race-origin

Updated: May 14, 2025

We see evidences of this change, this levelling up and levelling down, all through the military code of Liutprand, and in the later one of Aistulf can even more distinctly trace its progress; and without entering into further detail, we can definitely state that, by the time we are now considering, all traces of distinct race-origin had disappeared in the mass of the people, and the only safe distinction that we can draw is to say that among the families of the dukes and greater nobles, the Lombard stock was preserved comparatively pure, and that the serf population was, generally speaking, of Roman descent.

William Klapp Williams - The Communes of Lombardy from the VI. to the X. Century: An Investigation of the Causes Which Led to the Development: Of Municipal Unity Among the Lombard Communes.