The Age of Liutprand

The Age of Liutprand provides a thematic analysis of Lombard Italy in the pivotal early part of the 8th century. It surveys the crucial role and rule of Liutprand [712-44], the powerful and effective Lombard king. By restoring this successful exemplar of Lombard kingship to the centre of events and developments in the Italian peninsula, this book pulls together all the pertinent evidence for a 'new' kingship in Lombard Italy that used a sophisticated set of strategies to enhance, deepen and expand its effectiveness. In presenting an evaluation of Italy on the cusp of dramatic change, this book explains how not only the kingship of Liutprand, but also his legal reforms and his relationships with the Church and neighbouring peoples all contributed to a model of kingship successfully and subsequently deployed by Charlemagne and his successors later in the 8th century.

Christopher Heath is a Senior Visiting Fellow at the University of Lincoln and author of The Narrative Worlds of Paul the Deacon: Between Empires and Identities in Lombard Italy (2017) and co-editor (with Robert Houghton) of Conflict and Violence in Medieval Italy 568-1154 (2022).

1. Introduction: The Contexts of Lombard Italy: The Catholic Dynasty and Ansprand
2. 'Powerful in war and Merciful to Offenders' [712-26]
3. Legum Augmentator: Governance and Law
4. Vir Multae Sapientiae: Liutprand's Wars and Peace [727-44]
5. Liutprand and the Church
6. 'Keeping the Peace': Byzantium, the Franks, Avars and Bavarians
7. Conclusions: Liutprand as Nutritor Gentis of the Lombards
Bibliography
Index