PAULUS DIAC'ONUS (Lat., Paul the dea con) (c.720-e.S00). The best historian of the Lombards. lie was descended from a noble family, which had settled in Friuli. He received an excellent education either at Pavia or Friuli, and was at the former city while King Ratchis (744-49) ruled there, and became the tutor of Adelperga. (laughter of King Desiderius. After the destruction of the kingdom at Pavia, if not earlier, lie very likely took refuge at the Court of Duke Arichis, the husband of Adelperga. For the latter he wrote his Historia Hamann, which was chiefly a compilation of works still in our possession, and was greatly used as a text book for centuries after. About this time Paulus entered the monastery at Monte Cassino. In 782 Paulus journeyed to the Court of Charles the Great in order to obtain the release of his brother and other captive Lombards. His mission was successful, while he himself was induced by King Charles to remain and lend his aid in the reawakening of learning. It was here that he made his collection of homilies, known as Homi larium, which have been translated into many lam,mages. At the request of Bishop Angilram of Metz, he also wrote Gest(' Episeoporum Met tensium (History of the Bishops of Metz). Fi
nally, after repeated petitions, Paulus was per mitted to return to his beloved convent, prob ably accompanying Charles to Italy in 786. At, "Monte Cassino Paulus now wrote his most important work, De Gestis Langobardoeum (His tory of the Lombards), which ends with the year 744. The work is remarkable on account of its pure Latin and the vast number of poetic legends of the early Germans it has preserved. Paulus was also the author of a number of theological works, and of sonic hymns and let ters still extant. The best edition of his works is to be found in the Monumenta Germanim his toric(! (Hanover, 1S78-79). For other editions and the like, consult Potthast, Bibliotheca His toeica Medii ,Evi, vol. ii. (2(1 ed., Berlin, 1896) ; \Vattenbaeh, Deutsehlands Gesrhiehtsquellen, vol. i. (Gth ed., Berlin, 1893). There is an excellent (;erman translation of the Lombard History with a serviceable introduction by Jacobi in Ge schichtsschreiber der deutsche)? Vorzeit. Aehtes J(hrhundert, vol. iv. (Leipzig, 1888).