CHAPTER II

LOMBARD INVASION TO LIUTPRAND’S DEATH (568-744 A.D.) 426

Early history of the Lombards, 426. Their wanderings from the Elbe to the Danube, 427. The Lombards in the region of the Danube, 429. Wars with the Gepids, 431. Alboin annihilates the Gepid power, 433. Alboin plans to invade Italy, 434. The end of Narses, 435. The Lombards enter Italy, 436. The end of Alboin, 437. Extent of Lombard sway, 440. The reign and wooing of Authari, 442. Lombard government and law, 443. The decay of Rome, 444. The Lombard kings, 445. Decline of the Lombard kingdom, 446. Reign of Liutprand, 447. Liutprand and Martel, 448. Liutprand and the Italian powers, 449. Liutprand, the pope, and Constantinople, 450. Peace with Rome, 454. Hodgkin’s estimate of Liutprand, 455.