Berengar I

After the death of King of Italy and Western Emperor Louis II , who did not leave heirs, in 875, Berengar was a supporter that the representative of the East Frankish branch of the Carolingian house receive the throne, and when the representative of the West Frankish branch got the throne, he became in opposition to Charles II Lysy . When, in 878, the Italian throne was finally occupied by a representative of the East Frankish branch - first Karloman , and in 880 Charles III Tolstoy - Berengar became one of his closest associates.

When, after the overthrow in November 887 of Charles III Tolstoy, the struggle for the Italian crown and the crown of the emperor of the West re-erupted, Berengar was one of the real contenders. Guido Spoletsky was his main and almost unique rival at that time. He first preferred to compete for the crown in France, and when he suffered a fiasco there and returned to Italy in 888, Berengar was already elected king of Italy. Berengar also sought the imperial crown, but negotiations on this dragged on.

At the same time, the German king Arnulf of Carinthia claimed the imperial crown. He managed to subjugate the kings of Provence and Upper Burgundy . Next in line was the king of Italy. Arnulf entered Italy when there was an armed confrontation between Berengar and Guido. At that point in time, Arnulf limited himself to taking a vassal oath from Berengar, after which he returned to Germany.

In the struggle that renewed after Arnulf left, Berengar's rival succeeded in coronating himself with the king of Italy and the emperor. Berengar, however, was not removed from the royal throne, and in Italy, thus, there were actually two kings. True, Berengar's power was limited by the limits of his margrave. The suzerainty of Arnulf protected Berengar from the claims of Guido, and in his possession Berengar remained the undivided master.

In the political struggle that resumed after the death of Guido Spoletsky in 894, Arnulf pushed Berengar not only from the imperial crown, but also from power in Italy, although Arnulf was not elected king of Italy. After Arnulf fell seriously ill in the spring of 896, and Lambert, the son and heir of Guido Spoletsky, died in the fall of that year as a result of a hunting accident, Berengar became the only ruler of Italy. True, this power of his did not extend to the Duchy of Spolet , as before that the power of Guido and his son Lambert did not extend to the Friulian Margrave. In fact, the power of all Italian kings did not extend to the Margrave of Tuscany . That is, the whole struggle for the Italian crown was actually a struggle for power over Lombardy - the northwestern part of Italy.

When the Hungarians arrived in Central Europe at the turn of the 9th – 10th centuries, Berengar was unable to organize an effective defense against their raids on Northern Italy, where they reached Pavia almost unhindered, ruining everything along the way. Although the blame for this could not be entirely attributed to Berengar alone, the Italian feudal lords took advantage of what had happened to elect another king. In their calculations, they settled on Louis III , king of Provence (Lower Burgundy) , a female grandson of Louis II of Italy.

On October 12, 900 in Pavia, Louis of Provence was officially proclaimed king of Italy, and on February 22, 901 in Rome, was crowned emperor.

After the new emperor also failed to repel the invasion of the Hungarians, Berengar openly opposed his new rival. Louis lost the first battle and immediately agreed to swear that he would forever leave Italy.

To protect northern Italy from the devastating raids of the Hungarians, Berengar decided, firstly, to make peace with them on the condition of paying an annual tribute, and, secondly, he launched the construction of defensive structures. All this required expenses not only from the common people, but also from secular rulers and clergy. Not wanting to pay, they asked Louis III of Provence to return. Violating the oath to Berengar several years ago, Louis again appeared in Pavia. Moreover, this time in the hands of Louis fell and dear to the heart of the Friulian Margrave Verona.

Not immediately, but Berengar formed an army of his faithful and well-armed supporters, strengthened him with Bavarian mercenaries and approached Verona. He managed to grab Louis. Berengar often showed mercy to his opponents, rarely resorted to harsh punishments, but Louis returned to Italy as an oath-criminal, and for this Berengar ordered him to be blinded.

After the final expulsion of Louis III the Blind from Italy, relative calm reigned in the Italian kingdom for about two decades, and Berengar reigned almost unhindered. His real power outside his own margrave grew gradually, and he again began to try to get the title of emperor, although this title had no great practical value at that time. Berengar's desire for the imperial title was understood and supported by the popes - since the time of Charles the Great , there was an agreement that the emperor must be the protector of the Holy See . Due to the extreme political instability in Rome at that time, these efforts lasted ten years. Only when John X became pope in 914, and the situation in Rome calmed down a bit, and when Margrave of Tuscany Adalbert II , former political opponent of Berengar from 888, died in 915, the coronation of Berengar as emperor of the West could finally take place.

When Berengar received the imperial crown, he was at least 60 years old. With the sharpness of mind, will, and brightness of his personality, the new emperor was inferior to his predecessors Guido and Lambert. In comparison, Berengar made little effort to solve internal state problems. He was strong enough not to be a puppet of large feudal lords, but not enough to subordinate most of them to his will. And those still had enough reasons to want to see someone else on the royal throne. Just as they called a foreign king from Provence twenty years ago, so now they have turned to a foreigner - Rudolph II , king of Upper Burgundy.

Although Berengar also spoke about a new conspiracy, his excessive generosity in relation to the participants in the conspiracy brought him to the point that Rudolph II of Burgundy still appeared in Italy at the end of 921 and received the royal crown.

Always in such cases, Berengar remained faithful to the new rival king, only waiting in the wings. Such an hour came, and this time - in the spring of 923 a rebellion against Rudolph rose, and the rebels appealed to Emperor Berengar with a request to protect them from the new king. This time only a miracle saved Berengar from death in battle.

Generosity, once again shown to the participant in the next conspiracy, cost Berengar his life - at dawn on April 7, 924, he was killed during prayer in the church.

Berengar I was married to Bertilla of the Supponid family (she died between 911 and 915). Their daughter (c. 880/885 - June 13, 910/26 January 913) became the wife of Margrave Ivrea Adalbert I and mother of Margrave Ivrea from 923/924 and King of Italy in 950-964 Berengar II (c. 900 - July 6, 966).

• Wed panegyric B., left by his contemporary: "Gesta Berengarii imperatoris" (ed. Dummler, Halle, 1871);
• Dummler, "Geschichte des ostfränkischen Reichs" (2 vol., Berl., 1865).
• Jin Fazoli. Kings of Italy (888–962) / Per. with ital. Lentovskoy A.V. - SPb. : Eurasia, 2007 .-- 288 p. - 1,000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-8071-0161-8 .
• Berengar I // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.

• Marchesi di Friulia, "Unruochingi" (family of Unruoch ) . Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. Date of treatment December 25, 2011.