The March of Ivrea was a large frontier county (

march March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March ...

) in the northwest of the medieval Italian kingdom from the late 9th to the early 11th century. Its capital was

Ivrea Ivrea (; pms, Ivrèja ; ; lat, Eporedia) is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy. Situated on the road leading to the Aosta Valley (part of the medieval Via Francigena), it stradd ...

in present-day

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, and it was held by a

Burgundian Burgundian can refer to any of the following: *Someone or something from Burgundy. *Burgundians, an East Germanic tribe, who first appear in history in South East Europe. Later Burgundians colonised the area of Gaul that is now known as Burgundy (F ...

family of

margrave Margrave was originally the medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or of a kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain feudal families in the E ...

s called the Anscarids. The march was the primary frontier between Italy and

Upper Burgundy The Kingdom of Upper Burgundy was a Frankish dominion established in 888 by the Welf king Rudolph I of Burgundy on the territory of former Middle Francia. It grew out of the Carolingian margraviate of Transjurane Burgundy (''Transjurania'', ) ...

and served as a defense against any interference from that state.

History

Upon the deposition of the

Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippi ...

king

Charles the Fat Charles III (839 – 13 January 888), also known as Charles the Fat, was the emperor of the Carolingian Empire from 881 to 888. A member of the Carolingian dynasty, Charles was the youngest son of Louis the German and Hemma, and a great-grandso ...

by his nephew Arnulf of Carinthia in 887, the power in Italy was assumed by the

Unruoching The Unruochings ( it, Unrochingi ; french: Unrochides; german: Unruochinger) were a Frankish noble family who established themselves in Italy. The family is named for the first member to come to prominence, Unruoch II of Friuli (floruit early 9th c ...

margrave Berengar of Friuli, who received the Iron Crown of the Lombards from the hands of Archbishop Anselm II of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

. Arnulf, King of

East Francia East Francia (Medieval Latin: ) or the Kingdom of the East Franks () was a successor state of Charlemagne's empire ruled by the Carolingian dynasty until 911. It was created through the Treaty of Verdun (843) which divided the former empire int ...

marched against Italy to gain the Lombard crown for himself and Berengar chose to pay homage to him, which led to discord with the Italian nobility. They supported the ambitious Duke

Guy III of Spoleto Guy III of Spoleto (german: Wido, it, Guido; died 12 December 894) was the margrave of Camerino from 880 and then duke of Spoleto and Camerino from 883. He was crowned king of Italy in 889 and emperor in 891. He died in 894 while fighting for c ...

, who had just failed to succeed Charles in

West Francia In medieval history, West Francia (Medieval Latin: ) or the Kingdom of the West Franks () refers to the western part of the Frankish Empire established by Charlemagne. It represents the earliest stage of the Kingdom of France, lasting from about ...

, but now with the support of Archbishop Anselm and Pope Stephen V prevailed against Berengar and had himself crowned King of Italy at

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the cap ...

in 889. Guy had created the March of Ivrea for his vassal Anscar in 888. Anscar and his relatives had been some of Guy's supporters in his failed quest for the French throne. The initial Eporedian march consisted of Piedmont and most of the

Liguria Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...

n coast with the counties of Acqui, Alba,

Asti Asti ( , , ; pms, Ast ) is a '' comune'' of 74,348 inhabitants (1-1-2021) located in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy, about east of Turin in the plain of the Tanaro River. It is the capital of the province of Asti and it is deeme ...

, Bredulo, Auriate,

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. Th ...

Vercelli Vercelli (; pms, Vërsèj ), is a city and ''comune'' of 46,552 inhabitants (January 1, 2017) in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians, ...

, Pombia, Stazzona,

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Mac ...

Lomello Lomello is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Pavia in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 50 km southwest of Milan and about 30 km west of Pavia, on the right bank of the Agogna. It gives its name to the surrounding ar ...

Savona Savona (; lij, Sann-a ) is a seaport and ''comune'' in the west part of the northern Italian region of Liguria, capital of the Province of Savona, in the Riviera di Ponente on the Mediterranean Sea. Savona used to be one of the chief seats ...

, and

Ventimiglia Ventimiglia (; lij, label= Intemelio, Ventemiglia , lij, label=Genoese, Vintimiggia; french: Vintimille ; oc, label=Provençal, Ventemilha ) is a resort town in the province of Imperia, Liguria, northern Italy. It is located southwest of ...

. Anscar remained a loyal supporter of Guy and his son

Lambert Lambert may refer to People *Lambert (name), a given name and surname * Lambert, Bishop of Ostia (c. 1036–1130), became Pope Honorius II *Lambert, Margrave of Tuscany ( fl. 929–931), also count and duke of Lucca *Lambert (pianist), stage-name ...

, even when King Arnulf called by Pope Formosus again invaded Italy in 894. Upon Lambert's disposition in 896 however, he turned to his rival Berengar of Friuli, who managed to secure his rule in Italy after Arnulf's death in 899. In 902 Anscar bequested the lands of Ivrea to his son Adalbert I, who had married Berengar's daughter Gisela. Adalbert however was on bad terms with his father-in-law: together with Margrave

Adalbert II of Tuscany Adalbert II (c. 875 – 915), called the Rich, son of Adalbert I, Margrave of Tuscany and Rothild of Spoleto. He was a grandson of Boniface II, and was concerned with the troubles of Lombardy, at a time when so many princes were contending for th ...

he backed Berengar's

Bosonid The Bosonids were a dynasty of Carolingian era dukes, counts, bishops and knights descended from Boso the Elder. Eventually they married into the Carolingian dynasty and produced kings and an emperor of the Frankish Empire. The first great scion ...

rival Louis the Blind, King of Lower Burgundy (

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border ...

). Louis was defeated and Adalbert had to flee from his margraviate to neighbouring Provence, nevertheless he returned with his new ally King Rudolph II, King of

, both finally defeated Berengar at the 923 Battle of Firenzuola. Even after Rudolph had to cede Italy to

Hugh of Provence Hugh (c. 880–947), known as Hugh of Arles or Hugh of Provence, was the king of Italy from 926 until his death. He belonged to the Bosonid family. During his reign, he empowered his relatives at the expense of the aristocracy and tried to estab ...

in 926, the Anscarid fortunes rose in the middle of the century and some margraves became kings of Italy, but in the early eleventh century the margraviate fell vacant and the Emperor Conrad II did not appoint a new margrave.

List of Margraves of Ivrea

*888 – 902 Anscar I *902 – 929 Adalbert I *929 – 936 Anscar II *936 – 957 Berengar *957 – 965 Guy *965 – 970 Adalbert II *970 – c. 990

Conrad Conrad may refer to: People * Conrad (name) Places United States * Conrad, Illinois, an unincorporated community * Conrad, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Conrad, Iowa, a city * Conrad, Montana, a city * Conrad Glacier, Washington ...

*c. 990 – 1015 Arduin

Sources

* Wickham, Chris. ''Early Medieval Italy: Central Power and Local Society 400-1000''. MacMillan Press: 1981. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ivrea, March of Marquisates of Italy States and territories established in the 880s 888 establishments History of Piedmont