Book 6

Chapter LVI.

But Gregory when he had managed the dukedom at Beneventum seven years was released from life. After his death Godescalc was made duke [1] and governed the Beneventines for three years, and to him a wife, Anna by name, was united in marriage. Then king Liutprand hearing these things concerning Spoletum and Beneventum, again advanced with his army to Spoletum. When he came to the Penlapolis, while he was proceeding from Fanum (Fano) [2] to the City of Forum Simphronii (Fossombrone), [3] in the wood which is between these places, the Spoletans uniting with the Romans brought great disasters on the king's army. The king placed duke Ratchis and his brother Aistulf with the Friulans in the rear; the Spoletans and Romans fell upon them and wounded some of them, but Ratchis with his brother and some other very brave men, sustaining all that weight of the battle and fighting manfully, killed many and brought themselves and their followers from thence except as I said the few who were wounded. There a certain very brave man of the Spoletans named Berto cried out to Ratchis by name, and came upon him clothed in full armor. Ratchis suddenly struck him, and threw him from his horse. And when his companions attempted to kill the man, Ratchis with his accustomed magnanimity allowed him to get away, and the man crawling upon his hands and feet entered the forest and escaped. Two other very strong men of Spoleto indeed came up behind Aistulf on a certain bridge, whereupon he struck one of them with the blunt end of his spear and hurled him down from the bridge and suddenly turning upon the other, killed him and plunged him into the water after his companion.

[1] A.D. 740. Without the nomination or approval of the king (Hartmann, II, 2, 138).
[2] On the Adriatic coast northwest of Ancona.
[3] In the March of Ancona.


Chapter LVII.

But Liutprand indeed when he reached Spoletum drove Transamund from the ducal power and made him a churchman, [1] and in his place he appointed Agiprand his own nephew. When he hastened to Beneventum, Godescalc having heard of his approach, endeavored to embark in a ship and flee to Greece. After he had put his wife and all his goods in the ship and attempted himself, last of all, to embark, the people of Beneventum who were faithful to Gisulf, fell upon him and he was killed. His wife indeed was carried to Constantinople with everything she possessed.

[1] After Transamund had been reinstated in the duchy of Spoleto the Pope called upon him to perform his part of the engagement upon which Gregory had supported him, namely, to restore to Roman dominion the four fortified places which had been taken by the Langobards, but Transamund refused. About this time (at the end of the year 741) Gregory III died, and was succeeded in the papal chair by Zacharias. The new pope now asked the king to restore the four places, and offered to support him with a Roman army in recovering Spoleto. The king agreed, and in the spring of 742 advanced with his army, as related in the text, deposed Transamund with the aid of the Romans, and then proceeded to Benevento (Hartmann, II, 2, pp. 139, 140).


Chapter LVIII.

Then king Liutprand, arriving at Beneventum, [1] appointed his nephew Gisulf duke again in the place which had belonged to him. [2] And when matters were thus arranged he returned to his palace. [3] This most glorious king built many churches in honor of Christ in the various places where he was accustomed to stay. He established the monastery of St. Peter which was situated outside the walls of the city of Ticinum and was called the "Golden Heaven." He built also on the top of Bardo's Alp a monastery which is called "Bercetum." [4] He also established in Olonna, his suburban manor, a dwelling to Christ of wonderful workmanship in honor of the holy martyr Anastasius, and in it also he made a monastery. In like manner too he established many churches to God in different places. Within his palace also he built a chapel of our Lord the Saviour and he appointed priests and churchmen to perform for him daily divine services, which no other kings had had. In the time of this king there was in the place whose name is Forum [5] (Foro di Fulvio), near the river Tanarus, (Tanaro) a man of wonderful holiness Baodolinus by name, who, aided by the grace of Christ, was distinguished for many miracles. He often predicted future events and told of absent things as if they were present. Finally when king Liutprand had gone to hunt in the City Forest, one of his companions attempted to hit a stag with an arrow and unintentionally wounded the king's nephew, that is, his sister's son, Aufusus by name. When the king saw this he began with tears to lament his misfortune, for he loved that boy greatly, and straightway he sent a horseman of his followers to run to Baodolinus the man of God, and ask him to pray to Christ for the life of that boy. And while he was going to the servant of God, the boy died. And when he came to him the follower of Christ spoke to him as follows: "I know for what cause you are coming, but that which you have been sent to ask cannot be done since the boy is dead." When he who had been sent had reported to the king what he had heard from the servant of God, the king, although he grieved, because he could not have the accomplishment of his prayer, nevertheless clearly perceived that Baodolinus the man of God had the spirit of prophecy. A man not unlike him, Teudelapius by name, also lived at the city of Verona, who among other wonderful things which he performed, predicted also in a prophetic spirit many things which were to happen. In that time also their flourished in holy life and in good works, Peter, bishop of the church of Ticinum, who, because he was a blood relative of the king had been driven into exile at Spoletum by Aripert who was formerly king. To this man, when he attended the church of the blessed martyr Savinus, that same venerable martyr foretold that he would be bishop at Ticinum, and afterwards when this occurred, he built a church to that same blessed martyr Savinus upon his own ground in that city. This man, among the other virtues of an excellent life which he possessed, was also distinguished as adorned with the flower of virgin chastity. A certain miracle of his which was performed at a later time we will put in its proper place. [6] But Liutprand indeed after he had held the sovereignty thirty one years and seven months, already mature in age, completed the course of this life, [7] and his body was buried in the church of the blessed martyr Adrian [8] where his father also reposes. He was indeed a man of much wisdom, very religious and a lover of peace, shrewd in counsel, powerful in war, merciful to offenders, chaste, modest, prayerful in the night-watches, generous in charities, ignorant of letters indeed, yet worthy to be likened to philosophers, a supporter of his people, an increaser of the law.[9] At the beginning of his reign he took very many fortresses of the Bavarians. He relied always more upon prayers than upon arms, and always with the greatest care kept peace with the Franks and the Avars. [10]

[1] About 742 (Waitz).
[2] Gisulf II reigned for ten years, outliving Liutprand (Hodgkin, VI, 472). He conformed to the policy of Liutprand, who had restored him to his dukedom (Hartmann, II, 2, 141).
[3] After Liutprand had recovered control of Spoleto and Benevento he delayed restoring the frontier cities to the duchy of Rome (VI, 55, note supra), and Pope Zacharias set forth with a train of ecclesiastics to Terni, where the king resided, for a personal interview, as a result of which the four cities were restored, with other territory, and a peace was concluded for twenty years. But in the following year Liutprand resumed his preparations for the conquest of Ravenna, and Zacharias, at the request of the exarch, journeyed to Pavia to the king, and in a second interview entreated him to desist. Liutprand reluctantly consented to restore the country districts around Ravenna and two-thirds of the territory of Cesena, and to grant a truce until the king's emissaries should return from Constantinople, whither they had gone for the purpose of concluding a final treaty. This interview was one of the last public acts of Liutprand, whose ambition for the unification of Italy was thus at the last moment apparently renounced. Possibly the near approach of death and his consciousness of the impossibility of his schemes of conquest being realized by his successor may have led to their abandonment (IIartmann, II, 2, 144, 145 ; Hodgkin, 491-498).
[4] Or, more correctly, Liutprand endowed this monastery, which had been built before (Waitz).
[5] Today Valenza, near Alessandria (Giansevero).
[6] Paul died before this history was completed, and no account of this miracle appears.
[7] A.D. 744 (Hartmann, II, 2, 146).
[8] He was afterwards buried in another church (San Pietro in Cielo d" Oro). See epitaph in Waitz.
[9] 0n the first of March of each year during fifteen out of the thirty-one years of his reign, Liutprand, by the advice of his judges (and no longer under the sanction of a popular assembly), issued certain laws to settle matters not provided for by his predecessors. He claims that these laws were framed by divine inspiration, "because the king's heart is in the hand of God." The laws of Liutprand were written in Latin so barbarous as to be almost incomprehensible. They show a great change in the social life of the Langobards. We no longer find provisions in regard to hunting and falconry, but instead, there are enactments providing for the enforcement of contracts and the foreclosure of mortgages. The fine paid for murder is superseded by absolute confiscation of the offender's property, and if that property is insufficient, the murderer is handed over to the heirs of the murdered man as a slave. Some of these laws mention the fact that they refer to Langobards only, and one law concerning scribes ordains that those who write deeds, whether according to the laws of the Langobards or those of the Romans, must not write them contrary to these laws, thus indicating that at least a part of the population was governed to some extent by Roman law. (Hodgkin, VI, 392-399). It would be a necessary result of the peace made at different times between Langobards and Romans that the civil rights of Romans who lived in the Langobard territory should be recognized, which was not the case in the earlier days of Langobard domination (Hartmann, II, 2, 2—4). Under Liutprand's laws if a Roman married a Langobard woman she lost her status, and the sons born in such a union were Romans like their father and had to live by his laws. There were many laws against oppressions by the king's agents, and heavy penalties were imposed upon judges who delayed judgment. The barbarous wager of battle was continued, but somewhat restricted, for it was said, "We are uncertain about the judgment of God, and we have heard of many persons unjustly losing their cause by wager of battle, but on account of the custom of our nation of the Langobards we cannot change the law itself.'' There were severe laws against soothsayers and against certain forms of idolatry. (Hodgkin, VI, 400—407). A number of the later provisions of Langobard laws must be traced to Roman influence (Hartmann, II, 2-29). There is a question how far the Langobards supplanted the Romans and how far their institutions superseded those of the Romans. The great preponderance of the Latin over the Germanic ingredients in the Italian tongue today and the survival of Roman laws and institutions down to the present time seems to indicate that the Roman population and civilization greatly outweighed that of the Langobards. (See Savigny, Geschichte des Romischen Rechts im Mittelalter, I, p. 398.)
[10] The constant object of Liutprand's policy, at least until his final interview with pope Zacharias, was the unification of Italy under his own scepter, though the means he took for the accomplishment of this object varied with the occasion. For this purpose the friendship of the Frankish king was necessary and this he constantly maintained, aiding Charles Martel against the Saracens without claiming any territorial concessions at his hands. The principal objects of Liutprand's aggressions during the greater part of his career were the duchies of Spoleto and Benevento so far as these aspired to independent sovereignty; also the Eastern Empire, though he allied himself with the exarch when he found it necessary for the purpose of reducing the duchies to submission. The Catholic church and the papacy were protected by him, and he encouraged the movement in favor of the autonomy of Italy against Byzantium, until the pope identified himself with the rebellious dukes. Even then Liutprand's opposition to the papacy remained always of a political, and not of a religious character (Hartmann, II, 2, 125, 126). He encouraged the culture as well as the religion of Rome, and his aim was to rule ultimately over a civilized, as well as a Catholic Italy. He adapted himself to general as well as local currents of popular opinion, as is seen in the fact that he retained in his laws the trial by battle while expressing his own disbelief in its justice and that he gave to Benevento and to Friuli rulers of their own princely lines, after he had subjugated them to his authority. He always recognized the limits of possible achievement, and did not, like his successor Aistulf, contend madly against the inevitable. He was an efficient administrator and an able legislator as well as a courageous and successful warrior. And yet this really great statesman, like his distinguished Ostrogothic predecessor Theodoric, could neither read nor write (Hartmann, II, 2, 127).
Paul's last book contains many grammatical errors and faults of construction. It was more carelessly written than the preceding portions of the work, and being the last book of an unfinished history, it is itself somewhat incomplete.
It is greatly to be regretted that Paul's work ceases at the very place where, independently of other sources, he could have told his story in great part out of the rich abundance of his own experience. From his position toward the last Langobard princes on the one side and their Frankish conquerors and the church upon the other, he possessed the highest qualifications for writing an impartial contemporary history of the overthrow of the Langobard kingdom, yet for this period, the most pregnant of all in its results on general history, we have only the meager accounts of the Frankish authorities, and the papal writings which are filled with partisan spirit. The most important source for the last half century of the Langobard kingdom is found in the lives of the Roman popes, composed by members of the Roman court, mostly contemporaneous, and collected by Anastasius in the second half of the ninth century. Besides these we have the letters of the popes to the Frankish kings and such authorities as the Chronicle of the monk Benedict of Soracte, the Legend of St. Julia, the legendary Life of Saints Amelius and Amiens, and the Chronicles of Novalese and Salerno (Abel, p. xxiv to xxvi).
Our knowledge of the last days of the Langobard kingdom is therefore very fragmentary and great care is required even in the use of the slender materials we have. No adequate explanation is given in them for the extraordinary fact that a powerful and freedom-loving people, fifty years after it had reached the summit of its power under king Liutprand, was overthrown and became the spoil of its Frankish neighbor.
A closer investigation shows that this was due to the lack of any proper law of succession to the Langobard throne, to the absence of sufficient cohesive power in the monarchy, to the intractable character of the Langobard nobles, to increasing difficulties with the church, and to the civil disturbances and quarrels occasioned by all these causes. After the time of Gregory I, the independence of the papacy and its desire for temporal power greatly increased, while the authority of the Greek empire over its scattered Italian possessions grew constantly weaker. Charles Martel was bound to Liutprand by friendship and by the need of aid against the Saracens, but after Liutprand's death the relations between the Franks and the Langobards became more strained. (Abel, xxvii, et seq.) Liutprand's successor, Hildeprand, did not possess sufficient skill either to conciliate the adherents of the Pope or to control his Langobard subjects. Duke Transamund was reinstated in Spoleto, and soon the most powerful Langobard leader in the north, duke Ratchis of Friuli, was chosen king by his dependents, and Hildeprand was deposed after a reign of only eight months. Ratchis, whose diplomatic character had been shown in his career under Liutprand, now concluded a twenty years' truce with Rome, but from some cause unknown to us, difficulties afterwards arose, and he found himself constrained to attack the Pentapolis and to lay siege to Perugia. The Pope came from Rome with a train of followers, visited the camp of Ratchis, and in a personal interview induced him to desist from his undertaking. This subserviency to papal influence, however, aroused the contempt of his own nobles and followers, who in Milan, in June, 749, chose as their king his younger brother Aistulf, a man of headstrong and unyielding character, whereupon Ratchis became a monk in the cloister of Monte Cassino. Aistulf now began a career of conquest, capturing Comacchio and Ferrara, and within two years from his accession, Ravenna, the capital of the exarchate, was in his hands. Then he pushed on to Rome, and thus gave occasion to the coalition between the papacy and the Frankish kingdom, which ultimately led to the overthrow of the Langobard dominion. (Hartmann, II, 2, 146-151.) Owing to the weakness of the empire and to the theological and other differences between Rome and Byzantium, the practical separation of the West from the East was already far advanced, and the spiritual influence of the pontiff over the countries of the West, stimulated by reforms in the church and by numerous pilgrimages to Rome from Britain and other countries, was becoming very powerful. Charles Martel had been succeeded by Pipin, who desired to change his title of Mayor of the Palace (where he reigned in the name of a helpless Merovingian monarch) to that of king, and who wished to secure the recognition of his new title, not only by the chiefs and nobles of his realm, but also by the church and by the Roman empire. Accordingly he sent an embassy to Rome to enquire of the Pope whether it was proper that in the kingdom of the Franks there should be kings who possessed no kingly power, and the Pope answered, as had been anticipated, that it would be better that he who had the power should be the monarch. Pipin now assumed that he was called to the sovereignty by apostolic authority. The Franks assembled at Soissons and chose him as their king, and he ascended the throne in November, 751, while the last Merovingian monarch was sent to a cloister. The papacy had thus rendered the new Frankish king a most important service, and now when it found itself in peril from the Langobards it was natural that a return should be solicited. In June, 752, when Aistulf with his army threatened Rome, Stephan, who had succeeded Zacharias in the papacy, secretly sent a message to Pipin imploring him to send ambassadors to that city to conduct the Pope to the kingdom of the Franks. Not long afterwards an imperial messenger from Constantinople brought word to Stephan that the emperor could send no help, but he commanded the Pope to seek a personal interview with the Langobard king and induce him if possible to relinquish his designs. In the meantime Pipin's ambassadors had come to conduct the Pope to the Frankish king, and in October, 753, Stephan, in company with these, as well as the imperial representatives, proceeded to Aistulf, who had withdrawn from Rome and was then at Pavia, his own capital city. He refused, however, to abate his pretentions or to restore any of the territory he had taken from the empire. The emissaries of the Frankish king now requested Aistulf to dismiss the Pope that he might go with them to Pipin. Aistulf fell into a fury at the prospect of his plans being thwarted by a combination with the Franks, but he did not venture to restrain the Pope and thus bring on an inevitable conflict. Stephan proceeded upon his journey, and Pipin, after an assembly of the Frankish kingdom had ratified his policy, agreed to restore, not to the emperor, but to the representative of St. Peter, the territories that had been seized by the Langobard king. Pipin and his two suns, Charles and Carloman, were now consecrated by the Pope, and the Frankish nobles bound themselves under pain of excommunication to choose no sovereign from any other line. The Frankish authorities relate that the king and his sons were at the same time made patricians, which was an imperial rank, and implied a recognition of their title at Constantinople. (Hartmann, 3, 176 - 187.) This title may have been granted in accordance with a previous understanding with the emperor or his representatives, but if so the empire subsequently derived little advantage from the act.
The league between Pipin and the Pope was thus sealed by the mutual exchange of possession that belonged to neither, since Stephan gave Pipin the crown of the Merovingians, and the king promised the Pope the territories which had belonged to the empire (Abel, xxviii, xxix). The king accordingly set out with his army for Italy; defeated Aistulf near the foot of the Alps and laid siege to Pavia, whereupon the Langobard king agreed to restore Ravenna and the rest of the conquered territory and to comply with the Pope's demands. But scarcely had the Franks left Italy when he repudiated his promises, and in January, 756 he renewed his attack upon Rome. Again Stephan implored and secured the intervention of the Franks, again Aistulf was defeated and besieged in his capital city and again Pipin "gave him his life and his kingdom," but upon condition that Aistulf should not only restore the captured territory, but should give to the Franks one-third of the royal treasure in Pavia besides other gifts, and pay an annual tribute of twelve thousand solidi. Aistulf did not long survive this last humiliation, he died in December, 756 (Hartmann, II, 2, 189 to 197), from an accident while hunting. His brother Ratchis now forsook his monastery, and was recognized as king by the Langobards north of the Apennines, while Desiderius, a duke in Tuscia, set up his own pretensions to the throne and the Spoletans and Beneventans joined the league of the Pope with the Frankish king. Ratchis appeared to have the advantage of Desiderius until the latter appealed to Stephan, who required from him an oath to surrender the cities belonging to the empire and to live in peace with Rome and faithful to the Frankish kingdom. Upon these terms Stephan agreed to support his pretensions; he now became undisputed king and Ratchis again retired. Faenza and Ferrara however were the only territories he had surrendered when Stephan died and was succeeded by his brother Paul, whereupon Desiderius, far from fulfilling his promises, pushed forward with his army through the papal Pentapolis into Spoleto, treated its duke as a rebel, expelled the duke of Benevento and put his own son-in-law Arichis into the vacant place. He raised difficulties in respect to the boundaries of the places to be ceded, but by Pipin's intervention a compromise was effected by which the Pope renounced his claim upon the territories not yet surrendered, and Desiderius agreed to recognize the Pope's authority over his Italian possessions and to protect him against an attack from his own nominal sovereign the emperor (Hartmann, II, 2, 206-215).
In 768 Pipin died and was succeeded by his sons Charles and Carloman, whose mother Bertrada sought an alliance with the Bavarians and the Langobards, and asked for the hand of the daughter of Desiderius for Charles. In 771 Carloman died, whereupon Charles seized his brother's share of the kingdom, repudiated the marriage planned for him by his mother and sent back the daughter of Desiderius. The widow and children of Carloman were now taken under the protection of the Langobard monarch, and deadly hatred arose between the two sovereigns. Desiderius now seized Faenza, Ferrara and Comacchio and pushed forward into the territories of Ravenna and Rome. Hadrian, who then occupied the papal throne, urgently besought Charlemagne for immediate aid. Charlemagne traversed the passes of the Alps, marched against Desiderius and laid siege to Pavia. In June, 774, the city was taken, Desiderius was led into captivity and the kingdom of the Langobards was destroyed. Charlemagne was afterwards crowned Emperor of the West and the temporal power of the papacy over a region in the middle of Italy was permanently established (Abel, xxvii to xxix). Grievous consequences have followed the division of that peninsula into fragments which have continued almost to the present time; and the dream of Italian unity cherished by Rothari and Liutprand was not to be realized until the days of Victor Emmanuel, Cavour and Garibaldi.