A detailed thematic examination of the dynamics of power and governance in Lombard Italy.
The Age of Liutprand provides a thematic analysis of Lombard Italy in the pivotal early part of the 8th century. It surveys the crucial role and rule of Liutprand [ 712-44], the powerful and effective Lombard king. By restoring this successful exemplar of Lombard kingship to the centre of events and developments in the Italian peninsula, this book pulls together all the pertinent evidence for a 'new' kingship in Lombard Italy that used a sophisticated set of strategies to enhance, deepen and expand its effectiveness. In presenting an evaluation of Italy on the cusp of dramatic change, this book explains how not only the kingship of Liutprand, but also his legal reforms and his relationships with the Church and neighbouring peoples all contributed to a model of kingship successfully and subsequently deployed by Charlemagne and his successors later in the 8th century.
Arvustused
So there remains more to say about Liutprand, or at least about early eighth-century Lombard Italy. (The period after 750 is better covered by others.) But Heaths book is an excellent start, straightforward and direct, not avoiding problems and effective at encompassing them. * English Historical Review * [ Heaths] reconstruction provides a useful and well-grounded synthesis that is consistent with previous accounts of the period and is particularly strong in the most updated English literature, if less so in the Italian scholarship. * Early Medieval Europe *
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A detailed thematic examination of the dynamics of power and governance in Lombard Italy.
1. Introduction: The Contexts of Lombard Italy: The Catholic Dynasty and
Ansprand
2. Powerful in war and Merciful to Offenders [ 712-26]
3. Legum Augmentator: Governance and Law
4. Vir Multae Sapientiae: Liutprand's Wars and Peace [ 727-44]
5. Liutprand and the Church
6. Keeping the Peace: Byzantium, the Franks, Avars and Bavarians
7. Conclusions: Liutprand as Nutritor Gentis of the Lombards
Bibliography
Index
Christopher Heath is a Senior Visiting Fellow at the University of Lincoln and author of The Narrative Worlds of Paul the Deacon: Between Empires and Identities in Lombard Italy (2017) and co-editor (with Robert Houghton) of Conflict and Violence in Medieval Italy 568-1154 (2022).
