Berenger I di Ivrea re di Italia

  General Notes:

Weis' "Ancestral Roots . . ." (146:16).
He was Marquis of Friuli beginning in 874.
After the death of KING LOUIS II in 875, LOUIS' two uncles, CHARLES THE BALD of France and LOUIS THE GERMAN, competed for the upper hand in Italy. Berenger was a supporter of LOUIS. In the mid 880s, while Charles the Fat was Emporer and the ruler of Italy, Italian politics was dominated by feuds between Berenger, who was Charles' chief supporter, and Liutward, bishop of Vercelli.
When Charles the Fat was deposed in 887, the Italian magnates elected Berenger as their king. He was supported by the pro-German faction. The fact that he was a Carolingian by maternal descent was a major factor in giving substance to his claim to the throne.
In 889, Berenger's chief rival, GUY III, Marquis of Spoleto with the support of the pro-French nobles, was able to be elected king , thus deposing Berenger, who retreated to his home province of Friuli. The emporer ARNULF invaded Italy from Germany in 894. His excuse was support of Berenger, but in reality, he wanted to bring Italy under his own rule. GUY died in this same year and ARNULF again invaded Italy in 895-6. ARNULF was forced to return to Germany after suffering a stroke. This left Berenger and GUY's son, Lambert, in contention for the Italian throne. Lambert died in 898, leaving Berenger as sole king.
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Berenger married Bertila di Spoleto, daughter of Suppo II di Spoleto and Unknown. (Bertila di Spoleto was born in 805-885 in Spoleto, Perugia, Italy and died in Dec 915.)