Liutprand of Benevento

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Liutprand (died after 759) was the duke of Benevento from the death of his father Gisulf II in 749 until his own deposition. He reigned under the regency of his mother, Scauniperga, who supported King Aistulf, until 756.

After he attained his majority, he commended his duchy to Pepin the Short, King of the Franks, probably at the coaxing of Pope Stephen II, and rebelled against King Desiderius, being deposed in 758 to be replaced by Arechis II. The Byzantine Emperor Constantine V offered to capture the fleeing Liutprand if Desiderius would attack the papacy until a Byzantine force from Sicily could join him. Desiderius did not attack and Liutprand was not captured.