Adalbert of Italy
King of Italy from 950 until 961
Adalbert (born 932/936, died 971/975) was the king of Italy from 950 until 961, ruling jointly with his father, Berengar II. After their deposition, Adalbert continued to claim the Italian kingdom until his defeat in battle by the forces of Otto I in 965. Since he was the second Adalbert in his family, the Anscarids, he is sometimes numbered Adalbert II. His name is occasionally, especially in older works, shortened to Albert.
Accession
Adalbert was born between 932 and 936, the son of Berengar, then margrave of Ivrea, and Willa, daughter of Boso, margrave of Tuscany. In 950, he and his father were simultaneously elected by the high nobility to succeed King Lothar II of Italy. They were crowned together in the basilica of Saint Michael in Pavia on 15 December. Berengar tried to force Lothair's widow, Adelaide, to marry Adalbert and cement their claim to joint kingship. Although later traditions speak of a marriage, Adelaide refused to be married and fled to Canossa. She was tracked down and imprisoned for four months at Como.
German invasion
In 951, King Otto I of Germany invaded Italy, forcing the release of Adelaide and marrying her himself. He made no effort to depose the kings of Italy, however.
“Adalbert of Italy” enters the record as king of Italy from 950 until 961. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Adalbert, Italy and King can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Adalbert of Italy” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Adalbert, Italy and King provides the most credible route into that argument.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q347480. VIAF identifies the subject as 166159474191027661919. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Adalbert of Italy” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.