Boniface I of Tuscany
Encyclopedia
Boniface II (died circa 838) was the count and duke of Lucca
Lucca
Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plainnear the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...

 (from 5 October 823) and first margrave of Tuscany from about 828. He succeeded his father Boniface I in Lucca — in what was an early example of hereditary succession — and extended his power over the region. During his tenure, the bishops of Lucca gradually lost control of the municipal government, which fell to the counts.

Since 770, the counts of Lucca had been charged with the coastal defence of Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....

 and Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....

. In February 825, at Marengo
Marengo (département)
Marengo is the name of a département of the consulate and of the First French Empire in present Italy. It was named after the Marengo plain near Alessandria to commemorate the Battle of Marengo . The capital was Alessandria and the other principal cities were Asti, Bobbio, Casale Monferrato,...

, the Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...

 Lothair I
Lothair I
Lothair I or Lothar I was the Emperor of the Romans , co-ruling with his father until 840, and the King of Bavaria , Italy and Middle Francia...

 emanated a Capitula de expeditione corsicana for the defence of the island. In 828, Boniface received the titles of prefect
Prefect
Prefect is a magisterial title of varying definition....

us
and tutela over the island from Lothair and the legate
Papal legate
A papal legate – from the Latin, authentic Roman title Legatus – is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic Church. He is empowered on matters of Catholic Faith and for the settlement of ecclesiastical matters....

ship of the island from the bishop of Luni. In July and August 828, he led a small fleet in search of Saracen
Saracen
Saracen was a term used by the ancient Romans to refer to a people who lived in desert areas in and around the Roman province of Arabia, and who were distinguished from Arabs. In Europe during the Middle Ages the term was expanded to include Arabs, and then all who professed the religion of Islam...

 pirates. Finding none at sea, the fleet landed at Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...

 and there decided to attack Africa. They assaulted the Saracen coast between Utica
Utica, Tunisia
Utica is an ancient city northwest of Carthage near the outflow of the Medjerda River into the Mediterranean Sea, traditionally considered to be the first colony founded by the Phoenicians in North Africa...

 and Carthage
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...

 with success. The fleet then returned to Corsica.

In 833, Boniface backed Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious , also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813...

 against his son Lothair, who promptly dispossessed him and put Aganus in his place. In 834, he joined with Ratald, Bishop of Verona, and Pepin, Count of Vermandois
Pepin, Count of Vermandois
Pepin was the first count of Vermandois, lord of Senlis, Péronne, and Saint Quentin. He was the son of King Bernard of Italy and Cunigunda.Pepin first appears in 834 as a count to the north of the Seine and then appears as same again in 840...

, to free the Empress Judith of Bavaria
Judith, daughter of Welf
Queen Judith , also known as Judith of Bavaria, was the daughter of Count Welf and a Saxon noblewoman named Hedwig, Duchess of Bavaria...

 from her convent-prison. They escorted her back to Louis at Aachen
Aachen
Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...

. Boniface spent 836–838 in Germany at court.

Eventually he retired to hereditary lands in southern France. He was invited to participate in the trial of Bernard of Septimania, but died before he could. His son Adalbert
Adalbert I of Tuscany
Adalbert I was the margrave of Tuscany from about 847.He was the son of Margrave Boniface II, who had been despoiled of his fiefs by the Emperor Lothair I, and successor of his elder brother Aganus...

 regained the Tuscan march later.

Sources

  • Wickham, Chris. Early Medieval Italy: Central Power and Local Society 400-1000. MacMillan Press: 1981.
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