King of Italy
King of Italy was the title given to the ruler of the Kingdom of Italy after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The first to take the title was Odoacer, a "barbarian" military leader, in the late 5th century, followed by the Ostrogothic kings up to the mid-6th century. With the Frankish conquest of Italy in the 8th century, the Carolingians assumed the title, maintained by subsequent Holy Roman Emperors throughout the Middle Ages; the last Emperor to claim the title was Charles V in the 16th century. During this period, the holders of the title were crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy. A Kingdom of Italy was restored from 1805 to 1814 with Napoleon as its only king, centered in Northern Italy, it was not until the Italian unification in the 1860s that a Kingdom of Italy covering the entire peninsula was restored. From 1861 the House of Savoy held the title of King of Italy until the last king, Umberto II, was exiled in 1946 when Italy became a republic. After the deposition of the last Western Emperor in 476, Heruli leader Odoacer was appointed Dux Italiae by the reigning Byzantine Emperor Zeno.
The Germanic foederati, the Scirians and the Heruli, as well as a large segment of the Italic Roman army, proclaimed Odoacer Rex Italiae. In 493, the Ostrogothic king Theoderic the Great killed Odoacer, set up a new dynasty of kings of Italy. Ostrogothic rule ended when Italy was reconquered by the Byzantine Empire in 552. In 568, the Lombards entered the peninsula and ventured to recreate a barbarian kingdom in opposition to the Empire, establishing their authority over much of Italy, except the Exarchate of Ravenna and the duchies of Rome, Venetia and the southernmost portions. In the 8th century, estrangement between the Italians and the Byzantines allowed the Lombards to capture the remaining Roman enclaves in northern Italy. However, in 774, they were defeated by the Franks under Charlemagne, who deposed their king and took up the title "king of the Lombards". After the death of Charles the Fat in 887, Italy fell into instability and a number of kings attempted to establish themselves as independent Italian monarchs.
During this period, known as the Feudal Anarchy, the title Rex Italicorum was introduced. After the breakup of the Frankish empire, Otto I added Italy to the Holy Roman Empire and continued the use of the title Rex Italicorum; the last to use this title was Henry II. Subsequent emperors used the title "King of Italy" until Charles V. At first they were crowned in Pavia Milan, Charles was crowned in Bologna. In 1805, Napoleon I was crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy at the Milan Cathedral; the next year, Holy Roman Emperor Francis II abdicated his imperial title. From the deposition of Napoleon I until the Italian Unification, there was no Italian monarch claiming the overarching title; the Risorgimento established a dynasty, the House of Savoy, over the whole peninsula, uniting the kingdoms of Sardinia and the Two Sicilies to form the modern Kingdom of Italy. The monarchy was superseded by the Italian Republic, after a constitutional referendum was held on 2 June 1946, after World War II; the Italian monarchy formally ended on 12 June of that year, Umberto II left the country.
Odoacer vassal of the Eastern Roman Empire. Theoderic the Great Athalaric Theodahad Witiges Ildibad Eraric Totila Teia Alboin Cleph Rule of the dukes Authari Agilulf Adaloald Arioald Rothari Rodoald Aripert I Perctarit and Godepert Grimoald Perctarit, restored from exile Alahis, rebel Cunincpert Liutpert Raginpert Aripert II Ansprand Liutprand Hildeprand Ratchis Aistulf Desiderius Charlemagne Pippin Bernard Louis I Lothair I Louis II Charles II the Bald Carloman Charles the Fat After 887, Italy fell into instability, with many rulers claiming the kingship simultaneously: Berengar I vassal of the German King Arnulf of Carinthia, reduced to Friuli 889-894, deposed by Arnulf in 896. Guy of Spoleto opponent of Berengar, was deposed by Arnulf. Lambert of Spoleto subking of his father Guy before 894, reduced to Spoleto 894–895. Arnulf of Carinthia Ratold In 896, Arnulf and Ratold lost control of Italy, divided between Berengar and Lambert: Berengar I seized Lambert's portion upon the latter's death in 898.
Lambert of Italy Louis III of Provence opposed Berengar 900-902 and 905. Rudolph II of Burgundy defeated Berengar but fled Italy in 926. Hugh of Arles elected by Berengar's partisans in 925, resigned to Provence after 945. Lothair II Berengar II of Ivrea jointly with his son:Adalbert of Italy In 951 Otto I of Germany invaded Italy and was crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy. In 952, Berengar and Adalbert remained Kings until being deposed by Otto. Roger II used the title King of Sicily and Italy until at least 1135. Although his realm included the southern Italian mainland, he never exerted any control over the official Kingdom of Italy, none of his successors claimed the title King of Italy. Charles V was the last emperor to use the title; the Peace of Westphalia, in 1648, formally end
Conrad, Duke of Lorraine
Conrad, called the Red, was Duke of Lorraine from 944 until 953. He became the progenitor of the Imperial Salian dynasty, he was the son of Werner V, a Franconian count in the Nahegau and Wormsgau territories on the Upper Rhine. His mother was Hicha, a daughter of the Hunfriding duke Burchard II of Swabia and his wife Regelinda of Zürich; the descent of Count Werner V, the first documented Salian, is uncertain. In 941, Conrad appeared as his father's successor in the Rhenish counties and obtained additional territory in the Wetterau on the right bank of the Rhine. Conrad took his residence at Worms and rivalled with Archbishop Frederick of Mainz for supremacy in Rhenish Franconia; the Salian counts had been able to strengthen their position in the Franconian lands, while their Conradine relatives had failed to maintain the royal dignity upon King Conrad's death in 918 and the rise of the Ottonian dynasty. The late king's younger brother Eberhard was able to succeed him as Duke of Franconia and was temporarily enfeoffed with the Lotharingian duchy he joined the revolt of Duke Gilbert of Lorraine against the rule of King Otto I of Germany and was killed at the 939 Battle of Andernach.
While Lotharingia passed to Otto's younger brother Henry, Conrad the Red remained a loyal supporter of King Otto and acted as Franconian regent after Duke Eberhard's death, with some chance to obtain the ducal title. He helped to ensure the waiver of Lotharingia by the West Frankish king Louis IV and to uncover a plot by the king's brother Henry on Otto's life. In turn, the adolescens was vested with Lotharingia in 944. Rejected by the local nobility, however, he remained dependent on the king's support. About three years he married Liutgarde, Otto's daughter with his first wife Edith of Wessex, a daughter of the English king Edward the Elder, he and Liutgard had one son, Otto of Worms, born in 948 Duke of Carinthia. Conrad proved his talent, in 951 he accompanied King Otto on his first Italian campaign and entered into negotiations with King Berengar II, who by his agency appeared at the 952 Imperial Diet in Augsburg and paid homage to the German king. Conrad, was duped by his king, when Otto took the occasion to additionally enforce the cession of the Italian March of Verona to his brother Henry.
The next year, Conrad therefore joined his brother-in-law, Duke Liudolf of Swabia, in rebellion against King Otto, according to the chronicler Widukind of Corvey, bitterly complained about Conrad's ingratitude. The revolt reached large circles, it was quashed after the insurgents began to deal with hostile Hungarian forces. Liudolf and Conrad were deprived of their duchies at the Diet of Fritzlar and Lotharingia was instead granted to the king's own brother, Archbishop Bruno of Cologne, while Conrad was driven out by the local nobles; the Salian submitted to Otto at Langenzenn and both were reconciled. In 954 he participated in a successful campaign of Margrave Gero against the Slavic Ukrani tribes in the Uckerland. Conrad the Red was killed in the 955 Battle of Lechfeld near Augsburg, while fighting alongside King Otto as commander of the Franconian contingent against the invading Hungarian forces. According to Widukind of Corvey: "Duke Conrad, the foremost of all in combat, suffering from battle fatigue caused by an unusually hot sun, loosened the straps of his armor to catch his breath when an arrow pierced his throat and killed him instantly."
Conrad's body was carried in state to Worms, where he was given a lavish funeral and buried at Worms Cathedral by his son and heir Otto. This kind of extraordinary burial was at this time a privilege of kings. Conrad was the great-grandfather of Holy Roman Emperor. Widukind. Deeds of the Saxons. Translated by Bachrach, Bernard S.. The Catholic University of America Press. Wolfram, Herwig. "Conrad II, the First Medieval Emperor of Three Kingdoms". In Halfond, Gregory I; the Medieval Way of War: Studies in Medieval Military History in Honor of Bernard S. Bachrach. Ashgate Publishing Limited
Kingdom of Germany
The Kingdom of Germany or German Kingdom developed out of Eastern Francia, the eastern division of the former Carolingian Empire, over the 9th to 11th centuries. East Francia was formed by the Treaty of Verdun in 843, was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty until 911, after which the kingship was elective; the initial electors were the rulers of the stem duchies, who chose one of their own. After 962, when Otto I was crowned emperor, East Francia formed the bulk of the Holy Roman Empire along with Italy. Like medieval England and medieval France, medieval Germany consolidated from a conglomerate of smaller tribes, nations or polities by the High Middle Ages; the term rex teutonicorum first came into use in Italy around the year 1000. It was popularized by the chancery of Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy as a political tool against Emperor Henry IV. In the twelfth century, in order to stress the imperial and transnational character of their office, the emperors began to employ the title rex Romanorum on their election.
Distinct titulature for Germany and Burgundy, which traditionally had their own courts and chanceries dropped from use. After the Imperial Reform and Reformation settlement, the German part of the Holy Roman Empire was divided into Reichskreise, which defined Germany against imperial territories outside the Imperial Circles: imperial Italy, the Bohemian Kingdom, the Old Swiss Confederacy. There are few references to a German realm distinct from the Holy Roman Empire; the eastern division of the Treaty of Verdun was called the regnum Francorum Orientalium or Francia Orientalis: the Kingdom of the Eastern Franks or East Francia. It was the eastern half of the old Merovingian regnum Austrasiorum; the "east Franks" themselves were the people of Franconia, settled by Franks. The other peoples of East Francia were Saxons, Frisians and the like, referred to as Teutonici and sometimes as Franks as ethnic identities changed over the course of the ninth century. An entry in the Annales Iuvavenses for the year 919 contemporary but surviving only in a twelfth-century copy, records that Baiuarii sponte se reddiderunt Arnolfo duci et regnare ei fecerunt in regno teutonicorum, i.e. that "Arnulf, Duke of the Bavarians, was elected to reign in the Kingdom of the Germans".
Historians disagree on. Beginning in the late eleventh century, during the Investiture Controversy, the Papal curia began to use the term regnum teutonicorum to refer to the realm of Henry IV in an effort to reduce him to the level of the other kings of Europe, while he himself began to use the title rex Romanorum or King of the Romans to emphasise his divine right to the imperium Romanum; this title was employed most by the German kings themselves, though they did deign to employ "Teutonic" titles when it was diplomatic, such as Frederick Barbarossa's letter to the Pope referring to his receiving the coronam Theutonici regni. Foreign kings and ecclesiastics continued to refer to the regnum Alemanniae and règne or royaume d'Allemagne; the terms imperium/imperator or empire/emperor were employed for the German kingdom and its rulers, which indicates a recognition of their imperial stature but combined with "Teutonic" and "Alemannic" references a denial of their Romanitas and universal rule.
The term regnum Germaniae begins to appear in German sources at the beginning of the fourteenth century. Therefore, throughout the Middle Ages, the convention was that the king of Germany was Emperor of the Romans, his title was royal from his election to his coronation in Rome by the Pope. After the death of Frederick II in 1250, the trend toward a "more conceived German kingdom" found no real consolidation; the title of "king of the Romans" became less and less reserved for the emperor-elect but uncrowned in Rome. The reign was dated to begin either on the day of the coronation; the election day became the starting date permanently with Sigismund. Maximilian I changed the style of the emperor in 1508, with papal approval: after his German coronation, his style was Dei gratia Romanorum imperator electus semper augustus; that is, he was "emperor elect": a term that did not imply that he was emperor-in-waiting or not yet emperor, but only that he was emperor by virtue of the election rather than papal coronation.
At the same time, the custom of having the heir-apparent elected as king of the Romans in the emperor's lifetime resumed. For this reason, the title "king of the Romans" came to mean heir-apparent, the successor elected while the emperor was still alive; the Archbishop
Berengar I of Italy
Berengar I was the King of Italy from 887. He became Holy Roman Emperor after 915, until his death in 924, he is known as Berengar of Friuli, since he ruled the March of Friuli from 874 until at least 890, but he had lost control of the region by 896. Berengar rose to become one of the most influential laymen in the empire of Charles the Fat, he was elected to replace Charles in Italy after the latter's deposition in November 887, his long reign of 36 years saw him opposed by no less than seven other claimants to the Italian throne. His reign is characterised as "troubled" because of the many competitors for the crown and because of the arrival of Magyar raiders in Western Europe, he was the last emperor after a 38-year interregnum. His family was called the Unruochings after his grandfather, Unruoch II. Berengar was a son of Eberhard of Friuli and Gisela, daughter of Louis the Pious and his second wife Judith, he was thus of Carolingian extraction on his mother's side. He was born at Cividale. Sometime during his margraviate, he married Bertilla, daughter of Suppo II, thus securing an alliance with the powerful Supponid family.
She would rule alongside him as a consors, a title denoting her informal power and influence, as opposed to a mere coniunx, "wife." When his older brother Unruoch III died in 874, Berengar succeeded him in the March of Friuli. With this he obtained a key position in the Carolingian Empire, as the march bordered the Croats and other Slavs who were a constant threat to the Italian peninsula, he was a territorial magnate with lordship over several counties in northeastern Italy. He was an important channel for the men of Friuli to get access to the emperor and for the emperor to exercise authority in Friuli, he had a large degree of influence on the church of Friuli. In 884 -- 885, Berengar intervened with the emperor on behalf of Bishop of Belluno. When, in 875, the Emperor Louis II, King of Italy, having come to terms with Louis the German whereby the German monarch's eldest son, would succeed in Italy, Charles the Bald of West Francia invaded the peninsula and had himself crowned king and emperor.
Louis the German sent first Charles the Fat, his youngest son, Carloman himself, with armies containing Italian magnates led by Berengar, to possess the Italian kingdom. This was not successful until the death of Charles the Bald in 877; the proximity of Berengar's march to Bavaria, which Carloman ruled under his father, may explain their cooperation. In 883, the newly succeeded Guy III of Spoleto was accused of treason at an imperial synod held at Nonantula late in May, he made an alliance with the Saracens. The emperor Charles the Fat, sent Berengar with an army to deprive him of Spoleto. Berengar was successful before an epidemic of disease, which ravaged all Italy, affecting the emperor and his entourage as well as Berengar's army, forced him to retire. In 886, Bishop of Vercelli, took Berengar's sister from the nunnery of San Salvatore at Brescia in order to marry her to a relative of his. Berengar and Liutward had a feud that year, which involved his attack on Vercelli and plundering of the bishop's goods.
Berengar's actions are explicable if his sister was abducted by the bishop, but if the bishop's actions were justified Berengar appears as the initiator of the feud. Whatever the case and margrave were reconciled shortly before Liutward was dismissed from court in 887. By his brief war with Liutward, Berengar had lost the favour of his cousin the emperor. Berengar came to the emperor's assembly at Waiblingen in early May 887, he made peace with the emperor and compensated for the actions of the previous year by dispensing great gifts. In June or July, Berengar was again at the emperor's side at Kirchen, when Louis of Provence was adopted as the emperor's son, it is sometimes alleged that Berengar was pining to be declared Charles' heir and that he may in fact have been so named in Italy, where he was acclaimed king after Charles' deposition by the nobles of East Francia in November that year. On the other hand, his presence may have been necessary to confirm Charles' illegitimate son Bernard as his heir, a plan which failed when the pope refused to attend, to confirm Louis instead.
Berengar was the only one of the reguli to crop up in the aftermath of Charles' deposition besides Arnulf of Carinthia, his deposer, made king before the emperor's death. Charter evidence begins Berengar's reign at Pavia between 26 December 887 and 2 January 888, though this has been disputed. Berengar was not the undisputed leading magnate in Italy at the time, but he may have made an agreement with his former rival, Guy of Spoleto, whereby Guy would have West Francia and he Italy on the emperor's death. Both Guy and Berengar were related to the Carolingians in the female line, they represented different factions in Italian politics: Berengar the pro-German and Guy the pro-French. In Summer 888, who had failed in his bid to take the West Frankish throne, returned to Italy to gather an army from among the Spoletans and Lombards and oppose Berengar; this he did, but the battle they fought near Brescia in the fall was a slight victory for Berengar, though his forces were so diminished that he sued for peace nevertheless.
The truce was to last until 6 January 889. After the truce with Guy was signed, Arnulf of Germany endeavoured to invade Italy through Friuli. Berengar, in order to prevent a war, sent dig
Rozala of Italy
Rozala of Italy was a Countess of Flanders and Queen consort of the Franks. She was regent of Flanders in 987-988 during the minority of her son. Rozala, born sometime between 950 -- 960, was the daughter of King Berengar of King of Italy, her mother was the daughter of Boso, Margrave of Tuscany and his wife Willa. In 968 she married Arnulf Count of Flanders. On her husband's death, she acted as regent for her young son. On c. 1 April 988 she married secondly the much younger Robert the Pious, the Rex Filius of France. According to disputed account she brought her husband Montreuil and Ponthieu as a dowry, others assert that she was bequeathed her right to that territory. Upon her marriage, she took the name of Susannah, was the queen consort of the co-ruling king Robert, under senior King Hugh. From 991/992 the couple lived separated as Rozala had become too old to have more children and they lacked marital happiness; when her father-in-law died in 996, Robert repudiated her desiring to marry Bertha of Burgundy in her place.
That marriage was not lawful because of too close kinship so Robert married a third time 1003 with Constance of Arles who bore him seven children. Rozala retired back to Flanders, where she was buried. Robert retained the rights to the mentioned territory. Rozala was firstly married to Count of Flanders, they had the following children: Count of Flanders Mathilda. The second marriage with Robert II of France did not produce any children. Nicholas, David. Medieval Flanders. Longman. Poppe, Andrzej. "The Political Background to the Baptism of Rus': Byzantine-Russian Relations between 986-89". Dumbarton Oaks Papers. Vol. 30. Vasiliev, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich. Hugh Capet of France and Byzantium. Dumbarton Oaks Papers. 6
San Leo
San Leo is a comune in the Province of Rimini in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about 135 kilometres southeast of Bologna and about 35 kilometres southwest of Rimini. San Leo borders the following municipalities: Acquaviva, Città di San Marino, Montecopiolo, Monte Grimano, Sassofeltrio, Verucchio. San Leo is home to a large fortress at an elevation of 600 metres above sea level; the San Leo Cathedral is a Romanesque architecture church in town. After the referendum of 17 and 18 December 2006, San Leo was detached from the Province of Pesaro and Urbino to join Emilia-Romagna and the Province of Rimini on 15 August 2009. Città di San Marino, San Marino Official website Photos The town The fortress Photo gallery made by a UNESCO photographer
Liudolf, Duke of Swabia
Liudolf, a member of the Ottonian dynasty, was Duke of Swabia from 950 until 954. His rebellion in 953/54 led to a major crisis of the rising German kingdom. Liudolf was the only son of the Saxon duke Otto the Great and heir of the German king Henry the Fowler, by his first wife Eadgyth, daughter of the English king Edward the Elder. Otto ascended the German throne in 936 and Liudolf, as his designated heir and successor, received a broad education. In 939 his father betrothed him with Ida and heiress of the Conradine duke Herman I of Swabia; the marriage was concluded about 947/948. Liudolf was able to consolidate Ottonian dominance in Swabia. Upon the death of his mother Eadgyth in 946, he and Ida rose to a German crown prince couple; when in November 950 King Lothair II of Italy died, Berengar II usurped the throne and had Lothair's widow Adelaide, a relative of Liudolf's wife Ida, imprisoned. Moreover, as Adelaide was the sister of Otto's ally King Conrad I of Burgundy, the German king prepared for a campaign to Italy.
Liudolf forestalled his father's plans and in early 951 led a Swabian army across the Alps and invaded Lombardy. His father was displeased and foiled his plans, supported by his brother Duke Henry I of Bavaria, who considered Liudolf's campaign a violation of his interests in Northern Italy; the Swabian duke received little support by the Italian nobility and had to follow the approaching forces of his father, leaving him without much gain. When King Otto married Adelaide, the heiress to Italy, Liudolf felt, he underlined his right of succession by lavishly celebrating Christmas 951 like a king at the Kaiserpfalz in Saalfeld and forged an alliance with his brother-in-law Duke Conrad of Lorraine. After Adelheid gave birth to a son, Liudolf raised the flag of revolt in 953. Though he had the support of his Swabians, his ally Duke Conrad the Red was opposed by his own subjects in Lorraine; the Bavarians of Duke Henry I, Liudolf's uncle, supported Liudolf, but Henry and Otto together put down the rebellion.
In 954, he was deprived of his duchy and, though reconciled with his father, he did not regain it. He invaded Italy for a second time in 957 and many cities capitulated before him and Berengar fled, he died unexpectedly of fever amidst his victorious campaign at Pombia, near Novara, on September 6 and was buried in St. Alban's Abbey, Mainz, his son by Ida, was duke of Bavaria and Swabia, his daughter Mathilde, abbess of the Essen Abbey. He founded the city of Stuttgart in southern Germany. Barraclough, Geoffrey, ed.. Studies in Mediaeval History:Mediaeval Germany. Vol. II. Essays. Basil Blackwell. Schutz, Herbert; the Medieval Empire in Central Europe: Dynastic Continuity in the Post-Carolingian Frankish Realm, 900-1300. Cambridge University Scholars
