Ragambald (died 786) was the

Abbot of Farfa Farfa Abbey ( it, Abbazia di Farfa) is a territorial abbey in northern Lazio, central Italy. In the Middle Ages it was one of the richest and most famous abbeys in Italy. It belongs to the Benedictine Order and is located about from Rome, in t ...

from 781 until his death. According to the abbey's twelfth-century historian

Gregory of Catino Gregory of Catino (1060 – aft. 1130) was a monk of the Abbey of Farfa and "one of the most accomplished monastic historians of his age."Marios Costambeys, ''Power and Patronage in the Early Medieval Italy: Local Society, Italian Politics, and th ...

, Ragambald was born in a city in

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...

(''Gallia''), that is,

Francia 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 ...

, but he does not explicitly call him a

Frank Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curre ...

. Succeeding

Probatus Probatus ( it, Provato) was the Abbot of Farfa from 770 until 781, and the first abbot native to the Sabina (region), Sabina. He steered the abbey through the fall of the Kingdom of the Lombards, trying to prevent the disastrous aggression of its la ...

, a local-born abbot, Ragambald was the first of a line of abbots from Francia, including

Altpert Altpert (died 790) was the Abbot of Farfa from the death of Ragambald in 786 until his own death a few years later. He was described by Gregory of Catino, writing some three centuries later, as having been born in Paris "of the Gauls" (''Galliaru ...

(786–90) and

Mauroald Mauroald (died 802) was a Frankish monk from Worms and the Abbot of Farfa from 790.Marios Costambeys, ''Power and Patronage in the Early Medieval Italy: Local Society, Italian Politics, and the Abbey of Farfa, ''c''.700–900'' (Cambridge: 2007), 15 ...

(790–802). The significance of the Frankish presence at Farfa and of Ragambald's abbacy is summed up:

. . . the ‘new’ abbeys of the time not only arose under Frankish influence but also infiltrated the religious life of
Lombard Italy The Kingdom of the Lombards ( la, Regnum Langobardorum; it, Regno dei Longobardi; lmo, Regn di Lombard) also known as the Lombard Kingdom; later the Kingdom of (all) Italy ( la, Regnum totius Italiae), was an early medieval state established ...
with ‘Frankish’ ideas and attitudes, providing a kind of ‘
fifth column A fifth column is any group of people who undermine a larger group or nation from within, usually in favor of an enemy group or another nation. According to Harris Mylonas and Scott Radnitz, "fifth columns" are “domestic actors who work to un ...
’ that prepared the way for Frankish military victory and a more ready acceptance of Frankish political domination.

Under Ragamblad the abbey's patronage may have declined as compared with that under his predecessor. He is recorded to have received a single grant from Duke

Hildeprand of Spoleto Hildeprand was the Duke of Spoleto from 774 to 789. When Theodicius of Spoleto died fighting at the Siege of Pavia (773–74), Siege of Pavia in 774, the Lombards of the Duchy of Spoleto elected Hildeprand their duke and quickly submitted to the Fr ...

during his tenure. This may have been related to Papal encroachments. By the reign of

Pope Leo III Pope Leo III (died 12 June 816) was bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 26 December 795 to his death. Protected by Charlemagne from the supporters of his predecessor, Adrian I, Leo subsequently strengthened Charlemagne's position b ...

, Farfa was losing land to the Papacy.Costambeys, 157.

Notes

{{portal bar, Biography, Catholicism, Italy 786 deaths Abbots of Farfa Frankish Christian monks Year of birth unknown 8th-century Frankish people