Paulus Diaconus

Paulus Diaconus, the greatest of the Lombard historians, was born at Friuli about 720. He instructed Adelperga, daughter of King Desiderius, and most probably resided at the court of her husband, Arichis, Duke of Beneventum. He became a monk, probably of Monte Cassino, about 774, but seems later to have spent some years at the court of Charles. He died before the coronation of Charles as emperor, therefore not later than 800. Of his works the earliest is the Historia Romana, an epitome of events based on Eutropius, with additions compiled from Orosius, Jerome, and Jordanes. This work was again extended with interpolations by Landolf the Wise (c. 1000), and the whole compilation has been known as the Historia Miscella; there are editions by Eyssenhardt (1869) and Droysen in Mon. Germ. Hist., Auct. Ant. ii. The Historia Langobardorum comes down to the death of King Liutprand (744), and is largely compiled from Gregory of Tours, the Origo Gentis Langobardorum, the short history (De Gestis Langobardorum) by Abbat Secundus of Trent (died 612), and other sources. His other works are a Life of Gregory the Great, compiled from Gregory's own writings and from Bede; Gesta Episcoporum Mettensis, written at the request of Bishop Angilram, containing an interesting account of the rise of the Carolingian house, the founder of which was Arnulf, Bishop of Metz (ed. in Pertz, S.S. ii.); an Epitome, or extracts from the De Significatione Verborum of Sextus Pompeius Festus (ed. by K. O. Müller); a Book of Homilies, consisting of 298 sermons selected from Ambrose, Augustine, Chrysostom, Gregory, Jerome, and Leo; Poems, in honour of St Benedict, in praise of the Lake of Como, &c. (ed. by Dümmeler in the Monumenta Germ. Historica, Poetarum Latinorum Medii Ævi, i.); and Letters, to Adelperga, Adelhard, Charles, and others.