Berengario I
Berengario IBerengario first appears in the testament of his father Eberhard probably in about 863 or 864, when Eberhard bequeathed to Berengario Anappes (with all appurteneaces except Grecina), Hildin in Hesbaye, and all that he had in Condrost ["Secundus quoque Berengharius volumus ut habeat curtem in Anaspis cum hiis omnibus, que ibi pertinere videntur, preter Grecinam, et curtem nostram Hildinam in Hasbanio cum omnibus que adjacent ei, et quod habere videmur in pago Condiestrim volumus ut habeat." Cart. Cysoing, 1-5 (#1)]. He first appears in Italy in 875, when through his intrigues, Boso was married to Ermengarde, daughter of the emperor Louis ["Boso, postquam imperator ab Italia in Franciam rediit, Berengarii, Everardi filii, factione, filiam Hludowici imperatoris Hyrmengardem, quae apud eum morabatur, inique conludio in matrimonium sumpsit." Ann. Bertin., s.a. 875, 128]. It is generally assumed that he had recently succeeded to the Italian possessions of his brother Hunroch, who is last known to have been alive in 874 [see the page of Eberhard], although the death of Hunroch at this time is not directly documented. He was declared king of Italy in January 888 (or perhaps in late December 887) [Dümmler (1871), 12, n. 1]. Throughout his reign, Berengario had to contend with rival claimants to the throne of Italy: Guido of Spoleto from 889 to 894, Guido's son Lambert from 891 to 898, Arnulf of Germany from 894 to 899, Louis III of Provence from 900 until his blinding in 905, and Rudolf II of Burgundy from 922 on [Dümmler (1871), 166]. On 7 April 924, Berengario was assassinated at Verona by a certain Flambert [Liudprand, Antapodosis, ii, 68-71, Dümmler (1877), 51-2; "Interea Berengarius, Italiae rex, a suis interimitur." Flodoard, Annales, s.a. 924, 23; "Tunc in illis diebus Veronenses Beringarium interfecerunt." Catalogus regum Langobardorum et Italicorum Lombardus, MGH SRL 512-3; Poupardin (1907), 51].
Date of Birth: say 840×5.
[Werner (1967), table]
Place of Birth: Unknown.
Date of Death: 7 April 924.
The date of 7 April is given by the necrology of Monza ["VII.
id. Apr. obiit Beringarius imperator anno ab incarn. 924"
Dümmler (1871), 10, n. 3, Poupardin (1907), 51, n. 2].
Place of Death: Verona.
Father:
Eberhard, d. 865×6, duke of Frioul.
[Cart. Cysoing, 1-5 (#1); Ann. Bertin., s.a. 875,
128; see above]
Mother: Gisela, b. 819×822, d. after August 874, daughter of Emperor Louis
"the Pious".
["Ego, in nomine domini, Gisla, anniversariam
reflectionem decrevi fieri pro Ludovico imperatore, patre meo, et
pro Judith, imperatrice, matre mea, et pro glorioso rege Karolo,
si fari audeam, germano, et pro prole mea videlicet: Hengeltrude,
Hunroc, Berengario, Adelardo, Rodulpho, Heilwich, Gilla, Judich,
necnon et pro omni cognatione mea. Post Resurrectionis Dominice
festum die duodecimo." Cart. Cysoing, 11 (#6)]
Spouses:
(1) m. say 880×890, Bertila, d. 910×5, daughter of Suppo,
duke of Spoleto.
Bertila appears frequently in acts of Berengario from 3 November
890 [Dipl. Bereng. I, 38 (#10)] to 27 July 910 [ibid., 194-5
(#72)]. See the page of Bertila for further details.
(2) m. before December 915, Anna,
d. after May 936.
Anna first appears in an undated act of Berengario before he
became emperor, therefore before December 915 ["Berengarius
gratia Dei rex. ... qualiter Anna dilectisiima coniuncx nostram
..." Dipl. Bereng. I, 275 (#107)]. Anna also appears in
acts of Berengario on 8 September 920 ["... Annae
dilec[tae] coniugi nostrae ..." ibid., 335 (#129)] and
in 923 ["... Annam dilectam coniugem regnique nostri
consortem nostrae ..." ibid., 358 (#139)], and she was
still alive on 15 June 936, when she appears in an act of king
Hugo of Italy [Böhmer (1833), #1398].
Children:
Gisela, m. before 900, Adalberto, d.
922×4, margrave of Ivrea.
["Huius vero tam turpis sceleris
auctor Adelbertus Eporegiae civitatis marchio erat, cui et idem
Berengarius filiam suam, nomine Gislam, coniugio copularat; ex
qua et filium genuerat, cui avi sui vocabulum dederat."
Liudprand, Antapodosis, ii, 33, Dümmler (1877), 40;
"... Ermengardam etiam gnatam suam sibi Afroditi
dulcedine coequalem, quam Adelberto Eporegiae civitatis
marchioni, Gisla Berengarii regis filia, Berengarii scilicet
regis huius matre, mortua, hymenei consortio copularat."
ibid., ii, 56, pp. 47-8; see also ibid., v, 4, p. 102]
Bertha, d. after 17 January 951, abbess
of St. Salvatore, Brescia.
Bertha is named as the daughter of
Berengario I in three of his acts, on 4 March 915 ["Berengarius
rex. ... Berchtam religiossimam monasterii Sanctae Iuliĉ
abbatissam dilectamque filiam nostram ..." Dipl.
Bereng. I, 253 (#96)], 25 May 916 ["Berengarius divina
favente clementia imperator augustus. ... Berchtam dilectissimam
filiam nostram religiossimam videlicet abbatissam ..."
ibid., 282 (#110)], and 27 August 917 ["Berte
dilectissime filie nostre" ibid., 297 (#115)]. She was
still living on 17 January 951, when she appeared in an act of
her nephew Berengario II [Böhmer (1833), # 1430].
Conjectured daughter: NN, m. Arnulf, d.
937, duke of Bavaria.
Based on onomastic grounds, Jackman
conjectures a descent of the wife of Arnulf (who had children
named Eberhard, Louis, and Judith) from Eberhard of Friuli (whose
wife was a daughter of Louis the Pious and Judith), and states
that Arnulf's wife was presumably a daughter of Berengario I
[Jackman (2000), 128]. While the conjectured descent of Arnulf's
wife from Eberhard is plausible enough, there is little
reason to single out an exact route for that descent.
Falsely attributed
daughter: NN, m. NN, nephew of Liutward, bishop of
Vercelli.
[ES 2: 188A] She was in fact a daughter of Berengario's brother
Hunroch [Ann. Fuld., s.a. 887, 105; see under
Hunroch on the page of Eberhard]
Ann. Bertin. = G. Waitz, ed., Annales Bertiniani (MGH SRG 6, Hannover, 1883).
Ann. Fuld. = Friedrich Kurze, ed., Annales Fuldenses (MGH SRG 7, Hannover, 1891).
Böhmer (1833) = Johann Friedrich Böhmer, Regesta chronologico-diplomatica Karolorum (Frankfurt am Main, 1833).
Cart. Cysoing = Ignace de Coussemaker, Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Cysoing et de ses dépendances (Lille, 1883).
Dipl. Bereng. I = Luigi Schiaparelli, ed., I diplomi di Berengario I (Fonti per la storia d'Italia, 35, Rome, 1903).
Dümmler (1871) = Ernst Dümmler, Gesta Berengarii Imperatoris (Halle, 1871).
Dümmler (1877) = Ernst Dümmler, ed., Liudprandi episcopi Cremonensis opera omnia (MGH SRG, Hannover, 1877).
Jackman (2000) = Donald C. Jackman, "Cousins of the German Carolingians", in Keats-Rohan & Settipani, eds., Onomastique et Parenté dans l'Occident médiéval (Oxford, 2000), 117-139.
MGH SRG = Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum (separate editions).
MGH SRL = Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Langobardicarum et Italicarum (saec. VI-IX).
Poupardin (1907) = René Poupardin, Le royaume de Bourgogne (888-1038) - Étude sur les origines du royaume d'Arles (Paris, 1907).
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
First uploaded 20 September 2008.