The Lombards had entered the Italian peninsula in 568 AD under King Alboin. Under Alboin's successor, Cleph, they continued to expand at the expense of the Byzantines. Cleph's reign was short and his rule hard. Upon his death, the Lombards did not elect another leader-king, leaving the territorial dukes of the old Roman Provinces in Lombard territories to rule the Kingdom jointly.
The dukes were unable to organise themselves under a single leader capable of continuing their successes against the Empire. When they invaded Provence in 584 or 585, the Frankish kings Gintram and Childebert II invaded Lombardy, took Tridentum, and opened negotiations with Tiberius II, Emperor of the East and nominal overlord of the hard-pressed Exarchate of Ravenna causing the collapse of Dukes regime and the hastily election of Authari as King of the Lombards...
WI there was no war with Franks and the Ducal Council assumed the officialy the governing of Lombardy as a Republic? Could Lombardy had become like Venice? Is this possible?
How is this altering History? Any thoughts?