PART I
INTRODUCTION
2. The History of the Lombards of Gotha’s codex
This anonymous work has no dedication, prologue or title. [22] It reports events from the Lombard people’s origins to the beginning of the ninth century and ends with the expedition of Charlemagne’s son, Pippin, against the Muslims in Corsica, [23] which took place in 806, according to the Frankish Annals, [24] and with a praise for Pippin’s campaigns in Italy. The chronicle therefore must have been completed [25] between 806 and Pippin’s death († 810). [26]
The author’s celebration of the victories of Charlemagne and Pippin [27] might suggest that he was a Frank who had moved to Italy after Charlemagne’s conquest of the Lombard kingdom. [28] However, the chronicler refers to what «our ancient forefathers» said when describing the Lombards’ settlement in Saxony, [29] a statement suggesting that he was probably of Lombard origin. [30] Another biographical detail can be observed in the chronicler’s description of how, in his days, one could still see the remains of the residence of Wacho, [31] king of the Lombards in the early sixth century when his people had settled in an area between Bohemia and Hungary. [32] This could mean that the author participated in one of Pippin’s expeditions against the Avars. Nevertheless, the chronicler does not state that he saw the ruins in person, so it is also possible that he learned of them from someone who had traveled to that region.
The text’s rough Latin indicates that the author had a fairly low level of education, perhaps acquired as a young man. This theory becomes more likely when one considers his erroneous attribution of an observation by Isidore of Seville to Saint Jerome; [33] such a mistake could easily have been made by someone reciting from memory facts he had learned many years before. On the other hand, the chronicler shows a good grasp of Holy Scripture. [34] Moreover, it is noteworthy that, when narrating the period under King Rothari, the anonymous author uses the Lombard term cadarfada to describe the customary regulations used to solve disputes. [35] In King Liutprand’s legislation, the same regulations
22. The title Historia Langobardorum codicis Gothani stems from the fact that the only manuscript containing this chronicle is in the Lorschungsbibliothek of Gotha (Germany).
23. HLCG, ch. II.
24. Annales regni Francorum, year 806.
25. The work is not unfinished as it ends with the word Amen. HLCG, ch. 11.
26. Bold, Memory, Identity and Power, p. 21; Coumert, Origines des Peuples, p. 251.
27. HLCG, chs. 10-11.
28. Le leggi dei Longobardi, p. lviii.
29. HLCG, ch. 2.
30. Stefano Cingolani, Bruno Luiselli, and Magali Coumert agree with this opinion. Cingolani, Le storie dei Longobardi, p. 25; Luiselli, Storia cullurale dei rapporti, p. 723; Coumert, Origines des Peoples, p. 251. Walter Pohl hypothesizes that the HLCG was composed in Milan while Magali Coumert believes that it might have been written in Montecassino. Pohl, La costituzione di una memoria storica, p. 574; Coumert, Origines des Peuples, pp. 563-580, 252. I think that it is more likely that the HLCG was composed in Northern Italy.
31. HLCG, ch. 2.
32. Christie, The Lombards, pp. 18-30.
33. HLCG, ch. 2. 34. HLCG, ch. 1. 35. HLCG, ch. 8.
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were defined using the similar terms cawerfeda and cawerfida, [36] a detail suggesting that the author was familiar with Lombard law. It is nonetheless possible that he copied such terms from a source unknown to us. There is a further point linking this work with Lombard legislation: the HLCG survives in a manuscript that also contains the corpus of Lombard laws, thus suggesting that this chronicle could have been intended as an introduction to the latter. [37] However, as the codex dates to the eleventh/twelfth century, it is impossible to be certain that this brief chronicle was intended for such a purpose. For example, the HLCG could have been inserted in front of the laws some time after it had been written.
Unlike the other early medieval Italian chroniclers narrating the history of the Lombards, [38] the HLCG’s author did not know Paul the Deacon’s History of the Lombards [39] His main source (along with some unknown texts) is the Origin of the Lombard People, a text written down around the mid-seventh century. [40]
The Lombards’ various movements towards Italy are described as a sort of journey inspired by God which ended with their arrival in Italy (depicted as the Promised Land). There, through baptism, the redemption of this people was realized. [41] The chronicler emphasizes the ferocity of the first Lombards, comparing them to rapacious wolves and stating that they originated from serpents. [42] It is noteworthy that the author includes a quotation from Holy Scripture: «Do not accuse them of sin as they have no law.» [43] This observation underlines the chronicler’s recognition of the fundamental importance of the Lombards’ conversion to Catholicism and that he did not want to portray their early history in a purely negative light. Indeed, they could not be blamed for their past, because they did not know the true faith. This is an implicit sentiment, yet it draws attention to the author’s desire not to undermine the origins of his own people entirely.
This first part of the HLCG differs from Paul the Deacon’s History of the Lombards in its reference to the leaders of the Lombards during their migration. The HLCG relates that they were guided by Gambara alone, without the aid of her two sons, Ibor and Aio. [44]
36. Liutprandi leges, chs. 77, 133.
37. Cingolani, Le storie dei Longobardi, p. 35.
38. For example, the chronicles of Andreas of Bergamo and Erchempert and the Chronicon Salernitanum.
39. As it has been also emphasized by Coumert, Origines des Peoples, p. 219, this detail represents a strong argument against the hypothesis of Rosamond McKitterick, who maintains that Paul the Deacon wrote the Historia Langobardorum as an informative text on the Lombards for Pippin and his court. If this were the case, it would be very difficult to explain why the author of the only chronicle produced by a member of Pippin’s entourage did not know the Historia Langobardorum. McKitterick, History and Memory in the Carolingian World, pp. 77-83.
40. Luiselli, Storia culturale, p. 760, note 1272; Coumert, Origines des Peoples, p. 253. The chronicler used chs. 3-6 of the Origo gentis Langobardorum. According to Cingolani, the HLCG and the Origo copied from the same source. Cingolani, Le storie dei Longobardi, p. 94. Walter Goffart and Nicholas Everett instead believe that the author of the HLCG took his information from Paul the Deacon’s Historia Langobardorum. More nuanced is Eduardo Fabbro, who maintains that the anonymous author likely knew this work. Goffart, The Narrators of Barbarian History, p. 382, note 163; Everett, Literacy in Lombard Italy, p. 94; Fabbro, Charlemagne and the Lombard Kingdom That Was, p. 14.
41. HLCG, ch. 1. Cf. Cingolani, Le storie dei Longobardi, pp. 50-54, and Pohl, Memory, Identity and Power, p. 27.
42. HLCG, ch. 1. 43. HLCG, ch. 1.
44. Paul the Deacon, Historia Langobardorum, I, 7.
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Another striking difference is that, when the chronicler explains the origins of the change of name from Winili to Lombards, he maintains only that it was due to their long beards. [45] In contrast, the Origin of the Lombard People and Paul the Deacon both state that Gambara turned to Wotan’s wife, Frea, to ask how the Winili could achieve a victory over the Vandals who consulted Wotan about the same matter. Wotan told the Vandals that the victors would be the ones who appeared first at dawn. Frea suggested to Gambara that the Winili women use their hair to cover their faces like beards and go along with their men at first light to the place where Wotan was usually found. The next day Wotan saw the disguised women and asked: «Who are those longbeards (longibarbi)?» Frea then asked him to bestow the victory on those whom he had named. He agreed to this and, from that time on, the Winili bore the name Lombards. [46]
These differences and the fact that the anonymous chronicler emphasizes that Gambara’s talent for foresight was due to divine inspiration [47] have led to the hypothesis that the author wished to censor the pagan aspects of this story and gloss over the warlike characteristics of the migration. [48] It is, perhaps, more likely that he did not include the above story purely because it was unhelpful for his purposes; indeed he wanted to describe the pagan origins of the Lombards but at the same time to highlight the path to salvation represented by their migration to Italy.
Having narrated how the Lombards acquired their name, the author gives a very succinct account of their movements to Pannonia and then to Italy. For his account of the invasion of the peninsula and the first years of Lombard dominion, the chronicler used the Origin of the Lombard People which does not mention these events in a particularly tragic way. [49] By contrast, the author of the HLCG, in recounting the submission of the Italian cities to the Lombard King Alboin, states that this had been the will of God. [50] This detail is not mentioned by Paul the Deacon, who tells instead of how, after the fall of Pavia, Alboin’s horse collapsed at the city’s entrance and got up again only when the king swore not to carry out his former promise to exterminate all the inhabitants of Pavia, a clear sign of the divine protection they enjoyed. [51] Once again there seems to be evidence of a desire not to paint too dark a picture of the Lombards’ past.
The anonymous author dwells on the death of Alboin, [52] but, in contrast to Paul the Deacon, he does not report the most scandalous parts of the episode, i.e. what made Rosemund turn against her husband and how she managed to persuade Peredeus to participate in the sovereign’s murder. [53] Like Paul the Deacon, the anonymous chronicler narrates that
45. HLCG, ch. 2.
46. Origo gentis Langobardorum, ch. 1. Paul the Deacon, Historia Langobardorum. I, 8. For the meaning of this account, see the different interpretations of Gasparri, La cultura tradizionale dei Longobardi, pp. 12-33, Cingolani, Le storie dei Longobardi, pp. 69-79, and Coumert, Origines des Peuples, pp. 153-214.
47. HLCG, ch. I. Paul the Deacon does not mention this.
48. Cingolani, Le storie dei Longobardi, pp. 86-87.
49. HLCG, ch. 5. Cf. Origo gentis Langobardorum, ch. 5.
50. HLCG, ch. 6.
51. Alboin was reminded that the Pavians were good Christians and that he would be allowed to enter Pavia only if he broke his vow. Paul the Deacon, Historia Langobardorum, II, 27.
52. HLCG, ch. 6.
53. According to Paul the Deacon, Rosemund decided to kill Alboin as he forced her drink from a cup made from the skull of her father. She convinced Peredeus to murder the king, by taking the place of the girl who was Peredeus’s lover one night and, after Peredeus made love to her, Rosemund threatened to reveal all to Alboin if he refused to do as she asked. Paul the Deacon, Historia Langobardorum, II, 28.
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Rosemund wanted to eliminate her accomplice I lelmechis in order to marry Longinus, the prelect of Ravenna. [54] In addition, he uses a typical medieval ecclesiastical topos with regard to women, saying that Rosemund’s behavior was due to a natural female propensity to sin, which is explained by the fact that a woman instigated the first sin. [55] Strikingly, unlike the other early medieval Italian chroniclers, [56] this author very explicitly expresses his misogyny.
The chronicler gives little information concerning the other Lombard sovereigns, and most of it is limited to listing the years of their rule. The sole king to whom he seems to dedicate more of his attention is Rothari, depicting him in a flattering light. Indeed, the author states that it was thanks to this ruler that the Lombards had laws and a justice system and that under Rothari the Lombards «devoted themselves to the canonical disputes and became helpers of the priests.» [57]
In the final section of the Historia the anonymous author describes Charlemagne’s conquest of the Lombard kingdom. He recounts how the Frankish sovereign went to Italy to defend the pope, [58] but he does not say from whom. There is no mention of the threat the Lombards posed to Rome or of the confrontations between the Franks and the Lombards. The chronicler continues by praising Charlemagne’s behavior, emphasizing that he was not pushed into action because of a thirst for conquest and that, even though he had the power to destroy everything in his path, he showed himself to he merciful. Charlemagne even allowed the Lombards to keep their own laws with minimal, but necessary, additions on his part. [59] Furthermore, the Frankish king pardoned a great number of men even though they had acted against him. God rewarded Charlemagne by increasing his riches a hundredfold. [60] Having mentioned Charlemagne’s other victories and his coronation as emperor, the author sings Pippin’s praises, saying that he enjoyed the same kind of divine favor as had his father, [61] and reporting his military victories. [62] Finally, the author characterizes the reign of Pippin as an era of splendor comparable to that of ancient times. [63]
To conclude, the HLCG was likely the work of a Lombard from North Italy, probably a member of Pippin’s court, who accepted the new dominion and wanted to emphasize the well-being it had created and, at the same time, the bloodless nature of the change. [64]
54. Paul the Deacon, Historia Langobardorum, II, 29.
55. HLCG, ch. 6. This detail is not actually found in the Origo gentis Langobardorum, which the anonymous author used as a reference for these events.
56. For example, see Skinner, Women in Medieval Italian Society, pp. 54-59, and Colonna, Ligure femminili, pp. 29-60.
57. HLCG, ch. 8. 58. HLCG, ch. 10. 59. HLCG, ch. 10. 60. HLCG, ch. 10.
61. HLCG, ch. 11. 62. HLCG, ch. 11. 63. HLCG, ch. 11.
64. Magali Coumert has maintained that the fact that both the first King of the Lombards, Agelmund, and Pippin fought against the Beovinides (HLCG, chs. 2, 11) indicates that the HLCG established a sense of continuity between the first Lombard sovereign and Charlemagne’s son and that it «presentait une identité lomharde fondée sur leur propre histoire, mais compatible avec une domination carolingienne. Malgré le changement de dynastie, les Lombards combattaient toujours les mêmes ennemis et en étaient de nouveau vainquers.» Moreover, she believes that «le point commun d’une ville de Pannonie comme étape importante du trajet des Francs depuis Troie et des Lombards depuis les confins de la Gaule soulignait leur communauté de destin» and that the mention in the Historia of a 200-year pact between the Avars and the Lombards when the latter left Pannonia to invade Italy (HLCG, chs. 5, 10) underscores in particular that «l’alliance avec les Avars eut lieu avec les Lombards païens, avant qu’ils liaient reçu la grâce du baptême, la durée précise de l'alliance permettait de sous entendre qu'il s'agit d'une époque révolue et que les I rancs peuvent désormais unir leur force contre les païens qui occupent la Pannonie.» Coumert, Origines des Peuples, pp. 258-260. These hypotheses are interesting, yet these feelings are not explicit at all, and therefore they certainly did not represent one of the main goals of the author. Furthermore, the chronicler never says that Franks and Lombards fought together against the Beovinides and the Avars. Indeed, the successes against those peoples were obtained by Pippin alone. HLCG, ch. 11.
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He was thus trying to make the Lombards forget the suffering, shame, and anger the Frankish conquest had caused. [65] Yet, his Historia is not merely a call to forget the past and look to the future. Indeed, it is very significant that, from the very beginning of his work, the author insists that the migration of the Lombards was divinely inspired and that, once they arrived in Italy, the Lombards became good Christians. As such, they should not be reproached for their pagan background. If the chronicler had not thought it important to highlight such features, he could simply have referred to them in passing. Hence his aim was not simply to record the purging of paganism from the Lombard population. It is likely that, despite his willing acceptance of the new rulers, the anonymous author still felt a proud attachment to his Lombard ancestry. Precisely because of this sentiment, he would have been determined to emphasize that his compatriots adhered with sincerity and devotion to Christianity as soon as they settled in Italy. In this way, he may have been trying to confute various papal sources, which, even in the eighth century, seemed to cast doubt on the faith of the Lombards. [66]
65. On the way in which the Lombards remembered the conquest of their kingdom, see Capo, La polemica longobarda sulla caduta del regno, pp. 5 35, Gasparri, Prima delle nazioni, pp. 206-207, and the part of this book dedicated to Andreas of Bergamo.
66. For a lew examples, see Capo, Il «Liber Pontificalis», pp. 217-224, and Pohl, Invasions and ethnic identity, pp. 29-30.