Ageltrude was not born into the north Italian nobility, as she was the daughter of the prince of Benevento, Adelchis. However […], she was chosen by [Guy of Spoleto] before he had nurtured royal ambitions. Being an outsider meant that Ageltrude had to find new friends and supporters once her husband managed to conquer the kingdom. She did this very successfully. Narrative sources report that she was involved in political affairs, and that after her husband’s death she remained active in politics at the side of her son Lambert; documentary evidence shows that she granted a considerable amount of properties and monastic institutions in northern Italy. Most importantly, her presence in diplomas is characterized by three aspects: the peculiarity of her titles, her role as competitor for the Carolingian women, and the close relationship with the chancery. All these aspects help to illuminate Guy’s political strategies to keep the kingdom under control.
— Roberta Cimino, Italian Queens in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries (PhD Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2014)
Four diplomas, issued on the day of Guy’s imperial coronation in Rome, on 21st February 891, are particularly interesting for the analysis of political language, as well as for the role Ageltrude played. The diplomas, now preserved in the Archivio Capitolare of Parma, confirmed or granted properties to the new empress, with the intercession of the archchaplain Wibod and, in one case (DGui5) of the marchio of Ivrea Anscar, a member of Guy’s family group. They show common features, which are peculiar to Guy’s chancery. Among them are the emperor and empress’ titles: “Vuido divina favente clementia imperator augustus” and “dilectissime coniugi nostrae Ageltrudi imperatrici et consortem imperii nostri”.
The reason for the issuing of several diplomas in favour of Ageltrude on this particular day has been debated by scholars. Paola Guglielmotti has recently pointed out that Ageltrude’s new patrimonial situation was created to fit her new public status. In her case consortium imperii was associated with the acquisition of properties with a well-established royal identity. The granting of benefices to religious institutions could be the king’s deliberate choice of imitating a tradition. Rosenwein has noted that new rulers tended “to follow the tradition of kings in giving away the symbols and substance of fortified edifices”. This model has been applied by La Rocca to the relationship between Italian queenship and San Salvatore in Brescia. I have argued above that this can be generally applied to monastic institutions in northern Italy. In the case of Ageltrude it is applicable to the Pavese monasteries that had a royal identity, as they had been founded and endowed by Lombard and Carolingian queens.
Guy, however, had to choose other symbols of power, as San Salvatore and San Sisto were controlled by his adversaries, Berengar and the Supponids. Besides DGui4, which confirmed to Ageltrude properties and rights she already had, the other three charters concern three nunneries in the town of Pavia. DGui5 granted to Ageltrude San Marino, the nunnery probably founded by Richgard, which in 889 had been granted to Angelberga by Arnulf of Carinthia. DGui6 concerns the confirmation of Sant’Agata: the convent was, therefore, already under the control of Ageltrude. Finally, DGui7 established the grant of the nunnery Reginae in Pavia. These charters qualify Ageltrude as consors imperii and as a significant member of Guy’s entourage, granting her nunneries which were linked to past queens. The confirmation of Sant’Agata is particularly interesting, as this was a royal nunnery outside of Guy’s sphere of control, and the original donation must date back to the royal coronation, that is to say after May 889. Moreover, the diplomas suggest that Ageltrude was close to other members of the imperial court and that she was supported by Guy’s key men, especially bishop Wibod of Parma. The close relationship between the empress and the diocese of Parma would become more evident in the later part of Ageltrude’s life: in her last testament, produced in 923, she granted her properties to the church of Parma. The other person who appears as intercessor for Ageltrude is the marchio of Ivrea Anscar, who had been a faithful ally of Guy since 888, and fought in the battle of the Trebbia river in 889. He appears in the charter with the title “marchio dilectusque consiliarius noster”. Anscar is mentioned as marchio for the first time in this charter: this document records the creation of a significant territorial jurisdiction, the marca of Ivrea, which acquired a decisive strategic importance.
Following the imperial coronation, Ageltrude seems to be at the centre of a political network which was expressed through a highly formalized diplomatic language, a formally organized chancery and the enhancement of relations with the primores of the kingdom. The use of consors imperii in the diplomas issued in February 891 suggests, moreover, a different meaning of the title, for it was employed by Guy’s chancery exclusively in diplomas in which the empress appeared as beneficiary.
In order to clarify the last point, one needs to take into account that in 894 the Carolingian east-Frankish king, Arnulf of Carinthia, arrived in Italy and seriously threatened Guy’s authority. Many northern Italian towns, such as Pavia, Milan and Piacenza, surrendered to him, while Guy hastily abandoned northern Italy and probably took refuge in the south. In April 894 he had set his court in the area of Petrognano, near Spoleto, which was controlled by his fidelis Liutald. However, Arnulf had soon to give up his plans to move towards Rome, because of the lack of adequate military forces; during his retreat, in March 894, he encountered the opposition of Guy’s ally, Anscar, at Ivrea. Just after this episode, in April 894, Guy granted to Ageltrude (“dilectissimae coniugi nostrae Ageltrudi imperatrici et consortem imperii nostri” [sic]) two curtes “iure hereditario”, Murgola in the area of Bergamo and Sparavera in Piacenza. Both those areas had been seriously affected by Arnulf’s expedition in Italy. In particular, Bergamo had posed strenuous opposition to Arnulf; once the town had been taken by the Bavarian king, Count Ambrose had been ferociously executed. Arnulf’s expedition had also seriously affected Piacenza, where the Bavarian king had settled his court between February and March 894. Here he issued two diplomas, one of which was for the church of St Ambrose in Milan. Arnulf had easy access into Milan as the count of the city, Manfred, had surrendered to the Bavarian king in order not to lose his office. The diploma for St Ambrose proves that Arnulf could count on significant support inside the city, provided by the bishop and the lay elite. The diploma aimed at establishing a continuity with the previous rulers of Italy, as in the same document Arnulf confirmed to the monastery rights and properties granted by former Carolingian rulers, his own ancestors.
In this competitive situation, Guy’s choice to grant to Ageltrude properties in two strategic areas of the kingdom, whose elite had recently, more or less willingly, passed to his opponent’s side, was an attempt to reaffirm his authority in those areas. In the charter Ageltrude is presented as “imperatrix et consors imperii nostri”, while Guy himself adopted the original title of “Vuido Caesar imperator augustus”. The formulary of the diploma is modeled on DGui7, issued on the day of the imperial coronation, evoking the imperial authority that Guy was at risk of losing. In other words, Ageltrude was the centre of a strategy of political legitimation.
The two properties she received had a particular significance also for another reason. The curtis Murgola, as well as Almenno, had been granted to Ermengarda, Angelberga and Louis II’s daughter, in the above mentioned diploma of Louis the German. After the defeat and death of her husband, in 887, Ermengarda had not abandoned her ambitions. After having attempted to have her son Louis succeed Charles the Fat, Ermengarda put herself and her son under the protection of the new king Arnulf, who had deposed Charles. In 889 Arnulf of Carinthia confirmed a group of properties to Angelberga, among which there was also the curtis Sparavera, and established that after her death those properties had to be passed on to her daughter Ermengarda. The request for the confirmation was made by Ermengarda herself, in order to protect her Italian properties after the death of her mother. As a result, in 890 Louis III was crowned king of Provence at Mantaille, with the approval of Arnulf. By granting Sparavera to Ageltrude, Guy deprived Ermengarda of part of her wealth, disposing of properties traditionally controlled by the Carolingians - in 883 Murgola was controlled by Charles III - and gave them to his own wife, who was, according to the diploma, the truly legitimate consors imperii. This was a clear political claim against Arnulf, and more broadly against the Carolingian house. The closeness of Arnulf and Ermengarda suggests that Guy’s choice to grant properties which had belonged to the late empress Angelberga and to her daughter was an attempt to challenge the Carolingians’ ambitions in Italy.
This charter suggests that Guy’s chancery associated the expression consors imperii with a patrimonial idea of the queen’s office; for Ageltrude was defined consors only in diplomas in which she appears as beneficiary, and never when she acted as intercessor. She is not called consors in a diploma issued in May 892, in which she interceded, “per Ageltrudim amantissimam coniugem nostram imperatrice augustam”, for marchio Conrad, a Widonid, who was granted a royal curtis of Almenno in the comitatus of Bergamo. In this diploma, jointly issued by Guy and Lambert (“Vuido et Lantbertus gratia et misericordia eiusdem omnipotentis Dei imperatores augusti”), Conrad is defined as patruus and patruelis, that is to say uncle (of Guy) and great-uncle (of Lambert). According to the diploma the curtis of Almenno had been originally granted to Conrad by Louis II. Hlawitschka has argued that the fiscal estates controlled by the Widonid family could have been lost in the early 870s, as a consequence of the support given by Lambert of Spoleto (Guy’s father and possibly Conrad’s brother) to the Beneventans’ revolt against Louis II. There is some evidence of these fiscal estates passing into the hands of the women of Louis II’s family: in February 875 Louis the German had granted the royal curtes of Almenno and Murgola (also located in the area of Bergamo), together with other properties, to his niece Ermengarda.
Guy used other means to stress his continuity with the Carolingian empire. His seal (on the obverse) reads “Renovatio Regni Francorum”, a formula previously used by Louis the Pious, and later by Charles the Fat. In 896 the same expression was employed for a seal attached to a diploma of Arnulf of Carinthia. It is interesting that Guy and Arnulf both used the same model, the seal of Charles the Fat. This casts light onto a conflict which was being fought with similar weapons on both sides: language was one of them. It shows, furthermore, Guy’s desire to accentuate a continuity with the Carolingians, although - or maybe because - he did not have any dynastic claim. Furthermore, Guy and Lambert presented themselves as legislators, issuing three capitularies. This was an important aspect of Carolingian public activity, which was never undertaken by any other post-Carolingian Italian rulers.
Guy, a “new man” facing struggles for the royal title, used law-making, diplomacy and gift-giving in order to assert his authority and territorial control over his new kingdom. Ageltrude’s presence in charters, and the way she was presented in those charters, show that she was employed in this process. Not only was she granted a group of nunneries with a royal identity, which had all been founded or at some point controlled by Carolingian royal women. She was also given properties situated in areas with a strategic significance for Guy in terms of his attempt to face the Carolingian family and its supporters in Italy. For this purpose, the title consors imperii was employed in a different way from what had been done in the past, for it was associated with the queen’s patrimonial status.
In other words, Ageltrude was presented as a royal landholder and monastic patron, who controlled estates and nunneries with a strong royal tradition.
Her influence was evident also during her widowhood. Guy died in the summer or autumn of 894, leaving the kingdom in the hands of his young son Lambert, who at the time was about fourteen years old. Lambert’s chancery was a continuation of his father’s and involved the same group of people: the archchancellor Elbuncus remained at its head. The language of charters reflects this continuity: Lambert frequently appears with the same, peculiar, title “Caesar imperator augustus”, which had been used for his father. Charters show that in this transition Ageltrude maintained an influential role. In December 895, she acted as intercessor in a charter that granted a fiscal curtis in the comitatus of Reggio Emilia to the viscount of Parma, Ingelbert. In that period Arnulf of Carinthia had arrived in Italy for the second time, taking control of the north with the support of part of the nobility. Lambert left the capital, and set up his court in the town of Reggio Emilia. The curtis was granted to the viscount with the intercession of Ageltrude, of the vassal Liutald – a faithful friend of Guy - and of the count Radald “vasso scilicet Radaldi illustrissimi comitis atque summi consiliarii nostri”. Radald belonged to the Attonids, and was the son of the marchio Conrad, Lambert’s patruelis, to whom Guy had granted some properties in the area of Bergamo the year before (Conrad was marchio of Spoleto and count of Lecco). As Hlawitschka has argued, this is an interesting political operation that took place in the key town of Parma: the comitatus, which for several generations had been linked to the Supponid family, Berengar’s supporters, passed into the hands of a member of the Widonid family group. Radald was put in charge of the comitatus of Parma to undermine the Supponid influence in the area; although he had previously collaborated with the family politics of the Supponids. He was one of the subscribers of Angelberga’s testament for San Sisto, a document aimed at enhancing the family’s economic and territorial control of Emilia. This happened in 877, when the Widonids had not yet developed the royal claims that would later make them oppose the Supponids’ territorial politics. The role held by Ageltrude in her son’s political entourage is expressed in the charter through the title “domina et genitrix nostrae Ageltruda gloriosissima imperatrix augusta”, which acknowledges her prominence.
Furthermore, in May 896 Lambert granted to his mother (“dulcissima genitrix nostra”) the royal curtis of Corana, in the comitatus of Tortona. The grant was given with the intercession of Adalbert of Tuscany, one of Lambert’s supporters against Arnulf.
Arnulf had to leave Italy during spring 896, after he had managed to enter Rome. Benedict of S. Andrea reports that Rome was strenuously defended by Lambert and Ageltrude, but they had to abandon the city to Arnulf, who was crowned emperor by Pope Formosus. However, Arnulf did not manage to defeat Lambert, as the king took refuge in the area of Spoleto, where he could count on some support. Arnulf tried to pursue Lambert in order to defeat him. At this point an infamous episode about Arnulf’s poisoning by Ageltrude is reported by Liudprand. Although this tale has to be read in relation to Liudprand’s impressionistic depiction of evil women, it suggests an active involvement of the empress in the struggle between her son and the Bavarian king, which is confirmed also by other narrative texts. Arnulf’s decision to abandon Italy was a good result for Lambert: he regained control of Pavia and the royal authority, and was therefore in a position to reward his allies. The grant for Ageltrude is to be placed in this context, and possibly to be related to the help the empress had given to her son. According to the Annals of Fulda, at this point Lambert and Berengar reached an agreement for the division of the kingdom, establishing the Adda river as a frontier: a period of relative stability followed the departure of Arnulf.
Furthermore, Ageltrude appeared again as intercessor in a diploma issued in February 898 in Ravenna, for the church of San Giovanni in Florence. The diploma was issued just after the Diet of Ravenna of February 898, during which Lambert had renewed his agreement - originally made in 892 - with the Pope and had the imperial title confirmed. It is therefore not a coincidence that Ageltrude appeared with an imperial title (“Ageltrudae serenissimae imperatricis augustae”), which she did not have in the previous diplomas issued by Lambert’s chancery. DLa10, issued in Marengo on the 2nd September 898, also concerned Ageltrude, as she acted as intercessor on behalf of the church of Arezzo for the grant of the royal curtis of Cactianus. On this occasion Ageltrude interceded together with the new archchancellor Amolus, who was probably the bishop of Turin and who is mentioned as Lambert’s chancellor from 896. In this diploma Ageltrude is not mentioned by name, but as domina genitrix nostra, the title with which she is often presented in Lambert’s diplomas [...].
The evidence analysed above shows that Ageltrude had a significant role in the shaping of Guy and Lambert’s politics. As Guy did not have as extensive a network of supporters in northern Italy as that of his adversaries, he employed his wife in the process of building a network of friends and liaising with religious institutions. In these circumstances the representation of Ageltrude’s importance was related to a patrimonial idea of queenship: this idea is reflected by the use of consors imperii. The title was used only in charters that granted properties and nunneries to the empress. Moreover, these properties and convents had all previously been in the hands of other Carolingian women. This suggests that the concept of imperial consortium, as it was intended by Guy’s court, portrayed the shared control of the royal fisc between the imperial couple. In other words, Guy’s chancery shaped the title’s meaning around what was important for the emperor, namely the control of fiscal properties in northern Italy and the relationship with the Carolingian past and present represented by his contenders. In Ageltrude’s case, the title was used because these gifts to her were potentially controversial or precarious - because she was an outsider with no Carolingian blood and no familial connection among the north Italian nobility.
