Desiderius

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Desiderius

Desiderius (also known as Daufer or Dauferius; Didier in French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
and Desiderio in Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance languages spoken by about 63 million people as a first language, primarily in Italy. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four Linguistic geography of Switzerlands....
) was the last king of the Lombard Kingdom

Lombards

The Lombards were a Germanic peoples originally from Northern Europe who settled in the valley of the Danube and from there invaded Byzantine Italian peninsula in 568 under the leadership of Alboin....
of northern Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
(died c. 786). He is chiefly known for his connection to Charlemagne

Charlemagne

Charlemagne was List of Frankish kings from 768 to his death. He expanded the Franks kingdoms into a Carolingian Empire that incorporated much of Western Europe and Central Europe....
, who married his daughter and conquered his realm.

Rise to power
He was originally a royal officer, the dux Langobardorum et comes stabuli, "constable and duke of the Lombards," an office apparently similar to the contemporaneous Frankish office of dux Francorum.

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Encyclopedia

Desiderius (also known as Daufer or Dauferius; Didier in French

French language

Italian language

Lombards

Italy

Charlemagne

Rise to power

He was originally a royal officer, the dux Langobardorum et comes stabuli, "constable and duke of the Lombards," an office apparently similar to the contemporaneous Frankish office of dux Francorum. King Aistulf

Aistulf

Aistulf was the Duke of Friuli from 744, King of Lombards from 749, and Duchy of Spoleto from 751. His father was the Pemmo of Friuli.After his brother Ratchis became king, Aistulf succeeded him in Friuli....
made him duke of Istria

Istria

File:Istria Croatian Adriatic.pngIstria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner....
and Tuscany

Tuscany

Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of and a population of about 3.6 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence.Tuscany is known for its landscapes and its artistic legacy....
and he became king after the death of Aistulf in 756. At that time, Aistulf's predecessor, Ratchis

Ratchis

Ratchis was the Duke of Friuli and King of the Lombards . His father was Pemmo of Friuli. His Rome wife was Tassia. He ruled in peace until he besieged, for reasons unknown, Perugia....
, left his monastic retreat of Montecassino

Monte Cassino

Monte Cassino is a rocky hill about 130 km southeast of Rome, Italy, c. 2 km to the west of the town of Cassino, Italy and 520 m altitude....
and tried to seize the kingdom, but Desiderius put his revolt down quickly with the support of Pope Stephen II

Pope Stephen II

Pope Stephen II was a pope of the Roman Catholic Church .The Lombards to the north of Rome had captured Ravenna, former capital of the Byzantine Empire exarchate, in 751, and began to put pressure on Rome....
. At his coronation, Desiderius promised to restore many lost papal towns to the Holy See

Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, commonly known as the Pope, and is the preeminent episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church....
, in return for the papacy's endorsement of his claim. Conflict with the Holy See under Pope Stephen III

Pope Stephen III

Pope Stephen III, , pope August 1 or August 7, 768 – January 24, 772, was a native of Sicily.He came to Rome during the pontificate of pope Gregory III and gradually rose to high office in the service of successive popes....
arose, for Stephen opposed Charlemagne's marriage to Desiderius' daughter. Desiderius ceased delivery of the towns after only a few.

Seeking, like his predecessors, to extend the Lombard power in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
, he came into collision with the papacy and the southern duchies. The duchy of Benevento

Duchy of Benevento

The Duchy and later Principality of Benevento was the southernmost Lombards duchy in medieval Italy, centred on Benevento, a city central in the Mezzogiorno....
and that of Spoleto

Duchy of Spoleto

The independent Duchy of Spoleto was a Lombards territory founded about 570 in central Italy by the Lombard dux Faroald I of Spoleto....
were coaxed by Pope Stephen to commend themselves to the Franks and thus separate themselves again from monarchy. In 758, Duke Liutprand of Benevento

Liutprand of Benevento

Liutprand was the duke of Benevento from the death of his father Gisulf II of Benevento in 749 until his own deposition. He reigned under the Regent of his mother, Scauniperga, who supported King Aistulf, until 756....
attained his majority and rebelled. Desiderius defeated him and granted his duchy to one Arechis

Arechis II of Benevento

File:Portale e dettagli castello arechi.jpgArechis II was Duke of Benevento of Benevento, in southern Italy, from 758 until his death. Benevento was in effect an independent state and Arechis an independent ruler....
, tying the duchy more closely to Pavia

Pavia

Pavia , the ancient Ticinum, is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po River....
than it had been since Grimoald's

Grimoald I of Benevento

Grimoald I was duke of Benevento and king of the Lombards .Born probably before 610 to Duke Gisulf II of Friuli and the Bavarian princess Ramhilde, daughter of Duke Garibald I of Bavaria, he succeeded his brother Radoald of Benevento as duke of Benevento....
time. In that same year, Desiderius deposed Alboin of Spoleto

Alboin of Spoleto

Alboin was the Lombards 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 Duchy of Benevento and Duchy of Spoleto to King Pepin the Short of the Franks....
and exercised himself the ducal powers there.

Relations with Charlemagne

Stephen III opposed Charlemagne's marriage to Desiderius' daughter, Desiderata, in 768, but by his death in 772, he had made peace with the Lombards. The new pope, Adrian I

Pope Adrian I

Pope Adrian, or Hadrian I, was pope from February 9, 772 to December 25, 795. He was the son of Theodore, a Rome nobleman.Soon after his accession, the territory ruled by the popes was invaded by Desiderius, king of the Lombards, and Adrian found it necessary to invoke the aid of the Franks king Charlemagne, who entered Italy with...
, however, implored the aid of Charlemagne against him, for the marriage of dynasties was dissolved by Charlemagne's repudiation of Desiderata in 771. Charles sent her back to her father. Moreover, Gerberga

Gerberga, wife of Carloman I

Gerberga was the wife of Carloman I, King of the Franks, and sister-in-law of Charlemagne. Her flight to the Lombard kingdom of Desiderius following Carloman's death precipitated the last Franco-Lombard war, and the destruction of the Lombard Kingdom....
, the widow of Charlemagne's brother Carloman, sought the protection of the Lombard king after her husband's death in 771; and — probably in return for the insult Charlemagne had given to the Lombards by rejecting Desiderata — Desiderius recognised Gerberga's sons as lawful heirs, and attacked Pope Adrian for refusing to crown them kings and invaded the Pentapolis. The embassies of Adrian and Desiderius met at Thionville

Thionville

Thionville , is a Communes of France in the Moselle Departments of France in Lorraine in northeastern France.The city is located near the Moselle River....
and Charlemagne favoured the pope's case.

Such was the position when Charlemagne and his uncle Bernard led troops across the Alps

Alps

The Alps is the name for one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east; through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany; to France in the west....
in 773. The Lombards were severely defeated at Mortara

Mortara

Mortara refers to:* Mortara , a town in Lombardy Mortara is the the surname of:* Edgardo Mortara, a victim in a famous and controversial kidnapping...
(Ara Mortis) and soon besieged in their capital of Ticinum

Ticinum

Ticinum was an ancient city of Gallia Transpadana, founded on the banks of the river of the same name a little way above its confluence with the Padus ....
, the modern Pavia

Pavia

Adalgis

Adalgis was the son of Desiderius and the prince of the Langobards or Lombardia in Italy. After his father was defeated by Charlemagne in Pavia in 774, Adalgis took refuge in Byzantium....
was raising an army at Verona

Verona

Verona is a city in Veneto, northern Italy, one of the seven provincial capitals in the region. It is one of the main tourist destinations in north-eastern Italy, thanks to its artistic heritage, several annual fairs, shows and operas, such as the lyrical season in the Arena, the ancient amphitheatre built by the Romans....
, but the young prince was chased to the Adriatic

Adriatic Sea

The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges....
littoral and fled to Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the empire capital of the Roman Empire , the Byzantine Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Ottoman Empire . Strategically located between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara at the point where Europe meets Asia, Byzantine Constantinople had been the capital of a Christendom empire, successor to ancient ancient Greece...
when Charlemagne approached.

The siege lasted until June 774, when, in return for the lives of his soldiers and subjects, Desiderius surrendered and opened the gates. Desiderius was exiled to the abbey of Corbie

Corbie

Corbie is a commune in France of the Somme d?partement in France, in northern France....
, where he died, and his son Adelchis spent his entire life in futile attempts to recover his father's kingdom. Some sources state that the king and his family were banished to a monastery at Liège

Liège (city)

Li?ge is a major Walloon Region city and Municipalities in Belgium in Belgium located in the Provinces of Belgium of Li?ge , of which it is the administrative capital....
, Belgium

Belgium

* A small German-speaking Community of Belgium exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political and cultural conflicts are reflected in the history of Belgium and a complex Communities and regions of Belgium....
. Desiderius died sometime around 786.

The name Desiderius appears in the romances of the Carolingian

Carolingian

File:Charlemagne denier Mayence 812 814.jpgThe Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with its origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century....
period. Charlemagne took the title rex Langobardorum, the first time a Germanic king adopted the title of a kingdom he had conquered.

Family

He married Ansa (or Ansia) and, as well as a son, had four daughters:

Anselperga
Anselperga

Anselperga was the eldest daughter of Desiderius, King of the Lombards, and Ansa . She was the second San Salvatore monastery, which her parents had formed in Brescia from the union of San Michele e San Pietro with San Salvatore e Santa Maria....
(or Anselberga), abbess of San Salvatore
Adelperga
Adelperga

Adelperga was the daughter of Desiderius, King of the Lombards, and his wife Ansa .Desiderius arranged a strategic marriage between his daughter and the Duke of Benevento, Arechis II of Benevento, to secure his power in Italy....
(or Adelberga), married Arechis II of Benevento
Arechis II of Benevento

File:Portale e dettagli castello arechi.jpgArechis II was Duke of Benevento of Benevento, in southern Italy, from 758 until his death. Benevento was in effect an independent state and Arechis an independent ruler....
Liutperga
Liutperga

Liutperga was the daughter of Desiderius, King of the Lombards, and Ansa . She was the wife of Tassilo III of Bavaria, the last Agilolfings Duke of Bavaria....
(also Liutpirc or Liutberga), married Tassilo III of Bavaria
Tassilo III of Bavaria

Tassilo III was duke of Bavaria from 748 to 787, the last of the house of the Agilolfings.Tassilo, then still an infant, began his rule as a Frankish ward under the tutelage of the Merovingian Mayor of the Palace Pepin the Short after Tassilo's father, Duke Odilo of Bavaria, had died in 747 and Pepin?s half-brother Grifo had tried to seiz...
Desiderata, married Charlemagne in 768, divorced in 771
Adelchis
Adalgis

Adalgis was the son of Desiderius and the prince of the Langobards or Lombardia in Italy. After his father was defeated by Charlemagne in Pavia in 774, Adalgis took refuge in Byzantium....
(or Adalgis), patrician
Patrician

The term "patrician" originally referred to a group of elitism citizens in ancient Rome, including both their natural and adopted members. In the late Roman empire, the class was broadened to include high council officials, and after the fall of the Western Empire became a term for Byzantine Imperial governors in the West....
in Constantinople
Constantinople

Constantinople was the empire capital of the Roman Empire , the Byzantine Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Ottoman Empire . Strategically located between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara at the point where Europe meets Asia, Byzantine Constantinople had been the capital of a Christendom empire, successor to ancient ancient Greece...