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Lambert I
Duca di Spoleto
(845/50–80)

Other names: Lambert II

Biographical

Duca di Spoleto 860–71 dep; 876–80†
Duca di Camerino
Principe di Capua 866

As Lambert aimed to secure his dynasty’s authority across central and southern Italy by pursuing his father's goals through significantly different, aggressive methods, notably clashing with Emperor Louis II and twice holding the Pope captive. His early efforts included an unsuccessful alliance with Gerard, Count of the Marsi, and others to stop the Arab leader Sawdan from returning to Bari with plunder from raids on Capua and the Terra di Lavoro. In 860, Lambert and Hildebert of Camerino rebelled against Louis II, were defeated, and subsequently fled to Benevento for refuge under Prince Adelchi. Following the Emperor's campaign, Lambert returned to Spoleto and maintained outward loyalty for several years, during which time he expanded his territory by capturing Capua in 866. After Pope Nicholas I died in 867, Lambert entered Rome and permitted its pillaging, potentially with the Emperor's unspoken approval. His fortunes changed following Louis II’s conquest of Bari in 871, which provoked Lambert and other southern rulers to rebel, resulting in the Emperor's month-long capture. Louis II retaliated by outlawing Lambert, confiscating Spoleto for Suppone III, and forcing Lambert into a second exile in Benevento. After Louis II’s death in 875, Lambert reconciled with Charles II the Bald, successfully regaining Spoleto in 876. He and his brother, Guido, were subsequently charged with assisting Pope John VIII in organising a league against the Saracens in Campania, though their actual involvement is unclear. Spoleto was formally placed under papal sovereignty at the 876 synod in Ponthion, and Charles II restored Lambert, governing western Spoleto as defensor patrimonii Petri. He was adopted by Pope John VIII, but he still acted independently, and even ignored the Pope's repeated pleas for military help against the Saracens. Following Charles the Bald’s death in 877, Lambert defied papal authority again by backing Carloman of Bavaria’s bid for the imperial crown. This defiance culminated in 878 when he and Adalbert of Tuscany entered Rome, besieging the Leonine City for thirty days to force the Pope’s compliance, an act that led to his excommunication and accusations of aiming for the imperial crown. Lambert’s repeated aggression against both imperial and papal powers strongly suggests his ultimate ambition was to claim either the Italian or the imperial crown. After returning from France, the Pope sought alternative imperial candidates: Boso of Provence, and later Charles the Fat following the deaths of Louis the Stammerer and Carloman. Lambert died in 880, possibly during an attempt to recapture Capua, and the duchy was inherited by his son, Guido III, who continued his confrontational policies. Years after his death, Fulk of Reims advised Lambert's nephew, Emperor Lambert, against following his uncle’s dangerous precedent, urging him instead to rely on papal intercession.

Son of Guido I and Itta N, he had issue.