Duke (Lombard) in the context of Kingdom of Italy (Lombard)


Within the Kingdom of the Lombards, dukes held significant power as they traditionally elected the king, and the kingdom itself was structured as a collection of semi-autonomous duchies. Attempts to establish a hereditary monarchy were unsuccessful, reinforcing the dukes' central role in governance.

⭐ In the context of the Kingdom of Italy (Lombard), the role of a Duke was primarily characterized by…

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⭐ Core Definition: Duke (Lombard)

Among the Lombards, the duke or dux was the man who acted as political and military commander of a set of "military families" (the Fara), irrespective of any territorial appropriation.

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In the context of the Kingdom of Italy (Lombard), the role of a Duke was primarily characterized by…
HINT: The highest-ranking aristocrats, the dukes, were responsible for electing the king of the Lombards, and efforts to create a hereditary monarchy consistently failed, demonstrating their continued influence.

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Duke (Lombard) in the context of Kingdom of the Lombards

The Kingdom of the Lombards, also known as the Lombard Kingdom and later as the Kingdom of all Italy (Latin: Regnum totius Italiae), was an early medieval state established by the Lombards, a Germanic people, on the Italian Peninsula in the latter part of the 6th century. The king was traditionally elected by the very highest-ranking aristocrats, the dukes, as several attempts to establish a hereditary dynasty failed. The kingdom was subdivided into a varying number of duchies, ruled by semi-autonomous dukes, which were in turn subdivided into gastaldates at the municipal level. The capital of the kingdom and the center of its political life was Pavia in the modern northern Italian region of Lombardy.

The Lombard invasion of Italy was opposed by the Byzantine Empire, which had control of the peninsula at the time of the invasion. For most of the kingdom's history, the Byzantine-ruled Exarchate of Ravenna and Duchy of Rome separated the northern Lombard duchies, collectively known as Langobardia Maior, from the two large southern duchies of Spoleto and Benevento, which constituted Langobardia Minor. Because of this division, the southern duchies were considerably more autonomous than the smaller northern duchies.

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Duke (Lombard) in the context of Duke of Turin

Duke of Turin was the title of a line of dukes among the Lombards when they ruled Italy in the Early Middle Ages.

Several holders went on to become king, including Agilulf, Raginpert, Arioald and Aripert II.

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