Lombardy
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
that Italy which lies between the Alps and the part of Upper Po, having the territory Alps and of Venice on the E., and Piedmont Venice on the on the W. Its history begins with the Its history conquest by the Romans in 222, who called it y the Romans Gallia Cisalpina. After the break-up lia Cisalpina. of the Roman empire it was successively in the hands of Odoacer Roman empire the hands of , the Ostrogoths, the Byzantine emperors, and the The Byzantine Lombards. Charlemagne incorporated it in his rds. Charle- , but from 843 it was ruled by a separate empire of kings, parate s empire, but separate line though line the kingdom ended (961) it had broken up into a before the kingdom number of independent nup into duchies and civic republics. The Lombard cities grew wealthy by industry mes and civic and trade. T resisted sturdily and successfully the attempts of the They sfully the st Emperors Frederick I. and II. to curtail derick I. and their liberties, forming themselves into es, forming strong leagues, which were powerful enough guss, which perors in pitched battles. But they . were torn by to rout the em- About 455 the out the eminternal dissension. After the death ( 1447) in Moravia, But they of the last Duke of Milan, whose Herulians. The sion. After ancestor, Count Azzo, had acquired the sovereignty masters stung them st Duke of over nearly all Lombardy in 1337, the subdued the Herulians, t Azzo, had country was made and after them the Gepidæ, and an object of contention ir nearly all of France and the emperor. The lastnamed having got the between the King Albion, their king, y was made en the King better in the contest, Lombardy 568, and possessed The lastpassed through Charles V. to Spain, which greater part of in the conheld possession of it till 1713, when the Italy, Pavia being gh Charles duchies of Milan and Mantua came into mit. They ession of it the hands of Austria, and were design designated Milan and of Austris. bardy. " Napoleon made it a part of the Cisalpine republic " Austrian Lom- Lombard dukes. His , the Transpadane republic, and the kingdom Authari, assumed of Italy successively. But in of Flavius, and part of the Austria, and annexed politically padane te newly - acquired Venetian kly succesrestored to territory under change the name of the ally to the tory under Kingdom. This union was dissolved in Lombardo - Venetian o-Venetian ssolved in the new kingdom of Italy, which divided it into the provinces Lombardy was given up to Como, Cremona ven up to ch divided and Sondrio. Pop. about o, Brescia, an, Pavia, 10,000円
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's in 1921 could treat Lombardy simply as a cluster of provinces in the young Kingdom of Italy, its story effectively closed with the union of 1859-61. Since then it has become a region in its own right: Italy's ordinary regions were given elected governments in 1970, and Lombardy, with Milan as its capital, now holds about ten million people and generates roughly a fifth of the national economy, making it the country's richest and most populous region. It was also the first place in Europe to be overwhelmed by Covid-19 in February and March 2020, when the hospitals and crematoria of Bergamo and Brescia became the epidemic's grimmest images. The medieval narrative Collier's gives - Roman Gallia Cisalpina, the Lombard kings, the city leagues that defied Frederick Barbarossa, the Visconti and Sforza dukes - still stands as taught history.
Written for this edition, 2026.