Adelchis

Adelchis (died after 788) was a Longobard co-regent and heir to the throne. Adelchis (also Adalgis ) was the son of the last Lombard king Desiderius and his wife Ansa. In 759 he ascended the throne as co-regent in the shadow of his father.

While his father was still (but ultimately unsuccessful) in Pavia in 773 resistance against the Frankish invaders under Charlemagne , Adalchis surrendered in Verona . He managed to flee to Constantinople . His attempts to regain the Lombard royal crown finally failed in 788 when the Byzantine troops of Grimoald III landed with him in Calabria . , the Duke of Benevento , were defeated. His further fate is unknown.

Alessandro Manzoni wrote the tragedy Adelchi (it. Adelgis) in 1822. According to tradition, his father had the monastery of San Pietro al Monte built as a thank you for healing his eyes.

literature

• Herbert Zielinski : Adelchis . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 1, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1980, ISBN 3-7608-8901-8 , column 144 f.
• Ottorino Bertolini :  Adelchi. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 1:  Aaron – Albertucci. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1960, pp. 258-259.