Editing Lombards (section)

====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.