History of the Lombards

Paul the Deacon assembled information from some of the greatest scholars and historians and his own observations to assemble his Historia Langobardorum. Written between 787 and 796CE, he recounts the mythical origins of the Lombards.

In his recording, he offers us such gems as this, from chapter 4:

In the farthest boundaries of Germany toward the west-northwest, on the shore of the ocean itself, a cave is seen under a projecting rock, where for an unknown time seven men repose wrapped in a long sleep, not only their bodies, but also their clothes being so uninjured, that from this fact alone, that they last without decay through the course of so many years, they are held in veneration among those ignorant and barbarous peoples. These then, so far as regards their dress, are perceived to be Romans. When a certain man, stirred by cupidity, wanted to strip one of them, straightway his arms withered, as is said, and his punishment so frightened the others that no one dared touch them further.

Another time when the number seven was significant comes in chapter 15:

At this time a certain prostitute had brought forth seven little boys at a birth, and the mother, more cruel than all wild beasts, threw them into a fish-pond to be drowned. ... It happened therefore that when King Agelmund had stopped his horse and looked at the wretched infants, ..., one of them put his hand on the royal spear and clutched it. The king moved by pity and marveling greatly at the act, pronounced that he would be a great man. And straightway he ordered him to be lifted from the fish-pond and commanded him to be brought to a nurse to be nourished with every care, and because he took him from a fish-pond which in their language is called " lama" he gave him the name Lamissio.

Lamissio later proves the king's prophecy by defeating someone e in single combat and therefore awarding the Lombards access to cross a disputed river. Lamissio later is named king when Agelmund is killed by Bulgarians.

His term "Langobards" is defined as "long-beards," and a name given to them by Odin himself. That anecdote is a little long, and coms from one of Paul's sources, the 7th-century Origio Gentis Langobardorum ("The Origin of the Langobard People"; see illustration for a 10th-century copy). I'll share it tomorrow.