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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. Desiderius is remembered for this connection to Charlemagne and for being the last Lombard ruler to exercise regional kingship. Rise to power Born in Brescia, Desiderius was originally a royal officer, the ''dux'' of Tuscia and he became king after the death of Aistulf in 756. At that time, Aistulf's predecessor, Ratchis, left his monastic retreat of Montecassino and tried to seize the kingdom, but Desiderius put his revolt down quickly with the support of Pope Stephen II. At his coronation, Desiderius promised to restore many lost papal towns to the Holy See and even enlarge the Papal State. By 757, Desiderius began securing his power, taking what historian Walter Goffart terms, "vigorous steps to suppress resistance to himself in the ...
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Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian Empire from 800, holding these titles until his death in 814. He united most of Western Europe, Western and Central Europe, and was the first recognised emperor to rule from the west after the fall of the Western Roman Empire approximately three centuries earlier. Charlemagne's reign was marked by political and social changes that had lasting influence on Europe throughout the Middle Ages. A member of the Frankish Carolingian dynasty, Charlemagne was the eldest son of Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon. With his brother, Carloman I, he became king of the Franks in 768 following Pepin's death and became the sole ruler three years later. Charlemagne continued his father's policy of protecting the papacy and became its chief defender, remo ...
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Ansa, Wife Of Desiderius
Ansa (died after 774) was a noblewoman who became the Queen of the Lombards in 756 and reigned until their fall to the Franks in 774 AD. She, like other Medieval Queens at the time, played a significant role in the stability and preservation of the later Lombard Kingdom, particularly through her religious contributions, donations, and political relationships with neighboring Kingdoms. She reigned alongside her husband, King Desiderius, in Northern Italy. She lived her final years exiled to a monastery until her death. Early Life Ansa belonged to an aristocratic family from Brescia. Ansa and Desiderius inherited land from the late King Aistulf which she used to found the Monastery of St. Michele and St. Pietro (later San Salvatore) in 753, where they would eventually appoint their eldest daughter Anselperga to abbess which was likely a political move to gain more support and power. Simultaneously, her husband was appointed an officer in the royal court while serving as Duke of Tusci ...
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Carloman I
Carloman I (28 June 751 – 4 December 771), German Karlmann, Karlomann, was king of the Franks from 768 until his death in 771. He was the second surviving son of Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon and was a younger brother of Charlemagne. His death allowed Charlemagne to take all of Francia. Split of the Frankish kingdom At the age of 3 he was, together with his father Pepin the Short and his elder brother Charlemagne, anointed King of the Franks and titled "Patrician of the Romans" by Pope Stephen II, who had left Rome to beg the Frankish King for assistance against the Lombards. Carloman and Charlemagne each inherited half of the Kingdom of the Franks upon Pepin's death. His share was based in the centre of the Frankish Kingdom, with his capital at Soissons, and consisted of the Parisian basin, the Massif Central, the Languedoc, Provence, Burgundy, southern Austrasia, Alsace, and Alemannia; the regions were poorly integrated and surrounded by those bequeathed to Charle ...
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Desiderata, Wife Of Charlemagne
Desiderata (fl. 771) was a queen consort of the Franks. She was one of four daughters of Desiderius, King of the Lombards, and his wife Ansa, Queen of the Lombards. Desiderata was married to Charlemagne in 770 in effort to create a bond between Francia and the Kingdom of the Lombards. The marriage also sought to isolate Charlemagne's brother Carloman I, who ruled over the central territories of Francia. It lasted just one year, and there are no known children. Marriage to Charlemagne Desiderata was the first (or possibly second) wife of Charlemagne. (There are questions about the nature of Charlemagne's relationship to Himiltrude, who may have been his first wife.) Carolingian historian Janet Nelson writes that the alliance between the Franks and Lombards arising out of the marriage to Desiderata was directed against Charlemagne's brother Carloman, whose territory it encircled. The marriage was opposed by Pope Stephen III, who in the summer of 770 wrote to Charlemagne and Ca ...
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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. He is also remembered today as the hero of the play ''Adelchi'' (1822) by Alessandro Manzoni. Biography Adalgis was the son of Desiderius and his wife Ansa, Queen of the Lombards, Ansa. He was associated with his father in the kingship in August 759. In Desiderius' attempts to rekindle an alliance between the Lombards and Carolingian dynasty, Carolingians he proposed that Adalgis should marry Charlemagne's sister Gisela. Bachrach has suggested that this proposal was to undermine the Carolingian's relationship with the papacy. When in 773 the Lombard kingdom was invaded by Charlemagne, the king of the Franks, Desiderius stayed in Pavia, the capital, where Siege of Pavia (773–74), he unsuccessfully resisted a siege. Adalgis instead took refuge in Verona, where he sheltered Gerberga, Queen of the Franks, the widow and chi ...
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Brescia
Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the second largest city in Lombardy and the fourth largest in northwest Italy. The urban area of Brescia extends beyond the administrative city limits and has a population of 672,822, while over 1.5 million people live in its metropolitan area. The city is the administrative capital of the Province of Brescia, one of the largest in Italy, with over 1.2 million inhabitants. Founded over 3,200 years ago, Brescia (in antiquity Brixia) has been an important regional centre since pre-Roman times. Its old town contains the best-preserved Ancient Rome, Roman public buildings in northern Italy and numerous monuments, among these the medieval castle, the Old Cathedral, Brescia, Old and New Cathedral, Brescia, New cathedral, the Renaissance ''Piazza ...
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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. He is also remembered today as the hero of the play '' Adelchi'' (1822) by Alessandro Manzoni. Biography Adalgis was the son of Desiderius and his wife Ansa. He was associated with his father in the kingship in August 759. In Desiderius' attempts to rekindle an alliance between the Lombards and Carolingians he proposed that Adalgis should marry Charlemagne's sister Gisela. Bachrach has suggested that this proposal was to undermine the Carolingian's relationship with the papacy. When in 773 the Lombard kingdom was invaded by Charlemagne, the king of the Franks, Desiderius stayed in Pavia, the capital, where he unsuccessfully resisted a siege. Adalgis instead took refuge in Verona, where he sheltered the widow and children of Charlemagne's younger brother, Carloman I, who had entered an Italian monastery after abdicatin ...
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Lombards
The Lombards () or Longobards () were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people who conquered most of the Italian Peninsula between 568 and 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written between 787 and 796) that the Lombards descended from a small tribe called the Winnili,: "From Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/winnaną, winna-'', meaning "to fight, win" who dwelt in northern Germany before migrating to seek new lands. Earlier Roman-era historians wrote of the Lombards in the first century AD as being one of the Suebian peoples, also from what is now northern Germany, near the Elbe river. They migrated south, and by the end of the fifth century, the Lombards had moved into the area roughly coinciding with modern Austria and Slovakia north of the Danube. Here they subdued the Heruls and later fought frequent wars with the Gepids. The Lombard king Audoin defeated the Gepid leader Thuris ...
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Monte Cassino
The Abbey of Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a Catholic Church, Catholic, Benedictines, Benedictine monastery on a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Valle Latina, Latin Valley. Located on the site of the ancient Roman town of Casinum, it is the first house of the Benedictine Order, having been established by Benedict of Nursia himself around 529. It was for the community of Monte Cassino that the Rule of Saint Benedict was composed. The first monastery on Monte Cassino was sacked by the invading Lombards around 570 and abandoned. Of the first monastery almost nothing is known. The second monastery was established by Petronax of Brescia around 718, at the suggestion of Pope Pope Gregory II, Gregory II and with the support of the Lombard Duke Romuald II of Benevento. It was directly subject to the pope and many monasteries in Italy were under its authority. In 883, the monastery was sacked by Saracens and abandoned again. The community of monks resi ...
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Alboin Of Spoleto
Alboin was the Lombard Duke of Spoleto from 757 to 758. He was chosen to be duke by the Spoletan nobility without the assent of the king. While Pope Stephen II was working to give the kingdom into the hands of Desiderius, he also worked to give the homage of the Duchies of Benevento and Spoleto to King Pepin the Short of the Franks. Alboin and Liutprand of Benevento commended their duchies to the Frankish king, who did not ask for it. Desiderius marched on and destroyed Spoleto and Benevento Benevento ( ; , ; ) is a city and (municipality) 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 Sabato (r ... and Alboin was captured; Liutprand fled. Desiderius himself took up the exercise of ducal power in Spoleto. Sources *Hallenbeck, Jan T. "Pavia and Rome: The Lombard Monarchy and the Papacy in the Eighth Century." ''Transactions of the Amer ...
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Adelperga
Adelperga (born c. 740 – died after 787) was a Lombard noblewoman, Duchess of Benevento by marriage to Arechis II of Benevento. She acted as regent of Benevento for her son Grimoald in 787-788. She was the third of four daughters of Desiderius, King of the Lombards, and his wife Ansa. Her elder sister Desiderata was a wife of Charlemagne. Early life She was the third of four daughters of Desiderius, King of the Lombards, and his wife Ansa. Adelperga was tutored by Paul the Deacon. Duchess About 757, she married Arechis II, Duke of Benevento. She remained in contact with Paulus, who at her request wrote his continuation of Eutropius about 775. Paul dedicated to her his ''Versus de Annis'', including an acrostic spelling ''Adelperga pia''. Adelperga and Arechis had five children, Romuald (761/2–787), Grimoald (before 773 – April 806), Gisulf (d. before 806), Theoderada (d. after 787) and Adelchisa (b. after 773, d. after 817), abbess of San Salvatore d'Alife. ...
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Pope Paul I
Pope Paul I (; 70028 June 767) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the emerging Papal States from 29 May 757 to his death on 28 June 767. He first served as a Roman deacon and was frequently employed by his brother, Pope Stephen II, in negotiations with the Lombard kings. Rise Paul was a Roman aristocrat and member of the Orsini family.George L. Williams, ''Papal Genealogy'' (London 2004). He and his brother Stephen had been educated for the priesthood at the Lateran Palace. Stephen became pope in 752. After Stephen's death on 26 April 757, Paul prevailed over a faction that wanted to make Archdeacon Theophylact pope and was chosen to succeed his brother by the majority that wished a continuation of Stephen's policy. Pontificate Paul I's reign was dominated by relations with the Frankish and Lombard kings and with the Eastern Roman emperor. He wrote to Pepin the Short that the Frankish alliance should be maintained unimpaired. Paul was likely concerned of the danger po ...
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