Aistulf

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A Follis Aistulfs, minted in Ravenna around 751, with the inscription [D] N IST VLF [VS REX] - Dominus noster Aistulfus rex "Our Lord, King Aistulf"

Aistulf (also Ahistulf, Aistulfus, Haistulfus ; † 756 ) was King of the Longobards from 749 to 756.

Life

Aistulf was a son of the dux (Duke) Pemmo of Friuli and the Ratperga . When Pemmo captured the patriarch Calixtus around 731, he fell out of favor and King Liutprand appointed Aistulf's older brother Ratchis as dux . Pemmo fled with his sons Ratchait and Aistulf and his followers to the Slavs until Ratchis could persuade the king to reconcile. Pemmo and his sons Ratchait and Aistulf were pardoned, the other offenders were imprisoned.

Liutprand's army was attacked by a Spoletan-Byzantine army during a campaign against the insurgent dux Transamund II of Spoleto in 742 between Fanum ( Fano ) and Forum Simphronii ( Fossombrone ). Dux Ratchis of Friuli and his brother Aistulf brought up the rear with their men and covered the advance. When King Liutprand and shortly afterwards his nephew and successor Hildeprand died, Ratchis was elected king in 744 and Aistulf became dux of Friuli .

In the summer of 749 he and a few other Lombard nobles revolted against King Ratchis. Ratchis finally abdicated and Aistulf took the throne in June. Aistulf appointed Anselm , to whose sister Gisaltruda he was married, as his successor as dux . Aistulf donated land to his brother-in-law Anselm, on which he had the Fanano monastery built in 750 .

In contrast to his brother, Aistulf pursued a policy of expansion towards the Byzantines in Italy. He reorganized the Lombard army, withdrew most of the donations made by his predecessor and ordered greater monitoring of trade. His goal was the complete suppression of the Byzantines. First he conquered the trading town of Comacchio at the mouth of the Po, Ferrara and is said to have even invaded Istria. In 751 he conquered Ravenna , up to then one of the most important Byzantine fortresses in Italy. When dux Lupus von Spoleto died, Aistulf did not award the ducat again, but had it administered as a crown property.

Italy around 751

So he threatened Rome from two sides. The alarmed popes, who were actually subjects of the Byzantine Empire, could not expect any help from the Byzantines due to the tense foreign policy situation and the isolated position of Rome, especially since the relationship between Rome and Constantinople was quite shattered due to the so-called Byzantine iconoclasm . The popes now turned to the Carolingian rulers of the Franconian Empire . Already in 739 Pope Gregory III. asked the caretaker Karl Martell to intervene, but he did not respond. Karl Martell's son Pippin the Younger had himself raised to king by the Frankish greats in 751 with the consent of Pope Zacharias and previously deposed the last powerless Merovingian king. With this cooperation in the ascension of the first Carolingian king, an alliance between the latter and the papacy was established, which a short time later became effective against the Lombard king Aistulf. In the year 753 Pope Stephan II (III), oppressed by Aistulf, visited Pippin in the Frankish Empire; it was the first ever visit by a Pope north of the Alps. Stephan asked the Franks for help there.

In 754 Pippin crossed the Alps over the Col du Mont Cenis . At Maurienne , the Longobards under Aistulf were defeated by the numerically inferior Frankish vanguard and retreated into the fortified Ticinum ( Pavia ). After a short siege, a peace treaty was signed in which Aistulf undertook to hand over the occupied Roman territories to the Pope. As soon as the Frankish army had withdrawn, Aistulf broke the contract. In the winter of 755/756 he began the siege of Rome, which he broke off without result in March and returned to Ticinum. When the Alpine passes became passable in spring, Pippin set out again with his army in early May. Aistulf had to withdraw to Ticinum and finally recognize the Franconian sovereignty. An annual tribute of 12,000 solidi was imposed on the Lombards and the occupied Roman and Byzantine territories were given to the Pope. ( Pippin donation )

Aistulf died during a hunt in 756. Ratchis tried again to regain royal rule, but he finally succumbed to Desiderius .

swell

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Historia Langobardorum  - Sources and full texts (Latin)

Remarks

  1. ↑ Historia Langobardorum VI, 26
  2. ↑ Historia Langobardorum VI, 51
  3. ↑ Historia Langobardorum VI, 55-56
  4. ↑ a b Hartmann: History of Italy in the Middle Ages, Vol. 2.2, Gotha 1903, p. 50f
  5. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia
  6. ↑ Hartmann: History of Italy in the Middle Ages, Vol. 2.2, Gotha 1903, p. 150f
  7. ↑ Hartmann: History of Italy in the Middle Ages Vol. 2.2, Gotha 1903, S. 188ff
  8. ↑ Hartmann: History of Italy in the Middle Ages, Vol. 2.2, Gotha 1903, p. 196
predecessor Office successor
Ratchis King of the Lombards
749–756 		Ratchis
personal data
SURNAME Aistulf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ahistulf; Aistulfus; Haistulfus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of the Lombards
DATE OF BIRTH 7th century or 8th century
DATE OF DEATH 756