Ermengarde of Italy

Ermengarde of Italy (* probably 852/855; † before June 22, 896 ) the younger daughter of the King of Italy and Roman Emperor Ludwig II of Italy who died in August 875 .

Life

When Ludwig II negotiated in 869 with the Byzantine emperor Basil I about an alliance against the Saracens in southern Italy, it was considered to marry the Ermengarde to the Byzantine heir to the throne Constantine , but it did not materialize. Between March and June 876 she married Boso von Vienne from the Buviniden family , since 870 Count von Vienne , Charles the Bald, the king of West Franconia elected emperor in succession to Ludwig II, as duke in Italy, that is to say to his local Deputy, made.

In May 878 Pope John VIII sought refuge with her and Boso in Arles on his flight from the Saracens and the Italian nobility .

At the end of 880 she successfully defended Vienne , the capital of the Kingdom of Burgundy , which Boso tried to restore, against the siege troops of the Carolingian kings Charles the Fat , Ludwig III. and Karlmann under the leadership of Boso's brother Richard the judge .

In a second siege of Vienne in August 881, the troops of Charles the Fat , who had been crowned Roman Emperor in February 881, succeeded in taking the city, which was sacked and burned down. Richard took his sister-in-law and her children under his protection and brought them to Autun , while Boso fled to Provence .

After Boso's death on January 11, 887, Ermengarde was appointed regent of Provence with Richard's help; In May of that year, she brought her son Ludwig to see Emperor Karl the Fat, so that he could adopt him, which they did.

In May 889 she submitted to the East Frankish King Arnulf of Carinthia .

Ermengarde was Abbess of San Salvatore in Brescia .

Marriage and offspring

Ermengarde married between March and June 876 Boso of Vienne of the Buvinid family ; she probably had three children with him:

• Engelberga (* probably 877, † after January 917)

⚭ before 910 Wilhelm I († July 6, 918), Duke of Aquitaine

• Irmengard (Ermengard) (* around 880/885)

⚭ Manasses I († 918), Count of Chalon , their son was Giselbert , 952–956 Duke of Burgundy .

• Ludwig III. Bosonides, the blind (* around 881/882; † June 5, 928), 887–928 King of Lower Burgundy , 900–905 King of Italy , 901–905 Roman Emperor

⚭ around 900 Anna of Byzantium (* 886, † before 914), daughter of the Byzantine emperor Leo VI.

⚭ 914 Adelheid of Burgundy, daughter of King Rudolf I of the Guelph family

literature

• François Bougard:  Ermengarda. In: Fiorella Bartoccini (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 43:  Enzo – Fabrizi. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1993, pp. 214-218.