, Adalbert I

Adalbert I (died after 28 February 929) was the margrave of Ivrea, thesecond of the Anscarid dynasty, from the late 890s until his death. Inthe intermittent civil war that effecting Italy from 888 into the 930s,Adalbert initially strove to remain neutral, but from 901 on he sidedsequentially with every claimant to the Italian throne.

He was a son of Margrave Anscar I, originally from Oscheret in UpperBurgundy. He succeeded his father at Ivrea between 896 and 900.[1] Heinitially refused to take sides after King Louis of Provence invadedItaly in 900, but after Louis''s imperial coronation in 901 he recognisedhis authority.[1] After Louis was defeated by his rival, Berengar I, in902, Adalbert changed sides. Shortly thereafter, by 903 at the latest, hemarried Gisela, Berengar''s daughter, which was possibly the price of hisallegiance. Although Adalbert is not recorded as being related to theking in any of Berengar''s charters down through 14 August 908 and hismarriage is not expliticly reference before 13 June 910, it must havetaken place some fifteen years before he and Gisela''s eldest son was sentwas granted a county and a missaticum in 918.[1] With Gisela he had twochildren: Berengar, who succeeded him as margrave, and Bertha, who becameabbess of Modena.

Between 913 and 915 Gisela died and Adalbert married Ermengard, daughterof Margrave Adalbert II of Tuscany.[1] From this marriage he had a secondson, Anscar, later Duke of Spoleto. In 916–17 his primary concern wasSaracen raids. In 920–21 he joined those noblemen, many of Burgundianorigin like him, who supported the candidature of King Rudolf II ofBurgundy for the Italian throne.[1] Adalbert, with Lambert, Archbishop ofMilan, and Count Gilbert of Bergamo, assembled a force in the mountainsoutside Brescia with the intention of marching on Verona and capturingBerengar there. When the latter got wind of the plan, he sent a troop ofMagyar mercenaries to circle the conspirators and attack them frombehind. In the midst of defeat, Adalbert swapped clothing with one of hissoldiers and paid his own ransom at a low price.[1] By late 921 Rudolfhad entered Italy and been recognised as king in the march of Ivrea andthe archdiocese of Milan. Although Adalbert made a few appearances atRudolf''s court in the early days, he never frequented it as often as didhis wife and his two sons.[1]

After his relative Hugh ascended the Italian throne, Adalbert appearancesin the records are sparse. He apparently played no role in Rudolf''sdeposition and Hugh''s acclamation.[1] He was probably gravely ill, sinceLiutprand of Cremona, writing in 924–25, already though him dead. Hislast recorded action, probably shortly before he died, was a donation tothe church of Saint Andrew in Turin, which was witnessed by King Hugh on28 February 929.[1]