Adalbert Atto (or Adalberto Azzo) (died 13 February 988) was the first
Count of Canossa and founder of that noble house which eventually was to play a determinant role in the political settling of
Regnum Italicum
The Kingdom of Italy ( la, Regnum Italiae or ''Regnum Italicum''; it, Regno d'Italia; german: Königreich Italien), also called Imperial Italy ( it, Italia Imperiale, german: Reichsitalien, links=no), was one of the constituent kingdoms of the ...
and the
Investiture Controversy
The Investiture Controversy, also called Investiture Contest (German: ''Investiturstreit''; ), was a conflict between the Church and the state in medieval Europe over the ability to choose and install bishops (investiture) and abbots of monast ...
in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
Countship
Adalbert first appears in sources as a son of
Sigifred of Lucca Sigifred of Lucca (also Sigefred, Siegfried) (died after 940) was a Lombard nobleman and the progenitor of the House of Canossa.
Donizo, the 12th-century biographer of the Canossa dynasty, refers to Sigifred as coming from ‘the county of Luccaâ ...
. He was originally a vassal of
King Lothair II and a
legionary
The Roman legionary (in Latin ''legionarius'', plural ''legionarii'') was a professional heavy infantryman of the Roman army after the Marian reforms. These soldiers would conquer and defend the territories of ancient Rome during the late Republi ...
of Adelard, Bishop of Reggio. He rose to prominence rapidly by sheltering
Adelaide of Italy
Adelaide of Italy (german: Adelheid; 931 – 16 December 999 AD), also called Adelaide of Burgundy, was Holy Roman Empress by marriage to Emperor Otto the Great; she was crowned with him by Pope John XII in Rome on 2 February 962. She was the f ...
in his castle at
Canossa
Canossa ( Reggiano: ) is a ''comune'' and castle town in the Province of Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. It is where Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV did penance in 1077 and stood three days bare-headed in the snow to reverse his excom ...
after she fled from the castle of
Garda (951), where
Berengar II of Italy
Berengar II ( 900 – 4 August 966) was the King of Italy from 950 until his deposition in 961. He was a scion of the Anscarid and Unruoching dynasties, and was named after his maternal grandfather, Berengar I. He succeeded his father as Marg ...
had imprisoned her.
After
Otto I
Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Francia, East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the olde ...
wed Adelaide of Italy, Otto I awarded Adalbert with the countships of
Reggio nell'Emilia
Reggio nell'Emilia ( egl, Rèz; la, Regium Lepidi), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until Unification of Italy, 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romag ...
and
Modena
Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...
. According to the ''
Chronicon Novaliciense
The ''Chronicon Novaliciense'' (or ''Chronicle of Novalesa'') is a monastic chronicle which was written in the mid-eleventh century in the valley of Susa.
The ''Chronicle of Novalesa'' was written, c.1050, by an anonymous monk at the monastery o ...
'', Adalbert was gifted the countship because he had helped Adelaide of Italy.
With Adelaide of Italy, he negotiated a division of power with the bishop of Reggio whereby the bishop was confirmed as ''comes civitatis'', count of the city, and Adalbert as ''comes comitatus'', count of the county, where the county was said to begin three or four miles outside the city walls. He appears with a similar title, ''comes comitatus Mantuanensis'', in
Mantua
Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name.
In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...
in a letter of the abbess of Santa Giulia dated 10 June 977.
In 984 Adalbert appears in the records as a
margrave
Margrave was originally the medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or of a kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain feudal families in the Emp ...
. When
Henry II, Duke of Bavaria
Henry II (951 – 28 August 995), called the Wrangler or the Quarrelsome (german: Heinrich der Zänker), a member of the German royal Ottonian dynasty, was Duke of Bavaria from 955 to 976 and again from 985 to 995, as well as Duke of Carinthia ...
, was acclaimed as king that year, he united
Parma
Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...
, the
County of Piacenza The County of Piacenza was a county (Latin ''comitatus'') of the Frankish kingdom of Italy. Its centre was the ancient and walled city of Piacenza (Latin ''Placentia'') at the confluence of the Trebbia and the Po, just downriver from the royal cap ...
,
Bergamo
Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes Como ...
,
Cremona
Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' ( Po Valley). It is the capital of th ...
, and
Brescia
Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...
to Adalbert's territories. However, Henry's usurpation of the throne was brief.
Death and legacy
Adalbert built a monastery at Canossa in 961, dedicated to S. Apollonio in 971. He also built a monastery at
Brescello
Brescello (; in the local dialect, in the Reggio Emilia dialect) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Reggio Emilia in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about northwest of Bologna and about northwest of Reggio Emilia. ...
. He and his family were all buried in S. Apollonio.
Adalbert married the
Supponid The Supponids were a Frankish noble family of prominence in the Carolingian ''regnum Italicum'' in the ninth century. They were descended from Suppo I, who appeared for the first time in 817 as a strong ally of the Emperor Louis the Pious. He and hi ...
Hildegard (Ildegarda) and had three sons:
Geoffrey, Bishop of Brescia, Tedaldo Count of Reggio, as well as Rudolph, who predeceased him. He had a daughter Prangarda who married
.
References
http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/NORTHERN%20ITALY%20900-1100.htm#PrangardaMofTurin
http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/NORTHERN%20ITALY%20900-1100.htm#ManfredITurindied1000
Sources
*
Wickham, Chris
Christopher John Wickham, (born 18 May 1950) is a British historian and academic. From 2005 to 2016, he was Chichele Professor of Medieval History at the University of Oxford and Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford: he is now emeritus profess ...
. ''Early Medieval Italy: Central Power and Local Society 400-1000''. MacMillan Press: 1981.
*
*Caravale, Mario. (ed) ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani''. Rome.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canossa, Adalbert Atto Of
988 deaths
Year of birth unknown
Adalbart
it:Canossa (famiglia)#Adalberto Atto