Hugh, Margrave of Tuscany

Who was Hugh, Margrave of Tuscany?

Hugh, called the Great, was the Margrave of Tuscany from 969 until his death, and the Duke of Spoleto and Margrave of Camerino from 989 to 996. He restored the state apparatus in Tuscany after decades of neglect by margraves whose main interests lay elsewhere. Hugh supported the new Ottonian dynasty, and was praised for his justice by the contemporary theologian Peter Damian in his De principis officio.

Hugh was the son and successor of Hubert, an illegitimate son of King Hugh. His mother was Willa, a daughter of Boniface I, Duke of Spoleto and Margrave of Camerino. The Tuscany that Hugh inherited was not yet characterised by incastellamento and royal intervention was rare. It was also larger in area than it had been under the last margrave unaffiliated with the royal family, Adalbert II. The march was defined less by geography than by the public institutions controlled by the margrave. Hugh had his own tribunals, mints and army, and the lands he distributed to the church in his march was mostly public land.

The basis of Hugh's power was the wealthy cities of the Arno valley, although he also possessed extensive landed properties. Towards the end of his life he increasingly dissipated marchesal lands on the foundation of monasteries. The increase in gift-giving to monasteries by Hugh and his vassals has been linked to a "spiritual revival". Hugh gave lands around Arezzo to the Guidi clan, a family he patronised. He also gave some to the churches of the city, acts confirmed later by the emperors Otto III and Henry II. Hugh supported Otto III in his ecclesiastical reforms and against Venice, to whose duke, Pietro IV Candiano, he was related. In 996, Otto placed the eight Adriatic counties disputed between him and the papacy under the joint control of Hugh and Margrave Conrad of Ivrea, also Duke of Spoleto and Camerino, although he also left a missus to oversee the courts and finances. In a letter dated 5 August 996 Otto tells Pope Gregory V that "we are leaving the foremost men of Italy as aid and comfort to you—Hugh of Tuscany, faithful to us in everything, and Conrad. . .", and goes on to assure him he would receive "the works and services due" him in the disputed territory.