The ''History of the Lombards'' or the ''History of the Langobards'' ( la, Historia Langobardorum) is the chief work by

Paul the Deacon Paul the Deacon ( 720s 13 April in 796, 797, 798, or 799 AD), also known as ''Paulus Diaconus'', ''Warnefridus'', ''Barnefridus'', or ''Winfridus'', and sometimes suffixed ''Cassinensis'' (''i.e.'' "of Monte Cassino"), was a Benedictine monk, s ...

, written in the late 8th century. This incomplete history in six books was written after 787 and at any rate no later than 796, maybe at

Montecassino Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Latin Valley, Italy, west of Cassino and at an elevation of . Site of the Roman town of Casinum, it is widely known for its abbey, the first h ...

. The history covers the story of the

Lombards The Lombards () or Langobards ( la, Langobardi) were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written between 787 and ...

from their mythical origins to the death of King Liutprand in 743, and contains much information about the

Eastern Roman empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

, the

Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...

, and others. The story is told from the point of view of a Lombard patriot and is especially valuable for its treatment of the relations between the Franks and the Lombards. As his primary sources, Paul used the document called the '' Origo gentis Langobardorum'', the ''

Liber pontificalis The ''Liber Pontificalis'' (Latin for 'pontifical book' or ''Book of the Popes'') is a book of biographies of popes from Saint Peter until the 15th century. The original publication of the ''Liber Pontificalis'' stopped with Pope Adrian II (867� ...

'', the lost history of Secundus of Trent, and the lost annals of

Benevento Benevento (, , ; la, Beneventum) is a city and ''comune'' of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the ...

; he also made free use of works by

Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Florenti ...

, and

Isidore of Seville Isidore of Seville ( la, Isidorus Hispalensis; c. 560 – 4 April 636) was a Spanish scholar, theologian, and archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of 19th-century historian Montalembert, as "the last scholar of ...

Editions

According to a study made by Laura Pani in 2000, there are 115 surviving

codices The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...

of Paul's history. A popular work in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, as indicated by the number of copies and their dissemination throughout Western Europe, more than twenty of these manuscripts predate the 11th century while another eighty or more were copied later.McKitterick 2004, p
77-78
The relations between these manuscripts were studied by

Georg Waitz Georg Waitz (9 October 1813 – 24 May 1886) was a German medieval historian and politician. Waitz is often spoken of as the leading disciple of Leopold von Ranke, though perhaps he had more affinity with Georg Heinrich Pertz or Friedrich Christo ...

, who in 1876 identified 11 different families of the ''Historia Langobardorum''. The oldest manuscript is the

Palimpsest In textual studies, a palimpsest () is a manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off so that the page can be reused for another document. Parchment was made of lamb, calf, or kid skin an ...

Assisi Assisi (, also , ; from la, Asisium) is a town and ''comune'' of Italy in the Province of Perugia in the Umbria region, on the western flank of Monte Subasio. It is generally regarded as the birthplace of the Latin poet Propertius, born aroun ...

, written in the

uncial script Uncial is a majuscule Glaister, Geoffrey Ashall. (1996) ''Encyclopedia of the Book''. 2nd edn. New Castle, DE, and London: Oak Knoll Press & The British Library, p. 494. script (written entirely in capital letters) commonly used from the 4th t ...

towards the end of the 8th century, almost immediately after Paul's work was completed. This palimpsest is, however, far from complete, as it contains only parts of books II and V of Paul's history. The earliest complete manuscript is the ''Codex Sangallensis 635'' written sometime between the 8th and the 10th centuries and designated by Waitz as F1. According to Waitz, F1's age makes it the most reliable of the ''Historias codices, a view which has been challenged by Antonio Zanella and Dante Bianchi, both of whom hold that the F1 does not correctly reflect Paul's original.Zanella 2007, pp. 105–106 Paulus - Historia Langobardorum, 1480 - 528076 Proemio

Paulus - Historia Langobardorum, 1480 - 528076 Proemio

Paul's account was largely accepted by subsequent writers, was often continued, and was first printed in Paris in 1514. Among the printed editions of the Latin text, the most authoritative is that edited by

Ludwig Konrad Bethmann Ludwig may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ludwig (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Ludwig (surname), including a list of people * Ludwig Ahgren, or simply Ludwig, American YouTube live streamer and co ...

and Georg Waitz and published in the ''

Monumenta Germaniae Historica The ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica'' (''MGH'') is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published primary sources, both chronicle and archival, for the study of Northwestern and Central European history from the end of the Roman Empire ...

. Scriptores rerum langobardicarum et Italicarum'' (Hanover, 1878).

Translations

It has been translated into English, German, French, Polish, Spanish, Swedish, Italian, Aragonese, Slovenian and Croatian, the English translation being by W.D. Foulke (Philadelphia, 1906), the German by O. Abel and R. Jacobi (Leipzig, 1878), the Polish by Ignacy Lewandowski (1995, Warszawa), Henryk Pietruszczak, (2002, Zgorzelec), the Spanish by P. Herrera (Cádiz, 2006), and the Swedish by Helge Weimarck (Stockholm, 1971). Several versions of the English translation are available (see below in the section Further reading).

Into Italian

*L. Domenichi, ''Paulo Diacono della Chiesa d'Aquileia della Origine e Fatti dé Re Longobardi'' (Venice, 1548) * A. Viviani, ''Dell' origine e de' fatti de' Longobardi'', 2 vols. (Udine, 1826‑28) * G. S. Uberti, ''De' fatti de' Longobardi'' (Cividale, 1899), reprinted in the ''Biblioteca Popolare Sonzogno'' (Milan, 1915) * M. Felisatti, ''Storia dei Longobardi'' (Milan, 1967) * F. Roncoroni, ''Storia dei Longobardi'' (Milan, 1971) * E. Bartolini, ''Historia Langobardorum'' with Latin text and translation by A. Giacomini (Udine, n.d.) * A. Zanella, ''Storia dei Longobardi'' (Milan, 1991) * L. Capo (ed.), ''Storia dei Longobardi'' (Milan, 1992)

Notes

References

* *
Bibliography
in «Geschichtsquellen des deutschen Mittelalters» («Historical Sources of the German Middle Ages») repertory. Attribution: *

External links

*

(in Latin)

(in Latin) * ttps://www.librideipatriarchi.it/en/books/paul-the-deacon-historia-langobardorum-1096/ Historia Langobardorum overview and full reproduction of the codex: Cividale del Friuli, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, XXVIII. {{Authority control 8th-century history books Carolingian historiography Sources on Germanic paganism History of Central Europe 8th-century Latin books Medieval Latin histories