1/4 Siliqua In the name of Justin II, Open staurogram without dot above

The Lombards entered Italy in 568 under Alboin, exploiting the devastation left by the Gothic Wars and a Byzantine imperial administration stretched far too thin to defend the peninsula. These fractional silver pieces were struck in the name of Justin II not from loyalty but from political expediency — the Lombards lacked the monetary infrastructure and legitimacy to issue coinage under their own authority and so borrowed the emperor's name for decades after seizing territory he nominally still claimed. The practice continued well past Justin's death in 578, which accounts for the unusually broad date range assigned to the type.