Alberic I of Spoleto

Who was Alberic I of Spoleto?

Alberic I was the Lombard duke of Spoleto from between 896 and 900 until 920, 922, or thereabouts. He first appears as a page to Guy III of Spoleto at the Battle on the Trebbia in 889 He may have later been the count of Fermo or margrave of Camerino, but whatever the case, he succeeded to Spoleto after murdering Duke Guy IV.

He was recognised soon by King Berengar I, with whom he fought the Magyars in 899 or 900. Alberic allied with his neighbour, the margrave of Tuscany Adalbert II, against Pope Sergius III. The two then blocked the road to Rome to prevent Berengar's imperial coronation in 906 or 907. His alliance with the Tusculani was very advantageous. By his marriage to Marozia, the daughter of Theodora and Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum, he received the title of "patrician of the Romans," patricius Romanorum.

Most famously perhaps, Alberic was one of the three great leaders of the Christian League which defeated the Saracens at the Battle of the Garigliano in June 915.