Hi, I have a few questions regarding the Langobards or Lombards of Northern Italy.
Following Charlemagne's conquest of Northern Italy, what happened to the reigning Lombard Elite? Did they retain their old positions of power, or were they killed and replaced by Franks? If the latter, did the Lombards ever reassert their power again?
I read recently in Osprey's Age of Charlemagne book that Lombard proto-knights were considered the elite of the Carolingian army post Carolingian conquest, is that true? If so, what differentiated them from other cavalrymen of the period? And what would their training process look like?
Following on that theme of Knights, what caused their development among the Lombards, and what future role did they have among the armies of the Holy Roman Empire? Also,what type of cavalry gear would they have, would they typically be attired in and equipped with?
What function would they take on the battlefield? Did they serve as shock cavalry, or was their purpose mainly for close quarters combat? And did they fight dismounted at all?
Lastly, regarding culture and self identification, did the Lombards perceive themselves to be a Germanic people like the Franks or Danes? Did they speak the same language by this point?
Thanks!
I'll try to answer to some of these questions:
Those that rebelled in 775 with Rotgaudus were either killed, exiled or forced into monkhood. Their families lost their prominence. For a long time, all key positions of power in Italy were held by non-Lombards, with Lombards comprising the bulk of the middle and small military class. Only in the second part of the 10th century they have a comeback in the positions of comites, marchiones and the like.
9th century was a time of transition for Lombards. As long as they had their own kingdom, they cared for tradition a lot more than when they joined the empire. The Empire and the Church did little to promote "Lombard Pride" and anyway the issue of nationalities was becoming muddled everywhere with mixed marriages and the like. By the end of the 9th century, a lot of people claimed to be Lombard regardless of their origin: it just meant they were Italian and not Frankish. Their language was not written so it was already disappearing, but the memory of their history was strong. In the 10th century, we have a bishop in Cremona stating proudly that he is Lombard, closer to Franks, Saxons and Alemannians than to Romans (Byzantines). Certainly there was a feeling of common history in western Europe but again, being Lombard didn't necessarily imply being descended by the army of Alboin, probably a lot of people descended from the local Romano-Celtic-Ligurian population held themselves as Lombard just because they were born in the kingdom of Lombardy.