The ''Rythmus de captivitate Ludovici imperatoris'' ("Poem on the Captivity of Emperor Louis") is a short alphabetic

acrostic An acrostic is a poem or other word composition in which the ''first'' letter (or syllable, or word) of each new line (or paragraph, or other recurring feature in the text) spells out a word, message or the alphabet. The term comes from the Fre ...

poem in

Middle Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying deg ...

lamenting the capture of Louis II,

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, ...

and Emperor of the Romans, on 15 August 871. The poem is preserved in a ninth-century manuscript, Veronensis XC (85).See Traube, p. 403. In February 871, after a nearly five-year campaign, Louis conquered the

Emirate of Bari The Emirate of Bari was a short-lived Islamic state in Apulia ruled by non-Arabs, probably Berbers and Black Africans. Controlled from the South Italian city of Bari, it was established about 847 when the region was taken from the Byzantine Empire, ...

and captured the emir, Sawdan. He returned in triumph to

Benevento Benevento (, , ; la, Beneventum) is a city and ''comune'' of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the ...

, but his presence there and that of the Empress

Engelberga Engelberga (or Angilberga, died between 896 and 901) was the wife of Emperor Louis II and thus Carolingian empress to his death on 12 August 875.Bougard, François (1993)"ENGELBERGA (Enghelberga, Angelberga), imperatrice"‘’Treccani’’. As ...

, alienated the local nobility.

Adelchis 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'' ...

, the prince of Benevento, put the imperial couple under arrest. They were released a month later on 18 September through the negotiations of the

bishop of Benevento The Italian Catholic metropolitan Archdiocese of Benevento ( la, Archidioecesis Beneventana) has a long history; it now has five suffragan dioceses: the diocese of Ariano Irpino-Lacedonia, the diocese of Avellino, the diocese of Cerreto Sannita- ...

. As a condition of their liberty, Louis swore an oath never to return to Benevento. The ''Rythmus de captivitate Ludovici imperatoris'' places the blame for Louis's humiliation on his own captive, Sawdan, who is said to have prodded Adelchis into action. The captive emir is the main villain of the piece.Lorenzo M. Bondioli, "Islamic Bari between the Aghlabids and the Two Empires", ''The Aghlabids and their Neighbors'' (Leiden: Brill, 2018), p. 488, and ibid., "From the Frontier Cities to the City, and Back? Reinterpreting Southern Italy in the ''De administrando imperio''", ''From Constantinople to the Frontier: The City and the Cities'' (Leiden: Brill, 2016), p. 381. Blame is also laid on Sawdan by the south Italian ''

Chronicon Salernitanum The ''Chronicon Salernitanum'', or "Salerno Chronicle", is an anonymous 10th century chronicle of the history of the Principality of Salerno. It was probably written around 990 (or 974) and has been attributed to Radoald of Salerno, Abbot of San Be ...

'' and the Byzantine ''

De administrando imperio ''De Administrando Imperio'' ("On the Governance of the Empire") is the Latin title of a Greek-language work written by the 10th-century Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine VII. The Greek title of the work is ("To yown son Romanos"). It is a domes ...

'' and ''

Vita Basilii The ''Vita Basilii'' ( gr, Βίος Βασιλείου, Bios Basileiou, "Life of Basil") is an anonymous biography of the Emperor Basil I, the first Byzantine emperor of the Macedonian dynasty. It is the second work in the collection known as ''Th ...

''.

Notes

Editions

* Muratori, Lodovico Antonio (ed.)
"Rhythmus de Ludovico II. Imperatore per Adelchim, seu Adelgisum Beneventi Principem capto, compositus Anno 871. aut 872."
''Antiquitates Italicae medii aevi'', III (Milan: Typographia Societatis Palatinae, 1740), col. 711–12. * Méril, Edélestand du (ed.)
"Chanson des soldats de Louis II"
''Poésies populaires latines antérieures au douzième siècle'' (Paris: Brockhaus et Avenarius, 1843), pp. 264–66. * Traube, Ludwig (ed.)
"Carmina de Ludovico II. imperatore"
MGH, ''Poetae Latini aevi Carolini'', III (Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1886), pp. 403–05. *Russo Mailler, Carmela. "La politica meridionale di Ludovico II e il ''Rythmus de captivitate Ludovici imperatoris''." ''Quaderni Medievali'', 14 (1982), pp. 6–27. {{refend Medieval Latin poetry 871