Who were the Lombards

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The last people to cross the borders of what had been the Roman Empire came from northern Europe. They settled in the danube valley from where they would come into conflict with the Byzantines settled in the Italian peninsula. In this lesson from a TEACHER we will focus on conducting a summary of who were the Lombards focusing on its mysterious origins and then go on to see the conformation of its kingdom and later learn something about their art and architecture, as many peoples took their ideas for the creation of their buildings.

Index

1. The origins of the Lombards
2. The kingdom of the Lombards of Italy
3. Lombard society
4. Art and culture

We know little about the said barbarian people and what little we do know is due to their mythology collected by Paul the Deacon in the 8th century. In it he narrates a series of events in which the gods and some main heroes appear.

This together with archeology has brought to light a series of hypotheses of how they could reach southern Europe. We can affirm that

We know little else about this town until the year 540, by which time a group of them settled in the Pannonian basin, where it was established as a federated Byzantium thanks to Justinian, who wanted this people to confront other barbarian tribes in northern Italy who were looking for lack of control within it, which was under the rule of Byzantium.

In this other lesson from a TEACHER we discover a short summary on the Byzantine empire.

Continuing with our summary of who the Lombards were, it is worth mentioning that in the year 560 Alboíno ascended to the throne, which after defeating the gepids, integrated the said people as his subjects, also marrying the daughter of his king, Rosamunda.

After a period of certain instability with the Byzantines, he decided to enter Italy; For this he had the help of the Gepids, Saxons and Bulgarians, taking Milan in 569, because the small Byzantine army was not enough. In 572 they took over Pavia, which would become the capital of the Lombard kingdom. In that way they came to Tuscany.

Little by little they were acculturating with the population that was there and they were creating a series of independent duchies the one on the other, something that would be the germ of the various republics that would later be in Italy during the Middle Ages and Modern

One of the most important elements within relationships was the great persecution that was done on Catholics, since these were either pagan or Arian and for that reason they largely persecuted the rest of the population. Although little by little they were taking Roman titles and adopting Roman culture.

Still, the great diversity of duchies caused the Byzantines to become strong, which worsened with the pressure of the Franks who were beginning to gain strength and were seeking to expand in the north of Italy.

Image: My Universal History

As in almost all barbarian populations we will find a series of divisions within the kingdom of the Lombards:

Nobles

It was the upper class of society and it was the one that held the positions within the kingdom, so the king always owed them money or land, for exercising their jobs. Within this group we will find two subdivisions:

• Dukes: they were the ones who possessed the most power, and even sometimes they would rebel against the kings themselves, challenging their power.
• AristocratsUnlike the rest of the Germanic tribes, these were much poorer and preferred to live in the city, where they worked for the Crown and therefore received a salary.

Freemen

We can say that it was a group that had a series of rights but that had to work to survive, sometimes they were owners of land or craft workshops.

Servants

Due to a series of oaths, they depended on their lord, although they were not slaves, therefore they had a series of freedoms that could not be withdrawn in any way. These used to work in the lands of the lord, or in the house of this, in addition to accompanying them to war if necessary.

Slaves

They came from wars or the slave market, they had no consideration whatsoever, although having them was a symbol of prestige, therefore they used to be well cared for.

We finish our summary of who the Lombards were by speaking, now, about the art and culture of that society.

As in many other Germanic tribes, art had great importance when the Lombards began to settle and stopped being nomads, so we will see that it was in the basin in Pannonia and in Italy, thanks to the influence of Byzantium and Christianity, when a perfect moment of acculturation occurs for the creation of their Churches.

These are very recognized throughout the world, in fact, in the Romanesque there will be elements from this art), these churches were decorated with frescoes. Much of this art was mainly due to the monarchs, who through the Church maintained their power, being an example of this. Desiderio, Teodolinda or Liutprando, moment by which many monasteries flourished, but unfortunately very few have reached our time, due to modifications, reconstructions and wars.

On the other hand we will find a large number of portable objects, that is, jewelry and weapons, which was very typical in all Germanic tribes.

In this other lesson from a PROFESSOR we will discover the Romanesque art in the Middle Ages.

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