Kings of Italy is a title worn by the rulers of the kingdoms located on the territory of the modern state. After the collapse of the Roman Empire in northern Italy, the Italian (Lombard) kingdom was formed. For almost 800 years, it was part of the Holy Roman Empire, when the title of Italian king was carried by its emperors.
In 1804, the Kingdom of Italy was created by French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. The last king of Italy, Umberto II, ruled from 1946-09-05 to 1946-12-06
First Roman King
The title of king appears in the early Middle Ages. They were called the rulers of a number of historical kingdoms that arose in 395 after the collapse of the Roman Empire into two parts: Western and Eastern, known as Byzantium, which lasted another thousand years. The Western Roman Empire was attacked by barbarians. The leader of one of these peoples, Odoacer, in 476 overthrew the last RomanEmperor Romulus Augustulus and was proclaimed the first king of Italy.
Byzantine emperor Zeno made him his governor. The entire structure of the Roman Empire was preserved. Odoacer became a Roman patrician. But the power under the control of Byzantium did not suit him, and he supported the commander Ill, who staged a rebellion against Zeno. The latter turned for help to Theodoric, the leader of the Ostrogoths. His army, having crossed the Alps in 489, captured Italy. Theodoric becomes its king.
The Duchy of Friuli is the state of the Lombards
In 534, Byzantium declared war on the Ostrogoths, 18 years later their state ceased to exist, Italy became part of it. After 34 years, the Lombards invaded the Apennine Peninsula. They captured the interior of Italy, forming the state of the Lombards - the Duchy of Friul. It is from this time that the name of the northern region of Italy - Lombardy - comes from. The Byzantines from the territory of the former Western Roman Empire had coastal lands.
Joining Francia
The actual rulers of the Italian lands under the rule of Byzantium were the popes, who feared the strengthening of the Lombards and the capture of Rome. The only ones who could resist these warlike long-bearded Germans were the Franks. The founder of the ruling dynasty of the Carolingian Franks, Pepin the Short, who was crowned by Pope Stephen III and became King of Italy, helped win back the Italian possessions of Byzantium for the papal throne. Roman duchy, Umbria, RavennaExarchate, Pentapolis became the foundation of the Papal State.
The capture of part of the papal territories by the Langobars in 772 forced the Frankish king Charlemagne to go to war with them. In 774 the state of the Langobars ceased to exist. Charlemagne declared himself king of Italy, or rather its northern part. After 5 years, Pope Adrian I officially crowned him.
In 840, the lands of the Franks were seized by unrest, as a result of which Frankia was divided into several states. Italy became part of the Middle Kingdom, whose king was Lothair I. The Franks did not pay much attention to Italy, considering it an insignificant outskirts. The country was governed in the same way as under the Lombars. The control center was in the city of Pavia, which was considered its capital.
The entry of northern Italy into the Holy Roman Empire
Gradually, Italy, which did not have much importance among the Franks, unofficially broke up into several feudal states, the control of which was in the hands of the local elite. In 952, the Italian king Berengar II fell into vassal dependence on the German emperor Otto I. An attempt to free himself from subordination to the Germans led to the fact that in 961 the emperor Otto at the head of the army took Pavia, deposed King Berengar and was crowned with the "Iron Crown of the Longobars." Northern Italy became part of the Holy Roman Empire for many years.
Southern Italy
In the south of Italy, events developed in a different way. Local princes often recruited the Normans. As a result of marriage in 1030year on the sister of the ruler of Naples, Sergius IV, the Norman Reinulf received a gift from the county of Aversa, in which the first Norman state was formed. The Normans, gradually subjugating the territory of the South of Italy, ousting the Arabs, the Byzantines, created a single state. Their power was blessed by the Pope.
By the beginning of the 15th century, the entire territory of Italy was divided into five large states that play a significant role (two republics - Florence and Byzantium, the Duchy of Milan, the Papal State, the Kingdom of Naples), as well as five independent dwarf states: Genoa, Mantua, Lucca, Siena and Ferrara. From the end of the 15th century, the so-called Italian wars took place in Italy, as a result of which some cities and provinces were ruled by the French, Spaniards, and Germans.
Unification of Italy, creation of a kingdom
After the proclamation of Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor of France in 1804, he becomes king of all possessions in Italy and is even crowned with the iron crown of the Langobarrs. The papacy is deprived of secular power. Three states were formed on the territory of Italy: the North-West was part of France, the Kingdom of Italy in the north-east and the Kingdom of Naples.
The struggle for the unification of Italy continued, but only in 1861 did the all-Italian parliament, which met in Turin, publish a document on the creation of the kingdom. It was headed by Victor Emmanuel, the king of Italy, previously the former king of Turin. As a result of the unification of Italy, Lazio and Venice were annexed. FormationThe Italian State continued.
But the time of monarchies is over. Revolutionary trends also touched Italy. The First World War and the crisis of the 1930s led to the rule of the Nationalists under the leadership of Mussolini. King Victor Emmanuel III stained himself with shameful non-interference in the internal affairs of the country, which led to the creation of a fascist regime. This completely turned the people away from royal rule. His son Umberto II ruled the country for 1 month and 3 days. In 1946, a republican system was established by popular vote in the country.
