Roman Catholic Diocese of Metz
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Metz is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. In the Middle Ages it was a prince-bishopric of the Holy Roman Empire, a de facto independent state ruled by the prince-bishop who had the ex officio title of count, it was annexed to France by King Henry II in 1552. It formed part of the province of the Three Bishoprics. Since 1801 the Metz diocese has been a public-law corporation of cult. Metz was a bishopric by 535, but may date from earlier than that. Metz's Basilica of Saint-Pierre-aux-Nonnains is built on the site of a Roman basilica, a location for the one of the earliest Christian congregations of France; the diocese was under the metropolitan of Trier. After the French Revolution, the last prince bishop, Cardinal Louis de Montmorency-Laval fled and the old organization of the diocese was broken up. With the Concordat of 1801 the diocese was re-established covering the departments of Moselle and Forêts, was put under the Archdiocese of Besançon.
In 1817 the parts of the diocese which became Prussian territory were transferred to the Diocese of Trier. In 1871 the core areas of the diocese became part of Germany, in 1874 Metz diocese reconfined to the borders of the new German Lorraine department became subject to the Holy See; as of 1910 there were about 533,000 Catholics living in the diocese of Metz. When the 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State was enacted, doing away with public-law religious corporations, this did not apply to the Metz diocese being within Germany. After World War I it was returned to France, but the concordatary status has been preserved since as part of the Local law in Alsace-Moselle. In 1940, after the French defeat, it came under German occupation till 1944 when it became French again. Together with the Archdiocese of Strasbourg the bishop of the see is nominated by the French government according to the concordat of 1801; the concordat further provides for the clergy being paid by the government and Roman Catholic pupils in public schools can receive religious instruction according to diocesan guide lines.
According to the traditional list of bishops, the current bishop Pierre René Ferdinand Raffin is the 105th bishop of Metz. According to this list, the first bishop was Saint Clement sent by Saint Peter himself to Metz; the first authenticated bishop however is Sperus or Hesperus, bishop in 535. Many of the bishops were declared holy or blessed, like Saint Arnulf, Saint Chrodegang or Saint Agilram. Adelbero was bishop of Metz in 933 AD; the bishop of Metz is appointed by the President of the Republic. Willibrord Benzler, O. S. B. 1901–1919 Jean-Baptiste Pelt, 1919–1937 Joseph-Jean Heintz, 1938–1958 Paul Joseph Schmitt, 1958–1987 Pierre René Ferdinand Raffin, O. P. 1987–2013 Jean-Christophe Lagleize, 2013–presentAuxiliary bishopsJean-Pierre Vuillemin, appointed 8 January 2019 Catholic Church in France Website of the diocese Catholic hierarchy Herbermann, Charles, ed.. "Metz". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company
History of the Lombards
The History of the Lombards or the History of the Langobards is the chief work by Paul the Deacon, written in the late 8th century. This incomplete history in six books was written after 787 and at any rate no than 796, maybe at Montecassino; the history covers the story of the Lombards from their mythical origins to the death of King Liutprand in 743, contains much information about the Eastern Roman empire, the Franks, others. The story is told from the point of view of a Lombard patriot and is valuable for its treatment of the relations between the Franks and the Lombards; as his primary sources, Paul used the document called the Origo gentis Langobardorum, the Liber pontificalis, the lost history of Secundus of Trent, the lost annals of Benevento. According to a study made by Laura Pani in 2000, there are 115 surviving codices of Paul's history. A popular work in the Middle Ages, as indicated by the number of copies and their dissemination throughout Western Europe, more than twenty of these manuscripts predate the 11th century while another eighty or more were copied later.
The relations between these manuscripts were studied by Georg Waitz, who in 1876 identified 11 different families of the Historia Langobardorum. The oldest manuscript is the Palimpsest of Assisi, written in the uncial script towards the end of the 8th century immediately after Paul's work was completed; this palimpsest is, far from complete, as it contains only parts of books II and V of Paul's history. The earliest complete manuscript is the Codex Sangallensis 635 written sometime between the 8th and the 10th centuries and designated by Waitz as F1. According to Waitz, F1's age makes it the most reliable of the Historia's codices, a view, challenged by Antonio Zanella and Dante Bianchi, both of whom hold that the F1 does not reflect Paul's original. Paul's account was accepted by subsequent writers, was continued, was first printed in Paris in 1514. Among the printed editions of the Latin text, the most authoritative is that edited by Ludwig Konrad Bethmann and Georg Waitz and published in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica.
Scriptores rerum langobardicarum et Italicarum. It has been translated into English, French, Spanish, Italian and Croatian, the English translation being by W. D. Foulke, the German by O. Abel and R. Jacobi, the Polish by Ignacy Lewandowski, Henryk Pietruszczak, the Spanish by P. Herrera, the Swedish by Helge Weimarck. Several versions of the English translation are available. L. Domenichi, Paulo Diacono della Chiesa d'Aquileia della Origine e Fatti dé Re Longobardi A. Viviani, Dell' origine e de' fatti de' Longobardi, 2 vols. G. S. Uberti, De' fatti de' Longobardi, reprinted in the Biblioteca Popolare Sonzogno M. Felisatti, Storia dei Longobardi F. Roncoroni, Storia dei Longobardi E. Bartolini, Historia Langobardorum with Latin text and translation by A. Giacomini A. Zanella, Storia dei Longobardi L. Capo, Storia dei Longobardi Osmont, Jean Baptiste Louis. Dictionnaire typographique, historique et critique. Paris. Pp. 244–245. McKitterick, Rosamond. History and Memory in the Carolingian World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Doi:10.1017/CBO9780511617003. Bibliography in «Geschichtsquellen des deutschen Mittelalters» repertory. Attribution: This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed.. "Paulus Diaconus". Encyclopædia Britannica. 20. Cambridge University Press. Pp. 964–965. Paul the Deacon. Peters, Edward, ed. History of the Lombards. Translated by Foulke, William Dudley. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0812210794. Paul the Deacon. History of the Lombards. Translated by Foulke, William Dudley. University of Pennsylvania. — A facsimile published online by the Internet Archive Paul the Deacon. History of the Lombards. Translated by Foulke, William Dudley. University of Pennsylvania. — A machine readable version published online by the New Northvegr Center Paul the Deacon. History of the Lombards. Translated by Foulke, William Dudley. University of Pennsylvania. — Machine readable online Latin-English facing text, published by germanicmythology.com "Resources for Researchers into Germanic Mythology, Norse Mythology, Northern European Folklore" Schlager, Patricius.
"Paulus Diaconus". In Herbermann, Charles. Catholic Encyclopedia. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Works of Paulus Diaconus at Bibliotheca Augustana Paul's Historia Langobardorum at the Institut für Mittelalterforschung
Valens
Valens was Eastern Roman Emperor from 364 to 378. He was given the eastern half of the empire by his brother Valentinian I after the latter's accession to the throne. Valens was defeated and killed in the Battle of Adrianople, which marked the beginning of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Valens and his brother Valentinian were both born in Cibalae in southern Pannonia into an Illyrian family in 328 and 321 respectively, they had grown up on estates purchased by their father Gratian the Elder in Britain. While Valentinian had been distinguished in an active military career prior to his election, though 35 years old, had not participated in either the civil or military affairs of the empire previous to his selection as Augustus by his brother. In February 364, reigning Emperor Jovian, while hastening to Constantinople to secure his claim to the throne, died in his sleep during a stop at Dadastana, 100 miles east of Ankara. Valentinian, a tribunus scutariorum, who owed his advancement to the deceased, was elected by the legions to succeed Jovian.
He was proclaimed Augustus on 26 February, 364. It was the general opinion that Valentinian needed help to handle the cumbersome administration and military, of the large and unwieldy empire, and, on 28 March of the same year, at the express demand of the soldiers for a second Augustus, he selected his brother Valens as co-emperor in the palace of Hebdomon. Both emperors were ill, delaying them in Constantinople, but as soon as they recovered, the two Augusti travelled together through Adrianople and Naissus to Mediana, where they divided their territories. Valentinian went on to the West, where the Alemannic wars required his immediate attention. Valens obtained the eastern half of the Empire: Greece, Egypt and Anatolia as far east as Persia. Valens was back in his capital of Constantinople by December 364. Valens inherited the eastern portion of an empire that had retreated from most of its holdings in Mesopotamia and Armenia because of a treaty that his predecessor Jovian had made with Shapur II of the Sassanid Empire.
Valens's first priority after the winter of 365 was to move east in hopes of shoring up the situation. By the autumn of 365 he had reached Cappadocian Caesarea when he learned that a usurper, Julian's maternal cousin, named Procopius, had proclaimed himself in Constantinople. Procopius had commanded an auxiliary northern contingent of his relative's army during the Persian expedition and had not been present when Jovian was named his successor in the camp beyond the Tigris. Though Jovian, aside from depriving him of his command, took no further measures against this potential rival, Procopius fell under the suspicion of Valentinian upon the latter's election. After narrowly escaping arrest, he went into hiding but reemerged some time at Constantinople where he was able to convince two Gallic legions passing through the capital to proclaim him emperor on 28 September 365. Though his early reception in the city seems to have been lukewarm, Procopius won favor by using propaganda to his advantage: he sealed off the city to outside reports and began spreading rumors that Valentinian had died.
This program met with some success among soldiers loyal to the Constantinians and eastern intellectuals who had begun to feel persecuted by the Valentinians. Valens' dismissal shortly before of Julian's popular minister Sallustius contributed to the general disaffection and to the acceptability of a revolution. Valens, faltered; when news arrived that Procopius had revolted, Valens considered abdication and even suicide. After he steadied his resolve to fight, Valens's efforts to forestall Procopius were hampered by the fact that most of his troops had crossed the Cilician gates into Syria when he learned of the revolt. Procopius gained control of the provinces of Asia and Bithynia, winning increasing support for the insurrection. However, Valens recovered, reappointed Sallustius, dispatched the available legions under veteran generals and Arbetio, to march on Procopius. In the spring of 366 Valens' lieutenants encountered and routed Procopius at the battle of Thyatira, again shortly after at Nacoleia.
On both occasions, Procopius was deserted by his own following in fear of their Imperial adversaries' formidable commanders. Procopius was delivered to justice by members of his own escort, executed on 27 May, his head was sent to Valentinian in Trier for inspection. During Procopius's insurrection, the Gothic king Ermanaric, who ruled a powerful kingdom north of the Danube from the Euxine to the Baltic Sea, had engaged to supply him with troops for the struggle against Valens; the Gothic army numbering 30,000 men, arrived too late to help Procopius, but invaded Thrace and began plundering the farms and vineyards of the province. Valens, marching north after defeating Procopius, surrounded them with a superior force and forced them to surrender. Ermanaric protested, when Valens, encouraged by Valentinian, refused to make atonement to the Goths for his conduct, war was declared. In the spring of 367, Valens crossed the Danube and attacked the Visigoths under Athanaric, Ermanaric's tributary; the Goths fled into the Carpathian Mountains, the campaign ended with no decisive conclusion.
The following spring, a Danube flood prevented Valens from crossing.
Lake Como
Lake Como is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. It has an area of 146 square kilometres, making it the third-largest lake in Italy, after Lake Garda and Lake Maggiore. At over 400 metres deep, it is one of the deepest lakes in Europe, the bottom of the lake is more than 200 metres below sea level. Lake Como has been a popular retreat for aristocrats and wealthy people since Roman times, a popular tourist attraction with many artistic and cultural gems, it has many villas and palaces such as Villa Olmo, Villa Serbelloni, Villa Carlotta. Many famous people have homes on the shores of Lake Como. One of its particularity is its characteristic "Y" shape, which forms the so-called "Larian Triangle", with the little town of Canzo as its capital. In 2014, The Huffington Post called it the most beautiful lake in the world for its microclimate and environment with prestigious villas and villages; the lake's name in Latin is Larius, Italianised as Lario, but this name is used. In guidebooks the lake may be variously referred to as Lake of Como, or Como Lake.
Its name comes from the city of Como, known to the Romans as Comum. While the city of Como is referred to as Como, the lake is never referred to by this name; this is not true of another lake in Italy, Lake Garda, where Garda may refer to either the town fronting the lake, or the lake. The lake is shaped much like an inverted letter "Y"; the northern branch begins at the town of Colico, while the towns of Como and Lecco sit at the ends of the southwestern and southeastern branches respectively. The small towns of Bellagio and Lierna are situated at the intersection of the three branches of the lake: a triangular boat service operates between them. Lake Como is fed by the Adda River, which enters the lake near Colico and flows out at Lecco; this geological conformation makes the southwestern branch a dead end, so Como, unlike Lecco, is flooded. The mountainous pre-alpine territory between the two southern arms of the lake is known as the Larian Triangle, or Triangolo lariano; the source of the river Lambro is here.
At the centre of the triangle, the town of Canzo is the seat of the Comunità montana del Triangolo lariano, an association of the 31 municipalities that represent the 71,000 inhabitants of the area. Lake Como weather is humid subtropical. In the winter, the lake helps to maintain a higher temperature in the surrounding region. Average daily temperatures range from about 3.7 °C in January to 23.4 °C in July, according to historical weather data from Como. Water temperatures can reach an average of 24 °C during the month of July. Snowfall is erratic and affects the higher elevations. Rainfall is lowest during the winter months; as a tourist destination, Lake Como is popular for its landscapes and spas. It is a venue for sailing and kitesurfing. In 1818 Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote to Thomas Love Peacock: "This lake exceeds anything I beheld in beauty, with the exception of the arbutus islands of Killarney, it is long and narrow, has the appearance of a mighty river winding among the mountains and the forests".
In the area surrounding Lake Como there are several farms which produce goods such as honey, olive oil, milk and salamis. Visitors can find lists of these farms and visit the farm itself in person to make their purchases. In 2018, both a fashion event of the Italian luxury label Dolce and Gabbana and a Netflix production starring Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler took place at Lake Como. Argegno is the studio village of watercolour artist Paul Wright, he is the author of the Italian Trilogy series of books. The first book'An Italian Home’ Settling by Lake Como published in 2011 ISBN 978-1-980522-64-5; the sequel is'An Italian Village.' A Perspective of Life Beside Lake Como ISBN 978-1-980566-46-5 and the third book is ‘Cats Do Eat Spaghetti’ Living with our Rescue Cats ISBN 978-1-5218-0313-4. The lake is well known for the attractive villas that have been built there since Roman times, when Pliny the Younger built the Comedia and the Tragedia resorts. Many villas on the lake shores have admirable gardens that benefit from the mild climate induced by the stabilising presence of 22.5 km³ of lake water and are fit to host tropical plants.
Villa Carlotta was built for the Milanese Marquis Giorgio Clerici in 1690 and occupies a site of over 7 ha at Tremezzo, facing the Bellagio peninsula. An Italian garden was laid out at the same time; the villa was sold to powerful banker and Napoleonic politician Giovanni Battista Sommariva. Stendhal was his guest in 1818, his visit is recalled at the start of La Chartreuse de Parme. In 1843 it was purchased by Princess Marianne of Nassau as a wedding present for her daughter Carlotta, after whom the villa is now named; the latter, together with her husband Georg II of Saxen-Meiningen, laid out the woodland landscape park in Romantic style. The villa today includes a museum of agricultural implements as well as important works of sculpture by Sommariva's friend Antonio Canova and by Luigi Acquisti. Villa d'Este, in Cernobbio, was built in 1568 by a native of the town. In 1816–1817 the villa was home to Caroline of Brunswick, estranged wife of the Prince of Wales and shortly to become Queen Consort of King George IV of
Pavia
Pavia is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 kilometres south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,000. The city was the capital of the Kingdom of the Lombards from 572 to 774. Pavia is the capital of the fertile province of Pavia, known for agricultural products including wine, rice and dairy products. Although there are a number of industries located in the suburbs, these tend not to disturb the peaceful atmosphere of the town, it is home to the ancient University of Pavia, which together with the IUSS, Ghislieri College, Borromeo College, Nuovo College, Santa Caterina College and the EDiSU, belongs to the Pavia Study System. Pavia is the episcopal seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Pavia; the city possesses many artistic and cultural treasures, including several important churches and museums, such as the well-known Certosa di Pavia. The Central Hospital of Pavia is one of the most important hospitals in Italy.
Dating back to pre-Roman times, the town of Pavia known as Ticinum, was a municipality and an important military site under the Roman Empire. It was said by Pliny the Elder to have been founded by the Laevi and Marici, two Ligurian tribes, while Ptolemy attributes it to the Insubres; the Roman city most began as a small military camp, built by the consul Publius Cornelius Scipio in 218 BC to guard a wooden bridge he had built over the river Ticinum, on his way to search for Hannibal, rumoured to have managed to lead an army over the Alps and into Italy. The forces of Rome and Carthage ran into each other soon thereafter, the Romans suffered the first of many crushing defeats at the hands of Hannibal, with the consul himself losing his life; the bridge was destroyed, but the fortified camp, which at the time was the most forward Roman military outpost in the Po Valley, somehow survived the long Second Punic War, evolved into a garrison town. Its importance grew with the extension of the Via Aemilia from Ariminum to the Po River, which it crossed at Placentia and there forked, one branch going to Mediolanum and the other to Ticinum, thence to Laumellum where it divided once more, one branch going to Vercellae - and thence to Eporedia and Augusta Praetoria - and the other to Valentia - and thence to Augusta Taurinorum.
It was at Pavia in 476 AD that the reign of Romulus Augustulus, the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire ended and Roman rule ceased in Italy. Romulus Augustulus, while considered the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, was a usurper of the imperial throne. Though being the emperor, Romulus Augustulus was the mouthpiece for his father Orestes, the person who exercised power and governed Italy during Romulus Augustulus's short reign. Ten months after Romulus Augustulus's reign began, Orestes's soldiers under the command of one of his officers named Odoacer and killed Orestes in the city of Pavia in 476; the rioting that took place as part of Odoacer's uprising against Orestes sparked fires that burnt much of Pavia to the point that Odoacer, as the new king of Italy, had to suspend the taxes for the city for five years so that it could finance its recovery. Without his father, Romulus Augustulus was powerless. Instead of killing Romulus Augustulus, Odoacer pensioned him off at 6,000 solidi a year before declaring the end of the Western Roman Empire and himself king of the new Kingdom of Italy.
Odoacer's reign as king of Italy did not last long, because in 488 the Ostrogothic peoples led by their king Theoderic invaded Italy and waged war against Odoacer. After fighting for 5 years, Theoderic defeated Odoacer and on March 15, 493, assassinated Odoacer at a banquet meant to negotiate a peace between the two rulers. With the establishment of the Ostrogoth kingdom based in northern Italy, Theoderic began his vast program of public building. Pavia was among several cities that Theodoric chose to expand, he began the construction of the vast palace complex that would become the residence of Lombard monarchs several decades later. Theoderic commissioned the building of the Roman-styled amphitheatre and bath complex in Pavia. Near the end of Theoderic's reign the Christian philosopher Boethius was imprisoned in one of Pavia's churches from 522 to 525 before his execution for treason, it was during Boethius's captivity in Pavia that he wrote his seminal work the Consolation of Philosophy. Pavia played an important role in the war between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Ostrogoths that began in 535.
After the Eastern Roman general Belisarius's victory over the Ostrogothic leader Wittigis in 540 and the loss of most of the Ostrogoth lands in Italy, Pavia was among the last centres of Ostrogothic resistance that continued the war and opposed Eastern Roman rule. After the capitulation of the Ostrogothic leadership in 540 more than a thousand men remained garrisoned in Pavia and Verona dedicated to opposing Eastern Roman rule; the resilience of Ostrogoth strongholds like Pavia against invading forces allowed pockets of Ostrogothic rule to limp along until being defeated in 561. Pavia and the peninsula of Italy didn't remain long under the rule of the Eastern Roman Empire, for in 568, a new people invaded Italy; this new invading people in 568
Alboin
Alboin was king of the Lombards from about 560 until 572. During his reign the Lombards ended their migrations by settling in Italy, the northern part of which Alboin conquered between 569 and 572, he had a lasting effect on the Pannonian Basin. The period of Alboin's reign as king in Pannonia following the death of his father, was one of confrontation and conflict between the Lombards and their main neighbors, the Gepids; the Gepids gained the upper hand, but in 567, thanks to his alliance with the Avars, Alboin inflicted a decisive defeat on his enemies, whose lands the Avars subsequently occupied. The increasing power of his new neighbours caused Alboin some unease however, he therefore decided to leave Pannonia for Italy, hoping to take advantage of the Byzantine Empire's reduced ability to defend its territory in the wake of the Gothic War. After gathering a large coalition of peoples, Alboin crossed the Julian Alps in 568, entering an undefended Italy, he took control of most of Venetia and Liguria.
In 569, unopposed, he took Milan. Pavia offered stiff resistance however, was taken only after a siege lasting three years. During that time Alboin turned his attention to Tuscany, but signs of factionalism among his supporters and Alboin's diminishing control over his army began to manifest themselves. Alboin was assassinated on June 572, in a coup d'état instigated by the Byzantines, it was organized by the king's foster brother, with the support of Alboin's wife, daughter of the Gepid king whom Alboin had killed some years earlier. The coup failed in the face of opposition from a majority of the Lombards, who elected Cleph as Alboin's successor, forcing Helmichis and Rosamund to flee to Ravenna under imperial protection. Alboin's death deprived the Lombards of the only leader who could have kept the newborn Germanic entity together, the last in the line of hero-kings who had led the Lombards through their migrations from the vale of the Elbe to Italy. For many centuries following his death Alboin's heroism and his success in battle were celebrated in Saxon and Bavarian epic poetry.
The Lombards under King Wacho had migrated towards the east into Pannonia, taking advantage of the difficulties facing the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy following the death of its founder, Theodoric, in 526. Wacho's death in about 540 brought his son Walthari to the throne, but, as the latter was still a minor, the kingdom was governed in his stead by Alboin's father, Audoin, of the Gausian clan. Seven years Walthari died, giving Audoin the opportunity to crown himself and overthrow the reigning Lethings. Alboin was born in the 530s in Pannonia, the son of Audoin and his wife, Rodelinda, she may have been the niece of King Theodoric and betrothed to Audoin through the mediation of Emperor Justinian. Like his father, Alboin was raised a pagan, although Audoin had at one point attempted to gain Byzantine support against his neighbours by professing himself a Christian. Alboin took as his first wife the Christian Chlothsind, daughter of the Frankish King Chlothar; this marriage, which took place soon after the death of the Frankish ruler Theudebald in 555, is thought to reflect Audoin's decision to distance himself from the Byzantines, traditional allies of the Lombards, lukewarm when it came to supporting Audoin against the Gepids.
The new Frankish alliance was important because of the Franks' known hostility to the Byzantine empire, providing the Lombards with more than one option. However, the Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire interprets events and sources differently, believing that Alboin married Chlothsind when a king in or shortly before 561, the year of Chlothar's death. Alboin first distinguished himself on the battlefield in a clash with the Gepids. At the Battle of Asfeld, he killed Turismod, son of the Gepid king Thurisind, in a victory that resulted in the Emperor Justinian's intervention to maintain equilibrium between the rival regional powers. After the battle, according to a tradition reported by Paul the Deacon, to be granted the right to sit at his father's table, Alboin had to ask for the hospitality of a foreign king and have him donate his weapons, as was customary. For this initiation, he went to the court of Thurisind, where the Gepid king gave him Turismod's arms. Walter Goffart believes it is probable that in this narrative Paul was making use of an oral tradition, is sceptical that it can be dismissed as a typical topos of an epic poem.
Alboin came to the throne after the death of his father, sometime between 560 and 565. As was customary among the Lombards, Alboin took the crown after an election by the tribe's freemen, who traditionally selected the king from the dead sovereign's clan. Shortly afterwards, in 565, a new war erupted with the Gepids, now led by Thurisind's son; the cause of the conflict is uncertain. An account of the war by the Byzantine Theophylact Simocatta sentimentalises the reasons behind the conflict, claiming it originated with Alboin's vain courting and subsequent kidnapping of Cunimund's daughter Rosamund, that Alboin proceeded to marry; the tale is treated with scepticism by Walter Goffart, who observes that it conflicts with the Origo Gentis Langobardorum, where she was captured only after the death of her father. The Gepids obtained the support of
Carolingian Renaissance
The Carolingian Renaissance was the first of three medieval renaissances, a period of cultural activity in the Carolingian Empire. It occurred from the late 8th century to the 9th century, which took inspiration from the Christian Roman Empire of the fourth century. During this period, there was an increase of literature, the arts, jurisprudence, liturgical reforms, scriptural studies; the Carolingian Renaissance occurred during the reigns of Carolingian rulers Charlemagne and Louis the Pious. It was supported by the scholars of the Carolingian court, notably Alcuin of York. Charlemagne's Admonitio generalis and Epistola de litteris colendis served as manifestos; the effects of this cultural revival were limited to a small group of court literati. According to John Contreni, "it had a spectacular effect on education and culture in Francia, a debatable effect on artistic endeavors, an unmeasurable effect on what mattered most to the Carolingians, the moral regeneration of society"; the secular and ecclesiastical leaders of the Carolingian Renaissance made efforts to write better Latin, to copy and preserve patristic and classical texts, to develop a more legible, classicizing script.
They applied rational ideas to social issues for the first time in centuries, providing a common language and writing style that enabled communication throughout most of Europe. As Pierre Riché points out, the expression "Carolingian Renaissance" does not imply that Western Europe was barbaric or obscurantist before the Carolingian era; the centuries following the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West did not see an abrupt disappearance of the ancient schools, from which emerged Martianus Capella and Boethius, essential icons of the Roman cultural heritage in the Middle Ages, thanks to which the disciplines of liberal arts were preserved. The 7th century saw the "Isidorian Renaissance" in the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania in which sciences flourished and the integration of Christian and pre-Christian thought occurred, while the spread of Irish monastic schools over Europe laid the groundwork for the Carolingian Renaissance. There were numerous factors in this cultural expansion, the most obvious of, that Charlemagne's uniting of most of Western Europe brought about peace and stability, which set the stage for prosperity.
This period marked an economic revival in Western Europe, following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Local economies in the West had degenerated into subsistence agriculture by the early seventh century, with towns functioning as places of gift-exchange for the elite. By the late seventh century, developed urban settlements had emerged, populated by craftsmen and boaters and boasting street grids, artisanal production as well as regional and long-distance trade. A prime example of this type of emporium was Dorestad; the development of the Carolingian economy was fueled by the efficient organization and exploitation of labor on large estates, producing a surplus of grain and salt. In turn, inter-regional trade in these commodities facilitated the expansion of towns. Archaeological data shows the continuation of this upward trend in the early eighth century; the zenith of the early Carolingian economy was reached from 775 to 830, coinciding with the largest surpluses of the period, large-scale building of churches as well as overpopulation and three famines that showed the limits of the system.
After a period of disruption from 830 to 850, caused by civil wars and Viking raids, economic development resumed in the 850s, with the emporiums disappearing and being replaced by fortified commercial towns. One of the major causes of the sudden economic growth was the slave trade. Following the rise of the Arab empires, the Arab elites created a major demand for slaves with European slaves prized; as a result of Charlemagne's wars of conquest in Eastern Europe, a steady supply of captured Slavs, Avars and Danes reached Jewish merchants in Western Europe, who exported the slaves via Ampurias and the Pyrenees passes to Muslim Spain and other parts of the Arab world. The market for slaves was so lucrative that it immediately transformed the long-distance trade of the European economies; the slave trade enabled the West to re-engage with the Muslim and Eastern Roman empires so that other industries, such as textiles, were able to grow in Europe as well. Kenneth Clark was of the view that by means of the Carolingian Renaissance, Western civilization survived by the skin of its teeth.
However, the use of the term renaissance to describe this period is contested, notably by Lynn Thorndike, due to the majority of changes brought about by this period being confined entirely to the clergy, due to the period lacking the wide-ranging social movements of the Italian Renaissance. Instead of being a rebirth of new cultural movements, the period was more an attempt to recreate the previous culture of the Roman Empire; the Carolingian Renaissance in retrospect has some of the character of a false dawn, in that its cultural gains were dissipated within a couple of generations, a perception voiced by Walahfrid Strabo, in his introduction to Einhard's Life of Charlemagne, summing up the generation of renewal: Charlemagne was able to offer the cultureless and, I might say completely unenlightened territory of the realm which God had entrusted to him, a new enthusiasm for all human knowledge. In its earlier state of barbarousness, his kingdom had been hardly touched at all by any such zeal, but now
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Paulus Diaconus". Encyclopædia Britannica. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 964–965. Endnotes:
Schlager, Patricius (1911). . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Schlager, Patricius (1911). 
