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, [Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor|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 (1720–1861)|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 (interregnum)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.

[Unruochings] (887–896)

ImageNameLifeCoronationCeased to be King
Berengar Ic. 845 – 7 April 924c. 888c. 896

Berengar was deposed by the King of East Francia, Arnulf of Carinthia, in the mid-890s.

[Widonids] (claimants) (887–898)

ImageNameLifeCoronationCeased to be King
Guyc. 845 – 12 December 894February 88912 December 894
Lambertc. 880 – 15 October 89830 April 892896

[Carolingian Dynasty] (restored) (894–896)

ImageNameLifeCoronationCeased to be King
Arnulfc. 850 – 8 December 899894 896
Ratoldfl. 896c. 896896

In 896, Arnulf and Ratold lost control of Italy, which was divided between Lambert of Italy and Berengar I of Italy.

[Widonids] (restored) (896–898)

ImageNameLifeCoronationCeased to be King
Lambertc. 880 – 15 October 89830 April 89215 October 898

After Lambert's death, Berengar I took his territory and reunified Italy.

[Unruochings] (restored) (896–924)

ImageNameLifeCoronationCeased to be King
Berengar Ic. 845 – 7 April 924c. 8887 April 924

Bivinids">Bosonids">Bivinids (Carolingian by adoption) (901–905)

In 900, Louis III, a grandson of Louis II of Italy, was invited into Italy as their king by nobles in opposition to Berengar I.
ImageNameLifeCoronationCeased to be King
Louis IIIc. 880 – 5 June 928February 901before 21 April 905

[Elder House of Welf] (922–926)

ImageNameLifeCoronationCeased to be King
Rudolphc. 885 – 13 July 937922926

[Bosonids] (926–950)

ImageNameLifeCoronationCeased to be King
Hughc. 880 – 10 April 948926947
Lothair IIc. 927 – 22 November 95094722 November 950

[Anscarids] (950–961)

ImageNameLifeCoronationCeased to be King
Berengar IIc. 900 – 4 August 966November 950c. 25 December 961
Adalbertc. 934-c. 973November 950c. 25 December 961

In 951 Otto I invaded Italy and was crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy. In 952, Berengar and Adalbert became his vassals but remained kings until being deposed by Otto.

Holy Roman Empire (962–1556)

Otto is considered to be the founding emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and the Kingdom of Italy was considered one of the constituent realms of the Empire. Beginning in the 12th century, states such as the Republic of Venice and the Papal States captured more and more territory from the Kingdom of Italy, and the Empire's territory on the Peninsula shrunk over time. After Charles V, the emperors stopped being crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy and the Italian title fell into disuse. Imperial control in Italy receded to Trent and South Tyrol until the dissolution of the Empire in 1806. Southern Italy had never been part of the Holy Roman Empire; it remained initially under the control of various Byzantine fiefs until the Norman Kingdom of Sicily took control of the area in the 11th century. Central Italy, along the Rome-Ravenna axis, was part of the Papal States, under the direct personal rule of the pope. The Duke of Savoy was de jure a vassal of the Holy Roman Emperor, with the Duke being Prince and Perpetual Vicar of the Holy Roman Empire.

[House of Wittelsbach] (1327–1347)

[House of Habsburg] (1437–1801)

Charles V was the last emperor to be crowned king of Italy. The Habsburg emperors claimed the Italian crown until 1801. The empire continued to include Italian territories until its dissolution in 1806.

Kingdom of Italy as a client state of France">Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)">Kingdom of Italy as a client state of France, [House of Bonaparte] (1805–1814)

In 1805, Napoleon established a client state in northern Italy, named the Kingdom of Italy. He established himself as King of Italy, in personal union with his role as Emperor of the French. This client state did not survive the end of the Napoleonic era; in its place, the Congress of Vienna established a number of independent duchies and kingdoms in the region.
ImageCoat of ArmsNameLifeCoronationCeased to be King
Napoleon I15 August 1769 – 5 May 182117 March 180511 April 1814

Full title

This title is present in Italian laws proclaimed by Napoleon I:
, by the Grace of God and the Constitutions, Emperor of the French and King of Italy.

[Kingdom of Italy], [House of Savoy] (1861–1946)

During and after the Revolutions of 1848, sentiment on the peninsula grew for the establishment of a unified Italian kingdom. Southern Italy had not been united with northern Italy since the early medieval period, being mostly under the rule of the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Northern Italy, in the early 19th century, came under the domination of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which besides its namesake island, also ruled the expansive Piedmont and Savoy regions along the French-Italian borderlands. The formerly republican leader in southern Italy, Giuseppe Garibaldi, made common cause with the House of Savoy to overthrow the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and the people voted in a plebiscite to join Sardinia to form the Kingdom of Italy in 1861; the Papal States and the city of Rome were annexed to the Kingdom in 1870, completing the Unification of Italy. This kingdom lasted until the aftermath of World War II, when the 1946 Italian institutional referendum ended the monarchy.
ImageCoat of ArmsNameLifeBecame KingCeased to be King
Victor Emmanuel II14 March 1820 – 9 January 187817 March 18619 January 1878
Umberto I14 March 1844 – 29 July 19009 January 187829 July 1900
Victor Emmanuel III11 November 1869 – 28 December 194729 July 19009 May 1946
Umberto II15 September 1904 – 18 March 19839 May 194612 June 1946

Full title

Up until the dissolution of the monarchy in 1946, the full titles of the Kings of the Kingdom of Italy were: