Arduin Glaber

Arduin Glaber ( _it. Arduino Glabrio"," Glabrione", or" il Glabro, meaning "the Bald"; died c. 977) was the Count of Auriate from c. 935 and Margrave of Turin from c. 950. He placed his family, the Arduinici, on a firm foundation and established the march of Turin through conquests and royal concessions. The "Chronicon Novaliciense", the chronicle of the abbey of Novalesa, is the primary source for his life.M. G. Bertolini, "Arduino", "Dizionario biografico degli Italiani", VI (Rome: Società Grafica Romana, 1964), 49–52.]

Arduin was the eldest son of Roger, Count of Auriate, a Frankish nobleman who immigrated to Italy in the early tenth century. Auriate comprised the region bounded by the Alps, the Po River, and the Stura, today the regions of the Saluzzese and Cuneese. Arduin succeeded his father sometime around 935.

Count Arduin ("Ardoino comes") is first documented on 13 April 945, when he sat in judgement at a "" of count Lanfranc at Pavia in the presence of King Lothair II. It was probably earlier, between 940 and 942, that he had acquired Turin and the Susa Valley, bring Novalesa back under Christian control. In 941 King Hugh exiled Berengar of Ivrea and abolished the March of Ivrea. Since Berengar's family, the Anscarids, had thitherto held Turin, it is probably that Hugh bestowed it on Arduin at this time. By the spring of 942 Berengar had arrived at the court of Otto I of Germany.

Berengar returned on Hugh's death, he dominated the younger Lothair II and his mother Adelaide. He appears as "summus consiliarius" (highest counsellor) in March–April 945 and "consors regni" (royal consort) in June 948. Arduin moved closer to Berengar during this period and probably benefited from Berengar's coronation on 15 December 950. On 13 November 950 he was given the administration of the abbey of Novalesa, legally by Lothair, but probably through Berengar. At that time Turin was Arduin's principal residence. Though he is not recorded with the title of "marchio" (margrave) until 20 June 967, it was probably during the reorganisation of the marches on Berengar's succession that he received the title and the "marca Arduinica". The march consisted of the counties of Auriate, Turin, Asti, Albenga, and probably Bredula, Alba, and Ventimiglia.

The early twelfth-century "Vita Mathildis", biography of Matilda of Canossa, by Domnizo places Arduin at the siege of Canossa by Berengar in 951, after Adelaide, the former queen mother, had sought the protection of Adalbert Atto of Canossa. This story is probably false, since Arduin was cultivating a marital alliance with Adalbert Atto, whose daughter Prangarda eventually married his son and successor, Manfred I.

From an early date Arduin was certainly occupied with the Saracens who had occupied the Susa Valley and established a base at Fraxinetum in neighbouring Provence. He may have expelled them from the valley in 940–41. To this he probably added Albenga, Alba, and Ventimiglia by conquest. He definitely took part in the wars of William I and Rotbold II of Provence against the Saracens of Fraxinetum. According to Liutprand of Cremona in his "Antapodosis", in 972 or 973 Arduin and Rotbold led the successful assault on Fraxinetum itself. [Hanna E. Kassis, "Muslim Revival in Spain in the Fifth/Eleventh Century: Causes and Ramifications", "Islam", 67 (1990), 79 n4. Manfred W. Wenner, "The Arab/Muslim Presence in Medieval Central Europe", "International Journal of Middle East Studies", 12:1 (1980), 62, conflates Arduin of Turin with Arduin of Ivrea and places the capture of Fraxinetum in 975 (possibly 983), crediting it to William and Arduin, as opposed to Arduin and Rotbold.] William meanwhile attacked the abductors of Abbot Maieul of Cluny. [Kees Versteegh, "The Arab Presence in France and Switzerland in the 10th Century", "Arabica", 37:3 (1990), 374 n57.] According to a later comital document of 1041, he took the cities of Tenda, Briga, and Saorgio from them and granted them concessions. Arduin was last recorded alive on 4 April 976. Despite the fact that he repatriated their land from the Saracens, the monks of Novalesa—who had fled Saracen incursions in 906 and were still in Turin as late as 929—accused him of disrespecting their rights: "Ardoinus vir potens ... nobis tulit [vallem Segusinam] tantum ... erat plenus viciis ... superbia tumidus ... in adquirendis rebus alienis avaricie faucibus succensus".

Arduin married a woman named "Vmille" in the "Necrologio Sanctæ Andreæ Taurinensis", probably Emilia or Immula. They had two daughters: Alsinda, who married Giselbert II of Bergamo, and Richilda, who married Conrad of Ivrea. Arduin was succeeded by his eldest son Manfred. He had two younger sons named Arduin and Otto.

External links

* [http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/NORTHERN%20ITALY%20900-1100.htm#_Toc145061968 Foundation for Medieval Genealogy: Northern Italy, 900–1100.]

References