The Historians' History of the World 07

Aribert now reigned at Pavia without a rival (701-712). But strenuously as he strove to curb the power of the dukes and to win popularity by the justice of his administration, he was unable to maintain his sovereignty. For eight years Ansprand had waited in vain at the court of the duke of Bavaria for the aid he desired. In the ninth it was granted. He entered upper Italy at the head of an imposing force “to set upon his own head the crown he had not been able to keep for his ward.” Aribert, though not defeated in the field, lost heart and absconded to Pavia. A mutiny arose in the army in consequence, the king’s life seemed to be in danger, and he resolved upon flight. He tried to swim the Ticino, but the weight of the gold he had taken with him dragged him down and he was drowned. The reins of government were then assumed (712) by Ansprand, “a man of conspicuous valour and rare wisdom.” He had only three months to enjoy the good fortune for which he had striven so long; but on his death-bed he had the joy of seeing his son Liutprand raised to the throne and acknowledged king in a solemn assembly of the people.x

REIGN OF LIUTPRAND (712-744 A.D.)

[712-724 A.D.]

Between the 6th and 13th of June, 712, which is the date, as nearly as we can fix it, when Flavius Liutprand came to the throne, he was, according to all records, in the prime of his manhood. He took to wife a Bavarian princess, Guntrud, the child of Theudibert, who bore him a daughter, their only offspring. The exact time of his marriage is not known. It took place not long after Aribert of the Cottian Alps made his donation to the Roman church; the year in which Gregory II became pope. If this circumstance is taken in connection with the fact that between 715-716 the Bavarian duke, Theodo I (Theudibert’s father), undertook a journey to Rome, highly important to the clerical interests of Bavaria, it cannot be doubted that this duke, whose house had so long been allied in friendship with Liutprand, must have tarried in Pavia to see the king, and that at this interview the further tie of a marriage alliance was first discussed.

The intimate relations between the Bavarians and Lombards lasted up to a late period; they were at one time neighbours in Pannonia, and earlier still there are authenticated accounts of their being related as is shown by the close resemblance in their customs and speech. Most of our information drawn from the earliest Bavarian chronicles, we owe to Paulus,p

the historian of the Lombards. Even before these latter wandered into Italy the marriage of Walderada, widow of Theudebald of Austrasia and daughter of the Lombard Wacho, had taken place with Garibald, the first duke of Bavaria, under whose reign that country became in fact a dependency of France.

The earlier theory that the Bavarians were once among the Alboin peoples has, it is true, been energetically opposed, but, as the author of this history believes, without grounds. Even as far back as the three kings in Italy, Authari took to wife a Bavarian princess, the much-chronicled Theudelinda, who gave to the kingdom a new dynasty,—if such a word can be used in speaking of the Lombard—and to a certain extent, a new faith.

Many traces are to be found of the subsequent intercourse between the two races, but a close and really important connection did not, so far as can be discovered from the scanty sources of information at our disposal, occur until the time of King Ansprand.

Theodo I had divided his country into five parts, of which he kept one for himself, assigning the remaining four divisions to his four sons—Theudibert, Grimwald, Tassilo II, and Theodobald. Rudhart’s supposition was that Theudibert, with whom the Lombards came almost exclusively into touch, kept the south division, adjoining Liutprand’s kingdom, together with the see of Salzburg.

After Theodobald’s early death his inheritance fell to his surviving brothers; and the same was the case with Theodo’s land after his death in 717 or in 722.

In the year 724 Theudibert also died. He seems to have exercised a kind of supremacy over his brother. He left behind him a son, Hucpert, brother-in-law to Liutprand; when, as presently happened, Grimwald wished to make himself supreme ruler in Bavaria, and to overthrow Hucpert, he turned to his neighbours over the border for help. He received it, and it was on this occasion that Liutprand built some forts on the Etsch (Adige).

LIUTPRAND AND MARTEL

[534-725 A.D.]