The Langobards before the Frankish Conquest: An Ethnographic Perspective

by Giorgio Ausenda (Contributor), Chris Wickham (Editor), Paolo Delogu (Editor)

The Langobards or Lombards were the last Germanic group to invade the Roman Mediterranean, crossing the Alps into Italy in 568-9. They were nonetheless one of the longest-lasting, for their state survived Charlemagne's conquest in 774, and was the core of the medieval kingdom of Italy. The incompleteness of their conquest of Italy was also one of the root causes of Italian division for over 1300 years after their arrival. But they present a challenge to the historian, for most of the evidence for them dates to the last half-century of their independence, up to 774, a period in which Langobard Italy was a coherent and apparently tightly-governed state by early medieval standards. How they reached this from the incoherent and disorganised situation visible in late sixth-century Italy is still a matter of debate.

The historians and archaeologists who contribute to this volume discuss Langobard archaeology and material culture both before and after their invasion, Langobard language, political organisation, the church, social structures, family structures, and urban economy. It is thus an important and up to date starting point for future research on early medieval Italy.

Contributors: G. AUSENDA, S. BARNISH, S. BRATHER, T.S. BROWN, N. CHRISTIE, M. COSTAMBEYS, P. DELOGU, D. GREEN, W. HAUBRICHS, J. HENNING, B. WARD-PERKINS, C. WICKHAM.

Genres: History

396 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Ozymandias · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting book on a little-explored people: the Lombards of (ultimately) northern Italy. This book consists of papers from a seminar held in San Marino in 2001 but is unusually consistent for an edited volume. A particularly neat feature was the inclusion of the debates and discussions, via lightly edited transcript, that occurred at the conference. To read all the different scholars questioning each other and justifying/providing greater context for their conclusions was really useful.

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection of essays. Especially stimulating are the "discussion" sections (a la Settimane, but fuller and with much more back-and-forth), in which some of the leading scholars of Lombard Italy candidly share their hypotheses and disagreements. I hope this format catches on.