King of Italy


King of Italy was the title given to the ruler of the Kingdom of Italy after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The first to take the title was Odoacer, a barbarian warlord, in the late 5th century, followed by the Ostrogothic kings up to the mid-6th century. With the Frankish conquest of Italy in the 8th century, the Carolingians assumed the title, which was maintained by subsequent Holy Roman Emperors throughout the Middle Ages. The last Emperor to claim the title was Charles V in the 16th century. During this period, the holders of the title were crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy.
A Kingdom of Italy was restored from 1805 to 1814 with Napoleon as its only king, centred in Northern Italy. It was not until the Italian unification in the 1860s that an independent Kingdom of Italy covering the entire Italian Peninsula was restored. From 1861 the House of Savoy held the title of King of Italy until the last king, Umberto II, was exiled in 1946 when Italy became a republic.

History

After the deposition of the last Western Emperor in 476, Odoacer was appointed Dux Italiae by the reigning Byzantine Emperor Zeno. Later, the Germanic foederati, the Scirians and the Heruli, as well as a large segment of the Italic Roman army, proclaimed Odoacer Rex Italiae. In 493, the Ostrogothic king Theoderic the Great killed Odoacer, and set up a new dynasty of kings of Italy. Ostrogothic rule ended when Italy was reconquered by the Byzantine Empire in 552.
In 568, the Lombards entered the peninsula and ventured to recreate a barbarian kingdom in opposition to the Empire, establishing their authority over much of Italy, except the Exarchate of Ravenna and the duchies of Rome, Venetia, Naples and the southernmost portions. In the 8th century, estrangement between the Italians and the Byzantines allowed the Lombards to capture the remaining Roman enclaves in northern Italy. However, in 774, they were defeated by the Franks under Charlemagne, who deposed their king and took up the title "king of the Lombards". After the death of Charles the Fat in 887, Italy fell into instability and a number of kings attempted to establish themselves as independent Italian monarchs. During this period, known as the Feudal Anarchy, the title Rex Italicorum was introduced. After the breakup of the Frankish Empire, Otto I added Italy to the Holy Roman Empire and continued the use of the title Rex Italicorum. The last to use this title was Henry II. Subsequent emperors used the title "King of Italy" until Charles V. They were crowned in Pavia, Milan and Bologna.
In 1805, Napoleon was crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy at the Milan Cathedral. The next year, Holy Roman Emperor Francis II abdicated his imperial title. From the deposition of Napoleon until the unification of Italy, there was no Italian monarch claiming the overarching title. The Risorgimento successfully established the House of Savoy dynasty over the whole peninsula and, uniting the kingdoms of Sardinia and the Two Sicilies, it formed the modern Kingdom of Italy. The monarchy was superseded by the Italian Republic, after a institutional referendum was held on 2 June 1946, after World War II. The Italian monarchy formally ended on 12 June of that year and Umberto II left the country.

As "Kingdom of Odoacer">Odoacer#Duke of Italy">Kingdom of Odoacer"

Initially named Dux Italiae by Zeno, the Roman Emperor in Constantinople, he later was recognized as King of Italy by the foederati in control of the Italian peninsula. He was deposed by the Ostrogoths, who established their own kingdom.
ImageNameLifeCoronationCeased to be King
Odoacerc. 433 – 15 March 493 AD4 September 47615 March 493

[Ostrogothic Kingdom] (493–553)

Theodoric the Great was invited by the emperor Zeno to take Italy from Odoacer and rule it in Zeno's name. He defeated Odoacer in 493, establishing a new kingdom in place of Odoacer's. Officially, the Ostrogothic kings ruled the Roman citizens in Italy as a viceroy of the Roman emperors, and their own Gothic people as their king, though functionally they ran their kingdom entirely independently from the Roman authority in Constantinople. Their greatest extent was during Theodoric's reign; as Roman Emperors from the east began to exert more power and retake control of Roman territory, the last Ostrogothic king fell to the Emperor Justinian in 553.
ImageNameLifeCoronationCeased to be King
Theodoric the Great454 – 30 August 52615 March 49330 August 526
Athalaricc. 516 – 2 October 5345262 October 534
Queen Amalasuintha495 – 30 April 5352 October 53430 April 535
Theodahadc. 480 – December 536535December 536
Vitiges? – 542536540
Ildibad? – 541540541
Eraric? – 541541541
Totila? – 1 July 5525411 July 552
Teia? – 552/553552552/553

Interregnum (527–578)

Byzantine Roman authority in Italy was briefly re-established under Justinian, though his gains were lost under his successor Justin II, after a new Germanic tribe, the Lombards, invaded from the north and established their kingdom in 568.
ImageNameLifeCoronationCeased to be King
Justinian I482 – 14 November 5651 April 52714 November 565
Justin II?– 5 October 57814 November 5655 October 578

[Kingdom of the Lombards] (568–756)

The Lombards under Alboin established their kingdom in the extreme north of Italy in 568, gradually pushing the Byzantine Romans back from the peninsula until only the Exarchate of Ravenna remained under Roman control. This finally fell in the 750s, with the Lombards gaining control of most of the peninsula. The last Lombard King of Italy, Desiderius, was deposed by his son-in-law Charlemagne, who folded it into the larger Carolingian Empire, which evolved over time into the Holy Roman Empire.
ImageNameLifeCoronationCeased to be King
Alboin530s – 28 June 572568572
Cleph? – 574572574
Rule of the Dukes 574 – 584574584
Autharic. 550 – 5 September 590584September 590
Agilulfc. 555 – April 616591616
Adaloald602-628626
Arioald? – 636626636
Rothari606 – 652636652
Rodoald630– 653652653
Aripert I? – 661653661
Perctarit & Godepert? – 668661662
Grimoald610 – 671662671
Garibald655 - 671671671
Perctarit ? – 688671688
Alahis680 – 689688689
Cunincpert? – 700689700
Liutpert?– 702700701
Raginpert? - 701701701
Aripert II? – 712701712
Ansprand657 -712712712
Liutprand680 – 744712744
Hildeprand?- 744744744
Ratchis? – 749744749
Aistulf? – 756749756
Desiderius – 756774

Kingdom of Italy">Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)#Constituent of the Carolingian Empire">Kingdom of Italy (781–962)

[Carolingian Dynasty] (774–887)

Charlemagne ruled over northern Italy as King of the Lombards. In 781, he named his son Pepin as King of Italy, though he still maintained suzerainty over the land. Charlemagne was crowned Roman Emperor in 800, while the Kingdom of Italy became one of the constituent kingdoms of the Empire. Beginning with Louis the Pious in 818, the Kingdom was ruled directly by the Carolingian Emperor himself.
ImageNameLifeCoronationCeased to be King
Charles I
2 April 748 – 28 January 814June 77428 January 814
Pepin777 – 8 July 8107818 July 810
Bernard797 – 17 April 818c. July 810late 817
Lothair I795 – 29 September 85517 April 81829 September 855
Louis II825 – 12 August 87515 June 84412 August 875
Charles II13 June 823 – 6 October 87725 December 8756 October 877
Carloman13 June 823 – 6 October 87725 December 8756 October 877
Charles III the Fat839 – 13 January 88812 December 884November 887

After 887, Italy fell into instability, with many rulers claiming the kingship simultaneously.