Lombards, << LAHM bahrdz, >> were a Germanic people who conquered much of Italy in the late A.D. 500’s. The Byzantine emperors and the popes in Rome viewed the Lombards as rivals, and the popes resisted their control.
The Lombards probably came from Gotland Island in the Baltic Sea. They migrated to northern Germany in the 100’s B.C. During the A.D. 300’s, they began to move southward. By about 490, they had settled in what is now Austria. The Lombards invaded Italy in 568 and seized control of much of the Italian Peninsula. They settled in a part of northern Italy that is still called Lombardy.
The Lombards’ government in Italy, which lasted nearly 200 years, was one of the more effective governments in Europe during that time. In 754, Pope Stephen II asked the Franks for help defeating the Lombards. By 774, the Franks had crushed the Lombards in central and northern Italy. Thus, the popes gained political control of central Italy. The Lombards continued to rule areas of southern Italy into the 1000’s.
See also Italy (The Middle Ages) ; Lombardy .
