Lombards facts for kids

Lombard possessions in Italy: The Lombard Kingdom (Neustria, Austria and Tuscia) and the Lombard Duchies of Spoleto and Benevento

The Lombards were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774. They themselves thought that they had originally come from southern Scandinavia. In ancient times they had worshiped nature, but later the worshiped Odin. They grew long beards in honor of Odin and became known as "Longobards" which means "long beards".

In about 560 A.D., Audoin, who was their leader and a warrior, was succeeded by his son Alboin, a young and energetic leader. He defeated some neighboring tribes and then, in the spring of 568, Alboin led the Lombard migration into Italy. According to the History of the Lombards, "Then the Langobards, having left Pannonia, hastened to take possession of Italy with their wives and children and all their goods."

When they came to Italy, most of the Lombards still followed their old religion, but some were Arian Christians. Most of them later adopted Orthodox Christian views. In later years they fought with the Franks and later the Muslims. The Normans also fought with them between 1017 and 1078 A.D. As a result, Italy consisted of many small states until modern times.

Images for kids

• 

  Distribution of Langobardic burial fields at the Lower Elbe Lands (according to W. Wegewitz)

• 

  Lombard migration from Scandinavia

• 

  Lombard grave goods (6th–7th century), Milan, Lombardy

• 

  Plutei of Theodota, mid 8th century, Civic Museums of Pavia.

• 

  The Frankish Merovingian King Chlothar II in combat with the Lombards

• 

  King Liutprand (712–744) "was a zealous Catholic, generous and a great founder of monasteries"

• 

  The West-Germanic languages around the sixth century CE

• 

  The runic inscription from the Pforzen buckle may be the earliest written example of Lombardic language

• 

  Lombard warrior, bronze statue, 8th century, Pavia Civic Museums.

• 

  The Rule of Saint Benedict in Beneventan (i.e. Lombard) script

• 

  Church of Santa Sofia, Benevento

• 

  Lombard shield boss northern Italy, 7th century, Metropolitan Museum of Art

• 

  Lombard S-shaped fibula

• 

  A glass drinking horn from Castel Trosino

• 

  Lombard Goldblattkreuz

• 

  Lombard fibulae

• 

  Altar of Ratchis

• 

  8th-century Lombard sculpture depicting female martyrs, based on a Byzantine model. Tempietto Longobardo, Cividale del Friuli

• 

  Crypt of Sant'Eusebio, Pavia.

See also

In Spanish: Lombardos para niños