[18]Desiderius, who reigned from 756 to 774, was the last of the Lombard kings. At this time he had invaded the Papal possessions.
[19]Bertha was designated as “Bertha with the large foot,” because one of her feet was larger than the other. All kinds of romances have been woven about her. She died at Choisy in 783 at a very advanced age.
[20]Gisela had already declined an offer of marriage from Leo the Fourth, King of Greece.
[21]A town in Alsace-Lorraine on the Moselle River, near Metz.
[22]The capital of the province of Pavia, on the Ticino River. It has been the scene of war and siege for centuries.
[23]Charlemagne was made a patrician in the time of Pepin.
[24]An old Benedictine Abbey on the Weser.
[25]Paulus Diaconus was born about 720 and died before 800. He was the great historian of his time, his principal work being a “History of the Lombards.”
[26]A range, of mountains in Brunswick, Anhalt, Hanover, and Saxony.
[27]A river in Central Germany, emptying into the Saale at Naumburg.