The Lombard Kingdom fell to Charlemagne, who bequeathed to the inhabitants of Northern Italy the Langobarda, a powerful body of laws that had accumulated from the original nucleus of the Edict of Rothari of 634. Langobardia roughly covered present-day Lombardy, Piedmont, and Emilia. The Langobarda covered matters of civil law and would form the basis of urban customs for centuries. It was one of the elements that would legitimize the governance of cities and thus the rise of municipalities in Northern Italy.
