Arechis I, duke of Benevento, had conquered Capua and Venafro in the Campania and areas of the Basilicata and Calabria.

He had failed to take Naples after a siege (his predecessor Zotto had failed likewise), but he took Salerno by the late 620s.

He has spent the last years of his reign establishing good relations with the Roman Catholics of his duchy and making his son his successor.

He dies after a fifty-year reign and is succeeded by his son Aiulf I, who is, however, mentally unstable; his adoptive brothers Radoald and Grimoald, the younger sons of the late Gisulf II of Friuli, are regents for him.

Slavic plunderers land near Siponto on the Adriatic in 646.

Aiulf personally leads his forces against the intruders, but his horse falls into a pit dug by the Slavs around their camp and he is surrounded and killed.

Radoald, who succeeds him with the support of King Rothari, knows the Slavic language and induces the invaders to depart.

Godepert, an Arian, governs from the ancient capital, Pavia, while his brother, Perctarit, a Roman Catholic, governs from Milan.

In a war with his brother—begun with the year 662—Godepert summons Duke Grimoald I of Benevento, who assassinates him in his Pavian palace, the Reggia, and takes control of the kingdom, forcing Perctarit to flee.

His son Raginpert manages to escape and will later rule.

But first, Grimoald seizes the throne.

Perctarit escapes to the court of the Avar khagan Kakar.

Meanwhile his wife, Rodelinde, and their son Cunincpert are captured by Grimoald and sent to Benevento.

Perctarit returns soon thereafter to conspire against Grimoald, but flees again to Gaul.

Grimoald had promptly married Godepert's sister in order to relate himself to the Bavarian Dynasty of Theodelinda, i.e., those kings of the Lombards who were descended from Garibald I, the Agilolfing duke of Bavaria.

Oderzo, which had become the seat of an exarch under the Empire, is held by Constantinople until its destruction by the Lombard king Grimoald in 667.

Much of its population flees to …

…the nearby city of Heraclea, still under imperial control.

Most of its territory passes to the Count of Ceneda.

Ceneda becomes the seat of a Lombard county.

Near the heart of the city and on a strategic mountain, the Lombards construct the Castello di San Martino, which still overlooks the city.

Perctarit had been king of the Lombards from 661 to 662.

The son and successor of Aripert, he had shared power with his brother Godepert.

Perctarit was a Catholic, Godepert an Arian; the former ruled from Milan, the latter from Pavia.

Godepert had requested the aid of Duke Grimoald of Benevento in a war with Perctarit, but the Beneventan had had him assassinated and taken over the kingdom, forcing Perctarit to flee to the court of the Avar khagan Kakar.

However, his wife, Rodelinde and their son Cunipert had been captured by Grimoald and sent to Benevento.

Perctarit had returned soon after to conspire against Grimoald, but fled again to Gaul.

Under Grimoald, the Lombards had successfully fought the Franks and the Romans in Italy.

When duke Lupus of Friuli refused to swear allegiance to Benevento, the king had had the Avar khagan attack him in 663 but after the Avars refuses to leave, Grimoald had had to wage war to force them out.

After Grimoald confirmed a treaty with the Franks, Perctarit had prepared to flee to England, but news of Grimoald's death in 672 had reached him first.

Returned from exile and retaking his realm, which had been ruled on behalf of Grimoald's son Garibald, Perctarit had made Catholicism the official religion, but did not recognize papal authority.

He has forced Lombard’s Jews to adopt Christianity or be killed; many survive by outwardly accepting Christianity.