568 to 774
Pavia, Italy
The Kingdom of the Lombards also known as the Lombard Kingdom; later the Kingdom of Italy, was an early medieval state established by the Lombards, a Germanic people, on the Italian Peninsula in the latter part of the 6th century. The king was traditionally elected by the very highest-ranking aristocrats, the dukes, as several attempts to establish a hereditary dynasty failed. The kingdom was subdivided into a varying number of duchies, ruled by semi-autonomous dukes, which were in turn subdivided into gastaldates at the municipal level. The capital of the kingdom and the center of its political life was Pavia in the modern northern Italian region of Lombardy.
In the 6th century, Byzantine Emperor Justinian attempted to reassert imperial authority in the territories of the Western Roman Empire. In the resulting Gothic War (535–554) waged against the Ostrogothic Kingdom.
Problems were further exacerbated by widespread famine (538–542) and a devastating plague pandemic (541–542). Although the Byzantine Empire eventually prevailed, the triumph proved to be a pyrrhic victory, as all these factors caused the population of the Italian Peninsula to crash, leaving the conquered territories severely underpopulated and impoverished.
Alboin (530s – 28 June 572) was king of the Lombards from about 560 until 572.
The Lombard's arrival broke the political unity of the Italian Peninsula for the first time since the Roman conquest. The peninsula was now torn between territories ruled by the Lombards and the Byzantines, with boundaries that changed over time.
The Lombards had entered the Italian peninsula in 568 under Alboin.
In 572, after the capitulation of Pavia and its elevation to the royal capital, King Alboin was assassinated in a conspiracy in Verona plotted by his wife Rosamund and her lover, the noble Helmichis, in league with some Gepid and Lombard warriors.
Later in 572, the thirty-five dukes assembled in Pavia to hail king Cleph.
Cleph was king of the Lombards from 572 to 574.
The city was the capital of the Kingdom of the Lombards from 572 to 774.
The Rule of the Dukes was an interregnum in the Lombard Kingdom of Italy (574/5–584/5) during which Italy was ruled by the Lombard dukes of the old Roman provinces and urban centres.
In 584 the dukes agreed to crown King Cleph's son, Authari and delivered to the new monarch half of their property (and then probably getting even with a new crackdown against the surviving Roman property land).
Authari was king of the Lombards from 584 to his death. He was considered as the first Lombard king to have adopted some level of "Roman-ness" and introduced policies that led to drastic changes particularly in the treatment of the Romans and Christianity.
Authari died in 590, probably due to poisoning in a palace plot, and according to the legend recorded by Paul the Deacon, the succession to the throne was decided in a novel fashion.
Agilulf called the Thuringian and nicknamed Ago, was a duke of Turin and king of the Lombards from 591 until his death.
It was the young widow Theodelinda who chose the heir to the throne and her new husband: the Duke of Turin, Agilulf. The following year (591) Agilulf received the official investiture from the Assembly of the Lombards, held in Milan. The influence of the queen over Agilulf's policies was remarkable and major decisions are attributed to both.
In 594 was preempted, Agilulf and Theodelinda developed a policy of strengthening their hold on Italian territory while securing their borders through peace treaties with France and the Avars.
Adaloald was the Lombard king of Italy from 616 to 626. He was the son and heir of King Agilulf and his Catholic queen Theodelinda.
A civil war broke out in 624, led by Arioald, Duke of Turin and Adaloald's brother-in-law (through his marriage to Adaloald's sister Gundeperga).
Adaloald was deposed in 625 and Arioald became king.
Arioald was the Lombard king of Italy from 626 to 636. Duke of Turin, he married the princess Gundeberga, daughter of King Agilulf and his queen Theodelinda.
Rothari reigned from 636 to 652 and led numerous military campaigns, which brought almost all of northern Italy under the rule of the Lombard kingdom.
Rothari was of the house of Arodus, was king of the Lombards from 636 to 652; previously he had been duke of Brescia.
Rodoald was a Lombard king of Italy, who succeeded his father Rothari on the throne in 652.
Aripert I was king of the Lombards (653–661) in Italy. He was the son of Gundoald, Duke of Asti, who had crossed the Alps from Bavaria with his sister Theodelinda.
Godepert was king of the Lombards (crowned 661), the eldest son, and successor of Aripert I.
Perctarit was king of the Lombards from 661 to 662 for the first time.
The Bavarian dynasty returned to the throne, and the Catholic Aripert duly suppressed Arianism. At Aripert's death in 661, his will divided the kingdom between his two sons, Perctarit and Godepert.
Grimoald was King of the Lombards from 662 until his death in 671.
Garibald was the young son of Grimoald I of Benevento, king of the Lombards, and Theodota, daughter of Aripert I.
Alahis was the Arian duke of Trent and Brescia before becoming king of the Lombards after his successful rebellion in 688. He did not rule long.
Cunincpert was king of the Lombards from 688 to 700. He succeeded his father Perctarit, though he was associated with the throne from 680.
A coin of Cunipert (688-700), king of the Lombards, was minted in Milan.
Cunipert's death in 700 marked the opening of a dynastic crisis. The succession of Cunipert's minor son, Liutpert, was immediately challenged by the Duke of Turin.
Raginpert was the Duke of Turin and then King of the Lombards briefly in 701. He was the son of Godepert and grandson of Aripert I.
Ansprand was king of the Lombards briefly in 712. Before that he was the duke of Asti and regent during the minority of Liutpert (700–701).
Liutprand was the king of the Lombards from 712 to 744, and his long reign, which brought him into a series of conflicts, mostly successful, with most of Italy. He is often regarded as the most successful Lombard monarch.
Later on, he exploited the disputes between the pope and Constantinople over iconoclasm to take possession of many cities of the Exarchate and of the Pentapolis, posing as the protector of Catholics.
Hildeprand, sometimes called the Useless, was the king of the Lombards from around 735 in association with his uncle.
Ratchis was King of the Lombards (744–749). he was married to a Roman woman named Tassia.
Aistulf was King of the Lombards from 749, and Duke of Spoleto from 751.
Desiderius was king of the Lombards in northern Italy, ruling from 756 to 774.
Charlemagne or Charles the Great, numbered Charles I, was King of the Lombards from 774.
Pepin or Pippin, born Carloman, was the son of Charlemagne and King of the Lombards (781–810) under the authority of his father.
Bernard was the King of the Lombards from 810 to 818. He plotted against his uncle, Emperor Louis the Pious, when the latter's Ordinatio Imperii made Bernard a vassal of his cousin Lothair.
