One ''Codex Gothanus'' (simply meaning a

codex 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 ...

in the library at

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the Gotha (district), district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine House of Wet ...

, Germany) is an early ninth-century

written at

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a town in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. Histor ...

, that was commissioned by

Eberhard of Friuli Eberhard (c. 815 – 16 December 867) was the Frankish Duke of Friuli from 846. His name is alternatively spelled Everard, Evrard, Erhard, or Eberard; in Latinized fashion, ''Everardus'', ''Eberardus'', or ''Eberhardus''. He wrote his own name ...

, probably about 830, from the scholar Lupus Servatus, abbot of Ferrières. The original is lost, but ''Codex Gothanus'' is one of two extant copies. The manuscript contains laws useful in the administration of Friuli, preceded by a text of the origins 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 an ...

, probably compiled before the death of

Pepin of Italy Pepin or Pippin (or ''Pepin Carloman'', ''Pepinno'', April 777 – 8 July 810), born Carloman, was the son of Charlemagne and King of the Lombards (781–810) under the authority of his father. Pepin was the second son of Charlemagne by his th ...

(810). According to Walter Pohl it is written from a

Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippi ...

and Christian perspective, substituting for the ''Longobardi'' origin myth concerning

Wotan (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the ''Nibelung ...

a controlling sense of Providence. 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 Empir ...

'' version (''MGH SRL'', pp 7-11) calls it ''

Historia Langobardorum Codicis Gothani The ''Historia Langobardorum codicis Gothani'', also called the ''Chronicon Gothanum'', is a history of the Lombard people written at and for the court of King Pippin of Italy between the years 806 and 810. It is preserved in the twelfth-century ...

''. The opening and closing of the Codex Gothanus are so different from the '' Origo Gentis Langobardorum'' and

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, ...

that Thomas Hodgkin
''Italy and Her Invaders'' (vol VI 1880:146, note B)
printed them separately rather than attempt to weave them into a coherent whole. Another ''Codex Gothanus'' at Gotha contains excerpts of the ''Strategemata'' of Frontinus.LacusCurtius: "The manuscripts of Frontinus"
/ref>

Notes

{{reflist Lombard books