Wo waren die Langobarden in den italienischen Urkunden?

Identität, Verwandtschaft und Namengebung

Abstract

Where are the Lombards in the Italian Charters? Identity, Kinship and Name-giving. — Questions of identity, kinship and name-giving arise in the Italian charters of the early Middle Ages. Beginning in the 1990’s, the group “Nomen et Gens” has intensively engaged in the question of a relationship between ethnic identity and the choice of a personal name in Late Antiquity and in the Middle Ages. Owing to their nature the Italian private charters are a great source for a micro-history of personal names. Even if it is not always possible to determine that personal names are a marker of ethnic identity, the charters show that their historical significance is not only based on their ethnic relevance. The Lombard and Latin names give evidence to other forms of identity. The original private charters were entrenched in the place where they originated and they are therefore a source into inquiry of local identities. For instance, local features in personal names emerge in the comparison of the name of a bishop of Luni, Teudilascius (*theudho- + *laika-z), which is typical in Tuscanian charters, and the name Teudelais from Piacenza in the North of Italy. The Italian charters are “family charters” and this allows us to draw conclusions about name-giving. On the basis of the genealogy of Bishop Peredeo of Lucca this contribution analyses also the use of traditional forms of name-​giving (allitteration, repitition, variation) showing that such rules are applied not only to Lombard names but also to Latin-Christian names. Moreover, the semantics of Peredeo’s genealogy lead back to the vocation of his family. It is the vocation of a Lombard family to ecclesiastic power.