42°44′N12°44′E / 42.733°N 12.733°E /42.733; 12.733
Duchy of Spoleto Ducatus Spolitanorum (Latin) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 570–1201 | |||||||||||
 The Duchy of Spoleto shown within Italy in 1000 | |||||||||||
| Status | Vassal state of theKingdom of the Lombards (570–774) Imperialfief (776–1201) | ||||||||||
| Capital | Spoleto | ||||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||||
• Spoleto established by theKingdom of the Lombards | 570 | ||||||||||
• Charlemagne conquers the Lombards and grants the duchy to theChurch | 774-776 | ||||||||||
• Duchy resurrected as aFrankishmargraviate | 842 | ||||||||||
• Berengar diminishes the size of the Duchy | 949 | ||||||||||
• Investiture Controversy | 1075–1122 | ||||||||||
| 1201 | |||||||||||
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| Today part of | Italy | ||||||||||
TheDuchy of Spoleto (Latin:Ducatus Spolitanorum) was aLombard territory founded about 570 in central Italy by the LombardduxFaroald. Its capital was the city ofSpoleto.
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TheLombards invaded northern Italy in 568 and began their conquest of the peninsula eventually establishing theKingdom of the Lombards. Following the conquest of the north, the Lombards moved into central and southern Italy capturing the important hub ofSpoleto in 570.[1] In 572, the Lombards captured the northern city ofPavia after a siege of three years and established the first capital city of their new Kingdom. As time progressed, the captured territories were divided by the Lombard king among numerous dependent dukes.
Adecade of interregnum after the death ofAlboin's successor (574), however, left the Lombard dukes (especially the southern ones) well settled in their new territories and quite independent of the Lombard kings at Pavia. By 575 or 576Faroald had seizedNursia and Spoleto, establishing his duchy and sponsoring anArian bishop. Within Spoleto, the Romancapitolium dedicated toJupiter,Juno andMinerva had already been occupied by the bishop'scathedral (the see was founded in the 4th century) which incorporated the pagan structure (now the church of San Ansano). The Lombard dukes restored the fortifications of the highrocca, whose walls had been dismantled byTotila during theGothic War.
The dukes of Spoleto waged intermittent war with the ByzantineExarchate of Ravenna, and Spoleto's territories fluctuated with the fortunes of the times over much ofUmbria,Lazio, theMarche and theAbruzzi. Never as important as theDuchy of Benevento, Spoleto has a fairly obscure spot in Lombard history, nevertheless. Its second DukeAriulf made frequent expeditions against the Byzantines (in 579–592 against Ravenna and in 592 against Rome). Ariulf was succeeded byTheudelapius, son of Faroald, whom theCatholic Encyclopedia credits with the first building ofSpoleto's cathedral. Then cameAtto (653),Thrasimund I (663), andFaroald II (703), who ruled conjointly with his brother Wachilap. Faroald II capturedClassis, the port of Ravenna, according toPaul the Deacon'sHistory of the Lombards: "In that time too Faroald, the firstdux of the Spoletans, invading Classis with an army of Lombards, left the wealthy city despoiled and bare of all its riches." He was then obliged byLiutprand, King of the Lombards to restore it, a measure of the loose central control of Lombard rule that Liutprand was occupied in tightening, at least as Paul interpreted events for his Frankish patrons. At Spoleto Faroald was deposed by his son Transemund II (724), who also rebelled against Liutprand and formed an alliance withPope Gregory III, who sheltered him in Rome in 738.Ilderic, who had replaced him as duke, was slain by Transemund in 740, but in 742 Transemund was forcibly retired to a monastery by Liutprand, who conferred the duchy that he had rewon by force of arms upon Agiprand (742). By the time of Liutprand's death (744), Spoleto was more securely in central control from Pavia, and Theodicus succeeded peaceably. Three 8th-century dukes were Kings of the Lombards, a sign that in that period Spoleto was linked more closely to the kingdom than was Benevento.
In 776, two years after the fall of Pavia, Spoleto fell likewise toCharlemagne and hisCarolingian Empire,[2] and he assumed the title King of the Lombards. Though he granted the territory to the Church, he retained the right to name its dukes, an important concession that can be compared to the as-yet uncontested Imperial right to invest territorial bishops, and perhaps at times a matter of contention between emperor and papacy, forPope Adrian I had recently named a duke of Spoleto.
In 842, the former duchy was resurrected by the Franks to be held as a Frankish border territory by a dependentmargrave. Among the more outstanding of the Frankish dukes, Guy I divided the duchy between his two sons Lambert andGuy II,[3] who received as his share the lordship ofCamerino, which was made a duchy. Lambert was a doughty fighter againstSaracen raiders, but an individual who equally massacred Byzantines (as in 867), and was deposed in 871, restored in 876, and finallyexcommunicated byPope John VIII. In 883 Guy II reunited the dukedom, henceforth as the Duchy of Spoleto and Camerino. After the death ofCharles the Fat in 888, Guy had himself crowned emperor of the Romans andking of Italy byPope Stephen V (891). The following yearPope Formosus crowned Guy's sonLambert II as duke, king and emperor.
The dukes of Spoleto continued to intervene in the violent politics of Rome. Alberico I, Duke ofCamerino (897), and afterwards of Spoleto, married the notorious Roman noblewomanMarozia, mistress ofPope Sergius III (904–911), and was killed by the Romans in 924. His son Alberico II overthrew thesenatrix in 932 though her son, his half-brother, wasPope John XII. About 949, the Frankish KingBerengar II of Italy took Spoleto from the margrave, diminished the size of the duchy, and set aside territory that would become theMarch of Fermo.
At that time, EmperorOtto I detached from the Duchy of Spoleto the lands calledSabina Langobardica and presented them to the Holy See. Now the control of Spoleto became increasingly a gift of the emperors. In 967, Otto briefly united the Duchy of Spoleto with that ofPrincipality of Capua andBenevento, which was then ruled byPandulf Ironhead. After Pandolf's death in 981, the joint principality of Spoleto, Capua and Benevento was partitioned amongst the sons of Pandulf, who fought endlessly to gain supremacy. Landulf IV gained Spoleto, Capua, and Benevento, while Pandulf II received Salerno. Then in 989Otto III detached Spoleto and granted it toHugh, Margrave of Tuscany. Later in December 998, Otto appointedAdhemar of Capua as the duke of Spoleto. Adhemar ruled four years until the duchy was united a second time withTuscany in 1003.
During theInvestiture Controversy with the papacy,Emperor Henry IV named other dukes of Spoleto. In 1152, the emperor gave the duchy toGuelf VI of Este. The city was destroyed by EmperorFrederick Barbarossa three years later, but was soon rebuilt. After that, the dukedom was held by the family of the Werner (Guarnieri) of Urslingen,margraves of Ancona. In 1183, Frederick appointedConrad of Urslingen as the duke. Conrad ruled until 1190 when Frederick died and the Guelphs seized the principality and positioned Pandulf as the duke. Five years later after Henry VI succeeded Frederick I as emperor, Conrad regained the position as duke of Spoleto. After Henry VI died in 1197 andOtto of Brunswick became the king of Italy in 1198, however, Conrad left the position and ceded Spoleto toPope Innocent III.
In 1201, in support of Pope Innocent's desire to strengthen the dominion of thePapal States, Otto made a gift of the Imperial rights for Spoleto to the Papacy. In 1209, after the death of Philip of Swabia, however, Otto became the Holy Roman Emperor and reneged on his earlier promises to support the Pope. Otto set his sights on reestablishing Imperial power and occupied Spoleto until 1213 when the duchy was brought back under papal rule with a governor, usually a cardinal. However, Spoleto remained a pawn in the struggles between the Papacy andFrederick II until the extinction of theHouse of Hohenstaufen in 1254.
Ultimately, the territories of Spoleto were annexed to the Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples. The title of Duchy of Spoleto was later used by members of theHouse of Savoy.
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