Berengar I.

Berengar I of Friuli (* around 850; † April 7, 924 in Verona ) was Emperor from 915 to 924 and King of Italy in the years 888–889, 896–901 and 905–924. Thus he belongs to the " national kings ".

Life

Emperor Berengar I depicted in the Chronicon Casauriense by Johannes Berardi, late 12th century.

He was the third son of ten children of Unruochinger Eberhard († 866), Margrave of Friuli , and his wife Gisela († 874), daughter of Emperor Ludwig the Pious .

From 874 he succeeded his father as Margrave of Friuli.

After Charlemagne was deposed , Berengar I was crowned King of the Lombards in 888 by Bishop Anselm of Milan in Pavia . However, when the East Frankish king Arnulf advanced with an army, Berengar paid homage to him as King of Italy at Trento. 889 Berengar was defeated by his opponent, Duke Wido III. of Spoleto , defeated on the Trebia (Wido was crowned emperor by Pope Stephen V in 891 ). After his death in 894, Arnulf from East Franconia moved again across the Alps and occupied northern Italy. After Arnulf's departure in 895, Berengar fell away from him again and shared control of northern and central Italy with Wido's son, Emperor Lambert , Duke of Spoleto. After Lambert's deposition in 896 (he died in 898) and Arnulf's death in 899, Berengar tried to seize the entire Longobard Empire.

Berengar's position was seriously endangered by the defeat against the Hungarians on the Brenta in 899 when they invaded in 899/900 and therefore Ludwig , King of Lower Burgundy , was summoned to Italy and made emperor in 901.

In 905 Berengar was able to oust Ludwig by taking him prisoner during one of his Italian campaigns and having him blinded in Verona . Berengar was not crowned emperor until 915 by Pope John X.

Constant uprisings bothered him; Its instigators, the Margraves of Ivrea and Tuscany as well as the Bishop Lambert of Milan , offered the crown of Italy to King Rudolf II of Hochburgund in 919 .

On July 29, 923, Rudolf completely defeated Berengar near Fiorenzuola near Piacenza , and when he called the Hungarians for help, he alienated himself from the few who had remained loyal to him. Even in Verona , which had always stood by him, a conspiracy arose. Berengar I was murdered in Verona on April 7, 924.

Marriage and offspring

Berengar was married to Bertila von Spoleto († before December 915), the daughter of Duke Suppo II, Count von Camerino , with whom he had three children, in his first marriage from around 880/890 . The eldest daughter from this marriage was in turn married to Adalbert I , Margrave of Ivrea . This connection came from Berengar II. In his second marriage he married Anna before December 915, who died after May 936; this marriage remained childless.

Berengar's children were:

• Daughter ⚭ NN , nephew of Bishop Liutvard of Vercelli
• Gisela (* probably 880/885; † probably 910/915) ⚭ before 900 Adalbert I the Rich († probably 923) Margrave of Ivrea
• Bertha († after 952) 915 Abbess of San Salvatore in Brescia

literature

• Ernst Ludwig Dümmler :  Berengar I, Margrave of Friuli, King of Italy and Roman Emperor . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, pp. 357-359.
• Girolamo Arnaldi :  Berengario I, duca-marchese del Friuli, re d'Italia, imperatore. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 9:  Berengario – Biagini. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1967, pp. 1-26.

Web links

• Publications on Berengar in the Opac of the Regesta Imperii

predecessor	Office	successor
Unroch III.	Margrave of Friuli 874–888	Walfred
Charles III	King of Italy 888–889	Guido of Spoleto
Louis the blind	King of Italy 905–924	Rudolf II.
Louis the blind	Roman emperor 915–924	(Interregnum until 962) Otto I.