One Codex Gothanus is an early ninth-century codex

Codex

A codex is a book in the format used for modern books, with multiple quires or gatherings typically bound together and given a cover.Developed by the Romans from wooden writing tablets, its gradual replacement...

 written at Fulda

Fulda

Fulda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district .- Early Middle Ages :...

, that was commissioned by Eberhard of Friuli

Eberhard of Friuli

Eberhard was the Frankish Duke of Friuli from 846. His name is alternatively spelled Everard, Evrard, Erhard, Eberhard, or Eberard, or in Latinized fashion Everardus, Eberardus, or Eberhardus. He wrote his own name "Evvrardus"...

, probably about 830, from the scholar Lupus Servatus

Lupus Servatus

Lupus Servatus, also Servatus Lupus , in French Loup , was a Carolingian Benedictine abbot of Ferrières, member of Charles the Bald's court and noted theological author of the ninth century...

, abbot of Ferrières. The original is lost, but Codex Gothanus is one of two extant copies. The manuscript contains laws useful in the administration of Friuli, preceded by a text of the origins of the Lombards

Lombards

The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...

, probably compiled before the death of Pepin of Italy (810). According to Walter Pohl

Walter Pohl

Walter Pohl is an Austrian historian. His area of expertise is the history of the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages....

 it is written from a Carolingian

Carolingian

The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name "Carolingian", Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the...

 and Christian perspective, substituting for the Longobardi origin myth concerning Wotan a controlling sense of Providence. The Monumenta Germaniae Historica

Monumenta Germaniae Historica

The Monumenta Germaniae Historica is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published sources for the study of German history from the end of the Roman Empire to 1500.The society sponsoring the series was established by the Prussian reformer Heinrich Friedrich Karl Freiherr vom...

version (MGH SRL, pp 7-11) calls it Historia Langobardorum Codicis Gothani. The opening and closing of the Codex Gothanus are so different from the Origo Gentis Langobardorum

Origo Gentis Langobardorum

The Origo Gentis Langobardorum is a short 7th century account offering a founding myth of the Lombard people. The first part visions the origin and naming of the Lombards, and the following text more resembles a king-list, up until the rule of Perctarit , which helps date the original writing of...

and Paul the Deacon

Paul the Deacon

Paul the Deacon , also known as Paulus Diaconus, Warnefred, Barnefridus and Cassinensis, , was a Benedictine monk and historian of the Lombards.-Life:...

 that Thomas Hodgkin, Italy and Her Invaders (vol VI 1880:146, note B.) printed them separately rather than attempt to weave them into a coherent whole.

Another Codex Gothanus at Gotha contains excerpts of the Strategemata of Frontinus

Sextus Julius Frontinus

Sextus Julius Frontinus was one of the most distinguished Roman aristocrats of the late 1st century AD, but is best known to the post-Classical world as an author of technical treatises, especially one dealing with the aqueducts of Rome....

.