Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/594

 588 LOMBARDY Olona, Adda, Oglio, Chiese, and Mincio. The lakes are large and important, and renowned for their picturesque beauty. The most re- markable are the Lago Maggiore and Lake Lugano, which are partly in Switzerland, the lake of Como, and the lake of Garda, the largest and one of the most beautiful of Ital- ian lakes, separating Lombardy from Venetia on the east. The climate is healthy except in the marshy districts, and mild except among the mountains of the north. The winter lasts about two months, and on the plains snow scarcely ever remains on the ground. In the mountain region are forests of fir, oak, larch, birch, and chestnut. The southern declivities of the mountains produce the vine, the mul- berry, and a variety of fruit trees common to the temperate zone. The sub-alpine region and the great plain produce silk, wine, maize, millet, chestnuts, orchard fruits, and vegeta- bles. The mineral products of Lombardy, com- prising iron, copper, lead, alabaster, &c., are unimportant. The Lombards are fine types of the Italian nation, blending the most attrac- tive qualities common to all their countrymen with some of the characteristics peculiar to the Teutonic races. They are generally intelli- gent and amiable, and fine specimens of physi- cal beauty abound among both sexes. Educa- tion is widely diffused. The dominant religion is the Roman Catholic, but the number of Protestants is increasing ; that of Jews hardly exceeds 3,000. More than two thirds of the population are employed in agriculture. The country is better cultivated than any other in Europe. Irrigation, for which the streams afford ample facilities, is universally and skil- fully employed. The water of the rivers is so distributed by canals that there are few farms without a copious supply. The pur- chase and sale of water for irrigation forms a business of much importance, and is con- ducted with great strictness, the volume of water being accurately measured and paid for at a high rate. Great attention is bestowed upon meadows, and the maintenance of live stock in the best possible condition. The chief labor of ploughing is performed by oxen. The live stock is fed entirely in stalls on grass, which can be cut from the meadows all the year round. Pigs are fattened on Indian corn. Horses, mules, and asses are employed for draught. The dairies are extensive, and are managed with great care and with the most scrupulous cleanliness. They produce immense quantities of excellent cheese, known through- out Europe as Parmesan from having been originally exported from Parma. The farms are generally small, most of them varying in size from Y to 25 acres. The most numerous class of cultivators, called coloni or colonists, occupy cottages with less than three acres of land. Silk is the staple production. Rice was introduced from the East as early as the 10th century, but its cultivation is restricted by the government on account of its insalubrity. Maize is the grain most extensively raised, one third of the arable land being devoted to it. The average product per acre is said to be 25 bushels, and on the richest lands from 50 to nearly 80 bushels. Wheat is chiefly raised in the alpine region. The grape vines are trained upon trees, and extend in graceful festoons from one tree to another. Wine is abundant, but generally of inferior quality. Potatoes are little cultivated, and their production is almost exclusively confined to the alpine re- gion; they are not relished by the people, and most attempts to extend their cultiva- tion have failed. The chief manufacture is that of silk, but cotton, woollen, and flax man- ufactures are likewise extensive; and there are considerable iron works in various parts of the country. Lombardy was anciently a part of Cisalpine Gaul. It owes its present name to the Lombards, Longobardi, or Lango- bardi, an ancient Germanic people of Suevic race, whose name is derived in some of their national writings from their habit of wearing long beards, while some modern critics derive it from Ger. lang, long, and Barte, in Old Ger- man a battle club, or from lang and Borde, in Low German a bank of a river. The last refers to the banks of the Elbe, where they first appear in history in the time of the em- peror Augustus. Having figured for some time in the history of Arminius and Marbo- duus, they soon after disappeared, and in the 5th century reappeared in Hungary on the northern bank of the Danube, which they crossed in the following century after a suc- cessful war of extermination against their for- mer masters, the Heruli. South of the Dan- ube, in Pannonia, they carried on a protracted war against the Gepidss ; and after the final annihilation of their enemies they crossed the Julian Alps under their victorious king Alboin, and in northern Italy founded, in 568, a pow- erful state, with feudal institutions. Their kingdom lasted for more than 200 years, their most remarkable monarchs being Autharis, who embraced Christianity; Rotharis, who promulgated a code of written laws in 643 ; Grimoald, who reformed the laws of the pre- ceding ; Luitprand, who conquered Ravenna in 728 ; Astolphus, who attempted the conquest of Rome ; and Desiderius, with whom the king- dom ended, being conquered by Charlemagne in Y74. Under the successors of the latter the Lombard cities, with Milan at their head, grew prosperous and powerful, and adopted repub- lican institutions. After a long struggle with the emperors, these cities became independent by the treaty of Constance in 1183. The fam- ily of the Yisconti soon afterward became powerful in Milan, of which city Giovanni Galeazzo Yisconti became duke in 1395, with an extensive territory. His daughter Yalen- tina married Louis, duke of Orleans, whence arose in the early part of the 16th century a claim on the part of France to the duchy, which was then in possession of the house of