Lombards, a people of Germanic descent, who were called by the Latin writers Longobardi or, more correctly, Langobardi, a name which is differently derived by different authorities. 'Long beard,' Lange Börde = 'a long fertile plain beside a river,' börde being used in that signification in the Lower Elbe district, and longa parta or barte = 'a long battle-axe,' have all been suggested as original forms of the name. The people so designated first appear in history as settled about the Lower Elbe, in Hanover and western Prussia, at the dawn of the Christian era. In the two centuries that followed they came more than once into conflict with the Romans; and then till the end of the 5th century nothing more is known about them. When next mentioned (circa 455) the Longobardi were settled in Moravia, and were tributary to the Herulians. The oppression of these masters stung them into revolt: they subdued the Herulians, and after them the Gepidæ, and established themselves as the ruling race in Pannonia. Under Alboin, their king, they invaded Italy in 568, and at the end of three years had possessed themselves of the greater part of Northern and Central Italy, Pavia being the last city to submit. They subsequently extended their power as far south as Spoleto and Benevento, both of which duchies were held by Lombard dukes. His second successor, Authari, assumed the Roman title of Flavius, and under the influence of his queen, Theodelinda, a Frankish princess, the nation began to change its Arian faith for the Catholic. The Longobardi, though never a numerous race, were distinguished above most of their Germanic brethren for their fierce love of war and their rude manners. But in Italy they soon fell under the influence of the existing civilisation: they adopted the Latin language, began to build churches and found monasteries, and gradually became assimilated with the Italians. King Rothari in 643, and his successors, embodied the legal customs of the Lombards in a code, written, however, in Latin—Leges Longobardorum. Liutprand, king from 712 to 744, made an unsuccessful attempt to subdue all Italy. His strongest opponent was the pope, who summoned the Franks to his assistance. Charlemagne in 774 overthrew the Lombard dynasty, and had himself crowned king of the Franks and the Lombards; and thenceforward the Lombards were entirely merged in the Italians. The only traces extant of the Longobard language are a few names. Their earliest historian whose works survive, Paul the Deacon, wrote in Latin. See LOMBARDY.
The 'Lombards' in England.—In the 13th century Italian merchants from Lucca (even as early as the 9th century), Florence, and Piacenza, and at a later date from Venice and Genoa also, visited England for purposes of trade. They came originally to collect the taxes and dues payable to the pope, which they transmitted in large part in the shape of wool. They also traded on their own account, and in course of time, settling in the country, were granted special privileges, such as the right to farm the customs and to conduct the transactions on exchange. The merchants of Florence, for instance, had branches at Boston, Lynn, and Northampton, as well as at London, and regularly bought the wool of some 200 monasteries in England and Scotland. On occasion they lent large sums on loan, and gradually took up the business of banking, as it was understood in those days: Edward III. owed the Florentine house of Bardi the sum of 900,000 gold ducats, and another house of the same city, that of Peruzzi, 600,000 ducats. The Jews even took advantage of the favourable position of these Italians: many of them braved Edward I.'s edict of expulsion (1290), and stayed behind under the character of Lombard merchants, the name by which these Italians were generally known to the English. In London the Lombards dwelt principally in the street now called Lombard Street, still the chief centre of the banking interest. They eventually incurred as much odium as the Jews, not only because they exacted interest for their loans, but also because the commercial privileges accorded to them were believed to injuriously affect the native English merchants.