Liutperga (Liutpirc) (fl 750 - fl. 793) was a Duchess of Bavaria by marriage to Tassilo III, the last Agilolfing

Duke of Bavaria The following is a list of rulers during the history of Bavaria. Bavaria was ruled by several dukes and kings, partitioned and reunited, under several dynasties. Since 1949, Bavaria has been a democratic state in the Federal Republic of Germ ...

. She was the daughter of

Desiderius Desiderius, also known as Daufer or Dauferius (born – died ), was king of the Lombards in northern Italy, ruling from 756 to 774. The Frankish king of renown, Charlemagne, married Desiderius's daughter and subsequently conquered his realm. Des ...

, King of the

Lombards The Lombards () or Langobards ( la, Langobardi) were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written between 787 an ...

, and

Ansa Ansa (Latin for " handle") or ANSA may refer to: Organizations * Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata, Italian news agency ** Ansa Mediterranean or ANSAmed, section of the above * Applied Neuroscience Society of Australasia * Association of Nor ...

Duchess of Bavaria

She was married to Tassilo at some point prior to 770, possibly in 763, to confirm the traditional alliance between Lombardy and Bavaria. The couple had four sons: Theodo, Cotani, Hrodrud and Theodebert.

Political agency

It has been argued that Liutperga resented the Frankish king

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first E ...

. This argument is based on both the supposed repudiation of his marriage to Liutperga's sister

Desiderata "Desiderata" (Latin: "things desired") is an early 1920s prose poem by the American writer Max Ehrmann. Although he copyrighted it in 1927, he distributed copies of it without a required copyright notice during 1933 and , thereby forfeiting his ...

and his subsequent destruction of the Kingdom of Lombardy and imprisonment of her parents. Liutperga played an apparently major role in her husband's opposition to Charlemagne. Frankish annals references to Liutperga suggest this. The Annales Mettense Priores refer to her as Tassilo's "wicked wife" and the Revised

Royal Frankish Annals The ''Royal Frankish Annals'' (Latin: ''Annales regni Francorum''), also called the ''Annales Laurissenses maiores'' ('Greater Lorsch Annals'), are a series of annals composed in Latin in the Carolingian Francia, recording year-by-year the state ...

refer to the Liutperga's "urging" of her husband to push the Avars into conflict with Charlemagne. Liutperga is also referenced in a Freising charter of 804. The charter notes that a ' Bishop Arbeo' had angered Tassilo and Liutperga because of his close relations with the Franks and they had therefore removed churches from his possession.

Later life

When, in 788, her husband was deposed and tonsured along with her eldest son Theodo, Liutperga is unaccounted for. However, the Murbach annals state that Charlemagne sent his agents to Bavaria for the wife and children of Tassilo. It was in the 788 trial that the Royal Frankish Annals describe Liutperga’s role in inciting her husband to plot against the Frankish kingdom. That same year, her brother,

Adalgis Adalgis or Adelchis ( – 788) was an associate king of the Lombards from August 759, reigning with his father, Desiderius, until their deposition in June 774. His mother was Ansa. He is also remembered today as the hero of the play ''Adelchi'' (1 ...

, launched a failed attempt to reclaim the Lombard kingdom via southern Italy with

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 Constantinopl ...

assistance and afterward was never mentioned again. In 794, when Tassilo was placed on trial before the Council of Frankfurt and his dynasty renounced, Liutperga is yet again not mentioned. It has been suggested this could be due to her death. While in 802-3, years after she was last mentioned, it appears Charlemagne still considered Liutperga’s influence a threat as she is included in his

capitularies A capitulary ( Medieval Latin ) was a series of legislative or administrative acts emanating from the Frankish court of the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties, especially that of Charlemagne, the first emperor of the Romans in the west since ...

as one of very few women mentioned.

Tassilo Chalice

The Tassilo chalice, a creation of someone with experience in insular craftmanship, somewhen between 770-788, was most likely a gift to the Kremsmünster monastery from Liutperga and Tassilo. The inscriptions at the bottom of the cup read '+ Tassilo Dux fortis + Liutpirc virga regalis'. 'virga regalis' translates to 'the royal rod/branch'.

References

{{Authority control 8th-century births 8th-century Italian women Year of death unknown Lombard princesses 8th-century Lombard people Women of medieval Germany