Legend had it that the word Lombardy came from Greek and meant "long beard."
They had originally lived on the Scandinavian Peninsula, then began migrating south by land around the first century AD. Histories recorded a highly warlike tribe along the Elbe River that worshipped the chief god Langbard.
In short, they had once clashed with a tribe called the Heruli, who lived along the border between Slovenia and Austria and were the fiercest, most brutal of the Germanic tribes at the time.
Yet the Lombards conquered them, and these Vikings then began to expand. When Justinian attempted from Constantinople to reclaim the territories of the Ancient Roman Empire, the first people Belisarius encountered were them. But Belisarius did not clash with them directly. Instead, he gave them funds and equipment, sending them to attack another barbarian tribe.
At the time, Milan was still a frontier region of the Eastern Roman Empire. When Constantine the Great issued the Edict of Milan, he also arranged a marriage: Licinius was to marry Constantine's half-sister, Constantia. Unfortunately, the good times did not last. Constantine I still killed Licinius, along with his and Constantia's only son. Constantia never remarried and spent the rest of her life at her brother's court.
However, the Lombards had not yet migrated from Scandinavia then. After becoming allies with Justinian, they made Pavia their capital. When Justinian's war with the Goths ended, only a small force remained, incapable of resisting the Lombards and their allies.
Italy quickly fell into Lombard hands. One city after another was occupied with barely any resistance, and the outline of the new Lombard Kingdom soon took shape.
The Lombard king then sent out the dukes he trusted to govern. After King Alboin was assassinated in Verona, Lombardy entered the era of "ducal rule." Yet