Stamboom Familie Mesters » King Adalbert of Italy (± 932-971)

Personal data King Adalbert of Italy 

• He was born about 932 in Ivrea, Turin, Piedmont, ITALY.
• Profession: between 950 and 961 King of Italy.
• He died on April 30, 971 in Autun, Saône-et-Loire, Burgundy, FRANCE. He was about 38-39 years old.

Household of King Adalbert of Italy

He had a relationship with Gerberge de Châlon.

Child(ren):

1. Otto-William Ivrea  ± 958-1026 

Notes about King Adalbert of Italy

Adalbert (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_language">Latin Adalbertus; born 932×936, died 971×975) was the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_Italy">King of Italy from 950 until 961, ruling jointly with his father, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berengar_II_of_Italy">Berengar II. After his deposition, he continued to claim the Italian kingdom until his defeat in battle in 965. Since he was the second Adalbert in his family, the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anscarids">Anscarids, he is sometimes numbered Adalbert II. It is occasionally shortened to Albert (Latin Albertus).

Adalbert was born between 932 and 936, the son of Berengar, then https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margrave_of_Ivrea">margrave of Ivrea, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willa_of_Tuscany">Willa, daughter of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boso,_Margrave_of_Tuscany">Boso, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margrave_of_Tuscany">margrave of Tuscany. In 950, he and his father were simultaneously elected by the high nobility to succeed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lothar_II_of_Italy">Lothar II of Italy. They were crowned together in the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Michele_Maggiore,_Pavia">basilica of Saint Michael in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavia">Pavia on 15 December. Berengar tried to force https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adelaide_of_Italy">Adelaide, widow of Lothair, to marry Adalbert and cement their claim to joint kingship. Although later traditions speak of a marriage, in fact Adelaide refused to be married and fled to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canossa">Canossa. She was tracked down and imprisoned for four months at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Como,_Italy">Como.

In 951, King https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_I_of_Germany">Otto I of Germany invaded Italy, forcing the release of Adelaide and marrying her himself. He made no effort to depose the kings of Italy, however. Instead, Adalbert and Berengar were compelled to attend the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diet_of_Augsburg">Diet of Augsburg in Germany in August 952, where Otto formally invested them with the kingdom of Italy, thus subjecting the kingdom to Germany. Between 953 and 956, Adalbert and Berengar besieged Count https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adalbert_Azzo_of_Canossa">Adalbert Azzo of Canossa in his castle, where Adelaide had taken refuge in 951. In 956, Duke https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liudolf,_Duke_of_Swabia">Liudolf of Swabia, Otto's son, entered Italy with a large army to re-assert his father's authority. Adalbert gathered a large force to oppose him. He defeated Liudolf, but before the latter could return to Germany he died in September 957. Following this victory, Adalbert, assisted by Duke https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_of_Tuscany">Hugh of Tuscany, campaigned against Duke https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobald_II_of_Spoleto">Theobald II of Spoleto. During this campaign his forces even encroached on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchy_of_Rome">Roman territory in 960.

Thus threatened, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_XII">Pope John XII asked the king of Germany for help. Otto entered Italy in 961, while Adalbert assembled a large army at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verona">Verona. According to contemporary sources it was 60,000 strong, although this is an obvious exaggeration. Many of the leading noble families refused to join in the defence of Italy except on the condition that Berengar abdicate in favour of his son. This the elder king refused to do, and thus Adalbert was unable to effectively oppose the German invasion. Otto proceeded unopposed to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan">Milan, where he was crowned king by Archbishop https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Walbert_(archbishop_of_Milan)&action=edit&redlink=1">Walbert in November, and from there to Rome, where he was crowned https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Roman_Emperor">Emperor by the pope on 3 February 962. Adalbert and Berengar went into hiding.

After his imperial coronation, Otto besieged the various fortresses loyal to Adalbert and Berengar. In the fall of 962, Adalbert left Italy and took refuge with the Arabs of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraxinetum">Fraxinetum in southern https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Arles">Burgundy. From there he went to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_Corsica">Corsica. From Corsica he opened negotiations with John XII, proposing a joint action against Otto. He sailed to Italy, landing in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civitavecchia">Civitavecchia. There he was met by the pope's representatives, who escorted him to Rome. Otto, who had forced Berengar to surrender, then marched against Rome. After a prefunctory defence, Adalbert and the pope fled.

Adalbert returned to Corsica in his second exile. He did not try to regain Italy again until after Otto had returned north of the Alps. When he finally returned in 965, he tried to take Pavia, the Italian capital, but was defeated by another Swabian army, this time under Duke https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burchard_III,_Duke_of_Swabia">Burchard III. On 25 June, Burchard defeated him in battle between https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parma">Parma and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piacenza">Piacenza. Fighting alongside Adalbert were his brothers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_of_Ivrea">Conrad, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Count_of_Milan">count of Milan, who had initially made his peace with Otto, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_of_Ivrea">Guy, margrave of Ivrea, who died in the fighting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Berengar_II_%26_Adalbert_coin.PNG">https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/27/Berengar_II_%26_Adalbert_coin.PNG/220px-Berengar_II_%26_Adalbert_coin.PNG" alt="" width="220" height="106" data-file-width="837" data-file-height="404" />

 

Failing in his second attempt to regain his kingdom, Adalbert began a long series of negotiations with the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire">Byzantine Empire, which was threatened by Otto's designs on southern Italy. When these fell through, he retired with his wife Gerberga to her family's estates in Burgundy. Adalbert died at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autun">Autun, either on 30 April 971 or between 972 and 975. He had been married to Gerberga, eldest daughter of Count https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambert_of_Chalon">Lambert of Chalon, around 956, and they had one son, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto-William,_Count_of_Burgundy">Otto-William, who succeeded to the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_of_M%C3%A2con">county of Mâcon through marriage to the widow of the previous count. This has led some scholars to mistakenly conclude that Gerberga must have been related to the counts of Mâcon. After Adalbert's death, Gerberga married https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_I,_Duke_of_Burgundy">Henry I, Duke of Burgundy. Henry adopted Otto-William and left him the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_of_Burgundy">county of Burgundy Otto-William was even offered the Italian crown after the death of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arduin_of_Ivrea">Arduin in 1015, although he did not accept.

Sixteen diplomas issued jointly with his father and three issued by himself alone have survived from Adalbert's reign. They have been edited and published. Berengar and Adalbert had silver https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denarii">denarii minted at Pavia.

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