The Langobards before the Frankish Conquest

The Langobards before the Frankish Conquest. An Ethnographic Perspective.

Ausenda, G., p. Delogu, and C. Wickham (eds.).

Hardback. 396 pp. Boydell Press. 

Contents:
1 Introduction
2  Pannonia: foundations of Langobardic power and identity
3  Dwellings and settlements among the Langobards
4  Kinship, gender and property in Lombard Italy
5  The Lombard city and urban economy
6  Social structures in Lombard Italy
7  Revolution or relapse? Technology, agriculture and early medieval archaeology in  Germanic central Europe
8  Linguistic and literary traces of the Langobards
9  Langobardic personal names: given names and name-giving among the Langobards
10 Kingship and the shaping of the Lombard body politic
11  Lombard religious policy in the late sixth and seventh centuries: the Roman Dimension
12  A comparative discussion of Langobardic feud and blood money compensation with parallels from contemporary anthropology and from medieval history.

The Langobards or Lombards were the last Germanic group to invade the Roman Mediterranean, crossing the Alps into Italy in 568-9. They were nonetheless one of the longest-lasting, for their state survived Charlemagne's conquest in 774, and was the core of the medieval kingdom of Italy. The incompleteness of their conquest of Italy was also one of the root causes of Italian division for over 1300 years after their arrival. But they present a challenge to the historian, for most of the evidence for them dates to the last half-century of their independence, up to 774, a period in which Langobard Italy was a coherent and apparently tightly-governed state by early medieval standards. How they reached this from the incoherent and disorganised situation visible in late sixth-century Italy is still a matter of debate.
The historians and archaeologists who contribute to this volume discuss Langobard archaeology and material culture both before and after their invasion, Langobard language, political organisation, the church, social structures, family structures, and urban economy. It is thus an important and up to date starting point for future research on early medieval Italy.
Contributors: G. AUSENDA, S. BARNISH, S. BRATHER, T.S. BROWN, N. CHRISTIE, M. COSTAMBEYS, P. DELOGU, D. GREEN, W. HAUBRICHS, J. HENNING, B. WARD-PERKINS, C. WICKHAM.

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  Reviews:
  The papers provide an entertaining and invigorating survey of many of the most important aspects of Langobard society from before the invasion of Italy in ad 568 to the eventual coming of the Franks in the later 8th century. [...] Publication of such a diverse collection in English is also to be welcomed as a valuable fillip to the rather meagre teaching bibliography currently available on the group. [...] Provide[s] an invaluable contribution to scholarship on the Langobards. MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY.