Adelperga

Adelperga
Spouse(s) Arechis II of Benevento
Children Grimoald III of Benevento
Parent(s) Desiderius
Ansa, Queen of the Lombards
Monogram of Grimoald, son of Adelperga

Adelperga (8th century) was an Italian noblewoman, sister-in-law of Emperor Charlemagne and daughter of Desiderius, King of the Lombards, and his wife Ansa, Queen of the Lombards.[1][2]

Biography

Adelperga had a sister Desiderata, who was a wife of Charlemagne. Apparently, Adelperga was one of several lay medicine women who studied medicine and physics under the Benedictine monk Paul of Lombardy from Como (720-800).[3]

Desiderius arranged a strategic marriage between Adelperga and the Duke of Benevento, Arechis II, to secure his power in Italy.

After the fall of the Kingdom of the Lombards to Charlemagne, Adelperga's parents and sister were exiled to Francia, where they were imprisoned in religious houses. Adelperga and her other sister Liutperga then embarked upon a struggle to regain their patrimony and take revenge upon Charlemagne. Liutperga ultimately brought ruin upon herself and her family by encouraging her husband Tassilo to rebel against Charlemagne, his cousin: Charlemagne discovered Tassilo's plots and confiscated all his goods. Tassilo, Liutperga and their children were then banished to monasteries.

Adelperga was more successful; her husband resisted Charlemagne for some time, until in 787 he agreed to make peace with Charlemagne; at the encouragement of his wife and the Byzantines, he refused the peace treaty, which would have entailed surrendering part of his duchy to the Papacy.[4] When he died on 26 August 787, Adelperga continued his policies, supporting her brother Adalgis.

Adeleperga's son Grimoald, the heir to the Duchy, returned from captivity in the Frankish court, and, siding with Charlemagne, defeated his uncle and the Byzantines.[5]

Notes

  1. ↑ Reardon, Wendy J. The Deaths of the Popes. Comprehensive Accounts Including Funerals, Burial Places and Epitaphs. McFarland. p. 59.
  2. ↑ Ghisalberti, Alberto M. Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani: III Ammirato – Arcoleo. Rome, 1961.
  3. ↑ Marilyn Ogilvie & Joy Harvey: Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science
  4. ↑ Noble, T. F. X. (1984). The Republic of St. Peter: the Birth of the Papal State, 680–825. Philadelphia.
  5. ↑ King, P. D. (1987): Charlemagne: Translated Sources