GUIDO II, duke of SPOLETO, king of ITALY and emperor. — When the Carolingian Empire dissolved, with the deposition and death of Charles the Fat (888), into the new, de facto independent states of Alemannia, France, Provence, Burgundy, and Lorraine, the figure of the duke of Spoleto, G. II, came to the fore in Italy. He had already gathered into his hands the duchies of Camerino (879, upon his father’s death) and Spoleto (882, upon the death of his elder brother Lamberto). Son of Guido I of Spoleto and Adelaide, daughter of the king of Italy Pipino, he married Ageltrude, daughter of Adelgiso, duke of Benevento. A valiant warrior and an ambitious, unscrupulous politician, he first usurped lands belonging to the Papal States and gradually made himself independent of the weak Emperor Charles the Fat. In order to enlarge and consolidate his dominion, he did not hesitate to form alliances with the Greeks and the Saracens, alarming Pope and Emperor, who charged Berengario of Friuli with arresting him and occupying his lands. An epidemic among his troops forced Berengario to withdraw without carrying out his mandate, and in 885 G. regained the Emperor’s favor. At this time Stephen V, perhaps also seeking his support against the Saracens, reconciled himself with G., who in fact fought successfully at the Garigliano; he even went so far as to adopt him as a son.
Upon the death of Charles the Fat, he seemed for a moment to forget Italy: he turned his thoughts to the crown of France, which was offered to him by Archbishop Folco of Reims. But after being defeated by Odo of Paris, who had already been elected, he returned to Italy to contest the crown with Berengario, who in the meantime had been crowned at Pavia, though recognized only in northern Italy. After a bloody clash at Brescia, an armistice followed until January 889. When hostilities resumed, Berengario was decisively defeated at the Trebbia, and G., promising defense and protection, was elected king of Italy by the bishops at Pavia (February 889). Stephen V, perhaps intimidated by this victory, invited Arnolfo of Germany, the successor to the Empire, to descend into Italy. But when Arnolfo was prevented from doing so, G. managed, no one knows how, to obtain the imperial crown on 21 February 891, thereby strengthening his position; on his seal he engraved the inscription: «Rinovatio Regni Francorum». Thus, for the first time, the tradition reserving the dignity of the Empire to the Carolingian family was broken. G. devoted himself energetically to his new task; to his son Lamberto, already associated with him in the Kingdom, he gave the title of king of Italy; he established his seat at Pavia, and at the diet of 1 May he promulgated Capitularies, modeled on those of Charlemagne, intended to restore some order to the country.
But Pope Formosus, elected in 892 and initially favorable to him (he crowned his son Lamberto), soon began negotiations with Arnolfo for a descent into Italy. After an unsuccessful expedition by his son Zwentibaldo, Arnolfo descended into Italy in 894, occupying Bergamo, Milan, and Pavia, but suddenly halted his advance and recrossed the Alps.
G. briefly regained his position, but while preparing to march against Berengario, he died suddenly on the Taro, between Parma and Piacenza. He was buried in Parma Cathedral.
G.’s tiny Empire was a weak reproduction of the Carolingian Empire, without substance and sustained solely by his prestige and personal ability.