Ratold of Italy

Last updated

Ratold was a king of Italy who reigned for a month or so in 896. He was an illegitimate son of King Arnulf of East Francia. He and his half-brother Zwentibold are described by the Annals of Fulda as being born "by concubines" (ex concubinis). Their mothers are not named, and it is possible that their status was only downgraded to that of concubinage after Arnulf's marriage to Uota in 888. They may have originally been in Friedelehen, "consent-based marriages", a kind of common-law marriage. [1]

His birth date is unknown; [1] he may have been a "mature man" by the time he was appointed to rule Italy. [2] In 889, Arnulf persuaded the East Frankish nobility to recognise Zwentibold and Ratold as his heirs if no legitimate son was born to the queen. [3] One historian suggests that it was Arnulf's plan all along to secure sub-kingdoms for his illegitimate sons (Lotharingia for Zwentibold and Italy for Ratold) while reserving East Francia itself for his legitimate issue. [4] After Arnulf was crowned emperor in Rome in 896, he fell ill and quickly returned to Germany by May, leaving, in the words of the Annals of Fulda, "his little son called Ratold, who had been born to him by a concubine, at Milan to receive the fidelity of the Italian people." [5] [lower-alpha 1] The somewhat elliptical passage leaves open whether Ratold was merely his father's "deputy" [1] or a full-fledged "sub-king" in Italy. [3] Soon after Arnulf left, his rival, Duke Lambert II of Spoleto, took control of Italy and nothing more is heard of Ratold. [6] Arnulf's legitimate son, Louis the Child, was recognised as his heir by the nobility in 897. [3]

Notes

  1. parvulo filio suo nomine Ratolfo, qui ei de concubina erat, ad fidem Italicae gentis Mediolanium dimisso.
  1. 1 2 3 Reuter 2006, p. 219.
  2. Geary 1994, p. 43.
  3. 1 2 3 Reuter 1991a, p. 126.
  4. Leyser 1979, p. 15.
  5. Reuter 1991b, p. 134.
  6. Fasoli 1949, pp. 38–39.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arnulf of Carinthia</span> 9th century disputed Holy Roman Emperor

Arnulf of Carinthia was the duke of Carinthia who overthrew his uncle Emperor Charles the Fat to become the Carolingian king of East Francia from 887, the disputed king of Italy from 894 and the disputed emperor from February 22, 896, until his death at Regensburg, Bavaria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ottonian dynasty</span> Saxon dynasty of German monarchs (919–1024)

The Ottonian dynasty was a Saxon dynasty of German monarchs (919–1024), named after three of its kings and Holy Roman Emperors named Otto, especially its first Emperor Otto I. It is also known as the Saxon dynasty after the family's origin in the German stem duchy of Saxony. The family itself is also sometimes known as the Liudolfings, after its earliest known member Count Liudolf and one of its most common given names. The Ottonian rulers were successors of the Germanic king Conrad I, who was the only Germanic king to rule in East Francia after the Carolingian dynasty and before this dynasty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carloman of Bavaria</span> King of Bavaria

Carloman was a Frankish king of the Carolingian dynasty. He was the eldest son of Louis the German, king of East Francia, and Hemma, daughter of a Bavarian count. His father appointed him governor of Carantania in 856, and commander of southeastern frontier marches in 864. Upon his father's death in 876 he became King of Bavaria. He was appointed by King Louis II of Italy as his successor, but the Kingdom of Italy was taken by his uncle Charles the Bald in 875. Carloman only conquered it in 877. In 879 he was incapacitated, perhaps by a stroke, and abdicated his domains in favour of his younger brothers: Bavaria to Louis the Younger and Italy to Charles the Fat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis the Child</span> Final Carolingian-dynasty King of East Francia (reigned 900 to 911)

Louis the Child, sometimes called Louis III or Louis IV, was the king of East Francia from 899 until his death and was also recognized as king of Lotharingia after 900. He was the last East Frankish ruler of the Carolingian dynasty. He succeeded his father, Arnulf, in East Francia and his elder illegitimate half-brother Zwentibold in Lotharingia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles the Simple</span> King of West Francia from 898 to 922

Charles III, called the Simple or the Straightforward, was the king of West Francia from 898 until 922 and the king of Lotharingia from 911 until 919–923. He was a member of the Carolingian dynasty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carolingian dynasty</span> Frankish noble family founded by Charles Martel

The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The dynasty consolidated its power in the 8th century, eventually making the offices of mayor of the palace and dux et princeps Francorum hereditary, and becoming the de facto rulers of the Franks as the real powers behind the Merovingian throne. In 751 the Merovingian dynasty which had ruled the Germanic Franks was overthrown with the consent of the Papacy and the aristocracy, and Pepin the Short, son of Martel, was crowned King of the Franks. The Carolingian dynasty reached its peak in 800 with the crowning of Charlemagne as the first Emperor of the Romans in the West in over three centuries. His death in 814 began an extended period of fragmentation of the Carolingian Empire and decline that would eventually lead to the evolution of the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lotharingia</span> 9th- and 10th-century kingdom in Western Europe

Lotharingia was a short-lived medieval successor kingdom of the Carolingian Empire. As a more durable later duchy of the Ottonian Empire, it comprised present-day Lorraine (France), Luxembourg, Saarland (Germany), Netherlands, and the eastern half of Belgium, along with parts of today's North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany), Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany) and Nord (France). It was named after King Lothair II, who received this territory after his father Lothair I's kingdom of Middle Francia was divided among his three sons in 855.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles the Fat</span> Carolingian emperor (839–888) (r. 881–888)

Charles III, also known as Charles the Fat, was the emperor of the Carolingian Empire from 881 to 888. A member of the Carolingian dynasty, Charles was the youngest son of Louis the German and Hemma, and a great-grandson of Charlemagne. He was the last Carolingian emperor of legitimate birth and the last to rule a united kingdom of the Franks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zwentibold</span> King of Lotharingia from 895 to 900

Zwentibold, a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was the illegitimate son of Emperor Arnulf. In 895, his father granted him the Kingdom of Lotharingia, which he ruled until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Svatopluk I of Moravia</span> Ruler of Great Moravia

Svatopluk I or Svätopluk I, also known as Svatopluk the Great, was a ruler of Great Moravia, which attained its maximum territorial expansion during his reign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hatto I</span>

Hatto I was Archbishop of Mainz (Mayence) from 891 until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berengar I of Italy</span> Holy Roman Emperor from 915 to 924

Berengar I was the king of Italy from 887. He was Holy Roman Emperor between 915 and his death in 924. He is usually known as Berengar of Friuli, since he ruled the March of Friuli from 874 until at least 890, but he had lost control of the region by 896.

<i>Annales Fuldenses</i> Medieval Frankish chronicle

The Annales Fuldenses or Annals of Fulda are East Frankish chronicles that cover independently the period from the last years of Louis the Pious to shortly after the end of effective Carolingian rule in East Francia with the accession of the child-king, Louis III, in 900. Throughout this period they are a near contemporary record of the events they describe and a primary source for Carolingian historiography. They are usually read as a counterpart to the narrative found in the West Frankish Annales Bertiniani.

Hugh or Hugo was an illegitimate son of Lothair II, king of Lotharingia, by his concubine Waldrada. His father made him Duke of Alsace in 867.

Ota, also called Oda, Uota, or Uta was Queen consort of the East Franks by marriage to Arnulf of Carinthia. She was the mother of Louis the Child. By birth she was probably a member of the Conradine Dynasty.

Bertila of Spoleto was the wife of Berengar I of Italy, and by marriage Queen consort of Italy and Holy Roman Empress.

Bernard or Bernhard was the only child of Emperor Charles the Fat. He was born of an unknown concubine and was thus considered illegitimate. Charles tried to make him his heir, but failed in two attempts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">March of Carinthia</span> Former frontier district of the Carolingian Empire

The March of Carinthia was a frontier district (march) of the Carolingian Empire created in 889. Before it was a march, it had been a principality or duchy ruled by native-born Slavic princes at first independently and then under Bavarian and subsequently Frankish suzerainty. The realm was divided into counties which, after the succession of the Carinthian duke to the East Frankish throne, were united in the hands of a single authority. When the march of Carinthia was raised into a Duchy in 976, a new Carinthian march was created. It became the later March of Styria.

Reginar Longneck or Reginar I, Latin: Rainerus or Ragenerus Longicollus, was a leading nobleman in the kingdom of Lotharingia, variously described in contemporary sources with the titles of count, margrave, missus dominicus and duke. He stands at the head of a Lotharingian dynasty known to modern scholarship as the Reginarids, because of their frequent use of the name "Reginar".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis the Younger</span> King of Saxony

Louis the Younger, sometimes Louis the Saxon or Louis III, was the second eldest of the three sons of Louis the German and Emma. He succeeded his father as the King of Saxony on 28 August 876 and his elder brother Carloman as King of Bavaria from 876 to 882. He died in 882 and was succeeded in all his territories, which encompassed most of East Francia, by his younger brother, Charles the Fat, already king of Italy and emperor.

References