The Idea of Revenge in Lombard Society in the Eighth and Tenth Centuries: The Cases of Paul the Deacon and Liudprand of Cremona

Abstract

BOTH Paul the Deacon and Liudprand of Cremona belonged to Lombard society, separated by a little over a century and a half. Both lived in turbulent times and witnessed the overthrow of native kings by transalpine invaders; moreover, both participated in the intellectual and administrative life of north Italy before and after invasions from the north. Paul and Liudprand wrote of the events which in their minds formed their respective contemporary worlds. Their inttrests in human history provide modern historians with significant records both of the Lombards and of north Italy on the eve of two crucial turning points. Our purpose here is to examine the conception of revenge and retribution in the histories of Liudprand of Cremona and Paul the Deacon. Since there is a sharp difference between their thoughts on the subject, we have an opportunity to reflect on the differing ways in which two medieval Lombard writers approached revenge and retribution. While it is presumptuous to claim their views embody contemporary legal values or give us a complete picture of vengeance in Lombard Law, it is possible that the different approaches in their accounts reflect the impact of social change during the years which separated them. Paul the Deacon lived in the last half of the eighth century. He witnessed the final consolidation of the Lombard position in northern Italy, on the eve of the invasion of Charlemagne (774). The Lombards had migrated to northern Italy during the sixth century and gradually gained control over the north and center; they achieved their point of greatest penetration when King Aistulf took Ravenna (751) from the Byzantine Empire. During those years a weak monarchy and traditional ducal power had kept the kingdom from consolidating. However, during the eighth century, as the territorial ambitions reached their limits, a series of ambitious kings reversed the particularism and developed forceful, central rule over north Italy. The territories under the control of these kings and their magnates, and the lands further south that were dominated by independent Lombard dukes, experienced the hegemony of Germanic custom. Yet the Roman-Italians remained the majority population and preserved strong Roman traditions, including elements of town life. Even before Paul's day the two worlds had begun the slow process of fusion.