{{Commons category, Adelchis of Benevento Adelchis (died May 878) was the son of Radelchis I, Prince of Benevento, and successor of his brother Radelgar in 854. It was given to Adelchis to preserve the ancient principality and its independence in the face of repeated assaults by the

Saracens upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...

from the south, the Emperor Louis II from the north, and

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

Langobardia to the east. At first, he was unsuccessful in his wars with the Muslims. He was defeated at Bari in 860 and forced to make a truce with the emir and pay a tribute. In subsequent ventures, he was forced to call in the help of the emperor. In 866, the emperor defeated the Saracens and, in 871, Bari itself fell. Louis then tried to set up greater control over all the south by garrisoning his troops in Beneventan fortresses. The response of Adelchis to this action was to imprison and rob the emperor while he was staying in the princely palace at Benevento in August—a treachery lamented in a contemporary poem, the '' Rythmus de captivitate Ludovici imperatoris''. A month later, the Saracens had landed with a new invasive force and Adelchis released Louis to lead the armies against it. Adelchis forced Louis to vow never to reenter Benevento with an army or to take revenge for his detention. Louis went to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in 872 and was released from his oath by Pope Adrian II on 28 May. He tried to exact punishment on Adelchis, but was not very successful. Adelchis turned to the Byzantines. He was assassinated in May 878. He was notably the last Lombard ruler to revise the ''

Edictum Rothari The ''Edictum Rothari'' (lit. ''Edict of Rothari''; also ''Edictus Rothari'' or ''Edictum Rotharis'') was the first written compilation of Lombard law, codified and promulgated on 22 November 643 by King Rothari in Pavia by a gairethinx, an assem ...

''. Adelchis' daughter was Ageltrude, wife of

Guy III of Spoleto Guy III of Spoleto (german: Wido, it, Guido; died 12 December 894) was the margrave of Camerino from 880 and then duke of Spoleto and Camerino from 883. He was crowned king of Italy in 889 and emperor in 891. He died in 894 while fighting for c ...

Sources

*Elke Goez. ''Geschichte Italiens im Mittelalter''. Darmstadt: WBG, 2010, pp. 60–61. {{S-start {{S-reg {{S-bef, before= Radelgar {{S-ttl, title= Prince of Benevento, years=854–878 {{S-aft, after= Guaifer {{s-end {{Use dmy dates, date=January 2012 {{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Adelchis Of Benevento Year of birth missing 878 deaths Princes of Benevento Lombard warriors Assassinated Italian people 9th-century rulers in Europe 9th-century Lombard people