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Concept
Desiderius
Summary
Desiderius, also known as Daufer or Dauferius (born 720 – died 786), was king of the Lombards in northern Italy, ruling from 756 to 774. The Frankish king of renown, Charlemagne, married Desiderius's daughter and subsequently conquered his realm. Desiderius is remembered for this connection to Charlemagne and for being the last Lombard ruler to exercise regional kingship.
Born in Brescia, Desiderius was originally a royal officer, the dux of Tuscia and he became king after the death of Aistulf in 756. At that time, Aistulf's predecessor, Ratchis, left his monastic retreat of Montecassino and tried to seize the kingdom, but Desiderius put his revolt down quickly with the support of Pope Stephen II. At his coronation, Desiderius promised to restore many lost papal towns to the Holy See and even enlarge the Papal State.
By 757, Desiderius began securing his power, taking what historian Walter Goffart terms, "vigorous steps to suppress resistance to himself in the powerful duchies of Spoleto, in central Italy, and Benevento, to the south." When the upstart, Liutprand Duke of Benevento, who despised Desiderius, challenged his kingship and threatened to place himself under Pippin's protection, Desiderius obtained naval assistance from Byzantium and put an end to Luitprand's defiant actions. The Lombard king then granted Luitprand's former duchy to his foe's son, Arechis. In that same year, Desiderius deposed Alboin of Spoleto and exercised the ducal powers there himself. Seeking, like his predecessors, to extend the Lombard power in Italy, he came into collision with the papacy and the southern duchies. In the August of 759, Desiderius made his son Adelchis associate King of Lombardy.
Shortly after visiting Rome, where he prayed at the tomb of St. Peter, Desiderius "returned to the aggressive expansive policy of his predecessors." He even negotiated with Byzantium in an arrangement that would have eroded papal authority and resulted in further territorial loss for the Holy See in Rome.
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