Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-4hvwz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-30T06:27:10.350Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

8 - Features and Practices of Power: From Officials to Lords

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 April 2022

Get access

Summary

Abstract

In this chapter, analysis is directed to the power enjoyed by the Hucpoldings, their unique qualities, their relationships and the strategies they adopted to build their seigneurial hegemony in the local communities affected by their presence. From this perspective, the particularities of their lordship are investigated. Their hegemony was achieved in a novel way when compared with other Italian elites.

Keywords: kinship; Hucpoldings; seigneurial rule; officials; Carolingian aristocracy; marquis

After having considered the nature of identity cohesion exhibited and practised by the Hucpoldings, we will now strive to trace the process of territorial settlement and social affirmation they performed. All these developments were coordinated with royal power, from the arrival of their forefather Hucpold to the consolidation of seigneurial hegemony in the area of Bologna with Hugh II.

From the beginning in Italy, the features qualifying their conduct were military commitments and a close relationship of Königsnähe with Italian rulers, particularly with Rudolf II of Burgundy. Thus, the group acquired a position of superiority among the most illustrious aristocracies of marquis rank in the kingdom. Later, upon conclusion of the brief marchisal affirmation of Boniface I in Emilia, and having survived the reign of Hugh of Arles who had been hostile to them, the Hucpoldings obtained the marches of Tuscia and Spoleto with royal support. Nonetheless, they did not succeed in anchoring their lineage in any of those environments. The development of their seigneurial pre-eminence and the early dinastizzazione of the title of count came about, instead, in those areas of the Bolognese territory in the public district controlled by Boniface I for a short time at the beginning of the tenth century. A good part of the group's landed wealth was concentrated there, divided between allodia and beneficia belonging to the fisc. The vassalage relationship established with the archbishops of Ravenna contributed to accentuating kinship pre-eminence in that region, and was then reinforced by the foundation of the monastery of Musiano in the Apennine valley of the river Savena.

The group never pursued with determination the accession of its members into ecclesiastical hierarchies as a further means to increase and vary its hegemonic position.

Type
Chapter
Information
Struggles for Power in the Kingdom of Italy
The Hucpoldings, c. 850-c.1100
, pp. 311 - 334
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×