11.25.05
Posted in History of Varese at 1:09 pm by casavarese
King Albion The Lombards Varese Italian Lakes
King Alboin, king of the Lombard’s, and conqueror of northern Italy, succeeded his father Audoin about in the year 565. The Lombard’s were at that time settled in the plain of eastern Austria and Slovenia. In alliance with the Avars, an Asiatic people who had invaded central Europe, Alboin defeated the Lombard’s’ hereditary enemies, the Gepidae, a powerful enemy on his eastern frontier, he killed their new king Cunimund. Legends tell us that he fashioned the skull of King Cunimund into a drinking-cup. To toast his wedding to Rosamund the daughter of King Cunimund.
The Eurasian Avars were a nomadic people of Eurasia who migrated into central and Eastern Europe in the 6th century. In April, 568, on the a invitation of Narses, who was irritated by the treatment he had received from the emperor Justin II, King Alboin invaded Italy. Taking with him the women and children of the tribe and all their possessions, along with 20,000 Saxon allies and the subject tribe of the Gepidae, he crossed the great plain at the head of the Adriatic into Italy.
King Albion’s overran Venetia and the wide district which we now call Lombardy, he took Milan in 569, meeting with little resistance till he came to the city of Pavia, which for three years resisted and kept the Lombard’s at bay. Once conquered the Lombard’s named Pavia their capital. Refugees fleeing from them go on to found Venice.
When the Lombard’s met with resistance, retribution was swift and barbaric beyond anything Italy had experienced before. The bishops, who were virtually the leaders of the late antique Roman cities, fled, or collaborated with the barbarians for better treatment of their people. During the siege of Pavia, King Alboin was also engaged in other parts of Italy, and at Pavia’s capitulation he was then master of all Lombardy, Piedmont and Tuscany, as well as of the regions which afterwards went by the name of the duchies of Spoleto and Benevento.
In 572, King Alboin fell victim to the revenge of his wife Rosamund, the daughter of the king of the Gepidae, whose skull Alboin had turned into a drinking cup, which at times he forced Rosamund to drink from. Rosamund had him assassinated by his chamberlain Peredeo, She then fled to the protection of the Byzantine representative at Ravenna.
In these few years the Lombard’s established themselves in the north of Italy, but they had little practice in governing large provinces. Lombard dukes’ were established in all the strongholds and passes, and this arrangement became increasingly characteristic of the Lombard settlement. Their power extended across the Apennines into Liguria and Tuscany, and southwards to the outlying Lombard dukedoms of Spoleto and Benevento. After his death and the short reign of his successor Cleph the Lombard’s remained for more than ten years without a king, ruled by the various dukes.
Italian Lakes Tourist Information Guides – Tourism in Varese.
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11.24.05
Posted in History of Varese at 6:48 pm by casavarese
Lombard History Italian Lakes
The Lombard’s were a nomadic Germanic tribal people originally from Scandinavia that entered the late Roman Empire. Their own history tells us how they left Scandinavia under leaders such as Ibor and settled in central Europe, where they were recorded by Tacitus as early as 98 CE.
The Lombard’s were renowned for there bravery in battle and were feared by the surrounding powerful nations. In 568 they invaded northern Italy under their king Alboin, but were unsuccessful at conquering any city with battlements. Unable to breach the cities they settled for what they could find in the countryside and they established there new capital Pavia. After the death of King Alboin and his successor, the Lombard’s were unable to choose a king for more than 10 years, during this time the various regions were ruled by dukes.
When they settled in Italy, many Lombard’s remained pagan, while some were converted Arian Christians. This affected relations with the Catholic Church, straining the ties with Rome. Gradually, over time, they adopted Roman titles, names, and traditions, and converted to the catholic faith. Aryanism was a Christian view held by followers of Arius in the early Christian Church, claiming that Jesus Christ and God the Father were not always contemporary, seeing the Son as a divine being, created by the Father.
The last Lombard to rule as king of the Lombard’s was Desiderius, who ruled until 774, when Charlemagne not only conquered the Lombard kingdom, but also took the title King of the Lombard’s. Charlemagne took part of the Lombard territory and created the Papal States.
The Lombardy region in Italy, which includes the cities of Varese, Bergamo and Milan, is full of reminders of the presence of the Lombard people Much of our knowledge of the early history of the Lombard people comes from Paul the Deacon’s History of the Lombard’s, written in the late 8th century. A legend recorded by Paul the Deacon, tells us that their name was derived from a joke played on Odin by his wife Frige. She told the Lombard women to tie their hair in front of their faces and when Odin saw them he asked about the long beards. Then Frigg proclaimed that Odin had named them long beards. Historians believe the name was derived from the name of a preferred weapon of the Lombard’s in war, the “long halberd” or long-bladed axe.
Italian Lakes Tourist Information Guides – Tourism in Varese.
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11.18.05
Posted in History of Varese at 10:11 pm by casavarese
Torre Velate Varese Italian Lakes
The tower of Velate was built in the 11th century to protect the road towards Lake Maggiore and the village of Velate. The Village was fortified in the late-Roman times (Castrum de Vellate).
The tower was destroyed during the war between Milan and Como in the 12th century. The original four-side tower was imposing with 5 levels at over 25 meters high.
Today it only has one complete side, reinforced by the staircase built into the tower, and the remains of another side.
Italian Lakes Tourist Information Guides – Tourism in Varese.
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