Langobards or Lombards: Germanic tribe, originally living along the river Elbe but later creating a kingdom in northern Italy.
Langobards on the Elbe
The lower Elbe
Originally living on the east bank of Lower Elbe in northern Germany; the name, derived from *langaz and *bardaz, means "men with long beards"
Tombs in Hagenow prove close relations with the Roman Empire in the first half of the first century CE
c.150 CE: Decline of the number of tombs; probably people had migrated, perhaps upstream, perhaps because the Saxons from Schleswig-Holstein had started to move to the south and pushed the Langobards away
166: A group of Langobardian warriors invades the Roman province of Pannonia
After this, the Langobards disappear from the historical record. They may have been living in Bohemia
Migration
Byzantine cavalry fighting against Langobards
488: Langobard attested in Lower Austria, which is essentially depopulated
489: Conquest of the valley of the river Morava, east of Vindobona (Vienna)
Tomb at Poysdorf, Hauskirchen, Maria Ponsee: splendid horsegear
Defeated by the Heruli
508: Regained independence; king Wacho captures Vindobona and conquers parts of Pannonia
540: Death of Wacho, Audoin king; coalition with the Byzantine Empire
566: With Byzantine support, the Gepids defeat the Langobards
566/67: The Langobards conclude an alliance against the Gepids with Baian, the khagan of the Avars
567: Alboin defeats the Gepids, whose king Cunimund dies in battle; the Avars occupy the land of the Gepids and besiege the Gepid capital Sirmium, which Byzantine troops under Bonus have occupied
568: Fearing the Avars, and recognizing that the Byzantines have not yet consolidated their earlier conquests in Italy, Alboin invades Italy with a coalition of various ethnic groups, including Sarmatians, Saxons, Suebes, and surviving Gepids
Rapid conquest of northern Italy; religious tensions between the conquerors (Arians) and the conquered (Chalcedonian Christians)
Kingdom in Italy
572: Assassination of Alboinnote[Paul the Dean, History of the Langobards 2.28.]
Crisis. The Langobard noblemen divide their conquests
584: A coalition between the Byzantines and Franks forces the Langobards to elect a king, Alboin's son Authari. Authari concludes peace with the Franks and forces the noblemen to recognize his authority; he is poisoned in 590
591 Agilulf, duke of Torino, marries Authari's widow Theodolinde and is recognized as king during a meeting in Milan
