Liutprand was the king of the Lombards from 712 to 744 and is chiefly remembered for his multiple phases of law-giving, in fifteen separate sessions from 713 to 735 inclusive, and his long reign, which brought him into a series of conflicts, mostly successful, with most of Italy.

His father was driven to exile among the Bavarians, his older brother Sigipert was blinded by Aripert II, king of the Lombards, and his mother Theodarada and sister Aurona were mutilated (their noses and ears were cut off).

[1] Liutprand was spared only because his youth made him appear harmless, described as adolescens in Paul the Deacon's Historia Langobardorum (Book VI, xxii), suggesting that he was 'probably older than 19 but still in his twenties'.

[4] Liutprand ruled for thirty-one years and was seen as an aggressive leader, who immediately upon ascension to the throne, moved against the Byzantine exarchate; he likewise attacked Ravenna, destroyed Classe, occupied forts in Bologna as well as Osimo, and captured Sutri.

[6] Through his assertive actions, Liutprand greatly expanded the boundaries of the Lombard kingdom, as he attempted to bring the entirety of the Italian Peninsula under his control in much the way Charles Martel had.

[18] Historian Jan Hallenbeck surmises that Liutprand occupied Sutri either for the sake of extorting money from the papacy to defer the financial costs of his military campaigns, or it was part of his offensive in central Italy against Byzantine imperial territory.

[22] Hallenbeck adds that neither possibility is "mutually exclusive" nor were they especially "certain", but the Lombard king's capture of Sutri did nothing "to disturb the positive relationship between Pavia and Rome" established "earlier in the century".

[23] Much fanfare accompanied Liutprand's gift of Sutri—when the king symbolically marched his army to Camp Neronis and laid down his royal insignia, garments, cloak, belt, sword, golden crown and silver cross before Pope Gregory II, which the pontiff ceremoniously handed back in a gesture of acknowledgment to the Lombard monarch's mastery of northern Italy.

[24] After handing over Sutri and participating in symbolic motions, Liutprand "effected a surprising diplomatic revolution" by accepting gifts and money from Eutychius, the Exarch of Ravenna, becoming his ally; an event described as a "wicked" arrangement by Gregory II's biographer.

Following these events, Liutprand and Eutychius led a combined campaign to the gates of Rome but once there, the Lombard king had a change of heart and submitted to Pope Gregory II.

[27] Hallenbeck explains the ramifications of this development for Liutprand and the papacy alike:...the new Lombard kingdom and the Roman political entity were to coexist in harmony as separate and independent states.

[31] Relations between the new pope and Liutprand were peaceful at first, but Gregory III soon changed course and made agreements with Duke Ursus of Venetia and the Patriarch Antoninus of Grado, who then expelled the Lombards from Ravenna and restored the seat for Eutychius.

[32] A partial breakdown of peace across Italy was the result and Liutprand's power receded to only the "customary Lombard realm of the north and the newer royal districts of the exarchate and the Pentapolis".

[38] Zachary attained a diplomatic success, re-acquiring four towns recently captured by the Lombards simply by agreeing to Liutprand's demand not to align with the dukes of Spoleto or Benevento.

[44][e] Delogu adds that military service to the state and representation in its defense “was considered as the most complete and honourable form of freedom, whereby the free-born cooperated in maintaining both order and justice within the kingdom, and its independence or superiority with respect to other peoples.”[44] Thereby, solidarity to and with the king was “reinforced” by a sworn personal oath of fidelity.

[47] Liutprand's legislation did not depend upon the prior models of Germanic tradition, whereby clienteles around powerful regional persons exercised public functional authority, but centered instead around the king's reign.