The Unruochings ( it, Unrochingi ; french: Unrochides; german: Unruochinger) were a Frankish noble family who established themselves in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. The family is named for the first member to come to prominence,

Unruoch II of Friuli Unruoch II (also known as Unroch II) (died 853) was a Frankish nobleman and friend of Charlemagne. In particular, he was witness to the emperor's will in 811. He was the Frankish Duke (Margrave) of Friuli before 846. He may have been the son of U ...

(

floruit ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

early 9th century). The family members held various titles in northern Italy, including Margrave and

Duke of Friuli The dukes and margraves of Friuli were the rulers of the Duchy and March of Friuli in the Middle Ages. The dates given below, when contentious, are discussed in the articles of the respective dukes. Lombard dukes * 568–c.584 Grasulf I * 5 ...

, one of the lordships established on the eastern

Marches In medieval Europe, a march or mark was, in broad terms, any kind of borderland, as opposed to a national "heartland". More specifically, a march was a border between realms or a neutral buffer zone under joint control of two states in which diff ...

of the

Frankish Empire Francia, also called the Kingdom of the Franks ( la, Regnum Francorum), Frankish Kingdom, Frankland or Frankish Empire ( la, Imperium Francorum), was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks dur ...

. The

March of Friuli The March of Friuli was a Carolingian frontier march, established in 776 as the continuation of the Lombard Duchy of Friuli, established against the Slavs and Avars. It was ceded to the Duchy of Bavaria as the March of Verona in 952. Its territ ...

was considerably larger than modern

Friuli Friuli ( fur, Friûl, sl, Furlanija, german: Friaul) is an area of Northeast Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity containing 1,000,000 Friulians. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giuli ...

, covering much of the modern

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

and as far west as the

Province of Brescia The Province of Brescia ( it, provincia di Brescia; Brescian: ) is a Province in the Lombardy administrative region of northern Italy. It has a population of some 1,265,964 (as of January 2019) and its capital is the city of Brescia. With an ar ...

Lombardy (man), (woman) lmo, lumbard, links=no (man), (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , ...

. The family's main landholdings, however, were in modern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, north of the

River Seine ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = Seine basin , basin_size = , tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle , tributari ...

, and southern

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. The

family monastery A house monastery, family monastery or dynastic monastery (german: Hauskloster) is a Christian monastery that has a particular relationship with a noble family. Often, but not always, what subsequently became the house monastery was founded by t ...

, the centre of their power, was at

Cysoing Cysoing () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France, southeast of Lille. It is twinned with the English town of Much Wenlock. An obsolete spelling is ''Cisoin''. Heraldry Population Bordering municipalities Cysoing is borde ...

, near

Tournai Tournai or Tournay ( ; ; nl, Doornik ; pcd, Tornai; wa, Tornè ; la, Tornacum) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies southwest of Brussels on the river Scheldt. Tournai is part of Eurome ...

. King

Berengar I of Italy Berengar I ( la, Berengarius, Perngarius; it, Berengario; – 7 April 924) was the king of Italy from 887. He was Holy Roman Emperor between 915 and his death in 924. He is usually known as Berengar of Friuli, since he ruled the March of Fri ...

belonged to this family. Berengar left no male heirs, but the descendants of his daughter Gisela and

Adalbert I of Ivrea Adalbert I (died after 28 February 929) was the margrave of Ivrea, the second of the Anscarid dynasty, from the late 890s until his death. In the intermittent civil war which affected Italy from 888 into the 930s, Adalbert initially strove to re ...

including their son

Berengar II of Italy 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 Marg ...

, Berengar II's son Adalbert, and Adalbert's son Otto-William, Duke of Burgundy, are counted among the Unruochings. Noted members of the family in the direct line included: *

(''

'' early 9th century) *

Berengar the Wise Berengar, called the Wise ( ca, Berenguer el Savi, la, Berengarius Sapiens), was the duke or count of Toulouse (814–835) and duke (or margrave) of Septimania (832–835). He held the County of Barcelona concomitantly with Septimania. Berengar ...

(died 835) *

Eberhard of Friuli Eberhard (c. 815 – 16 December 867) was the Frankish Duke of Friuli from 846. His name is alternatively spelled Everard, Evrard, Erhard, or Eberard; in Latinized fashion, ''Everardus'', ''Eberardus'', or ''Eberhardus''. He wrote his own name ...

(died 866) *

Unruoch III of Friuli Unruoch III, Unroch III or (H)unroch III (c. 840 – 874, after 1 July) was the margrave of Friuli from 863 to 874. He was the oldest son of Eberhard of Friuli and Gisela, daughter of Louis the Pious, a descendant of Charlemagne. He married ...

(died c. 874) *

(died 924)

References

* Riché, Pierre, ''Les Carolingiens. Une famille qui fit l'Europe.'' Paris: Hachette/Pluriel, 1997. {{ISBN, 2-01-278851-3