Paul the Deacon

Winfrid, son of Warnefrid, was born about 720 in the Duchy of Friuli, the northern part of the Italian Peninsula that was the kingdom of the Lombards. His parents, Warnefrid and Theodolinda, were well-to-do, and Winfrid grew up well-educated, knowing some Greek along with Latin.

Winfrid decided that rather than inherit from his father, he would join the clergy, taking the title Paulus Diaconus, Paul the Deacon. He was likely one of the secretaries to King Desiderius of the Lombards. When Desiderius married his daughter Adelperga to the Duke of Benevento, Adelperga requested that Paul continue the Breviarium Historiae Romanae ("Summary of Roman History") of a 4th century Roman, Eutropius.

He was with her at the court in Benevento prior to 774, probably fleeing when Charlemagne captured the territory. By 782 he was in the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino. While there he met Charlemagne, who was very interested in both the Church and education and took a liking to someone who wrote history. Their relationship was strong enough that, after a revolt against Charlemagne's rule in Friuli in which Paul's brother Arichis was imprisoned for taking part, Paul could write to Charlemagne on Arichis' behalf and get his brother freed.

Maybe he already had a reputation for writing history; maybe it was Adelperga's request that got him started on the pursuit. He would start (but not finish) a history of the Lombards (Historia Langobardorum) in six books. When much history about the Carolingian era is written from the point of view of the Franks, Paul's Historia is a valuable view from the other side, that of the Lombards. It also gives us a look into beliefs and culture. It begins with:

The region of the north, in proportion as it is removed from the heat of the sun and is chilled with snow and frost, is so much the more healthful to the bodies of men and fitted for the propagation of nations, just as, on the other hand, every southern region, the nearer it is to the heat of the sun, the more it abounds in diseases and is less fitted for the bringing up of the human race.

He drew on Bede, Gregory of Tours, Isidore of Seville, and other histories (some now lost to us) to compile his history.

Tomorrow we'll look at his later life and other writings, some at the request of Charlemagne.