It was here the Longobards found them, and in their new Christian zeal soon furnished them with work enough.
LONGOBARD KINGS
| 568. | Alboin conquers Italy; he was poisoned by his wife Rosamund for compelling her to drink out of her father's skull. |
| 573. | Cleoph (assassinated). |
| 575. | Autharis (poisoned). |
| 591. | Agilulf. |
| 615. | Adaloald. He was poisoned. |
| 625. | Ariold. |
| 636. | Rotharis. He married Ariold's widow, and published a code of laws. |
| 652. | Rodoald (son), assassinated. |
| 653. | Aribert (uncle). |
| 661. | Bertharis and Godebert (sons); dethroned by— |
| 662. | Grimoald, Duke of Beneventum. |
| 671. | Bertharis (re-established). |
| 686. | Cunibert (son). |
| 700. | Luitbert; dethroned by— |
| 701. | Ragimbert. |
| 701. | Aribert II. (son). |
| 712. | Ansprand elected. |
| 712. | Luitprand (son); a great prince, favourite of the Church. |
| 744. | Hildebrand (nephew), deposed. |
| 744. | Ratchis, Duke of Friuli, elected, but afterwards became a monk. |
| 749. | Astolfo (brother). |
| 756. | Desiderius, quarrelled with Pope Adrian, who invited Charlemagne to Italy. He defeated and dethroned Desiderius, and put an end to the Lombard kingdom. |
CHAPTER II
THE COMACINES UNDER THE LONGOBARDS
LONGOBARD MASTERS
| About | |||
| 1. | 712 | Magister Ursus | Sculptured the altar at Ferentilla, and a ciborium at S. Giorgio di Valpolicella, for King Luitprand. |
| 2&3. | 712 | M. Ivvintino and Ivviano. (Joventino and Joviano) | Disciples of Ursus. |
| 4. | " | Magister Giovanni | Made the tomb of S. Cumianus. |
| 5. | 739 | M. Rodpert | Worked at Toscanella, and bought land there. |
| 6. | 742 | M. Piccone | Architect employed by Gunduald at Lucca: he received a gift of lands in Sabine in 742. |
| 7. | M. Auripert | A painter patronized by King Astolph. |
It was on April 2, 568, that the Longobards under Alboin, with their wives and children and with all their belongings, "colle loro mogli e figli, e con tutte le sostanze loro," first came down and took Friuli. Alboin gave the government there to Gisulph, his nephew, leaving with him many of the chief and bravest families, and a high-bred race of horses (generosa razza di cavalli).
Next he took Vicenza and Verona, and in September 569 passed into Liguria—which then extended from the Adda to the Ligurian Sea,—and conquered Milan. To this add Emilia, and later, Ravenna and Tuscany, and the first Lombard kingdom was complete.
From this kingdom depended the three dukedoms of Friuli, Spoleto, and Beneventum. The last was added in the time of Autharis (575-591) when, like Canute, he rode into the sea at Reggio in Calabria, and touching the waves with his lance, cried—"These alone shall be the boundary of the Longobards."[20]