One of the first general histories of Italy in English by Sir William Thomas (c.1507-1554) was published in 1549. His ‘The History of Italy: A Book exceedingly profitable to be read…’ concerned itself with the governance of Italy and with providing favourable comment on Italian wealth, cultivation and political structures and processes for English readers. It did not, however, dwell upon the rule of the Lombard kings in the north and the centre of the peninsula between 568 and 774, save to present a rather thin catalogue of rulers. Such details as Thomas does supply appear to be entirely dependent upon the text of Paul the Deacon's (c.730-c.796) Historia Langobardorum. The activities of the Lombard kings and the nature of their kingship is the principal strand that operates throughout Paul's HL. Consideration of and commentary on the organic functions of the Lombard Kingdom continue to depend upon Paul's narrative and are often affected by his anecdotal approach to events at the centre of the Lombard regnum. If one seeks to get to grips with the elusive reality of Lombard kingship one must exercise caution in adopting Paul's comments at face value. Yet the aim of this chapter, notwithstanding the murky quality of the operation and experience of power in Lombard Italy, is to consider one aspect of those mechanisms that affected the capacity and governance of the Regnum.

In his Études sur l’histoire des principautés lombardes de l’Italie méridionale et de leurs rapports avec l’empire franc, René Poupardin observed that the Lombard Mezzogiorno of the early Middle Ages encapsulated ‘un récit de lutte intestines aussi stérile qu’obscures’. A concentration on the dismal and often convoluted picture painted by monastic chroniclers, would prompt a belief that ‘these rough and violent times’ do no merit serious study. Yet analysis of the processes, problems and potentialities that both conflict and violence created, allows an engagement with fundamental issues that affected early medieval Italy. Yet, one may adopt a viewpoint that sees in the apparent violence and conflict of this period an opportunity to understand how individuals and societies grappled with and resolved the issues they faced and withstood. Conflict and violence were vital forces in the formation of polities, and the management of such tells us more about the underlying processes of societal formation and cohesion, instead of being a mere grammar of violence.

This book is concerned with understanding the vital forces at work on the ground by identifying how tensions between conflict and stasis were worked out through the witness of a variety of source material – textual in all formats, both normative and narrative, and where relevant archaeological. It is not, however, concerned with what might be called the mechanics of violence, in other words violence in and of itself, but rather in the impact of this violence on societies and elites. In short, did such activity prompt significant, systemic and substantive change? How does violence shape Italian society in this period? What were the short- and long-term consequences of such violent activity? The ten contributions in this volume seek to interrogate, at specific points chronologically in the trajectory of early medieval Italy, the experience, the impact and the containment or management of social, political, and religious violence. It should not be assumed, however, that there is any teleological inclination in this volume, to suggest that the early Middle Ages in Italy were any more or less violent than the periods that preceded or that followed. This would be an undertaking of doubtful empirical value, let alone one which could be demonstrated in any objective sense.

The papers published in this volume were originally presented at the International Medieval Congress in a surprisingly hot July in Leeds in 2016. The theme of the two sessions held on the Wednesday morning of the congress was ‘Murder and Mayhem: Disorder and Violence in Italy, 568-1154’. Seven of the contributions presented for the first time on that day are seen here in considerably revised form. The editors also sought and acquired additional papers from Guido Berndt, Kordula Wolf and David Barritt.

The nine essays collated here represent ongoing research and work into the mechanisms and mechanics of the socio-cultural worlds of Italy from the advent of the Lombards in c.568 up to the ascendancies of the Normans in Sicily and the Staufen emperors in the Kingdom of Italy through the prism offered by violence, disorder and discontent. As we indicate in the Introduction which follows, and which considers the essays themselves and the historiographical landscapes, this volume is not a ‘grammar’ of violence, and in most respects, it is not the violence per se that holds interest, but rather the methods by which Medieval Italian societies coped, contained and continued despite that violence.

Since 2016, the essays have been refined, amended and re-amended. It is to the eternal credit of the contributors, who submitted their work on time and to schedule, that they patiently endured the lacuna between presentation, preparation and production with such equanimity as the editors strove to bring forward the complete manuscript. In this respect the volume rests upon a cumulative value where, whilst all the contributions consider issues in particular contexts, the accumulated aspects of the issues tackled reveal both the fluidity and the inventiveness of Italian societies as they grappled with the impact of violence on the ground.

Our thanks then must go to the contributors here in the first place; secondly, to Professor Balzaretti who in the midst of considerable responsibilities as Head of History at the University of Nottingham completed the Afterword; thirdly, to the Commissioning Editor at Amsterdam University Press, Dr Erin Dailey whose gentle but effective management of the project brought the end-product to its’ conclusion; and to Dr Vicki Blud who has efficiently assisted the editors in the final stage of production in the midst of a pandemic that shows no sign of dissipation.

As part of his memorable first chapter in Book I of the Historia Langobardorum, Paul observes:

Whether the work succeeds in demonstrating that the Lombards did indeed in Italia feliciter regnaverunt remains an open question and one that is not entirely resolved by a careful reading of the entire work or by the content of the narrative. Throughout this study, we’ve considered not only Paul's statements, but also his structural arrangements.

The main purpose of this study has been to consider the narrative arrangements of Paul's four prose narratives. This has required detailed description of the texts as they stand and the components or building blocks that Paul used to create his works. Paul's progress as a writer and his ability to produce works to order is charted through these narratives. In the first of these, the Historia Romana, we see a direct patronal relationship with Adelperga, wife of Arichis II of Benevento and daughter of Desiderius, and how this connection fashioned Paul's compositional agenda. The first ten books of the Historia Romana, whilst predominantly the work of Eutropius, include useful and interesting interpolations on Paul's part. The lightness of his touch when editing the original structure that allowed him not only to link the text to the Judaeo-Christian tradition, but also to apply further information and interpolations from Mediterranean history, was a noticeable feature of this part of the work. More significant, however, as an example of the independence of his thought and his development as a writer are the additional six books he grafted onto the Eutropian core. Here we see a situation that is repeated throughout all four works. Paul ‘writes’ to his available material: in other words, he is guided by what he has at hand.

This chapter has two principal aims. First, it analyses the structure of each of the books in detail; secondly, it discusses what Paul did put in his work and why. The analysis will focus on the context and construction of the narrative framework. Thus it will be important to pinpoint at each stage, so far as possible, his sources, which will allow an interrogation of his responses and narrative strategy in the composition of the work.

Book I ‘The Men of Old Tell a Silly Story’: Legends and Amazons

According to [Gaius/Publius] (Cornelius) Tacitus (56 CE-117 CE) (whom Paul did not use), the Langobardi were illustrious by lack of numbers. ‘They were’, he wrote, ‘set in the midst of numberless and powerful tribes’ and were ‘delivered not by submissiveness but by peril and pitched battle’. This small and inauspicious picture is echoed by the brief notices of both (Marcus/Gaius) Velleius Paterculus (c.19 BCE-c.31 CE), and Cassius Dio, and later by the first book of the Historia Langobardorum. The Winnili, who subsequently become the Langobardi of this first book, embark upon an uncertain and remarkable journey. This journey is an unlikely testament to the survival and success of a relatively small West Germanic tribe whose wanderings take them from the banks of the Elbe to the borders of Italy where, as Paul indicates in his very first chapter, they ‘ruled prosperously’ (feliciter regnavit). Paul's strategy to negotiate the joint challenge of limited and laconic sources and a traditional origin story firmly tied to a pagan past involved an extensive range of source use, notably Classical materials to soften the pagan elements in the material. The first book is composed of 27 chapters. It is, as we have seen, the shortest in these terms of the six books. This belies its length in terms of both word count (it is the fourth longest) and to its density of treatment. Even though it is not until Chapter 19 that the narrative begins to match a recognisable historical time, the density of treatment (i.e. years to chapters) is still 3.37 years per chapter. It remains the most concise in terms of chronology and with 21 of the chapters having 29 lines or less, it is also short in terms of chapter length.

This chapter will analyse the structures of Paul's first three narratives i.e. the HR, the Vita Sancti Gregorii Magni, and the Gesta Episcoporum Mettensium as a prelude to a lengthier examination and discussion of the HL. Examining these three works will allow us to not only understand Paul's development as a writer and a historian, but also help us to understand how he put together his lengthiest and most important final work, the HL. For each of the three early narratives, we shall consider four principal issues: first, can a common narrative strategy be identified; secondly, do the works demonstrate evidence of Paul's approach to events and individuals; thirdly, did Paul develop his own voice in his works or remain bound to the restrictions implied by his client relationship with patrons; and fourthly how did he use and select his sources?

Before we proceed to consider these early narratives in turn, a note of their respective chronological relation to each other (and indeed the HL) is required. It is not possible to present an exact chronological order, but this study suggests that out of all of the works, the HR is the earliest. There remains the greatest doubt as to when the VGSM was composed and thus how it fits into the canon of Paul's works. However, it is demonstrable via later references in the HL that both it and the GEM were written, composed and completed on a significantly earlier occasion. Accordingly, this chapter will consider the HR first, the VGSM second, and conclude with the GEM.

‘Ita Romanorum apud Romam imperium … cum hoc Augustulo periit’ (Thus the Roman Empire at Rome … with this Augustulus perished): The Historia Romana

Paul's associations with Lombard courts in both the north and south of Italy first bore fruit with his extended and edited version of the Historia Romana. As we saw in Chapter 1, Paul's movement to the south of Italy can be linked to the matrimonial alliance between the Lombard king, Desiderius, and the Beneventan dux, Arichis II. Paul's surviving dedication in the work itself plainly indicates that it was conceived for the reading pleasure of Adelperga, who had been in some measure disappointed by the original work of Eutropius.

The Historia Langobardorum is the final work of Paul the Deacon. Unlike his shorter prose works, the HR, the VSGM, and the GEM considered above, the work as it has come down to us would appear to have had no explicit patron and thus it remains without a dedicatory preface or conclusion. This has inspired considerable debate which has sought to ‘prove’ an agenda for the work and thus a patron. In this fashion, to highlight just two approaches, it has been presented at the same time as a work written for Lombard consumption and as one designed for a Frankish audience. This debate has run its course. It has not provided, and indeed cannot provide, a definitive answer. Without a proven and explicit patron, the work stands to exemplify per se both Paul's own perceptions and his interests better than his previous works more firmly anchored to a patron/client relationship. Thus, it would seem that Paul writes without apparent constraints and on matters that he wants to explore and discuss. This chapter will seek, with this in mind, to demonstrate how the Historia Langobardorum reveals not only the originality of Paul as a writer, but also his responses to the structure of his own world. In order to provide an effective contextual platform, the chapter will briefly re-visit the known links between Paul and his work. Thereafter, a discussion of both the transmission and textual history will inform a better appreciation of the security of the text used by scholars today. Subsequently, a presentation of the structural parameters will provide the broad features of the work before we conclude with a discussion of Paul's use of sources and a detailed analysis of each of the six books.

In many respects the HL marks the pinnacle of Paul's writing career, since the Historia Langobardorum was composed during the final decade of his life. He was, as we shall see, free to develop and discuss subjects that interested him both as an author and as an individual. His field of experience allowed him to develop a measure of empathy towards those outside his own ‘people’, the Lombards. Paul's connections to his own home province of Friuli and to the Lombard and Carolingian courts broadened and deepened his field of experience.