Le parole dei vicari di Pietro: osservazioni su alcuni aspetti della retorica papale nella rappresentazione dei longobardi

This research aims at examininig the representation of the Lombards constructed in the papal letters strarting from the arrival of the Lombards in 568 to the end of their regnum in 774. The attention in focused in particular on the occurrences of two latin words, nefas and perfidia and their adjectivizations which are frequently adopted to depict the Lombards in the papal rhetoric. In order to understand better the origins and the application of these terms the first part of the research is devoted to the analysis of the late-antique background in which they were extensively adopted both in their religious and political nuances. A large part of the research is committed to study the representation of the Lombards in the letters and in the works of pope Gregory the Great, trying to soften the traditional interpretation which depicts him as a strong opposer to the Lombards. Later the attention is devoted to the last years of the regnum langobardorum and in particular to the analysis of the rhetorical bases of the political propanganda contained in the letters of pope Stephen II. The last part of the research concentrates on the re-employment of hretorical images adtopted by the papacy between 568 and 774 in other contexts and way after the end of the regnum langobardorum.