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TheMarch of Ivrea was a large frontier county (march) in the northwest of themedieval Italian kingdom from the late 9th to the early 11th century. Its capital wasIvrea in present-dayPiedmont, and it was held by aBurgundian family ofmargraves called theAnscarids. The march was the primary frontier between Italy andUpper Burgundy and served as a defense against any interference from that state.
Upon the deposition of theCarolingian kingCharles the Fat by his nephewArnulf of Carinthia in 887, the power in Italy was assumed by theUnruoching margraveBerengar of Friuli, who received theIron Crown of the Lombards from the hands of ArchbishopAnselm II ofMilan. Arnulf, King ofEast Francia marched against Italy to gain the Lombard crown for himself and Berengar chose to pay homage to him, which led to discord with the Italian nobility. They supported the ambitious DukeGuy III of Spoleto, who had just failed to succeed Charles inWest Francia. Now, with the support of Archbishop Anselm andPope Stephen V, Guy prevailed against Berengar and had himself crowned King of Italy atPavia in 889.
Guy had created the March of Ivrea for his vassalAnscar in 888. Anscar and his relatives had been some of Guy's supporters in his failed quest for the French throne. The initial Eporedian march consisted of Piedmont and most of theLigurian coast with the counties ofAcqui,Alba,Asti,Bredulo [it],Auriate,Turin,Ivrea,Vercelli,Pombia,Stazzona,Bulgaria,Lomello,Savona, andVentimiglia. Anscar remained a loyal supporter of Guy and his sonLambert, even when King Arnulf, called byPope Formosus. again invaded Italy in 894. When Lambert was deposed in 896 however, Anscar turned to his rival Berengar of Friuli, who managed to secure his rule in Italy after Arnulf's death in 899. In 902 Anscar bequeathed the lands of Ivrea to his sonAdalbert I, who had married Berengar's daughter Gisela.
Adalbert however was on bad terms with his father-in-law: together with MargraveAdalbert II of Tuscany he backed Berengar'sBosonid rivalLouis the Blind, King ofLower Burgundy (Provence). Louis was defeated and Adalbert had to flee from his margraviate to neighbouring Provence. Nevertheless he returned with his new ally KingRudolph II, King ofUpper Burgundy, They finally defeated Berengar at theBattle of Firenzuola (923). Even after Rudolph had to cede Italy toHugh of Provence in 926, the Anscarid fortunes rose in the middle of the century and some margraves became kings of Italy. But in the early eleventh century the margraviate fell vacant and theEmperor Conrad II did not appoint a new margrave.