GUY II, Duke of Spoleto, King of Italy and Emperor. - With the dissolution, through the deposition and death of Charles the Fat (888), of the Carolingian Empire, which broke up into the new, de facto independent states of Germany, France, Provence, Burgundy, and Lorraine, the figure of Guido II, duke of Spoleto, came to the fore in Italy; he had already gathered into his hands the duchies of Camerino (879, on his father's death) and of Spoleto (882, on the death of his eldest brother Lambert). The son of Guido I of Spoleto and of Adelaide, daughter of Pippin, king of Italy, he married Ageltrude, daughter of Adelchis, duke of Benevento. A valiant warrior and an ambitious and unscrupulous politician, he first usurped lands of the Papal State and gradually made himself independent of the weak emperor Charles the Fat. To enlarge and consolidate his dominion he did not hesitate to enter into alliances with the Greeks and the Saracens, alarming the Pope and the Emperor, who charged Berengar of Friuli to arrest him and occupy his lands. A plague among his troops drew Berengar away without his having fulfilled the commission, and in 885 Guido returned to the Emperor's favour. Stephen V too, at this time perhaps in order to secure his support against the Saracens, was reconciled with Guido, who in fact fought with success at the Garigliano; he even went so far as to adopt him as a son.
On the death of Charles the Fat he seemed for a moment to forget Italy: he thought of the crown of France, which was offered to him by Archbishop Fulk of Reims. But, defeated by Odo of Paris, already elected, he returned to Italy to contest the crown with Berengar, who had meanwhile been crowned at Pavia, though recognized only by northern Italy. After a bloody clash at Brescia, an armistice followed until Jan. 889. When hostilities resumed, Berengar was decisively beaten at the Trebbia, and Guido, promising defence and protection, was elected king of Italy by the bishops at Pavia (Feb. 889). Stephen V, perhaps intimidated by this victory, invited Arnulf of Germany, successor to the Empire, to descend into Italy. But, when the latter was prevented, Guido succeeded, no one knows how, in obtaining on 21 Feb. 891 the imperial crown, which strengthened his position, and on his seal he had inscribed the words: «Rinovatio Regni Francorum». Thus for the first time the tradition that reserved the dignity of the Empire to the Carolingian family was broken. Guido took up his new task with zeal; to his son Lambert, already associated 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 issued Capitularies, in imitation of those of Charlemagne, intended to restore a little order in the country.
But Pope Formosus, elected in 892, at first favourable (he crowned his son Lambert), soon turned to negotiating with Arnulf for a descent into Italy. Arnulf, after an fruitless expedition by his son Zwentibald, descended into Italy in 894, occupying Bergamo, Milan, and Pavia, but halted suddenly in his march and recrossed the Alps.
Guido recovered his position for a moment, but while he was preparing to march against Berengar, he died suddenly on the Taro, between Parma and Piacenza. He was buried in the cathedral of Parma.
Guido's tiny Empire was a weak reproduction of the Carolingian Empire, without substance, bound solely to his prestige and his personal ability.