Who was Gandulfus?

[Glebe]

Attached is a Frankish(?) weight (208 gm) in the Bologna museum with the legend +GANDULFUS.

So who was Gandulfus?

Ross G.

[Bonshaw]

I don't know if it is related, but there was a Saint Gangulphus, of Burgundy, known for honesty and sanctity (and for being a cuckold). Perhaps the honesty would make him relevant for a weight?

Image source: Wikipedia.

His feast day is May 11 in the Catholic tradition, which is the day he was killed by his wife's jealous lover.

 

 

[Glebe]

Interesting - there are saints on coins, but I don't know about weights.

I'm guessing Gandulfus is some early medieval ruler - there are similar weights labelled CAROLI PONDVS, possibly meaning Charlemagne.

Ross G.

Edited March 10 by Glebe

[JeandAcre]

Bouncing directly off of @Bonshaw's observations, here's what I found, from no less illustrious a source (snorting ensues) than Wikipedia.  Yes, @Glebe, from this, anyway, all of your instincts (shared, from here) are spot on.  Italian count, c. early 10th century ...well, then there's the article.

(Edit: for the second time in a raggedy-snap-frick-wizzle row, the first link was utterly irrelevant.  One Last Time:)

(Edit: Irrelevant link; deleted.)

Well, Fine, so my aging desktop is havig a MAJOR electro-neural episode.  So watch this.  I'll just curse the gods and Paste the (polysyllabic expletive of choice).

 

Gandolfo ( 9th century – 10th century ) was an Italian politician , count of Piacenza in the first half of the 10th century .

Index

• Biography
• Bibliography
• Related items
• External links

Biographyedit

He was the son of Gamenulf, a steward of Frankish origin active in the comitatus of Piacenza in the second half of the 9th century . The latter, perhaps a relative of the homonymous bishop of Modena , was active in a purely local context and even the relationships he created were limited to his own social nucleus: the name of his son, in particular, is the same as that of another steward stationed in Reggio Emily .

Gandolph, on the other hand, had a much more prestigious position and this can be understood from his first attestation, on 2 June 907 : on that day he signed a concession from the abbot of Nonantola to Lamberto in Pavia , capital of the Regnum Italicum , vassal of the Marquis of Ivrea Adalberto . The document is very interesting because it is dated according to the years of Berengar 's reign and therefore demonstrates how Adalbert, once faithful to Louis III of Provence , had made peace with the sovereign. Furthermore, the fact that Gandolfo was in the capital and his proximity to Adalbert's circles demonstrate how the entire city of Piacenza had definitively gone over to the side of the king, who in 905 had installed his own brother-in-law there as count. Wilfred II .

In 918 Gandolfo reappears with the title of imperial vassal, another demonstration of his loyalty to Berengar.

His career underwent a strong acceleration under Hugh of Provence , who ascended the throne in 926 . In the summer of 929 Raginerio , count of Piacenza, called to respond to accusations of usurpation of assets of the abbey of Bobbio , attempted to escape but injured himself by falling from his horse. Certainly following this episode, Gandolfo was called to succeed him; he appears to have held this position since July 930 .

In fact, after the assassination of Berengar ( 927 ) and fomented by the judges Walpert and Gezone-Everard ( 927 ), Hugh preferred to replace the most powerful personalities with others of lower rank but loyal to the sovereign. This explains the appointment of Gandolfo, but also those of Milone in Verona and Maginfredo in Parma .

Gandolfo's rise was also favored in the following years, given that in April 931 he boasted the title of marquis . After this attestation, however, his name completely disappears from the sources.

After a period of vacation, in 962 Otto I appointed Riprando, who had married a relative, as his successor. From the latter descended the Gandolfingi-da Palazzo who, having taken root in Verona, were protagonists of the municipal history of that city.

As regards his land possessions, Gandolfo divided his father's inheritances with his brother Gamenulfo (attested in 892 ), receiving those located in the Oltrepò Pavese , in Ziano Piacentino and Rossago . He then took care to expand them, not without damaging the ancient owners including the abbey of Bobbio, to which he however returned what was stolen before the trial against Count Raginerio took place. His assets then passed to his son Bosone, who used them to extend his dominion in the western area of the county, from the Po to the Apennines , making his base in the castle of Nibbiano ; at the end of the 1020s the properties largely came to the Obertenghi thanks to a marriage policy that had related them to his descendants.

Bibliographyedit

• François Bougard, GANDOLFO , in Biographical Dictionary of Italians , vol. 52, Rome, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 1999. URL consulted on 26 September 2014 . 

Related itemsedit

• County of Piacenza

External linksedit

• Gandolfo, 10th Count of Piacenza on the Treccani Encyclopedia , on treccani.it .

 Biographies Portal

 Politics Portal

 History Portal

 

Last edited 6 months ago by Botcrux

RELATED PAGES

(further expletives) There, Already.

Edited March 10 by JeandAcre

[Glebe]

Yes, this guy looks like a good candidate.

If so, this would put the Gandufus weight a century after Charlemagne's (possible) weights.

Ross G.

[JeandAcre]

As an aside, I think it's fun that the residual Lombard polities still have such resonantly Germanic regnal names as late as this.  --In Italy, no less!  Talk about a cultural thumbing-your-nose....