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Duchy of Friuli Ducatus Foroiuliensis (Latin) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 568–828 | |||||||||
_Italy.png) The Duchy of Friuli in the northeast within Lombard Italy | |||||||||
| Status | |||||||||
| Capital | Cividale | ||||||||
| Common languages | |||||||||
| Government | Duchy | ||||||||
| Duke of Friuli | |||||||||
• 568-~584 or 568/c.584–590 | Grasulf I orGisulf I(first) | ||||||||
• 774-776 | Hrodgaud | ||||||||
• 819-828 | Baldric(last) | ||||||||
| Historical era | Early Middle Ages | ||||||||
• Established | 568 | ||||||||
• Avar invasion | 610 | ||||||||
• Lombard Kingdomconquered | 773-774 | ||||||||
• Divided into smaller counties | 828 | ||||||||
• Reestablished as the March of Friuli | 846 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Friuli-Venezia Giulia | ||||||||
TheDuchy of Friuli (Latin:Ducatus Foroiuliensis) was aLombard duchy in present-dayFriuli, the first to be established after the conquest of theItalian peninsula in 568. It was one of the largest domains inLangobardia Major and an important buffer between the Lombard kingdom and theSlavs,[1]Avars, and theByzantine Empire. The original chief city in the province wasRoman Aquileia, but the Lombard capital of Friuli wasForum Julii, modernCividale.
Along with the dukes ofSpoleto,Benevento andTrent, the lords of Friuli often attempted to establish their independence from the royal authority seated atPavia, though to no avail. After the Lombard campaign ofCharlemagne and the defeat of KingDesiderius in 774, the last Friulian dukeHrodgaud ruled until 776. Upon his death, Friuli was incorporated as amarch of theCarolingian Empire.
TheVenetian territory aroundForum Iulii, still devastated by theGothic War, was the first in formerRoman Italy to be conquered by theLombards under their kingAlboin in 568. Before continuing on to penetrate Italy further southwards, Alboin left a large garrison atCividale and placed the government of the district under his nephew andMarepaphias (shield-bearer),Gisulf as adux, who was allowed to choose thefaras or noble families with which he wished to settle the land.[2]
The original duchy was bound by theCarnic Alps andJulian Alps to the north and northeast and was hardly accessible from those directions. It was bound by the ByzantineExarchate of Ravenna to the south, where it did not have a coastline until later, and by a plain that led to thePannonian Basin in the east, a perfect access point for invaders, such as the Avars and later theMagyars. Its western border was originally undefined, until further conquests had established the Lombard duchy ofCeneda, which lay beyond theTagliamento river, between theLivenza and thePiave Rivers. From the beginning, then, the Duchy of Friuli had a military role which it retained throughout the whole period of theLombard kingdom and meant that it always played an important role in Italian politics, such that several of its dukes achieved the rank of king.
Grisulf, a capable ruler according to theHistoria Langobardorum chronicles byPaul the Deacon, suppressed the Roman population in Friuli. He gained even greater influence during the Lombardinterregnum upon the death of KingCleph in 574. Little is known of Gisulf's first successor,Grasulf I
Around 610, Avar forces invaded Friuli pillaging the Lombard settlements. While KingAgilulf did not take any action, DukeGisulf II was killed in battle when the invaders occupied his residence at Cividale.Paul the Deacon recounts the event in epic tones.[3] Paul, who was originally from the duchy of Friuli also recounts in detail the betrayal of Romilda, Gisulf's wife, who handed the city of Cividale over to the Avars. They sacked the duchy and then withdrew to Pannonia. Gisulf II's sons,Tasso andKakko had narrowly managed to escape the battle in which their father lost his life and assumed control of Friuli. They undertook a campaign against theSlavs and temporarily extended the eastern borders of the duchy up toMatrei in presentEast Tyrol. The Slavs continued to pay tribute to Friuli until the reign ofRatchis. The brothers also undertook campaigns against the Byzantine forces in Italy. In 615,Concordia was captured, and around 625 the brothers were killed in an ambush at the Byzantine city ofOderzo by the patrician Gregorius.[4]
The Ducal throne was then assumed byGrasulf II, brother of Gisulf II (and thus Tasso and Kakko's uncle). However Gisulf's other brothers,Romuald andGrimoald refused to accept Grasulf's superiority and relocated to the court ofArechis in theDuchy of Benevento. Paul the Deacon recounts the reigns of Grasulf and his successorAgo very briefly, but they continued the war against the Byzantines andOpitergium was conquered in 642.Duke Lupus undertook an expedition againstGrado in 662, in which he sacked the city and seized the treasures of thePatriarchate of Aquileia himself. The Duke was very closed with Grimoald (now King of the Lombards), who entrusted him with his palace inPavia when he went away to Benevento, but in 663 Lupus rebelled. Grimoald then made an agreement with the Avars who invaded the duchy and killed Lupus. They then refused to withdraw and continued their raids until Grimoald himself intervened and managed to induce them to return to Pannonia. Grimoald installedWechtar as the next duke, rather than Lupus' sonArnefrit.
Wechtar, originally fromVicenza, rebuffed a new Slavic incursion atNatisone. After him, the throne passed toLandar for a few months and then toRodoald (671). He was deposed around 695 byAnsfrid and was forced to flee first toIstria, then toRavenna and finally to Pavia and the court of KingCunipert. The king seemed to tolerate Ansfrid's usurpation, but a little later he also rebelled from Cunipert and attempted to seize the throne. This rebellion - the last in a series of uprisings which all arose in the north-eastern sector of the Lombard kingdom - was a manifestation of the unwillingness of the Lombards of this region (known as 'Austria') to accept the pro-Catholic policy of theBavarian dynasty. Under the leadership of the dukes of Friuli andTrent on various occasions these revolts gathered together theArian and traditionalist (i.e. militaristic and expansionist) groups in opposition to the pacifist policy followed by the kings in Pavia, who were inclined to maintain the status quo with the Byzantines and thePapacy. On this occasion however, King Cunipert had the better of it; Ansfird was captured nearVerona and sent into exile. In his place, Cunipert installed a loyal supporter,Ado, the brother of the deposed Duke Rodoald. He reigned as duke for a little over a year.
On Ado's death, at the beginning of the 8th century, the duchy passed toFerdulf, "a slippery and arrogant man", according to Paul the Deacon,[5] who sought easy military glory and therefore convinced some Slavs to invade his own duchy. However, the battle resulted in a Lombard defeat, due to internal division between the Duke and a nobleman called Argait. The Slavs achieved an easy victory, due to grave tactical errors on the part of the Lombards and exterminated almost the entire Friulian nobility. Both Ferdulf and Argait died and the only person who performed well was Munichis, father of the future dukePeter. The reign of Ferdulf's successorCorvulus was also brief, since he was arrested and deposed for offending the king. He was replaced withPemmo around 710.
Pemmo was esteemed by Paul the Deacon (who calls him "an intelligent man who was useful to the country"[6]). He had to confront the Slavs whom he defeated and forced to accept his terms. A little later, however, he came into conflict with thePatriarch of Aquileia,Callixtus [it]. The Patriarch protested against the fact that the bishop ofZuglio, Fidentius, had moved his seat from his actual diocese to Cividale - a decision which was confirmed by Fidentius' successor, Amator. Callixtus, whose titular see wasAquileia, but who had himself moved toCormons because Aquileia was too vulnerable to Byzantine attack, considered another bishop based in the ducal capital to be inconvenient. So he drove Amator out of the city and took over his residence for himself. Pemmo did not accept the patriarch's actions and moved against Callixtus, imprisoning him in harsh conditions. At this point, KingLiutprand intervened against the duke, stripped him of his title and handed the duchy to his oldest son,Rachis.
The new duke led an expedition into the Slavic territory (Carniola) and pillaged it as a proof of his valour. Rachis and his warriors also distinguished themselves in the defence of Liutprand when he was attacked and betrayed on the march toFossombrone by the rebelliousDuchy of Spoleto. As a result of the prestige that he had gained from these ventures, Rachis became king of the Lombards in 744, deposing Liutprand's successorHildeprand after a few months of rule. Rachis assigned the duchy to his brotherAistulf, who only held it for a few years, since in 749 he succeeded Rachis (who had been deposed by his dukes) as king of Italy.
Information about the situation in the Duchy during the final years of the Lombard kingdom is scarce. It was ruled by the co-regents,Anselm andPeter (749-756) and the final duke that we know of wasHrodgaurd (774-776). It is likely that in these years, when the Lombard kingdom was ruled by sovereigns of Friulian origin and the central power was particularly strong, that the autonomy of the duchy was very limited. An indirect piece of evidence for this is the fact that Istria, which was conquered by Aistulf after he became king, was not annexed to the Duchy, but remained under direct royal control.
After theSiege of Pavia in 774, the Lombard kingdom was conquered byCharlemagne who was proclaimed "By Grace of God, King of theFranks and Lombards". He created apersonal union of the two kingdoms. Although theLeges Langobardorum [it] were maintained, he reorganised the kingdom on the Frankish model, with counts rather than dukes. The duchy of Friuli thus became a county, but Hrodgaud was allowed to keep it until he rebelled in 776, when he was killed in battle and replaced withMacarius. In 781, Friuli, along with the other territory of the old Lombard kingdom was placed under the control of Charlemagne's sonPepin. In 828, Friuli was subdivided into a number of smaller counties and then in 846 it was reformed as theMarch of Friuli.
In the early modern period, the Habsburg-ruledPrincely County of Gorizia and Gradisca covered large parts of the Duchy of Friuli. The Habsburg monarchs thus used the historic title of "Duke of Friuli" in theirgrand title of the Emperor of Austria.
