The trade network between the kingdom and the duchies during the Lombard period

This article seeks to answer this question with specific reference to the material evidence which indicates prolific commercial activity. Economic relationships are examined through the study of the exchange mechanisms that emerged in the Padanian plain, exploring their capacity to make inroads into southern areas between the sixth and the eighth centuries. This is a period for which written sources are fairly limited and, due to their mainly diplomatic nature, they often fail to provide information that can help analyse the extent and form of commerce. Therefore, one of the thorny issues tackled by this article involves determining whether economic relations in the areas of the Padanian plain underwent a decline during the Lombard conquest and, if so, its duration and the consequences. This result can be achieved by analysing the archaeological material and comparing this phenomenon and its distribution between northern and central-southern areas in order to initiate a wide-ranging debate that can establish the extent to which archaeological data can help to explain the historiographic question underlying this research.