The Battle of Firenzuola was fought on 29 July 923 between the forces of

Rudolph II Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–1608). He was a member of the Ho ...

of Burgundy and Adalbert I of

Ivrea Ivrea (; pms, Ivrèja ; ; lat, Eporedia) is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy. Situated on the road leading to the Aosta Valley (part of the medieval Via Francigena), it strad ...

on one side and Berengar I of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

on the other. The battle was a defeat for Berengar, who was thus ''de facto'' dethroned and replaced by Rudolf as

King of Italy King of Italy ( it, links=no, Re d'Italia; la, links=no, Rex Italiae) 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 ...

. His own grandson and namesake, Berengar II, who would later be king of Italy as well, fought on the winning side against him.

Background

Berengar was supported principally by the German faction in Italy. He was defeated by Guido of Spoleto in 889. He re-emerged as sole king in Italy in 898 after the death of Lambert of Spoleto. Louis of Provence was elected as king of Italy in 900, with support particularly from

Anscar I of Ivrea Anscar I ( la, Anscarius; 860 - March 902) was the margrave of Ivrea from 888Wickham, 178. to his death. From 877 or 879, he was the count of Oscheret in Burgundy. He supported Guy III of Spoleto for the throne of France after the deposition ...

. Berengario defeated Louis twice, the second time conclusively in 905 when he had his rival blinded. He was crowned

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

at Rome in 916.

Prelude

He allied himself with the Magyars to defeat King

Rudolph II of Burgundy Rudolph II (c. 11 July 880 – 11 July 937), a member of the Elder House of Welf, was King of Burgundy from 912 until his death. He initially succeeded in Upper Burgundy and also ruled as King of Italy from 922 to 926. In 933 Rudolph acquired t ...

, who emerged as another rival candidate for the Italian throne, but was later forced back to

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

by Rudolph. The two armies met at

Firenzuola Firenzuola is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region Tuscany, located about northeast of Florence. Firenzuola borders the following municipalities: Barberino di Mugello, Borgo San Lorenzo, Castel ...

Battle

Both armies were led by the kings in person. Berengar defeated Rudolph's initial force but failed to control his men, who set out to plunder the spoils. Rudolph's retreat may have been pre-planned. A second group under the future

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

Boniface of Spoleto and Count Gariard of

Novara Novara (, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It i ...

attacked Berengar's scattered troops. Rudolph's soldiers regrouped and rejoined the struggle. Berengar's army collapsed and he fled to his fortress in Verona.

Aftermath

Berengar was assassinated on 7 April 924 in Verona, possibly by Rudolph's men. Rudolph never received the Imperial throne and was forced out from Italy in 926.

Casualties

Flodoard wrote that 1,500 troops were killed on the Italian side.

Citations

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Battle of Firenzuola 923

10th century in Italy