Europe · The successor kingdoms
Duchy of Spoleto
drawn on the map AD 577–586, 741–749, 775–777, 860–865, 875–887, 898
The Duchy of Spoleto was a Lombard duchy in central Italy (modern Umbria and adjacent Marche), founded in the late 6th century (c. 570s) with its capital at Spoleto. Like Benevento, it was largely autonomous from the northern Lombard kingdom.
- Shown on the map
- AD 577–586, 741–749, 775–777, 860–865, 875–887, 898 (6 periods)
- Peak area
- 120k km²
- Region
- Europe
Overview
The Duchy of Spoleto was a Lombard duchy in central Italy (modern Umbria and adjacent Marche), founded in the late 6th century (c. 570s) with its capital at Spoleto. Like Benevento, it was largely autonomous from the northern Lombard kingdom. After the Frankish conquest it came under Carolingian overlordship but retained its dukes.
Decline and legacy
Spoleto played an outsized role in papal and imperial politics. Its dukes repeatedly intervened in Rome; most spectacularly, Guy (Guido) of Spoleto became King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor (891–894), and his son Lambert co-emperor — the Spoletan bid for the imperial title. The duchy later passed through various hands and was eventually absorbed into the Papal States (formally in the 12th–13th centuries).
Common questions
- What was the Duchy of Spoleto?
- The Duchy of Spoleto was a Lombard duchy in central Italy (modern Umbria and adjacent Marche), founded in the late 6th century (c. 570s) with its capital at Spoleto. Like Benevento, it was largely autonomous from the northern Lombard kingdom.
- When is the Duchy of Spoleto shown on the map?
- The border data draws the Duchy of Spoleto AD 577–586, 741–749, 775–777, 860–865, 875–887, 898, in 6 separate periods. The source samples borders at fixed dates, so a span can begin late or run on past the end.
- How large was the Duchy of Spoleto?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Duchy of Spoleto covered about 120,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
- How did the Duchy of Spoleto end?
- Spoleto played an outsized role in papal and imperial politics. Its dukes repeatedly intervened in Rome; most spectacularly, Guy (Guido) of Spoleto became King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor (891–894), and his son Lambert co-emperor — the Spoletan bid for the imperial title.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each polity as the primary basis, cross-checked against Encyclopædia Britannica and the World History Encyclopedia, while flagging entries built on thin or contested evidence — Samo's Empire on a single Fredegar passage, Venice's 697 founding date as legendary, the Pacta conventa as a probable forgery. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Duchy of Spoleto en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchy_of_Spoleto
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
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