die^-a1
Herotlotus. . . . Quit? ;ip;lrt t rom its vnlur as ;I source o t
metlievnl history. Paul ' s cjunint ant1 simple nar ra t ive lins
:I charm o i it> o\\-n :inti is fitted tor tlie rn t r r t ;~ inrnento t
tlie gencr:ll re;~t ler ; I \ \ \ r l l ;Ir o t th r stuclent.'
Foulke ' . final ticcision. ;I, tiehcribeci in hi, 1 0 2 2 au tobiog-
raph!.. \\-;I.; 11i;ldr ;IS ;In ; ~ l t e r n ; r t i \ et o his tirst choice, n his-
tor!- o f i7cnii.e. :I auhject too x ; ~ s t; [nil c o ~ n p l i c n t c da s Foullce
sadl!. obser\-cd. I:acept to]- bonie undis t inguished tl-nnsla-
t ions o t P c t r ; ~ r c l i ' >I \ sic,, t h e t rans la t ion o t P;rul t h r I l e a c o n
~ v a a F oul!<r'> onl! r \ c i ~ r s i o ~ in t o earl!- I*:uropea~lh istor!,
;inti !et he i ; i i l b t o tint1 ;I not ice in t h e onl! stantlnrci ac-
c o u n t o i t h e d r \ - c . l o p ~ ~ l eontt ~~letIic\.:ibl tudir.; in t h e I - n i t e d
S ta tes even t h o u g h hi, t r ;~n \ l ; i t ion o t I'nul t h e Deacon has
~re lna inrdt h e onl! one in T~:ngli.;h.' Knthr l - t!l:lii t h e aln;rteirr
o t l e t te rs a n d hihtor! t11;lt hc ~ n n l < e iI l i~nse l t o u t to be.
F o u l k e took l l i i t ad< \erioilal! a n d w e n t f o r his n o t r s a n d
cornrnrntar!- t o tlie hc\ t ( ; c ~ . ~ i i : ~ nbc hola~..;Iii~,( ~ tih e la te
n ine teen th ccntur!. 'I'hcreiorc.. I'aul', I I i s i o ~ - o~ i. tht' Lor ,] -
borcis : ~ n i i hi. fir-yt l:nglisll t s ;~n . ; l :~ tor1 30th ( ! ? s e n e t o 11r
rcint l-oduced to ;I itic:~ll! compobcd o t 1,otll general
' i i u l c o u l 1 f I e i t / ~ r c p /t l~e \ \
Y o r k , 1922) , pp. 209-210. See also tllc D i r t i r , r ~ c i ~o-f~ ,r l~ncr- icc ir~
flio//r-cip/cl.,\ 701. S S I . Supplement O n e ( Y e \ \ - T i.ork, 1 9 4 4 ) , pp.
,314-31 5.
' T h e st;indn~-ti ;iccount is Hans Kudoli (;ugpishe~-g. Dnr .
~ ' r t r - o p ~ i i s. lcf/i~t t~i .~i f l i t i>~il-l1 c11111r~kflrz~sc/11(~~1i1~ . s c h i r / i t s c i i ~ rfill,k.c~ n
I . I 1 , f r c i / c ~0~ . . ~ ~ b r / l / i ? l f ~(~I l~: r~ts\e l ;inti S tu t tgnr t .
1 9 6 4 ) . S r r ; I ISO John Hig1l;irn. 1,eonnrti Krieger. :untl Fel i \
Gi lber t , r l i s t o r l : tlic. Dc7~110p~1ci~1oi,ft I-i istoricnl Stretlii~s irz
[ / I ? L . ~ ~ i t i , (S/' t(1t1,~( F : ~ i ~ l e0\0\1 1 Clifis, 1965 ) .
T h e Lornbard invasion of I ta ly in 568 followed ha rd
upon the Ostrogothic occupation af ter 491, the devastating
and implacable w a r waged by imperial armies to destroy the
Ostrogcthic kingdom, and a heavy-handed and rapacious
imperial peace. Burdensome exactions were collected by a
series of imperial governors far enough removed f rom the
imperial cour t at Constantinople to wield great power, yet
sufficiently identified wi th imperial policy to generate bit ter
resentment against both the Eirlpire and themselves on the
par t of the population of Italy. T h e Lombards , the last
of the migrat ing German ic peoples to enter the western par t
of the old Roman Empire , had migrated southwards fro111 the
\-alley of the lower Elbe. The!- ventured first into the lands
nor th of the Danube and then, in the first quar ter of the
sixth centur!-, across the Danube into the old province of
Pannonia . T h e r e , stopped by the Ostrogothic kingdom in
Italj- , as well as BJ-zantine imperial s t rength and diplomacy
in the east, and made uneasy b!- the presence of other mi-
~ r : i t i n gp eoples ( t h e Gepids and the powerful A v a r s ) , the
Lombards sta!-ed for half a century. W i t h the collapse of
the Ostrogoths , the resultant Byzantine imperial occupation,
and the annihilation of the Gepids by joint Lombard-Avar
forces, the I,ornbards moved southwest into I t a ly under their
lung, Alboin. F r o m j68, until t he fall of t he L o m b a r d king-
dom in I t a ly to the armies of Charlernagne in 774, 1.ornbxrd
power expanded slowl!- and irregularlj- throughout nor thern
I ta ly and into thc t w o great duchies of Spoleto and Bene-
vento to the east and south of Korne. Onl!. Rome itself and
the coastal lands around the imperial capital of Kavenna in
the northeast , anti a round (;enox in the west, eluded Lom-
bard domination for an!. length of time. Hy the middle of
