Age of Liutprand

Christopher Heath is a Senior Visiting Fellow at the University of Lincoln and author of The Narrative Worlds of Paul the Deacon: Between Empires and Identities in Lombard Italy (2017) and co-editor (with Robert Houghton) of Conflict and Violence in Medieval Italy 568-1154 (2022).

So there remains more to say about Liutprand, or at least about early eighth-century Lombard Italy. (The period after 750 is better covered by others.) But Heath’s book is an excellent start, straightforward and direct, not avoiding problems and effective at encompassing them.

• 1. Introduction: The Contexts of Lombard Italy: The Catholic Dynasty and Ansprand2. ‘Powerful in war and Merciful to Offenders’ [712-26] 3. Legum Augmentator: Governance and Law4. Vir Multae Sapientiae: Liutprand's Wars and Peace [727-44]5. Liutprand and the Church6. ‘Keeping the Peace’: Byzantium, the Franks, Avars and Bavarians7. Conclusions: Liutprand as Nutritor Gentis of the LombardsBibliographyIndex