The Battle (or Siege) of Pavia, which took place between September 773 and June 774, was a nine-month saga that ended with the northern Italian city, 35km (22 miles) south of Milan, being taken by the Frankish army of Charlemagne. Fought near the ancient city of Ticinum (modern Pavia), it saw the defeat of Desiderius, the Lombard king whose people were the dominant force in that part of the peninsula. The Franks, though, had held the title patricius Romanus (‘Patrician of the Romans’) since 754 and the time of Charlemagne’s father Pepin. This meant they would protect the Catholic Church from spiritual and temporal threats – and therein lay the genesis of conflict.
Having succeeded to the Frankish throne in 768, albeit jointly with his sibling Carloman (see the preceding article), Charlemagne was soon plotting how to bring the Lombards to heel. There was friction between the two ruling brothers – but also with Desiderius. The Lombard king was at odds with the papacy, which had helped him ascend the throne, but only in return for false promises – a combination of force and fraud then kept him in power for 18 years (756-774). The day of reckoning was coming, though. In 772, the Pope, Adrian I, expelled Lombard officials from the Roman Curia, the central administrative offices of the Catholic church. This elicited a furious response from Desiderius, who invaded papal lands, capturing the ancient town of Otriculum (today’s Otricoli), just 70km (40 miles) north of Rome itself. Adrian appealed for help to Charlemagne, who quite frankly (excuse the pun) must have been rubbing his Frankish hands with glee.
Earlier, Charlemagne had actually contrived an alliance with the Lombards by marrying (in c.770) a daughter of Desiderius, named Desiderata. Their union saw Desiderius retain control of the southern duchies; within 12 months, however, Charlemagne had thought better about both the marriage and the alliance, divorcing the lady and sending her packing back to her father. Needless to say, this was regarded as something of a diplomatic incident by the Lombards, and Desiderius was intent on revenge for the personal slight. The situation became murkier still when Charlemagne’s brother Carloman died in 771, and his widow Gerberge upped sticks with her kids and sought refuge with Desiderius in Pavia. Why she did this we do not know – but the logical conclusion has to be that she did not feel safe under Charles’s protection.
