Lombard family and was born in Forum Julii (Friuli, Northern Italy), probably between 720 and
- His education was completed at the court of King Liutprand in Pavia. His attainments included
a knowledge of Greek, rare in that age. Under the influence of Ratchis, Liutprand’s successor
(744–749), he entered the church and became a deacon. King Desiderius (756–774) made him his
chancellor,^1067 and entrusted to his instruction his daughter Adelperga, the wife of Arichis, duke
of Benevento. In 774 the Lombard kingdom fell, and Paul after residing for a time at the duke’s
court entered the Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino. There he contentedly lived until fraternal
love led him to leave his beloved abode. In 776 his brother, Arichis, having probably participated
in Hruodgaud’s rebellion, was taken prisoner by Charlemagne, carried into France, and the family
estates were confiscated. This brought the entire family to beggary.^1068
Paul sought Charlemagne; in a touching little poem of twenty-eight lines, probably written
in Gaul in 782, he set the pitiful case before him^1069 and implored the great king’s clemency.
He did not plead in vain. He would then at once have returned to Monte Cassino, but
Charlemagne, always anxious to retain in his immediate service learned and brilliant men., did not
allow him to go. He was employed as court poet, teacher of Greek, and scribe, and thus exerted
great influence. His heart was, however, in his monastery, and in 787 he is found there. The
remainder of his life was busily employed in literary labors. He died, April 13, probably in the year
800, with an unfinished work, the history of the Lombards, upon his hands.
Paul was a Christian scholar, gentle, loving, and beloved; ever learning and disseminating
learning. Although not a great man, he was a most useful one, and his homilies and histories of the
Lombards are deservedly held in high esteem.
His Works embrace histories, homilies, letters, and poems.
I. Histories. (1) Chief in importance is the History of the Lombards.^1070 It is divided into
six books, and carries the history of the Lombards from their rise in Scandinavia down to the death
of Liutprand in 744. It was evidently Paul’s intention to continue and revise the work, for it has no
preface or proper conclusion; moreover, it has manifest slips in writing, which would have been
corrected by a final reading. It is therefore likely that he died before its completion. It is not a model
of historical composition, being discursive, indefinite as to chronology, largely a compilation from
known and unknown sources, full of legendary and irrelevant matter. Nevertheless it is on the whole
well arranged and exhibits a love of truth, independence and impartiality. Though a patriot, Paul
was not a partisan. He can see some good even in his hereditary foes. The popularity of the History
in the Middle Age is attested by the appearance of more than fifteen editions of it and of ten
continuations.
(2) Some scholars^1071 consider the History of the Lombards the continuation of Paul’s RomanHistory,^1072 which he compiled (c. 770) for Adelperga from Eutropius (Breviarum historiae
(^1067) Fabricius in Migne, XCV. col. 413
(^1068). Ebert, l. c. p. 37.
(^1069) Migne, l c. col. 1599, Carmen VIII. cf. lines 9, 10:
"Illius in patria conjux miseranda per omnes
Mendicat plateas, ore tremente, cibos."
(^1070) De gestis Langobardorum, Migne, XCV. col. 433-672.
(^1071) Mommsen quoted by Ebert, l.c. p. 45; Weizsäcker in Herzog, 2 xi. 390.
(^1072) Historia romana, with its additions, Migne, XCV. col. 743-1158.