- Duke (Lombard)
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Among the Lombards, the duke or dux was the man who act as political and military commander of a set of "military families" (the Fara), irrespective of any territorial appropriation.
Contents
Etymology
It is not known the proper term of the Lombard language to indicate the figure of the duke; also the oldest Lombard historiographical sources(the anonymous Origo gentis Langobardorum and Historia Langobardorum of Paul Deacon) were written in Latin. The Latin word dux was adopted to designate a political figure and military that had no exact equivalent in the classical world, thus redefining the concept of "duke" in a form that would then know further developments in later centuries.
History
The figure of the Duke emerged between the 4th century and 5th centuries, when the German people had settled between the Elbe and the current northern Bohemia. At that time, the Lombards were nomads and arranged in homogeneous groups and compact families originate from the same noble clan, able to organize themselves into quotas with military functions: the Fare[1]. The Dukes were the leaders of the Fare. They were honored warriors of that office for the dynastic ties and the valor shown in war, then rewarded by the king. In the figure of the Lombard Duke are then mixed military elements, noble, sacral (invested by the king, attended his "charisma"), political, judicial and administrative. In the assembly of the people in arms ( "Gairethinx"), the dukes had a prominent role, and were decisive in the election of the same king[2].
Once in Italy, the ducal institution gradually became a link with the territory, but always subordinate to the political-military status of the Duke. Since the first city conquered by Alboin in 568, Cividale, in any militarily significant urban center was installed a duke, with a mandate to lead the Lombards Warriors settled in nearby areas "in Fara" against any enemy threats. From that first settlement, the duke establishment, had however a dual character: on the one hand, the Duke was a commander of an army, the other was the head of a fraction of the people ( "gens"), and therefore subject to the expectations and traditions (management of power, military activity, the division of wealth) of the people themselves. The Duke was then given a royal investiture and a political-military nature, but at the same time also carries a unique conception of power as an element-guarantor of a particular social structure (that of the Fara). The coexistence of these two opposing factors characterize all the existence of the Lombard Kingdom, in constant tension between the centralizing impulses of sovereign power and aspirations for autonomy of the Dukes; over the centuries was witnessed the transition from a greater Ducal independence (so that for the ten years of the so-called Rule of the Dukes, 574 to 584, they ruled as absolute monarchs in their seats) to a growing assertion of central power, but without their aspirations for autonomy completely settled[3].
With the defeat of the Lombard kingdom (774) by the Franks of Charlemagne, the figure of the Lombard Duke was replaced by the Frankish count; however, the Duchy of Benevento remained outside the Carolingian Empire, and maintained a substantial degree of autonomy.
References
Bibliography
- Lidia Capo. Comment to Paul Deacon (1992) (in Italian). Storia dei Longobardi. Milan: Lorenzo Valla/Mondadori. ISBN 8804330104.
- Rovagnati, Sergio (2003) (in Italian). I Longobardi. Milano: Xenia. ISBN 8872734843.
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