{{No footnotes, date=June 2020 Auriate was a county in

medieval Italy The history of Italy in the Middle Ages can be roughly defined as the time between the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and the Italian Renaissance. The term "Middle Ages" itself ultimately derives from the description of the period of "obsc ...

on the eastern slopes of the

Western Alps The Western Alps are the western part of the Alpine Range including the southeastern part of France (e.g. Savoie), the whole of Monaco, the northwestern part of Italy (i.e. Piedmont and the Aosta Valley) and the southwestern part of Switzerland ( ...

lying between

Cuneo Cuneo (; pms, Coni ; oc, Coni/Couni ; french: Coni ) is a city and ''comune'' in Piedmont, Northern Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the fourth largest of Italy’s provinces by area. It is located at 550 metres (1,804 ft) in ...

and

Saluzzo Saluzzo (; pms, Salusse ) is a town and former principality in the province of Cuneo, in the Piedmont region, Italy. The city of Saluzzo is built on a hill overlooking a vast, well-cultivated plain. Iron, lead, silver, marble, slate etc. are fo ...

. The county existed from the late ninth century to the middle of the tenth. The name of the county survives in that of the ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' of

Valloriate Valloriate is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southwest of Turin and about southwest of Cuneo Cuneo (; pms, Coni ; oc, Coni/Couni ; french: Coni ) is a city and ''comune'' i ...

. The earliest known count was one Rodulf, who died in 902, leaving the county to a Frank named Roger, who had been his second-in-command. Between 940 and 945 Roger's son and successor,

Arduin Glaber Arduin Glaber ( it, Arduino Glabrio,'' Glabrione'', or'' il Glabro'', meaning "the Bald"; died c. 977) was count of Auriate from c. 935, count of Turin from c. 941/942, and Margrave of Turin from c. 950/964. He placed his dynasty, the Arduinici, ...

, drove the

Saracens upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia ...

from the

Val di Susa The Susa Valley ( it, Val di Susa; pms, Valsusa; french: Val de Suse; oc, Val d'Ors) is a valley in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont region of northern Italy, located between the Graian Alps in the north and the Cottian Alps in the south ...

and annexed that region to his county of Auriate. Arduin was a supporter of

Berengar of Ivrea Berengar II ( 900 – 4 August 966) was the King of Italy from 950 until his deposition in 961. He was a scion of the Anscarid and Unruoching dynasties, and was named after his maternal grandfather, Berengar I. He succeeded his father as Margr ...

in his successful bid for the

Iron Crown of Lombardy The Iron Crown ( lmo, Corona Ferrea de Lombardia; it, Corona Ferrea; la, Corona Ferrea) is a relic and may be one of the oldest royal insignia of Christendom. It was made in the Early Middle Ages, consisting of a circlet of gold and jewels fi ...

in 950. The following year (951) Berengar completed a reorganisation of western Lombardy, creating three new marches to better defend the coast from Saracen attacks: the

March of Genoa The March of Genoa or Eastern Liguria was created in 961 by the Emperor Otto I. It was originally called either the ''marca Obertenga'' after its first holder, Oberto I, or the ''marca Januensis'' after its original capital and chief city, Genoa. I ...

(Eastern Liguria), the March of Montferrat (Western Liguria), and the March of Turin. Arduin was created the first Margrave of Turin. At this time Auriate disappears from the records as a distinct entity, but it remained the centre of the property of the Arduinici family three generations later, when Bertha married Ottone del Vasto of the

Aleramici The House of Aleramici were a medieval Italian noble family of Frankish origin which ruled various northwestern counties and marches, in Piedmont and Liguria from the tenth to the 14th centuries. History The founder of the family was William I ...

clan. Their joint properties formed the nucleus of the later March of Saluzzo.

References

* M. G. Bertolini. "Arduino." ''Dizionario biografico degli Italiani'', VI:49–52. Rome: Società Grafica Romana, 1964. * Francesco Cognasso. ''Storia di Torino''. Florence: Giunti Editore, 2002. Italian states