Desiderius (King)

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Desiderius († after 786) was the last Longobard king , he ruled from 757 to 774.

Life

Origin and advancement

Desiderius was from Brescia . He does not seem to come from the Lombard aristocracy, but probably emerged from the new service aristocracy that was emerging around this time. Under King Aistulf he was first Marshal (comes stabuli), later governor ( Dux ) of Tuscany.

After the death of King Aistulf in late 756, his brother Ratchis tried again to seize power. In the north he was able to prevail initially. The central and southern Italian ducats Spoleto and Benevento became autonomous again. Dux Desiderius of Tuscia also claimed the throne. His office gave him considerable military resources, even if he initially lacked the support of the nobility. He allied himself with Pope Stephan II. And Abbot Fulrad , a diplomat of the Frankish king Pippin the Younger , who was right with a weak Lombard king. Desiderius received diplomatic and military support for the promise to hand over the cities of Faenza , Imola , Ferrara , Osimo , Ancona , Bologna and Numana to the Pope. In the face of this resistance, Ratchis seems to have abdicated. In any case, he retired to the monastery of Monte Cassino , Desiderius was crowned king.

Domination

Desiderius consolidated the position of the Longobard Empire by marching into the ducat Spoleto in 758 , capturing dux Alboin and initially not forgiving the ducat. Dux Liutprand von Benevento fled to Otranto , and Desiderius installed Arichis II in his office, to whom he gave his daughter Adelperga as his wife. In 759 he named his son Adelchis co-king in order to secure the succession. Desiderius and Adelgis gave the monastery of San Salvatore in Brescia , founded by Queen Ansa in 753 and whose abbess Desiderius' daughter Anselperga was, as well as the monastery of Farfa in Spoleto, with extensive estates.

Through the Byzantine Proto-a-secretis (envoy) Georgios, Desiderius established diplomatic relations with Emperor Constantine V in order to conclude an alliance directed against the Pope, which however did not materialize. Pope Paul I saw himself threatened by an imminent Byzantine invasion in 759 and sought an alliance with Desiderius through Frankish mediation. In April 760 he made concessions to the Frankish ambassadors, Bishop Remedius and dux Autchar. Shortly afterwards, however, there were conflicts with the Pope because Desiderius, contrary to a previous agreement, did not want to leave several cities to him. This dispute was only settled in 765 after lengthy diplomatic negotiations, in which the Franks were also involved.

He went into an alliance with Duke Tassilo III. von Bayern , to whom he gave his daughter Liutberga to wife around 764 .

After the death of Pope Paul I, there were succession disputes between 767 and 768, in which Desiderius intervened. The antipope Constantine II was deposed. However, the Lombard party under the priest Waldipert could not maintain its candidate Philip . Due to the temporary weakness of the Frankish Empire, Desiderius became the patron of the Pope. Pope Stephan III. (768-772) was politically largely dependent on Desiderius. When Desiderius intervened in the “election” of the Bishop of Ravenna in 769, Stephan refused to be bishop.

Charlemagne married a daughter of Desiderius in 770, whose name is unknown and who was called Desiderata . The negotiations for this had been led by Karl's mother Bertrada the Younger , who planned to secure the Frankish empire to the south, which had been weakened by uprisings and inheritance disputes. After the death of Karlmann's younger brother in 771, Karlmann's widow Gerberga fled with her sons to Desiderius in Italy. This was looking for Pope Stephan III. in Rome and achieved that his anti-Lombard advisors Christophorus and Sergius were replaced by Paul Afiarta from the Longobard party.

After Charlemagne had disowned his Lombard wife in 772, Desiderius' court became a rallying point for the opposition to Charles. In the spring of 772 Desiderius occupied the cities of Faenza, Ferrara and Comacchio and sacked the area around Ravenna . The Lombard king urged Pope Hadrian I to anoint the sons of Karlmann as Frankish kings in order to put the pope in opposition to Charlemagne. The Pope refused and removed his pro-Lombard advisers. Desiderius occupied the cities of Senigallia , Jesi , Urbino Gubbio and Otricoli , set fire to the Roman ducat and finally marched against Rome. He could allegedly only be deterred from attacking Rome under threat of excommunication. In response to Hadrian's cry for help, the Franks invaded Italy in the summer of 773.

End of the Longobard Empire

→ Main article: Longobard campaign

Desiderius holed up in Pavia . The city was besieged by the Franks from September 773. On June 4th, 774, after nine months of siege, Desiderius capitulated and surrendered the city. Desiderius was deported with his wife to the Franconian Empire, where they spent the rest of their lives in Corbie in monastery custody, only his son Adelchis was able to escape to Byzantium . The Lombard kingdom passed to Charlemagne, who was crowned in Pavia. In the south, the Duchy of Benevento remained independent until it was conquered by the Normans in the 11th century, although it must also be counted among the satellite states of the Franconian Empire . Karl also confirmed the Pippi niche donation of his father to the church from which the later Papal States should emerge. Desiderius is last attested in the year 786, the exact year of his death is unknown.

The Desiderus Cross

The Desiderus Cross

The Cross of Desiderius in the Museo Santa Julia in Brescia is a gem cross that may have been used in processions, was in use over the centuries and on which ongoing repairs and additions can be proven. It is believed that Desiderius gave it to the monastery of Santa Julia when it was founded in 753 AD.

The cross has a wooden core covered with hammered metal that is fixed on the sides with fine nails. The metal setting is set with 212 semi-precious stones, which, because of their quality and size, should only come from a royal treasury. There are also Roman gems with mythological representations from antiquity (Hercules, Pegasus, Bellerophon), but also a rare representation of Frederick II of Swabia (13th century) incorporated. In the lower arm of the cross, an interposed gold glass medallion shines with the representation of three people, often as the daughter of the Eastern Roman emperor Theodosius I. Galla Placidia with her two children Honoria and Valentinian III. were named, this interpretation is now disputed.

Galla Placidia was taken hostage by the Visigoths on their army expedition to Italy, abducted and then forcibly married to Athaulf , the brother-in-law of the Visigoth king Alerich . But as the mother of the future emperor Valentinian III. Galla Placidia actually ruled over the Western Roman Empire for several years as regent. The medallion on the cross of Desiderius dates from the fourth century and bears the signature of an artist in Greek letters, but no naming of the persons depicted.

In the center of the cross there is a miniature sculpture carved out of gold on both sides, on the one hand Christ as judge of the world on a throne from the 10th century and on the opposite side Christ on the cross from the 16th century. The permanent changes made testify to the continued use of the cross in the Christian rite of the Santa Julia Convent in Brescia.

family

Desiderius was married to Ansa, who also came from Brescia. She probably influenced Desiderius' religious policy above all and founded several monasteries (S. Michele and S. Pietro in Brescia). The Lombard historian Paul the Deacon called them by common topoi of panegyric than coniunx pulcherrima , a very beautiful wife.

Ansa and Desiderius had five children:

literature

Web links

Commons : Desiderius  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b c Hartmann: History of Italy in the Middle Ages Vol. II Part 2, Perthes, Gotha 1903, p. 206ff
  2. ^ A b David Harry Miller: Papal-Lombard Relations During the Pontificate of Pope Paul I: The Attainment of an Equilibrium of Power in Italy, 756-767 , in: Catholic historical review 55 (1969) 3, pp. 358-376.
  3. ↑ a b Hartmann: History of Italy in the Middle Ages Vol. II Part 2, Perthes, Gotha 1903, p. 210ff
  4. ↑ a b Hartmann: History of Italy in the Middle Ages Vol. II Part 2, Perthes, Gotha 1903, p. 264
  5. ↑ a b Hartmann: History of Italy in the Middle Ages Vol. II Part 2, Perthes, Gotha 1903, p. 251ff
  6. ↑ Hartmann: History of Italy in the Middle Ages Vol. II Part 2, Perthes, Gotha 1903, p. 232ff
  7. ↑ Hartmann: History of Italy in the Middle Ages Vol. II Part 2, Perthes, Gotha 1903, p. 242f
  8. ↑ Hartmann: History of Italy in the Middle Ages Vol. II Part 2, Perthes, Gotha 1903, p. 258ff
  9. ↑ Museo di Santa Giulia: La Croce de Desiderio. Retrieved June 3, 2019 (Italian).
predecessor Office successor
Ratchis King of the Lombards
757–774 		Charlemagne
personal data
SURNAME Desiderius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of the Lombards
DATE OF BIRTH 7th century or 8th century
DATE OF DEATH after 786
Place of death Corbie