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PAULUS DIACONUS, or WARNEERIDI

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 965 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PAULUS DIACONUS, or WARNEERIDI , Or CASINENSIS (c. 720–c. 800), the historian of the See also:Lombards, belonged to a See also:noble Lombard See also:family and-flourished in the 8th See also:century. An ancestor named Leupichis entered See also:Italy in the See also:train of See also:Alboin and received lands at or near See also:Forum Julii (See also:Friuli). During an invasion the See also:Avars swept off the five sons of this See also:warrior into See also:Illyria, but one, his namesake, returned to Italy and restored the ruined fortunes of his See also:house. The See also:grandson of the younger Leupichis was Warnefrid, who by his wife Theodelinda became the See also:father of Paulus. See also:Born between 720 and 725 Paulus received an exceptionally See also:good See also:education, probably at the See also:court of the Lombard See also:king Ratchis in See also:Pavia, learning from a teacher named See also:Flavian the rudiments of See also:Greek. It is probable that he was secretary to the Lombard king See also:Desiderius, the successor of Ratchis; it is certain that this king's daughter Adelperga was his See also:pupil. After Adelperga had married Arichis, See also:duke of See also:Benevento, Paulus at her See also:request wrote his continuation of See also:Eutropius. It is possible that he took See also:refuge at Benevento when Pavia was taken by See also:Charlemagne in 774, but it is much more likely that his See also:residence there was anterior to this event by several years. Soon he entered a monastery on the See also:lake of See also:Como, and before 782 he had become an inmate of the See also:great See also:Benedictine house of See also:Monte Cassino, where he made the acquaintance of Charlemagne. About 776 his See also:brother Arichis had been carried as a prisoner to See also:France, and when five years later the Frankish king visited See also:Rome, Paulus successfully wrote to him on behalf of the See also:captive.

His See also:

literary attainments attracted the See also:notice of Charlemagne, and Paulus became a potent See also:factor in the Carolingian See also:renaissance. In 787 he returned to Italy and to Monte Cassino, where he died on the 13th of See also:April in one of the years between 794 and 800. His surname Diaconus, or Levita, shows that he took orders as a See also:deacon; and some think he was a See also:monk before the fall of the Lombard See also:kingdom. The See also:chief See also:work of Paulus is his Historia gentis Langobardorum. This incomplete See also:history in six books was written after 787 and deals with the See also:story of the Lombards from 568 to the See also:death of King Liutprand in 747. The story is told from the point of view of a Lombard patriot and is especially valuable for the relations between the See also:Franks and the Lombards. Paulus used the document called the Origo geniis Langobardorum, the See also:Liber ponticfialis, the lost history of See also:Secundus of See also:Trent, and the lost See also:annals of Benevento; he made a See also:free use of See also:Bede, See also:Gregory of See also:Tours and Isidore of See also:Seville. In some respects he suggests a comparison with Jordanes, but in Iearning and literary' honesty is greatly the See also:superior of the Goth, Of the Historia there are about a See also:hundred See also:manuscripts extant. It was largely used by subsequent writers, was often continued, and was first printed in See also:Paris in 1514. It has been translated into See also:English, See also:German, See also:French and See also:Italian, the English See also:translation being by W. D. Foulke (See also:Philadelphia, 1807), and the German by 0.

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Abel and R. See also:Jacobi (See also:Leipzig, 1878). Among the See also:editions of the Latin the best is that edited by L. Bethmann and G. See also:Waitz, in the Monumenta Germaniae historica. Scriptores rerum langobardicarum (See also:Hanover, 1878). Cognate with this work is Paulus's Historia See also:romana, a continuation of the Breviarium of Eutropius. This was compiled between 366 and 771, at Benevento. The story runs that Paulus advised Adelperga to read Eutropius. She did so, but complained that this See also:heathen writer said nothing about ecclesiastical affairs and stopped with the See also:accession of the See also:emperor See also:Valens in 364; consequently Paulus interwove extracts from the Scriptures, from the ecclesiastical historians and from other See also:sources with Eutropius, and added six See also:book:, thus bringing the history down to 553. This work has little value, although it was very popular during the See also:middle ages. It has been edited by H.

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Droysen and published in the Monumenta Germaniae historica. Auctores antiquissimi, Bd. w (1879). Paulus wrote at the request of Angilram, See also:bishop of See also:Metz (d. 791), a history of the bishops of Metz to 766, the first work of its See also:kind See also:north of the See also:Alps. This Gesta episcoporum mettensium is published in Bd. ii. of the Monuments Germaniae historica Scriptores, and has been translated into German (Leipzig, 188o). He also wrote many letters, verses and epitaphs, including those of Duke Arichis and of many members of the Carolingian family. Some of the letters are published with the Historia Langobardorum in the Monumenta; the poems and epitaphs edited by E. See also:Dummler will be found in the Poetae See also:latini aevi carolini, Bd. i. (See also:Berlin, 1881). Fresh material having come to See also:light, a new edition of the poems (See also:Die Gedichte See also:des Paulus Diaconus) has been edited by Karl See also:Neff (See also:Munich, 1908). While in France 'Paulus was requested by Charlemagne to compile a collection of homilies. He executed this after his return to Monte Cassino, and it was largely used in the Frankish churches.

A See also:

life of See also:Pope Gregory the Great has also been attributed to him. See C. Cipolla, See also:Note bibliografiche circa l'odierna condizione degli studi critici sul testo delle opere di See also:Paolo Diacono (See also:Venice, 1901); the Atli e memorie del congresso storico tenuto in Cividale (See also:Udine, 1900) ; F. See also:Dahn, Langobardische Studien, Bd. i. (Leipzig, 1876) ; W. See also:Wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen, Bd. i. (Berlin, 19o4); A. Hauck, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands, Bd. ii. (Leipzig, 1898); P. del Giudice, Studi di See also:scoria e diritto (See also:Milan, 1889); and U. Balzani, Le Cronache italiane nel medio evo (Milan, 1884).

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