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____ Berenger II
Birth: 908
Death: 4 Aug 966
Notes
Stuart bdate of 928 is typo... does not fit parents or child dates
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berengar_II_of_Italy
Berengar II (c. 900 – 4 August 966) was the King of Italy from 950 until his deposition
in 961. He was a scion of the Anscarid and Unruoching dynasties, and was named
after his maternal grandfather, Berengar I. He succeeded his father as Margrave of
Ivrea around 923 (whence he is often known as Berengar of Ivrea), and after 940 led
the aristocratic opposition to Kings Hugh and Lothair II. In 950 he succeeded the
latter and had his son, Adalbert crowned as his co-ruler. In 952 he recognised the
suzerainty of Otto I of Germany, but he later joined a revolt against him. In 960 he
invaded the Papal States, and the next year his kingdom was conquered by Otto.
Berengar remained at large until his surrender in 964. He died imprisoned in Germany
two years later.
Ruling Ivrea (923–50)[edit]
Berengar was a son of Margrave Adalbert I of Ivrea and his wife Gisela of Friuli,
daughter of the Unruoching king Berengar I of Italy. He succeeded his father as
margrave about 923 and married Willa, daughter of the Bosonid margrave Boso of
Tuscany and niece of King Hugh of Italy. The chronicler Liutprand of Cremona, raised
at Berengar's court at Pavia, gives several particularly vivid accounts of her
character.[1]
About 940 Berengar led a revolt of Italian nobles against the rule of his uncle. To
evade an assault by Hugh's liensmen, he, forewarned by the king's young son Lothair,
had to flee to the court of King Otto I of Germany. Otto avoided taking sides,
nevertheless in 945 Berengar could return to Italy with hired troops, welcomed by the
local nobility. Hugh was defeated and retired to Arles, he was nominally succeeded by
Lothair. From the time of Berengar's successful uprising, all real power and patronage
in the Kingdom of Italy was concentrated in his hands with Hugh's son Lothair as
titular king. Lothair's brief reign ended upon his early death in 950, presumably
poisoned.
Ruling Italy (950–61)[edit]
Berengar then assumed the royal title with his son Adalbert as co-ruler. He attempted
to legitimize his kingship by forcing Lothair's widow Adelaide, the respective daughter,
daughter-in-law, and widow of the last three Italian kings, into marriage with Adalbert.
However, the young woman fiercely refused, whereafter Berengar had her imprisoned
at Garda Castle, allegedly mistreated by Berengar's wife Willa. With the help of Count
Adalbert Atto of Canossa she managed to flee and entreated the protection of King
Otto of Germany. Otto, himself a widower since 946, took the occasion to gain the
Iron Crown of Lombardy: Adelaide's requests for intervention resulted in his 951
invasion of Italy. Berengar had to entrench himself at San Marino, while Otto received
the homage of the Italian nobility, married Adelaide himself, and assumed the title of a
King of the Lombards. He afterwards returned to Germany, appointing his son-in-law
Conrad the Red Italian regent at Pavia.
Berengar by Conrad's agency appeared at the 952 Reichstag in Augsburg and paid
homage to Otto. He and his son Adalbert remained Italian kings as Otto's vassals,
though they had to cede the territory of the former March of Friuli to him, which the
German king enfeoffed to his younger brother Duke Henry I of Bavaria as the Imperial
March of Verona. When Otto had to deal with the revolt of his son, Duke Liudolf of
Swabia in 953, Berengar attacked the Veronese march and also laid siege to Count
Adalbert Atto's Canossa Castle.
Loss of control (961–64)[edit]
In 960, Berengar invaded the Papal States under Pope John XII, on whose appeal
finally King Otto, aiming at his coronation as Holy Roman Emperor, again marched
against Italy. Berengar's troops deserted him and Otto by Christmas 961 had taken
Pavia by default and declared Berengar deposed. He proceeded to Rome, where he
was crowned emperor on 2 February 962. He then once more turned against Berengar,
who was besieged at San Leo.
Meanwhile, Pope John had entered on negotiations with Berengar's son Adalbert,
which in 963 caused Otto to move into Rome, where he deposed the pope and had
Pope Leo VIII elected. The next year, Berengar finally surrendered to Otto's forces, he
was captured and imprisoned at Bamberg in Germany, where he died in August 966.[2]
His wife Willa spent the rest of her life in a German nunnery.
Parents
OF IVREA Adalbert I (ABT 885 - ABT 932)
OF FRIULI Gisela (ABT 880 - 13 Jun 910)
Siblings
____ Berenger II ( 908 - 4 Aug 966)
Marriage To OF ARLES Willa (ABT 918 - AFT 966)
m. 936
Notes
Parents
____ Boso (Bozon) (ABT 890 - ABT 938)
OF TUSCANY OR OF BURGUNDY Willa (ABT 900 - )
Children by OF ARLES Willa ABT 918 - AFT 966
____ Adalbert II (ABT 937 - ABT 30 Apr 971)
OF ITALY Rozala (Rosella) (Rosele) (ABT 960 - 1003)
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