Ratold of Italy
Ratold of Ratold of Italy was a King of Italy who ruled for a month or so in 896. He was younger illegitimate son of Arnulf of Carinthia by a concubine. His mother may have been the same mother as Zwentibold, but may on the other hand have been a Lombard, thus gaining the child standing among the people of Italy, or a Slav, based on his name. Arnulf had the nobility recognise the rights of Zwentibold and Ratold as his successors.
After his father was crowned Roman Emperor in Rome in 896, he left Ratold behind as nominal sub-king of Italy in Milan and crossed the Alps for Germany. Immediately after returning to Germany, Lambert II of Spoleto, an opponent of Arnulf's for the crown of Italy, took control of the country. Ratold was forced to flee.
References
- Duckett, Eleanor (1968). Death and Life in the Tenth Century. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
- Reuter, Timothy (1991). Germany in the Early Middle Ages 800–1056. New York: Longman.