History of the Lombards

Paul the Deacon assembled information from some of the greatest scholars and historians and his own observations to assemble his Historia Langobardorum. Written between 787 and 796CE, he recounts the mythical origins of the Lombards.In his recording, he offers us such gems as this, from chapter 4:In the farthest boundaries of Germany toward the west-northwest, on the shore of the ocean itself, a cave is seen under a projecting rock, where for an unknown time seven men repose wrapped in a long sleep, not only their bodies, but also their clothes being so uninjured, that from this fact alone, that they last without decay through the course of so many years, they are held in veneration among those ignorant and barbarous peoples. These then, so far as regards their dress, are perceived to be Romans. When a certain man, stirred by cupidity, wanted to strip one of them, straightway his arms withered, as is said, and his punishment so frightened the others that no one dared touch them…