Paul the Deacon ( 720s 13 April in 796, 797, 798, or 799 AD), also known as Paulus Diaconus, Warnefridus, Barnefridus, or Winfridus, and sometimes suffixed Cassinensis (i.e. "of Monte Cassino"), was a Benedictine monk, scribe, and historian of the Lombards. Life An ancestor of Paulus's named Leupichis emigrated to Italy in 568 in the train of Alboin, King of the Lombards. There, he was granted lands at or near Forum Julii (Cividale del Friuli). During an invasion by the Avars, Leupichis's five sons were carried away to Pannonia, but one of them, his namesake, returned to Italy and restored the ruined fortunes of his house. The grandson of the younger Leupichis was Warnefrid, who by his wife Theodelinda became the father of Paul. Paulus was his monastic name; he was born Winfrid, son of Warnefrid, between 720 and 735 in the Duchy of Friuli. Thanks to the possible noble status of his family, Paul received an exceptionally good education, probably at the court of the Lombard king Ratchis in Pavia, learning the rudiments of Greek from a teacher named Flavian. Flavian was probably the secretary of the Lombard king Desiderius, a successor of Ratchis; Desiderius's daughter Adelperga was his pupil. After Adelperga had married Arichis II, duke of Benevento, Paul at her request wrote his continuation of Eutropius's Summary of Roman History (Latin: Breviarium Historiae Romanae). He lived at the court of Benevento for at least several years before 774, when Charlemagne captured Pavia, and he may have fled the city during that conquest. Eventually he entered a monastery on Lake Como, and before 782 he entered the great Benedictine house of Monte Cassino, where he made the acquaintance of Charlemagne. Around 776, Paul's brother Arichis was carried off to Francia as a prisoner; when Charlemagne visited Rome five years later, Paul wrote to him on behalf of Arichis, who was then freed. After Paul's literary achievements had drawn the attention of Charlemagne, he became an important contributor to the Carolingian Renaissance. In 787 he returned to Monte Cassino, where he died on 13 April in one of the years between 796 and 799. His epithet Diaconus indicates that he took orders as a deacon; and some believe he was a monk before the fall of the Lombard Kingdom. Works Paul's chief work is his Historia Langobardorum, an incomplete history in six books that he wrote after 787 but