Ariulf of Spoleto

Who was Ariulf of Spoleto?

Ariulf was the second Duke of Spoleto from 592 to his own death.

In 592, Ariulf, whose position at Spoleto and control of key points along the Via Flaminia, the key communication between Ravenna and Rome, to cut its alternative, the fortified Via Amerina, and capture several Byzantine cities. He took several strongholds in Latium and threatened Rome, where Gregory the Great, cut off from the Exarchate, was forced to make a separate peace with him, to the intense dissatisfaction of Romanus, Exarch of Ravenna, who considered himself the Imperial representative in Italy and popes' superior. Ariulf's successes were brief: the Exarch's forces retook the Roman fortifications and the city of Perugia and cleared the roads for the time being.

He then assisted Arechis I of Benevento in besieging Naples, another important city of Imperial Italy. He won a great victory at Camerino, where according to Paul the Deacon, he claimed to have seen Saint Sabinus, the martyr-hero of Spoleto, aiding him and was thus led to convert to Catholic Christianity.