#In many ways this is dependent on the Carolingian paradigm of royalty which differed from its Merovingian predecessors
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Angelberga was a peculiarly prominent personality in manifold aspects of European politics [in the late 9th century. Born to the Supponid family of Italy, she married Emperor Louis II and had several opportunities to establish her position as an active and controversial player in the vicissitudes of her husband's reign]. She acted as Louis's regent, accompanied him on expansionary military campaigns in the south of the peninsula and represented him at [congresses, tribunals, and diplomatic negotiations]. Strikingly, she was also the beneficiary of a spectacular collection of charters. Almost one in seven of Louis II’s extant charters were issued in her favour. Angelberga’s conspicuous exploits in the field of charter acquisition did not diminish after the emperor’s death, and this helped her to maintain a position as a key power-broker in Italian politics, control of land [particularly monastic foundations] being a fundamental building-block of power in this period. In the interregnum following 875, during which Charles the Bald of West Francia and Karlmann of Bavaria fought to claim the succession to the heirless Louis, Angelberga herself conducted the negotiations and decided the loyalty of a major sector of the Lombard political community. She maintained this high profile until her death [having supported her son-in-law Boso's quest for power, endured a temporary exile, maintained the support of Pope John VIII, and founded the monastery of San Sisto in the city of Piacenza, where she probably ended her days sometime before 891].
— Simon MacLean, "Queenship, nunneries and royal widowhood in Carolingian Europe"
#historicwomendaily#angelberga#Louis II of Italy#Italian history#Carolingian period#9th century#my post#Angelberga is wildly fascinating to me#She's been described by numerous historians as 'the most openly powerful of the Carolingian royal wives' (Fiona M. MacFarlane)#'The first Carolingian royal woman to take a fully public role in government' (Phyllis G. Jestice) etc#In many ways this is dependent on the Carolingian paradigm of royalty which differed from its Merovingian predecessors#and which saw queens conducting their activities on a primarily domestic/spatial level#with significantly reduced indicators of autonomy and oddly obscured importance/influence in contemporary sources#(That didn't necessarily mean a reduction in importance - just a shift in what that importance actually meant and should contribute to)#In that framework Angelberga's wide-ranging public activities do seem to have been the 'exception'#It's all the more notable considering the fact that she never had a son#Which is yet another thing I find very interesting with her - how her lack of a son affected various spheres and events of her life#Predictably contemporaries and chronicles viewed her as a controversial figure who was arrogant and insolent and sexually transgressive#(shocker)#also her name has many spelling variants in sources and history books - I'm using Angelberga to make it consistent#and because it was how La Rocca (the first historian whose work of her I read) referred to her
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