Duchy of Spoleto

42°44′N 12°44′E / 42.733°N 12.733°E / 42.733; 12.733

The Duchy of Spoleto (Latin: Ducatus Spolitanorum) was a Lombard territory founded about 571 in central Italy by the Lombard dux Faroald. Its capital was the city of Spoleto.

The Duchy of Spoleto emerged during the Lombard expansion into central Italy in the late 6th century. Its origins are traditionally placed during the reign of Alboin, around 571.^[1] An alternative chronology places the foundation of the duchy after the failed Byzantine offensive of 575–576 led by Baduarius. Following this defeat Faroald I and associated Lombard groups established control, placing the foundation of the duchy a few years later.^[1]

The conquest divided the region into two main spheres: the Tuscia Romanorum, corresponding to the Byzantine-held Duchy of Perugia, and the Tuscia Longobardorum, or Duchy of Spoleto. Spoleto became a strategic center of Lombard power, as holding Spoleto meant controlling the Via Flaminia and the main routes between Rome and Ravenna, thereby cutting off the Byzantine territories from Rome.^[2]

From Spoleto, Lombard expansion advanced toward the central Apennines. The valleys of the Vigi, Nera, and Corno were progressively occupied and organized within a new administrative framework.^[2]

The broader territorial structure of the Duchy comprised 36 regions governed by a Duke. Early Lombard settlements were established mainly on hilltops and had a very rudimentary character, encampments protected by palisades and wooden watchtowers. As the need arose to consolidate control over these territories, strategically important sites were occupied, including frontier fortresses, formerly Gothic or Byzantine fortified towns, valleys, and mountain passes.^[2]

Lombard society was organized around fare (from the term far-an), armed kinship groups that typically corresponded to extended family clans and formed the basic units of Lombard settlement and organization.^[2]

Initially the duchy enjoyed considerable independence from the Lombard kingdom, owing to natural barriers and intervening Byzantine territories. This autonomy is shown by the 592 agreement in which Ariulf concluded a separate truce with Pope Gregory I, apart from the Lombard king Agilulf.^[1]

Within Spoleto, the Roman capitolium dedicated to Jupiter, Juno and Minerva had already been occupied by the bishop's cathedral (the see was founded in the 4th century) which incorporated the pagan structure (now the church of San Ansano). The Lombard dukes restored the fortifications of the high rocca, whose walls had been dismantled by Totila during the Gothic War.

The dukes of Spoleto waged intermittent war with the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna, and Spoleto's territories fluctuated with the fortunes of the times over much of Umbria, Lazio, the Marche and the Abruzzi.

Its second Duke Ariulf made frequent expeditions against the Byzantines (in 579–592 against Ravenna and in 592 against Rome). Ariulf was succeeded by Theudelapius, son of Faroald, whom the Catholic Encyclopedia credits with the first building of Spoleto's cathedral.

Under the Lombard King Grimoald, the duchy's independence diminished as he appointed Transamund I, formerly count of Capua, as duke of Spoleto.^[1]

Faroald II captured Classis, the port of Ravenna, according to Paul the Deacon's History of the Lombards: "In that time too Faroald, the first dux of the Spoletans, invading Classis with an army of Lombards, left the wealthy city despoiled and bare of all its riches." He was then obliged by Liutprand, King of the Lombards to restore it, a measure of the loose central control of Lombard rule that Liutprand was occupied in tightening, at least as Paul interpreted events for his Frankish patrons.

At Spoleto Faroald was deposed by his son Transemund II (724), who also rebelled against Liutprand and formed an alliance with Pope Gregory III, who sheltered him in Rome in 738. Ilderic, who had replaced him as duke, was slain by Transemund in 740, but in 742 Transemund was forcibly retired to a monastery by Liutprand, who conferred the duchy that he had rewon by force of arms upon Agiprand (742). By the time of Liutprand's death (744), Spoleto was more securely in central control from Pavia, and Theodicus succeeded peaceably. Three 8th-century dukes were Kings of the Lombards, a sign that in that period Spoleto was linked more closely to the kingdom than was Benevento.

In 776, two years after the fall of Pavia, Spoleto fell likewise to Charlemagne and his Carolingian Empire,^[3] and he assumed the title King of the Lombards.

After defeating the Lombards, Charlemagne donated extensive territories in central Italy to Pope Adrian I. This grant included jurisdiction over major cities and the right to collect the fodrum, a levy owed by the dukes of Spoleto. Despite these donations, the Duchy formally remained under imperial dominion.^[2]

Though he granted the territory to the Church, he retained the right to name its dukes, an important concession that can be compared to the as-yet uncontested Imperial right to invest territorial bishops, and perhaps at times a matter of contention between emperor and papacy, for Pope Adrian I had recently named a duke of Spoleto.

In 842, the former duchy was resurrected by the Franks to be held as a Frankish border territory by a dependent margrave. Among the more outstanding of the Frankish dukes, Guy I divided the duchy between his two sons Lambert and Guy II,^[4] who received as his share the lordship of Camerino, which was made a duchy. Lambert was a doughty fighter against Saracen raiders, but an individual who equally massacred Byzantines (as in 867), and was deposed in 871, restored in 876, and finally excommunicated by Pope John VIII. In 883 Guy II reunited the dukedom, henceforth as the Duchy of Spoleto and Camerino. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, Guy had himself crowned emperor of the Romans and king of Italy by Pope Stephen V (891). The following year Pope Formosus crowned Guy's son Lambert II as duke, king and emperor.

The dukes of Spoleto continued to intervene in the violent politics of Rome. Alberic I, Duke of Camerino (897), and afterwards of Spoleto, married the notorious Roman noblewoman Marozia, mistress of Pope Sergius III (904–911), and was killed by the Romans in 924. His son Alberic II overthrew the senatrix in 932 though her son, his half-brother, was Pope John XII.

About 949, the Frankish King Berengar II of Italy took Spoleto from the margrave, diminished the size of the duchy, and set aside territory that would become the March of Fermo. At that time, Emperor Otto I detached from the Duchy of Spoleto the lands called Sabina Langobardica and presented them to the Holy See. Now the control of Spoleto became increasingly a gift of the emperors. In 967, Otto briefly united the Duchy of Spoleto with that of Principality of Capua and Benevento, which was then ruled by Pandulf Ironhead.

After Pandulf's death in 981, the joint principality of Spoleto, Capua and Benevento was partitioned amongst the sons of Pandulf, who fought endlessly to gain supremacy. Landulf IV gained Spoleto, Capua, and Benevento, while Pandulf II received Salerno. Then in 989 Otto III detached Spoleto and granted it to Hugh, Margrave of Tuscany. Later in December 998, Otto appointed Adhemar of Capua as the duke of Spoleto. Adhemar ruled four years until the duchy was united a second time with Tuscany in 1003.

During the Investiture Controversy with the papacy, Emperor Henry IV named other dukes of Spoleto. In 1152, the emperor gave the duchy to Guelf VI of Este. The city was destroyed by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa three years later, but was soon rebuilt. After that, the dukedom was held by the family of the Werner (Guarnieri) of Urslingen, margraves of Ancona. In 1183, Frederick appointed Conrad of Urslingen as the duke. Conrad ruled until 1190 when Frederick died and the Guelphs seized the principality and positioned Pandulf as the duke. Five years later after Henry VI succeeded Frederick I as emperor, Conrad regained the position as duke of Spoleto. After Henry VI died in 1197 and Otto of Brunswick became the king of Italy in 1198, however, Conrad left the position and ceded Spoleto to Pope Innocent III.

In 1201, in support of Pope Innocent's desire to strengthen the dominion of the Papal States, Otto made a gift of the Imperial rights for Spoleto to the Papacy. In 1209, after the death of Philip of Swabia, however, Otto became the Holy Roman Emperor and reneged on his earlier promises to support the Pope. Otto set his sights on reestablishing Imperial power and occupied Spoleto until 1213 when the duchy was brought back under papal rule with a governor, usually a cardinal. However, Spoleto remained a pawn in the struggles between the Papacy and Frederick II until the extinction of the House of Hohenstaufen in 1254.

Ultimately, the territories of Spoleto were annexed to the Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples. The title of Duchy of Spoleto was later used by members of the House of Savoy.

The Duchy of Spoleto comprised much of the mountainous interior of central Italy. Its territory included the old regions of the Sabines, the Aequi, the Vestini, southern Umbria, and the coastal land of Picenum.^[5]

To the east, the Adriatic Sea formed the boundary of the duchy. To the south it bordered the territory of Benevento, while to the north it met the Byzantine-held Pentapolis. The cities of Camerino and Fermo also appear to have belonged to Spoleto.^[5]

In the west the duchy was separated from Lombard Tuscia by the Byzantine Corridor, a narrow strip of Byzantine territory containing the cities of Polimarzo, Ameria, and Bleda; these places were only briefly attached to Spoleto in the final period of Byzantine rule. Narni likewise appears to have been incorporated for a short time. To the southwest, the duchy extended close to the gates of Rome.^[5]

Within the Lombard kingdom, the Duchy of Spoleto formed part of the southern grouping of territories commonly referred to as Tuscia, which included Tuscany, Spoleto, and Benevento.^[6]

The duchy was ruled by a duke, described with the title Summus et Gloriosus Dux Langobardorum. In large duchies such as Spoleto, the duke exercised substantial authority, while acknowledging the higher sovereignty of the Lombard king.^[6]

Subordinate officials operated within the duchy. Among them were gastalds, who governed territorial districts and administered revenues connected with ducal authority. These officials exercised both civil and military functions.^[6]

At the local level, settlements were supervised by officials called sculdasci or centenarii. Each oversaw a district known as a sculdascia, and beneath them were decani, who were responsible for smaller ecclesiastical or local units.^[6] The authority of these officials combined judicial and military responsibilities, reflecting a system in which governance involved both adjudication and command.^[6]

Following the Lombard invasion of the region in 570, the former Roman structures of power were gradually replaced. The old Roman coloniae and vici turned into rural curtes, which in time were fortified and developed into castles.^[2]

The Duchy of Spoleto was divided irregularly into territorial districts known as gastaldates, named either after cities or important settlements.^[6]

Among the gastaldates within the territory of the duchy were Camerino, Septempeda, Castelpetroso (Pierosara), Fermo, Olmo, Clenti, Noce, Valle, San Giuliano, San Claudio, Sant'Elpidio, Sparziano, Ascoli, Truento (near Porto d'Ascoli), Teramo, Atri, Pinna, Furconio (Forcona), Balba, Amiternum, Narnate, Antrodoco, Rieti, Falacrine, Tora, Offiano, and Noveri.^[6]

Additional districts included the gastaldates of the Marsi and of the Cicolano (or Aequi). In the Umbrian territory west of the Apennines there were also gastaldates at Terni, Nocera, and the Tifernate district centered on Castelfelice.^[6] The city of Spoleto, seat of the duke, was itself the center of a gastaldate.^[6]

A separate district known as the Pontano gastaldate, named after the castle of Ponte on the left bank of the river Nera, included Norcia, Visso, Cascia, Triponzo, Primocaso, Paterno, and surrounding localities, extending along that side of the river as far as Otricoli.^[6]

• Duke of Spoleto

• The History Files: Lombard Dukes of Spoleto.
• Spoleto on the Catholic Encyclopedia, showing a somewhat different list of dukes, working no doubt from the Liber Pontificalis