Europe’s next big shark – hungry for territory, proud of its past victories, and in search of a new homeland – comes to dominate Italia, taking swift advantage of its abysmal state and critical power vacuum. They were the Lombards, from “lango” and “barba” – the men with long beards. In half a decade, under their king Alboin, they will cement a powerful realm that will last undefeated for more than two centuries, fundamentally changing the course of early medieval history in Europe.

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