Liutward was the archchancellor

Archchancellor

An archchancellor or chief chancellor was a title given to the highest dignitary of the Holy Roman Empire, and also used occasionally during the Middle Ages to denote an official who supervised the work of chancellors or notaries....

 of the Carolingian Empire

Carolingian Empire

Carolingian Empire is a historiographical term which has been used to refer to the realm of the Franks under the Carolingian dynasty in the Early Middle Ages. This dynasty is seen as the founders of France and Germany, and its beginning date is based on the crowning of Charlemagne, or Charles the...

 from 878

878

Year 878 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :...

 and the bishop of Vercelli from 880

880

Year 880 was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.- Religion :* Pope John VIII issues the bull Industriae Tuae, creating an independent ecclesiastical province in Great Moravia with Archbishop Saint Methodius as its head...

 by appointment of Charles the Fat

Charles the Fat

Charles the Fat was the King of Alemannia from 876, King of Italy from 879, western Emperor from 881, King of East Francia from 882, and King of West Francia from 884. In 887, he was deposed in East Francia, Lotharingia, and possibly Italy, where the records are not clear...

, whose chief minister he was. He should not be confused with his predecessor in this office of the same name, who would be archbishop of Mainz. Never liked by the nobility, he was trusted by Charles as a confidante and go-between with the papacy.

In 887

887

Year 887 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* The city of Toledo rises against the Umayyad leader....

, he was accused by Charles of having an affair with the Empress Richardis

Richardis

Saint Richardis, also known as Richgard and Richardis of Swabia , was the Holy Roman Empress as the wife of Charles the Fat. She was renowned for her piety.-Life:...

 and though the empress successfully underwent the ordeal of fire, he was banished form court. Liutward's men abducted the daughter of Unroch III of Friuli from a convent in Brescia

Brescia

Brescia is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, between the Mella and the Naviglio, with a population of around 197,000. It is the second largest city in Lombardy, after the capital, Milan...

 and forced her to marry one of his relatives, this provoked enmity between Liutward, the chief Carolingian prelate in Lombardy, and Berengar of Friuli, the chief secular magnate.

The famed poet of the age, Notker of St Gall

Notker of St Gall

Notker the Stammerer , also called Notker the Poet or Notker of Saint Gall, was a musician, author, poet, and Benedictine monk at the Abbey of Saint Gall in modern Switzerland...

, dedicated a series of verses to him between the years 881

881

Year 881 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* Charles the Fat is crowned Western Emperor.* Battle of Saucourt-en-Vimeu: Louis III of France routs Norman pirates....

and 887.

Sources

• MacLean, Simon. Kingship and Politics in the Late Ninth Century: Charles the Fat and the end of the Carolingian Empire. Cambridge University Press: 2003.
• Leyser, Karl. Communications and Power in Medieval Europe: The Carolingian and Ottonian Centuries. London, 1994.
• Reuter, Timothy. Germany in the Early Middle Ages, c. 800-1056. Longman, 1991.
• Duckett, Eleanor. Death and Life in the Tenth Century. University of Michigan Press, 1968.
• Annales Fuldenses translated by Timothy Reuter, with commentary (subscription needed).