LOMBABDY
339
LOBUABDY
teticm he overthrew Genoa and conciuercd the Ligur-
ian ooMt. For sixty years following Rothari and until
the time of Liutprand intense anarchy prevailed.
Durimr this periodf control was in the hands of Grim-
<iald, Dukeoi Beneventum, converted through the zeal
of Saint Barbatus, bishop of that toij^n. Grimoald
enlaiiged Rotari's code by the addition of laws con-
cerning prescription and voting, in which the influence
of Roman law is manifest, as such ideas were alto-
gether foreign to Teutonic legislation. Liutprand
finally overcame this anarchy. He was the greatest
and perhaps the best of the Ijombard pruiees. His
legislation bears increasing traces of Ch^i^}tian and
Roman influences. He to^Iy suppressed paganism,
introduced the right of sanctuary in churches, and for-
bade marriage among blood relations, etc. He was
more or less mixed up in the politics of the Greek Em-
pire against Rome; but his moderation was most
pnuseworthy, and his quarrel was never against the
pope as head of the Chmtsh, but as head of the govern-
ment of Rome.
Liutprand and his successor Rachis were sincere and pious Catholics; Rachis even renounced the tlm)ne in favour of his brother Astulf and retired as a monk to Bfonte Cassino. But Astulf was of a different stamp; he aeiied the exarchate and the Pentapolis. and in- vaded the Duchy of Rome, whereupon the popes were ccmstrained to seek aid for themselves and for the peo- ple who looked to them for protection. Constanti- nople was appoUed to in vain; then the popes turned to the Franks. King Pepin went down into Italy and laid siege to Pavia; Astiuf came to terms, but hardly had Pepin retired before Astulf was tr\'in^ once more a coup de main M^ainst Rome (755) ; he besieged the city for two months, putting monks and farm-hands to death until Pepin return^ once more (75G) and again laid siege to Pavia, forcing the perjured king to pay tribute to Rome and to restore the territory' he had in- vaded. His death forestalled further perjury, but the struggle was continued by his successor DesideriiLs who placed more faith in diplonuicy than arms, and sought to win the good graces of Charlemagne, Pepin's successor, l^ giving him in marriage his daughter Desi- derata. When she was sent back to him he declared war on the pope, seized Comanchio, and hastened towards Ravenna and Rome. Charlemagne, setting the evident dishonesty of the Longobards, went down into Italy, captured Chiusi, and Ix^sieged Desiderius in Pavia and his son in Verona. Pavia fell after a ten months' siege, Desidcrius was sent to France where he was shut up in a monastery, but his son succeede<l in tn Airing good hls escapc to Constantinople. Thus ended the Longobard Kingdom in 774. Barbarous and daring by nature, their government always re- mained barbarous, even after Christianity had taught their rulers some gentleness.
Treacherous and overl.)earing towards those they conquered the fierce warrior Longo})ards never united with the Italians until both had to I)eur together a common yoke. The popes did all they could to pre- •vent their domination so as to rescue what reniamed of liberty and the culture of Rome: to them it is due that in this period Italy did not utterly perish. Char- lemagne took the crown and the title of King of the Longobaids, and later at the division of his empire he assigned their kingdom to his eldest son, Pepin. In the constitutions he drew up each nation or people was left the use of its own laws; gradually the ducmes were divided into coimtships, the counts Ibeing vassals of the king, and having in turn valvu-ssori (vassi-vaa- aorum) who looked up to them as liege-lords, while ranking over all were the misn domiuwi who in the king's name saw to it that justice was meted out to ever3rone. Such was the feudal hierarchy. The gov- ernment of the towns was in the hands of tlu; local count, who exercised it through his representat i ves, to whom were added later scnhini, or assessors, chosen
from among the more worthy citLeens. The old Lom«
bard law, set down originally in the edict of King
Rothari (636) and enlaced under later kings, was
later kno^n as the ' * Liber Langobardorum " or " Liber
Papiensis", and eventually as "Lombarda" (L/ex)
was taught and commentea at Bologna. The bishops
ranked as vassals of the king, by reason of the church
fiefs {weichbild) they held from him, but they were ex-
enipt from any other subjection.
For two centuries Lombardy followed the fortunes of the Carlovingian Empire, and eventually under Otho (964) it fell under the direct sway of the Saxon emperors. The Lombard Duchy of Beneventum, after various divisions, was conquered by the Normans in the eleventh century, while the city of Beneventum passed (1051-52) under papal sway. Dtu'ing this long lapse of time, however, and throughout im the struggles that marked that epoch, the sap of a new life was working in the cities of Loml>ardv, destined })efore long to take their fitting place in the story of Italy. Two main forces were at work ; one the prerog- ative of honour that by universal consent the oishops cnjoyeil over the laity. WTien fiefs began to become here<iitarj' in families it was to the emperor's interest to increase the number of ecclesiastical lords, seeing that they could not assert independence and that the imperial authority had some weight in the selection of their successors. The other cause was frequency of immunities and franchises. In the long struggle be- tween the Church and the Empire concerning investi- tures, and during the disputed elections of popes and bishops, the opposing parties were liberal m conces- sions to win over the various towns to their side, and the towns were not slow in claiming payment for the obedience and loyalty they renderecTto a master some- times absent and often Joubtful. At times too, the emperors, detained by affairs in Germany, did not con- cern themselves with Italy, and the cities drew up their own code of laws, without, however, shaking off the im- perial yoke; the emperors, either through love or necessity, when they could not do otherwise, re- mained satLsfitKl. Thus the cities multiplied their privileges and their population increased with the privileges on account of the security they afforded over the less protected country. In this way the cojuune took the place of the countship of the feudal lord. It is only too true that the communes made bad use of their early li!)erty, and of their budding civil and commensal life, waging war against one another through sheer greed of power, until they mutually de- stroved their power.
The part pla>'ed by Milan in these troubles was the most important of all. Its conflicts with Como, Pavia, and Lodi furnished pret«3^t for the uitervention of Frederick I who led two expeditions into Italy. The' first brought about the destruction of Asti, Chieri, and Tortona; in the second Milan itself was besieged, forced to surrender and to renoimce its claims over Ixxli and Como. and to submit the names of its consuls for approval to the emperor, to whom they had to take an oath of fealty. In the Diet of Roncaglia (1158) Fre<lerick constrained the Bolognesc jurisconsults to acknowledge his supreme authority over the empire. This autocracy which destroyed the constitutions of the communes rallied the towns of Lombard v for a life and death struggle: Milan was again l^esieged, razed to the ground, and itis inhabitants dispersed throughout the neighlx)uring villages (1161). But while Frederick persisted in making war on Rome, and creating anti- popes, Verona, Vicenza, and Padua in 1163 formed what is known as the League of Venice, and in 1167 the Lombard League, or the League of Pontida, was set on foot between Bergamo, Brescia, Cremona, and Mantua to oppose the inroads of Gernumy and to de- fend their own civil and religioiLS liberties, as well as to assort their loyalty to the legitimate pope. Milan was rebuilt and in 1168, Alessandria (called after Alexan-
