Civil affairs Spoleto, the Roman Spoletium, surrendered in the
Gothic war (537) to the Byzantine general, Constantine; but in 546 it was recovered by
Totila, and it was not retaken by the Byzantines until 552, when
Narses restored the fortifications. In 572 Spoleto became the seat of a Lombard duke,
Faroald. Under
Hildebrand, the
Duchy of Spoleto was promised to the
Holy See by the
King of the Franks, and the duke himself was named by
Pope Adrian (773), but the succeeding dukes were named by the Frankish emperors.
Winigisus aided
Pope Leo III against his enemies. Duke Lambert distinguished himself in the wars against the
Saracens, but disgraced himself by
massacres at Rome in 867; he was afterwards deposed (871), then restored (876), but was a second time excommunicated by
Pope John VIII. In 883
Guido II of Spoleto united under his sway the entire dukedom, which from this time was called the Duchy of Spoleto and Camerino. After the death of
Charles the Fat (888), Guido had himself crowned Roman Emperor and King of Italy under
Pope Stephen V (891);
Pope Formosus in 892 also crowned his son Lambert II, who succeeded his father in the dukedom, kingdom, and empire.
Alberico I, Duke of Camerino (897), and afterwards of Spoleto, married the notorious
Marozia; he was killed by the Romans in 924. His son
Alberico II made himself also master of Rome and remained there until the election to the papacy of his son
John XII. During the conflict between the papacy and the
Emperor Henry IV, the latter named other dukes of Spoleto. After this the dukedom was in the family of the Werners (Guarnieri) of Urslingen, Margraves of Ancona. On 28 July 1155, the city of Spoleto was completely destroyed by the Emperor
Frederick Barbarossa. In August 1433, the
Emperor Sigismund paid a visit to Spoleto, following his coronation in Rome by
Pope Eugenius IV on 31 May 1433.
Papal affairs The popes maintained at Spoleto a governor, who was often a cardinal. As early as the thirteenth century, and more frequently in the fourteenth, Spoleto was involved in wars with
Perugia,
Terni, and other cities; in 1324 it was almost destroyed by the Perugians. In 1319 the struggle between the
Guelphs and
Ghibellines tore the city.
Cardinal Albornoz favoured the city for the services which it rendered in the restoration of the papal power, and made it independent of Perugia. At the beginning of the
Western Schism,
Pietro di Prato succeeded in occupying Spoleto for the
antipope Clement VII, but was expelled by
Pope Boniface IX. King
Ladislaus of Naples, in 1414 endeavoured in vain to make himself master of the city.
Pope Eugenius IV named as governor the Abbot of Monte Cassino,
Piero Tomacelli, who was tyrannical to such an extent that the people besieged him in his castle, and in 1438 summoned the bands of Piccinino to free them. In 1480
Cardinal Vitelleschi ended the tyranny of Piero and of the
Trinci of
Foligno. On 15 January 1820, Spoleto became a metropolitan see, thanks to a bull of
Pope Pius VII entitled
Pervetustam Episcopalium, and the ancient
Diocese of Norcia was revived, with its territory taken from that of Spoleto.
Bishops Spoleto venerates as its apostle
St. Brictius, who is also venerated in other cities of Umbria and Tuscany. The legend of his life is full of anachronisms. Another martyred bishop was
St. Saturnius (270). At the time of
Bishop Petrus (573) Spoleto was under
Arian rule. It is told that an Arian bishop in Spoleto wished to enter the Church of San Pietro, then the cathedral, by force, but was stricken with blindness. Bishop
Alfonso Visconti (1601) began the construction of the diocesan seminary. After the death of
Cardinal Locatelli on 13 February 1811, King Napoleon of Italy on 14 April 1813 nominated Canon and Archpriest
Antonio de Longo of Florence to be Bishop of Spoleto; the Canons of Spoleto were unwilling to obey the imperial-royal command, and were therefore nearly all exiled.
Pope Pius VII was in no position to intervene, since he himself was a prisoner of the Emperor Napoleon at Fontainebleau.
Chapter and cathedral Bishop Adalbert (1015) laid the foundations of the new cathedral, dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Saint Primianus. He also moved the episcopal residence within the city to the monastery of S. Eufemia. Having destroyed the city in 1155, in 1185
Frederick Barbarossa presented to the cathedral the so-called Madonna of St. Luke, a Byzantine work with inscriptions of a dialogue between Mary and Jesus. In 1417, on the death of Bishop Jacopo, who was a partisan of
Pope John XXIII, the clergy wished to proceed to the election of a new bishop, but the people prevented them, proclaiming as bishop
Nicolò Vivari, the nominee of
Pope Gregory XII. Again in 1433 the clergy wished to revive their right of electing a bishop, but the intervention of
Pope Eugenius IV prevented them. In 1691 the cathedral Chapter was composed of two dignities (the Archdeacon and the Prior) and twelve Canons.
Synods In 1468, Cardinal Berardo Eroli (Bishop of Spoleto, 1448–1474) held a diocesan synod, attended by approximately 230 priests. Bishop Pietro Orsini (1581–1591) held a diocesan synod in Spoleto in 1583, and had the decisions published. A diocesan synod was held by Archbishop Giovanni de' Conti Sabbioni (1838–1852) on 10–12 May 1842. ==Bishops of Spoleto==