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Lombards
Lombards , ancient Germanic people. By the 1st cent. AD the Lombards were settled along the lower Elbe. After obscure migrations they were allowed (547) by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I to settle in Pannonia and Noricum (modern Hungary and E Austria). In 568, under the leadership of Alboin , they i...
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Alboin
Alboin , d. 572?, first Lombard king in Italy (569-572?). With the Avars he defeated the Gepidae (see Germans ). He then led (568) an army across the Alps into Italy, took (569) Milan, and after a three-year siege conquered Pavia, which became his capital. He won most of N and central Italy from ...
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Piacenza
Piacenza , city (1991 pop. 102,268), capital of Piacenza prov., in Emilia-Romagna, on the Po River. It is an agricultural, commercial, and industrial center. Manufactures include agricultural machinery, chemicals, furniture, buttons, and food products. The city was a Roman stronghold (called Colonia...
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Lombard League
Lombard League an alliance formed in 1167 among the communes of Lombardy to resist Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I when he attempted to assert his imperial authority in Lombardy. Previously the communes had been divided, some favoring the emperor and others favoring the pope. However, after Frederic...
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Paul the Deacon
Paul the Deacon c.725-799?, Lombard historian. He received a good education, probably at Pavia, and he learned Latin thoroughly and some Greek. He lived at Monte Cassino and at Charlemagne's court. His first work was a continuation of the Roman history of Eutropius through Justinian. He also wrote ...
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Peter Lombard
Peter Lombard Lat. Petrus Lombardus, c.1100-c.1160, Italian theologian, often called Magister Sententiarum. He studied at Bologna, Reims, and Paris, where he is said to have been a student of Abelard. He acquired some fame as a teacher and was given high offices, serving for a time as archbishop ...
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Adda
Adda , river, 194 mi (312 km) long, rising in the Rhaetian Alps, N Italy, and flowing SW through Lake Como, then S into the Po River near Cremona. Its upper course furnishes much electric power; the lower river irrigates the Lombard plain. Many battles have been fought along its course, notably the ...
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pawnbroker
pawnbroker one who makes loans on personal effects that are left as security. The practice of pawnbroking is ancient, as is recognition of the danger it involves of oppressing the poor. In fact, the Bible provides the poor with a number of safeguards against oppression from their creditors. Accordi...
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Vicenza
Vicenza , city (1991 pop. 107,454), capital of Vicenza prov., Venetia, NE Italy. It is an agricultural, commercial, and highly diversified industrial center. Manufactures include machinery, chemicals, timber, and processed food. Originally a Roman town, later the seat of a Lombard duchy, Vicenza bec...
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Alessandria
Alessandria , city (1991 pop. 90,753), capital of Alessandria prov., in Piedmont, NW Italy, at the confluence of the Tanaro and Bormida rivers. It is an industrial center and agricultural market. Manufactures include wine, furniture, machinery, paper, and hats. Alessandria was built (1164-67) as a s...
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