Adalgis or Adelchis ( – 788) was an associate king of the Lombards from August 759, reigning with his father, Desiderius, until their deposition in June 774. His mother was Ansa. He is also remembered today as the hero of the play ''

Adelchi ''Adelchi'' () is the second tragedy written by Alessandro Manzoni.Banham (1998, 678). It was first published in 1822. The main character is Adelchis, a Longobard prince torn by the inner conflict between his father Desiderio's will and his own ...

'' (1822) by Alessandro Manzoni. In Desiderius' attempts to rekindle an alliance between the Lombards and Carolingians he proposed that Adalgis should marry Charlemagne's sister Gisela. Bachrach has suggested that this proposal was to undermine the Carolingian's relationship with the papacy. When in 773 the Lombard kingdom was invaded by Charlemagne, the

king of the Franks The Franks, Germanic-speaking peoples that invaded the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, were first led by individuals called dukes and reguli. The earliest group of Franks that rose to prominence was the Salian Merovingians, who con ...

, Desiderius stayed in Pavia, the capital, where he unsuccessfully resisted a siege. Adalgis instead took refuge in Verona, where he sheltered the widow and children of Charlemagne's younger brother, Carloman I, who had entered an Italian monastery after abdicating the kingship. Even before the fall of Pavia, when the Frankish army approached Verona, Adalgis did not resist. He escaped to Constantinople, where he was received by the Eastern Roman emperor Constantine V, who raised him to the patriciate. Adalgis hoped to return to re-conquer Italy, and solicited help from Duke Arechis II of Benevento for this purpose. Many Lombards refused to submit to Frankish rule, believing that Adalgis's return was imminent.Ottorino Bertolini, "Adelchi, re dei Longobardi", ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'' 1 (1960). The historian

Paul the Deacon Paul the Deacon ( 720s 13 April in 796, 797, 798, or 799 AD), also known as ''Paulus Diaconus'', ''Warnefridus'', ''Barnefridus'', or ''Winfridus'', and sometimes suffixed ''Cassinensis'' (''i.e.'' "of Monte Cassino"), was a Benedictine monk, s ...

reflected a widespread belief among the Lombards when he wrote, as part of his poetic epigraph for the tomb of Ansa, that "in her, by Christ, the greatest hope of the Lombards spent a time.""In quo per Christum Bardis spes maxima mansit", in the ''Epitaphium Ansae reginae''.

Einhard Einhard (also Eginhard or Einhart; la, E(g)inhardus; 775 – 14 March 840) was a Frankish scholar and courtier. Einhard was a dedicated servant of Charlemagne and his son Louis the Pious; his main work is a biography of Charlemagne, the ''Vita ...

, Charlemagne's biographer, also records that "on dalgisall hope seemed to incline" (''in quem spes omnium inclinatae videbantur''). Only in 787, after the efforts of the

Empress Irene Irene of Athens ( el, Εἰρήνη, ; 750/756 – 9 August 803), surname Sarantapechaina (), was Byzantine empress consort to Emperor Leo IV from 775 to 780, regent during the childhood of their son Constantine VI from 780 until 790, co-ruler ...

to obtain the hand in marriage of Charlemagne's daughter Rotrude for her son, Constantine VI, did the Romans move to give Adalgis the military assistance he required. An expeditionary corps was placed under the command of the ''

saccellarius A ''sakellarios'' ( el, σακελλάριος) or ''sacellarius'' is the title of an official entrusted with administrative and financial duties (cf. ''sakellē'' or ''sakellion'', "purse, treasury") in a government or institution. The title was ...

'' and '' logotheta'' Ioannes and augmented by troops from Sicily under the '' patrikios'' Theodoros. The Roman army landed in Calabria towards the end of 788, but was met by the united armies of the Lombard dukes Hildeprand of Spoleto and Grimoald III of Benevento, who had succeeded his father, Arechis, and made peace with the Franks. These Lombard forces were accompanied by Frankish troops under Winiges. In the ensuing battle the Romans were defeated, but there is no further record of the fate of Adalgis.

Notes

{{Reflist 8th-century Lombard monarchs Lombard warriors 8th-century births 788 deaths