File:Lombards tremissis 77001074.jpg

Lombards: Lombardy. Time of Authari-Agilulf. Circa 568-690.

AV Tremissis (1.44 g, 6h). In the name of Maurice Tiberius. Struck circa 582-602.

D II MΛVRC TIb PP ΛVC, diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right

II VICTORIΛ ΛCVSTORVII, Victory standing facing, head right, holding wreath in right hand, globus cruciger in left; COII.

MEC 1, 301-4 var. (legends); Arslan type 1, 4-12 var. (same); BMC Vandals 22-3 var. (same); Hunter, Byzantine 4-5 var. (same).

Superb EF, lustrous, flan a little wavy. Extremely rare.

The Lombards (a.k.a. the Langobards) were a Germanic people who were known since the time of Tacitus. By the early sixth century the Lombards had settled in Pannonia, and adopted the Arian religion. In AD 568/9, the Lombards began to invade Italy and quickly took control of the region from the Alps to the Po valley (later known as Lombardy), and established their capital at Pavia in AD 571 under their king, Alboin. Following the death of his successor in AD 574, the dukes could not agree on a new king, resulting in an interregnum of ten years. During this interval, two other independent Lombard duchies were founded in Spoleto and Benevento. With the exception of Liutprand (AD 712-744), the kings of Lombardy were weak and ineffectual, and the kingdom was finally crushed by Charlemagne in AD 774. The Lombards of Benevento thrived under its first dukes, Zotto and Arichis (AD 571-641), and its control expanded to the whole of southern Italy except Apulia and Calabria. Afterward, attacks from Lombardy, followed by the Carolingians, Byzantines, Papal States, and finally the Arab invaders, kept Benevento on the defensive, and its power waned. A civil war following the murder of Sicard in AD 839 resulted in the breakup of the greater duchy, and a number of insignificant Lombard dukes intermittently ruled over a greatly reduced Benevento until the mid-eleventh century. Like Benevento, the Lombard duchy of Spoleto was constantly assailed from all sides, and lost its independence after falling to Charlemagne in AD 776. Unlike Lombardy and Benevento, Spoleto has no known coinage.