Duchy of Spoleto

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Location of the Duchy of Spoleto (center) around 1000 in Italy

The independent duchy of Spoleto was a Longobard principality in central Italy . It was founded by Dux Faroald I around 570 .

history

The independent Duchy of Spoleto in central Italy was a Lombard principality to 570 from a dux Faroald I. was founded. A decade of interregnum after the death of Alboin's successor left the Lombard dukes in relative independence from the central state in Pavia . In the city of Spoleto , the Roman Capitolium , which was dedicated to Jupiter , Juno and Minerva , had already been rededicated in the episcopal cathedral (today the Church of San Ansano) (the diocese was founded in the 4th century), which took over the pagan structures. The Lombard dukes restored the fortifications on the high Rocca , the walls of which had been razed by Totila during the Gothic Wars.

The dukes of Spoleto fought intermittently against the Byzantine exarchate of Ravenna , their possessions included large parts of Umbria , Marche and Abruzzo , depending on the luck of the war . Never as important as the Duchy of Benevento , the history of Spoleto is rather obscure. The second duke, Ariulf , undertook several campaigns against the Byzantines (579-592 against Ravenna, 592 against Rome ). Ariulf followed Theudelapius , the son of Faroald, who is associated with the first construction of today's cathedral. He was followed by Atto (653), Transamund I (663), who ruled together with his brother Wachilap, and Faroald II (703). Faroald conquered Classis , the port of Ravenna, says Paulus Diaconus in his writings: "At this time, Faroald, the first Duke of the Spoletians, also invaded Classis with a Lombard army, leaving the rich city plundered and devoid of all riches." was forced by the Lombard king Liutprand to restore the city, an indication of the loose control of the Lombard central government, whose strengthening was Liutprand's task, as Paulus Diaconus interpreted it for his Frankish clients. Faroald was deposed by his son Transamund II (724), who rose up against Liutprand and with Pope Gregory III. allied who offered him protection in Rome in 738. Hilderic , who replaced him as Duke, was slain by Transemund 740 , who two years (742) later was forced by Liutprand to retire to a monastery, which passed the duchy, which he had regained by force of arms, on to Agiprand . At Liutprand's death in 744, Spoleto was under the central power of Pavias, so that Theodicus could peacefully succeed him. Three 8th century dukes were also kings of the Lombards, a sign that Spoleto was more closely involved in the kingdom than Benevento.

In 776, two years after the fall of Benevent, Spoleto was conquered by Charlemagne , who also assumed the title of King of the Lombards. Although he ceded the territory to the Church, he retained the right to appoint the dukes, an important concession and probably a source of controversy, since Pope Hadrian I had already installed a Duke of Spoleto.

In 842 the former duchy was restored by the Franks as a border march, with a dependent margrave at its head. Among the outstanding of the Franconian dukes is Guido I from the Guidonen family , who divided the duchy between his two sons Lambert and Guido II, the latter with the reign of Camerino as the duchy. Lambert was a fearless fighter against the Saracen band of robbers, but who also slaughtered the Romans in 867 and deposed in 871, reinstated in 876 and finally excommunicated by Pope John VIII . In 883 Guido II reunited the duchy, from now on as the duchy of Spoleto and Camerino. After the death of Charles the Bald in 888, Guido let himself be through Pope Stephan VI. crowned Roman Emperor and King of Italy (891). The following year, Pope Formosus crowned Guido's son Lambert II as Duke, King and Emperor.

The Dukes of Spoleto did not stop interfering in violent politics in the city. Alberich I , Duke of Camerino (897) and later of Spoleto, married the well-known Roman noblewoman Marozia , lover of Pope Sergius III. (904–911) and was killed by the Romans in 924. His son Alberich II subjugated the Senatrix in 932, although her son, his half-brother, as Johannes XII. Was Pope. Around 949 , Berengar II , the Frankish King of Italy and Roman Emperor, took Spoleto back from his last margrave.

Later, Emperor Otto I removed the so-called Sabina Langobardica from the Duchy and handed it over to the Holy See. From now on the government in Spoleto became more and more a sign of favor for the emperors. In 967 Otto II briefly brought Spoleto together with the duchies of Capua and Benevento, which were then ruled by Pandolfo Testa di Ferro; after Pandolfo's death he hived off Spoleto and gave it to Hugo, the Duke of Tuscia . The duchy was united with Tuscany a second time in 1057 when Gottfried the Bearded of Lower Lorraine married Beatrix, the widow of Duke Boniface of Spoleto; the unit then lasted until the death of Countess Mathilde von Tuscien .

During the investiture controversy between the Pope and the Emperor, Henry IV appointed his own dukes of Spoleto. The duchy came into the Urslingen family , Margraves of Ancona . Emperor Friedrich I destroyed the city in 1155, but had it rebuilt. In 1158 he gave the duchy to Welf VI. , Heinrich VI. then to Konrad von Urslingen, after his death in 1198 Pope Innocent III. was given; In 1209 Spoleto was occupied by Otto IV , who made Diepold von Schweinspeunt duke in 1210 .

Otto IV. Rendered 1201 imperial law in Spoleto to the Pope, a short time later the Duchy of direct control was the Church assumed a governor, a commonly Cardinal at the top, although in the fighting Friedrich II. By the end of the Staufer a The bone of contention remained.

The Urslingers

Urslingen is the name of a highly medieval noble family. It is mentioned for the first time in the 12th century and, in the wake of the Hohenstaufen , quickly came to power , especially in Italy . How connected they were with the Staufers is shown by the photo of the two-year-old Friedrich II (HRR) at Foligno, where he was in the care of the Duchess of Spoleto, the wife of Konrad von Urslingen (father) .

The family's name is derived from Urslingen Castle on the upper Neckar , from whose castle only a few ruins have survived.

Already in the third generation, the Urslingers owned the Duchy of Spoleto, which they had to give up with the end of the Staufer, after which they were compensated with the title of Duke of Urslingen . Well-known representative of the family was Reinold VI. from Urslingen .

List of the Dukes of Spoleto

Empire of the Longobards

Empire of the Franks from 774

  • Hildeprand 774-788
  • Winiges 789-822
  • Suppone I. 822-824
  • Adelard 824
  • Mauring 824
  • Adelchis I. 824-834
  • Lambert 834-836
  • Berengar 836-841

to the Franconian Lotharii Regnum until 855 and then to Italy until 964

belongs to Tuscany 989 - approx. 1020

  • Hugo 989-996 (also Margrave of Tuszien )
  • Ademar 999–?
  • Romanus 1003–?
  • Rainier 1010 - approx. 1020 († 1027) (Duke of Tuscany 1014-1027)
  • Hugo II. Approx. 1020-1035
  • Hugo III 1036-1043

belongs to Tuscany 1043-1056

belongs to Tuscany 1070-1082

  • Rainier II. 1082-1086

belongs to Tuscany 1086-1093

  • Werner II. 1093–1119 (Margrave of Ancona)

belongs to Tuscany 1119–1171

  • Ridelulf 1172–?

List of vicars general or imperial administrators of the Duchy of Spoleto

  • from 1247 to 1249 Richard von Chieti (Italian: Riccardo; * between 1222 and 1225; † May 1249)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter von Eboli : Liber ad honorem Augusti. Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Codex 120. II, fol. 138r.