Editing Lombards (section)

===Later history===
====Falling to the Franks and the Duchy of Benevento, 774–849====
[[File:Duchy of Benevento It.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Lombard [[Duchy of Benevento]] in the eighth century]]

Though the kingdom centred on Pavia in the north fell to Charlemagne and the [[Franks]] in 774, the Lombard-controlled territory to the south of the Papal States was never subjugated by Charlemagne or his descendants. In 774, Duke [[Arechis II of Benevento]], whose duchy had only nominally been under royal authority, though certain kings had been effective at making their power known in the south, claimed that Benevento was the [[successor state]] of the kingdom. He tried to turn Benevento into a ''secundum Ticinum'': a second Pavia. He tried to claim the kingship, but with no support and no chance of a coronation in Pavia.

Charlemagne came down with an army, and his son [[Louis the Pious]] sent men, to force the Beneventan duke to submit, but his submission and promises were never kept and Arechis and his successors were ''de facto'' independent. The Beneventan dukes took the title ''prínceps'' (prince) instead of that of king.

The Lombards of southern Italy were thereafter in the anomalous position of holding land claimed by two empires: the [[Carolingian Empire]] to the north and west and the [[Byzantine Empire]] to the east. They typically made pledges and promises of tribute to the Carolingians, but effectively remained outside Frankish control. Benevento meanwhile grew to its greatest extent yet when it imposed a tribute on the [[Duchy of Naples]], which was tenuously loyal to Byzantium and even conquered the Neapolitan city of [[Amalfi]] in 838. At one point in the reign of [[Sicard of Benevento|Sicard]], Lombard control covered most of southern Italy save the very south of [[Apulia]] and [[Calabria]] and [[Naples]], with its nominally attached cities. It was during the ninth century that a strong Lombard presence became entrenched in formerly Greek Apulia. However, Sicard had opened up the south to the invasive actions of the [[Saracen]]s in his war with [[Andrew II of Naples]] and when he was assassinated in 839, Amalfi declared independence and two factions fought for power in Benevento, crippling the principality and making it susceptible to external enemies.

The civil war lasted ten years and ended with a peace treaty imposed in 849 by [[Emperor Louis II]], the only Frankish king to exercise actual sovereignty over the Lombard states. The treaty divided the kingdom into two states: the Principality of Benevento and the [[Principality of Salerno]], with its capital at [[Salerno]] on the [[Tyrrhenian Sea]].

====Southern Italy and the Arabs, 836–915====
{{Main|History of Islam in southern Italy}}
Andrew II of Naples hired Islamic mercenaries and formed a Muslim-Christian alliance for his war with Sicard of Benevento in 836; Sicard responded with other Muslim mercenaries. The Saracens initially concentrated their attacks on [[Sicily]] and Byzantine Italy, but soon [[Radelchis I of Benevento]] called in more mercenaries, who destroyed [[Capua]] in 841. [[Landulf I of Capua|Landulf the Old]] founded the present-day Capua, "New Capua", on a nearby hill. In general, the Lombard princes were less inclined to ally with the Saracens than with their Greek neighbours of Amalfi, Gaeta, Naples, and Sorrento. [[Guaifer of Salerno]], however, briefly put himself under Muslim suzerainty.

In 847 a large Muslim force seized [[Bari]], until then a Lombard [[gastald]]ate under the control of [[Pandenulf of Bari|Pandenulf]]. Saracen incursions proceeded northwards until [[Adelchis of Benevento]] sought the help of his suzerain, Louis II, who allied with the Byzantine emperor [[Basil I]] to [[Louis II's campaign against Bari (866–871)|expel the Arabs from Bari in 869]]. An Arab landing force was defeated by the emperor in 871. Adelchis and Louis remained at war until the death of Louis in 875. Adelchis regarded himself as the true successor of the Lombard kings, and in that capacity he amended the ''[[Edictum Rothari]]'', the last Lombard ruler to do so.

After the death of Louis, [[Landulf II of Capua]] briefly flirted with a Saracen alliance, but [[Pope John VIII]] convinced him to break it off. [[Guaimar I of Salerno]] fought the Saracens with Byzantine troops. Throughout this period the Lombard princes swung in allegiance from one party to another. Finally, towards 915, [[Pope John X]] managed to unite the Christian princes of southern Italy against the Saracen establishments on the [[Garigliano]] river. The Saracens were ousted from Italy in the [[Battle of the Garigliano]] in 915.

====Lombard principalities in the tenth century====
[[File:Italy 1000 AD.svg|thumb|right|250px|Italy around the turn of the millennium, showing the Lombard states in the south on the eve of the arrival of the Normans.]]
The independent state of Salerno inspired the [[List of princes of Capua|gastalds of Capua]] to move towards independence, and by the end of the century they were styling themselves "princes" and as a third Lombard state. The Capuan and Beneventan states were united by [[Atenulf I of Capua]] in 900. He subsequently declared them to be in perpetual union, and they were separated only in 982, on the death of [[Pandulf Ironhead]]. With all of the Lombard south under his control, except Salerno, Atenulf felt safe to use the title ''Princeps Gentis Langobardorum'' ("prince of the Lombard people"), which Arechis II had begun using in 774. Among Atenulf's successors the principality was ruled jointly by fathers, sons, brothers, cousins, and uncles for the greater part of the century.

Meanwhile, the prince [[Gisulf I of Salerno]] began using the title ''Langobardorum Gentis Princeps'' around mid-century, but the ideal of a united Lombard principality was realised only in December 977, when Gisulf died and his domains were inherited by Pandulf Ironhead, who temporarily held almost all Italy south of Rome and brought the Lombards into an alliance with the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. His territories were divided upon his death.
[[File:South Italy AD 1039-1047-es.svg|300px|thumb|left|The Principate of Salerno under [[Guaimar IV]] (1027-1052) controlled all southern continental Italy (includind Naples as a "vassal" duchy)]]
[[Landulf II of Benevento|Landulf the Red]] of Benevento and Capua tried to conquer the principality of Salerno with the help of [[John III of Naples]], but with the aid of [[Mastalus I of Amalfi]], Gisulf repulsed him. The rulers of Benevento and Capua made several attempts on [[Catapanate of Italy|Byzantine Apulia]] at this time, but late in the century, the Byzantines, under the stiff rule of [[Basil II]], gained ground on the Lombards.

According to the ''Catalogum Principum Salerni'', the Prince of "langobard Salerno" [[Guaimar IV]] ruled for 34 years and 17 days. He conquered and was: [[Duke of Amalfi]] (1039&ndash;1052), [[Duke of Gaeta]] (1040&ndash;1041), and [[Prince of Capua]] (1038&ndash;1047) in [[Southern Italy]] over the period from 1027 to 1052.  He was an important figure in the final phase of [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] authority in the [[Mezzogiorno]] and [[Norman conquest of southern Italy|the commencement of Norman power]]. Guaimar's legacy includes his dominion, either by conquest or otherwise, over Salerno, Amalfi, Gaeta, Naples, Sorrento, Apulia, Calabria, and Capua at one time or another. He was the last great Lombard prince of the south, but perhaps he is best known for his character, which the [[John Julius Norwich|Lord Norwich]] sums up this way: "...without once breaking a promise or betraying a trust. Up to the day he died his honour and good faith had never once been called in question.".<ref>Norwich, 88.</ref> Salerno in these decades was the main and more rich city (called "Opulenta Salernum") in southern Italy, even because of the "Schola Medica Salernitana" (the first "university" of medicine in Europe).

After the assassination of Guaimar IV the Principality of Salerno started to be dominated more and more by the Normans: in 1077 ended the history of the Langobards in Italy when this Principality was conquered by the Norman [[Robert Guiscard]].

The principal source for the history of the Lombard principalities in this period is the ''[[Chronicon Salernitanum]]'', composed late in the tenth century at Salerno.

====Norman conquest, 1017–1078====
{{Main|Norman conquest of southern Italy}}
The diminished Beneventan principality soon lost its independence to the [[papacy]] and declined in importance until it fell in the [[Norman conquest of southern Italy]]. The Normans, first called in by the Lombards to fight the Byzantines for control of [[Apulia]] and [[Calabria]] (under the likes of [[Melus of Bari]] and [[Arduin the Lombard|Arduin]], among others), had become rivals for hegemony in the south. The Salernitan principality experienced a golden age under [[Guaimar III of Salerno|Guaimar III]] and [[Guaimar IV of Salerno|Guaimar IV]], but under [[Gisulf II of Salerno|Gisulf II]], the principality shrank to insignificance and fell in 1078 to [[Robert Guiscard]], who had married Gisulf's sister [[Sichelgaita]]. The Capua principality was hotly contested during the reign of the hated [[Pandulf IV of Capua|Pandulf IV]], the ''Wolf of the Abruzzi'', and, under his son, it fell, almost without contest, to the Norman [[Richard I of Aversa|Richard Drengot]] (1058). The Capuans revolted against Norman rule in 1091, expelling Richard's grandson [[Richard II of Capua|Richard II]] and setting up one [[Lando IV of Capua|Lando IV]].

Capua was again put under Norman rule after the [[Siege of Capua]] of 1098 and the city quickly declined in importance under a series of ineffective Norman rulers. The independent status of these Lombard states is in general attested by the ability of their rulers to switch suzerains at will. Often the legal vassal of the pope or the emperor (either Byzantine or [[Holy Roman Emperor|Holy Roman]]), they were the real power-brokers in the south until their erstwhile allies the Normans rose to preeminence.