History glossary
Lombards
a Germanic people who entered Italy in 568 CE and helped create a long-lasting pattern of political fragmentation.
- Category
- Historical group
- Region
- Italy and central Europe
- Date range
- 6th-8th centuries CE
What it means
The Lombards were a Germanic people who entered northern Italy in 568 CE, shortly after Justinian's wars had exhausted the peninsula. They established a kingdom in the north and powerful duchies in central and southern Italy, while Byzantine and papal territories survived alongside them. Their arrival helped divide Italy into competing regions whose political effects lasted for centuries.
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