Warfare and the Making of Early Medieval Italy (568-652) by Fabbro Eduardo;

Author:Fabbro, Eduardo;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2020-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

4 To tame a land

Authari left behind a kingdom on the make but also in midst of a crisis. The dual invasion of 590 had caused serious damage to the Lombard control Po Valley. By fall 590, the Franks had left Italy, and the previous diplomatic arrangements were again in place. The imperial army, however, was still unchecked in the Po Valley, and it had reclaimed key position, including locations on the river and the land east of the Adige. The settlement between Franks and Byzantines seems to have precluded the imperial army from further action up the Po, but Romanus remained active and, turning south, he marched to restore cities on the Via Flaminia, securing the connection between Rome and Ravenna. Perhaps more dangerous to the integrity of the Lombard kingdom, Romanus’s success triggered a reorientation of the local forces towards the empire, which jeopardized the centralization under Authari and risked unifying northern Italy against the king, instead of under him. Agilulf turned the tide and managed to bring order to Italy at long last.

The sources for Agilulf are less problematic than for Authari.1 From this period survives the oldest royal charter, a grant for the foundation of Bobbio, even if only preserved in a later copy (CDL 4.1). Gregory the Great, moreover, was actively engaged with the royal court and his correspondence preserves valuable information. Other letters also provide insights into royal policy, including a letter from Columbanus to pope Boniface iv (Ep. Col. 5. 170–74, in MGH, Ep. 3) and one from bishop John of Aquileia to Agilulf (Ep. Lang. 1). The period also left two artifacts that pertain to Agilulf: the Val di Nievole plate, found in the nineteenth century, and a crown, that used to be in Monza but is now lost (La Rocca and Gasparri 2010). In addition to that, the Copenhagen Continuation of Prosper (CH) and the Liber Pontificalis (LP) were almost contemporaneous to Agilulf’s reign and contain some important information. Fredegar preserved a few stories involving the king, some of which require a closer read.

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