The Armament of Lombard Warriors in Italy 299 Guido M. Berndt The Armament of Lombard Warriors in Italy. Some Historical and Archaeological Approaches Early medieval Europe has often been branded as they have entered upon the sacred soil of Italy, a violent dark age, in which fierce warlords, war- speaks of mere savage delight in bloodshed and riors and warrior-kings played a dominant role in the rudest forms of sensual indulgence; they are the political structuring of societies. Indeed, one the anarchists of the Völkerwanderung, whose de- quite familiar picture is of the early Middle Ages as light is only in destruction, and who seem inca- a period in which armed conflicts and military life pable of culture”.5 This statement was but one in were so much a part of political and cultural devel- a long-lasting debate concerning one particular opment, as well as daily life, that a broad account question that haunted (mainly) Italian historians of the period is to large extent a description of how and antiquarians especially in the nineteenth cen- men went to war.1 Even in phases of peace, the tury – although it had its roots in the fifteenth conduct of warrior-elites set many of the societal century – regarding the role that the Lombards standards. Those who held power in society typi- played in the history of the Italian nation.6 Simply cally carried weapons and had a strong inclination put, the question was whether the Lombards could to settle disputes by violence, creating a martial at- have contributed anything positive to the history mosphere to everyday life in their realms. A renun- of Italy. Even though Hodgkin’s harsh judgement ciation of military force might even threaten the is no longer shared by modern historians, a gen- existence of early medieval elites.2 Furthermore, eral impression of Lombard society as warlike and fortified towns, castles and other defensive struc- militarised remains.7 tures were part of a militarised landscape.3 These The aim of this contribution is to give a general general remarks also hold true for Lombard Italy. picture of the armament used by warriors to con- The Lombards were to a certain extent the late- duct acts of military and non-military violence in comers of the so-called “Migration Period”. They the Lombard kingdom (568–774 AD) based on invaded Italy in 568 AD and established a king- the traces that these weapons left in the written as dom that existed for more than 200 years.4 Ever well as in the archaeological sources.8 For a better since the beginnings of historical interest in the understanding, some short explanations of mili- Lombards, their specific nature as a people under tary organisation will be provided. arms, constantly ready to conduct all forms of When the Lombards entered Italy, they did violence, has been emphasised. For example, not appear out of nowhere. They had been living Thomas Hodgkin (1831–1913), one of Britain’s on the periphery of the Roman Empire for sever- most influential historians of the later nineteenth al decades, and had occasionally come into con- century, characterised the Lombards as follows: tact with Roman authorities. Already before the “Everything about them, even for many years after Italian invasion, when still dwelling in Pannonia, Lombard warriors had been frequently engaged as Roman foederati in ongoing military conflicts 1 Halsall 1998, 4: “It [the early medieval world], was a in the Balkans, thus gaining some experience with violent era; such can be said easily and without con- troversy. How violent, whether more or less violent than preceding and succeeding eras, is naturally less easy to state and, perhaps, less profitable to consider. 5 Hodgkin 1895, 156. Nevertheless, these questions feature strongly in the 6 Falco 1952; Artifoni 2007; Wood 2013, 113-136. period’s historiography”. Braun/Herberichs 2005. 7 Harrison 2008, 30: “The Lombards were a people of 2 Kortüm 2010, 118. warriors, and war was a normal feature of life for all 3 Christie 1995, 170-183; Brogiolo 2007. free men.” 4 The research literature is vast. Overviews can be found 8 There are only a few studies that have dealt explicitly in Jarnut 1982; Gasparri 2012. with this topic; Moro 2004. 300 Guido M. Berndt the Roman military.9 Large contingents of Lom- the interregnum that lasted from 574 to 584 AD: bards had been recruited for the “Gothic Wars” of the Emperor Justinian in the middle of the sixth “In these days many of the noble Romans were century AD.10 Thus, research has recognised the killed from love of gain, and the remainder Roman influence on the political-military organi- were divided among their ›guests‹ and made sation of the Lombards.11 tributaries, that they should pay the third part The few surviving sources indicate that the in- of their products to the Langobards. By these vasion and occupation of large parts of Northern dukes of the Langobards in the seventh year Italy was not a difficult task for the Lombard war- from the coming of Alboin and of his whole riors and, apparently, no large battles had to be people, the churches were despoiled, the fought. The Lombards advanced constantly, with priests killed, the cities overthrown, the people the one exception that their leader Alboin needed who had grown up like crops annihilated, and almost three years to conquer Pavia, the city that besides those regions which Alboin had taken, the Lombards would, some decades later, estab- the greater part of Italy was seized and subju- lish as their capital.12 However, no military resist- gated by the Langobards”.17 ance is reported at the many other north Italian cities.13 Likewise, in Middle and Southern Italy, The Italian peninsula had already suffered from the Lombards were able to occupy large territo- the Gothic War and the Roman re-conquest.18 ries resulting in the foundation of the two duchies Now, only two decades later, there was yet anoth- of Spoleto and Benevento.14 Despite the lack of er confusing conflict situation, in which different detailed information, there is no reason to down- Lombard, Frankish and Byzantine warlords – not play the hardship for the civilian population dur- to forget the ambitious Pope in Rome – struggled ing the first years of Lombard expansion, when in for supremacy. During this period, Lombard mili- many Italian regions warfare seems to have been tary campaigns are reported frequently. For exam- an almost daily occurrence. However, the paucity ple, when in 585 AD, the Lombard dux Droctulf of sources has led to a controversial debate about defected to the Byzantines and had entrenched the fate of the Romans in Italy under the Lom- himself in Brescello, Authari and his warriors bards.15 In all efforts, the extent of destruction and conquered the city and had its walls torn down.19 loss of life described in an often cited and much Droctulf, who would later become a famous Ro- discussed paragraph from the second book of man war hero, fled to Ravenna and was able to Paul the Deacon’s Lombard History remains un- free the port of Classe from the Lombard occupa- clear. For this passage Paul, writing more than 200 tion.20 In 587 AD, King Authari sent Euin, dux of years after the events, used two texts: Gregory of Trento, to Istria. His army plundered and burned Tours’ Decem libri historiarum and the Dialogi of the region and returned with a large booty.21 The Gregory the Great.16 However, it is one of the rare island of Comacina in Lake Como was taken in occasions that explicitly point to Lombard atroc- 589 AD by the Lombards after a six-month siege.22 ities and to the sufferings of the Romans during Throughout the seventh century, reports of warlike conflicts become less frequent. The sources record three large battles fought by Lombard war- 9 Pohl 1997. 10 Christou 1991; Pohl 1996. 11 Bognetti 1967; Gasparri 2015, 98: “L’ organizzazione 17 Paulus Diaconus, Historia Langobardorum [hereafter politica longobarda era dunque quella dei reparti mi- HL, the Latin text is easily accessable on dMGH] II,32 litari federati dell’impero.” (trans. Foulke 1907, 87-93). On this passage see the 12 Gasparri 1987; Brogiolo 2000. detailed study in Pohl 2001. 13 Indeed, some of the cities seem to have opened their 18 Berndt 2019a (forthcoming). gates to the Lombards in order to first protect their 19 HL III,18. inhabitants and (maybe) second, in the hope of future 20 HL III,19. After his death, Droctulf received a splendid cooperation from which they could benefit. burial in the in the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, 14 Azzara 2003. where his lengthy epitaph survived to be recorded by 15 Delogo 1990; Pohl 2012 a and b. Paul the Deacon. 16 For Gregory of Tours being used by Paul see Mommsen 21 HL III, 27. 1880, 57; for the use of Gregory the Great’s writings, 22 HL III, 27. On this episode, see Carminati/Mariani see Heath 2017, 128. 2016, 20-21. The Armament of Lombard Warriors in Italy 301 riors against foreign enemies: two were victorious as well as Frankish, Papal and Byzantine) as well and one was lost.23 Of course, one must also take as funerary remains and even some visual rep- into account that many small-scale mili tary op- resentations.28 They all provide insight into the erations took place within the kingdom, in many Lombard instrumenta bellorum. The written ma- cases triggered by the constant struggles for the terial falls into two categories: “Lombard” and Lombard throne, and the aspirations of power- “non-Lombard” sources.