Upon the deposition of the
Carolingian king
Charles the Fat by his nephew
Arnulf of Carinthia in 887, the power in Italy was assumed by the
Unruoching margrave
Berengar of Friuli, who received the
Iron Crown of the Lombards from the hands of Archbishop
Anselm II of
Milan. Arnulf, King of
East Francia marched against Italy to gain the Lombard crown for himself and Berengar chose to pay homage to him, which led to discord with the Italian nobility. They supported the ambitious Duke
Guy III of Spoleto, who had just failed to succeed Charles in
West Francia. Now, with the support of Archbishop Anselm and
Pope Stephen V, Guy prevailed against Berengar and had himself crowned King of Italy at
Pavia in 889. Guy had created the March of Ivrea for his vassal
Anscar in 888. Anscar and his relatives had been some of Guy's supporters in his failed quest for the French throne. The initial Eporedian march consisted of Piedmont and most of the
Ligurian coast with the counties of
Acqui,
Alba,
Asti, ,
Auriate,
Turin,
Ivrea,
Vercelli,
Pombia,
Stazzona,
Bulgaria,
Lomello,
Savona, and
Ventimiglia. Anscar remained a loyal supporter of Guy and his son
Lambert, even when King Arnulf, called by
Pope Formosus. again invaded Italy in 894. When Lambert was deposed in 896 however, Anscar turned to his rival Berengar of Friuli, who managed to secure his rule in Italy after Arnulf's death in 899. In 902 Anscar bequeathed the lands of Ivrea to his son
Adalbert I, who had married Berengar's daughter Gisela. Adalbert however was on bad terms with his father-in-law: together with Margrave
Adalbert II of Tuscany he backed Berengar's
Bosonid rival
Louis the Blind, King of
Lower Burgundy (
Provence). Louis was defeated and Adalbert had to flee from his margraviate to neighbouring Provence. Nevertheless he returned with his new ally King
Rudolph II, King of
Upper Burgundy, They finally defeated Berengar at the
Battle of Firenzuola (923). Even after Rudolph had to cede Italy to
Hugh of Provence in 926, the Anscarid fortunes rose in the middle of the century and some margraves became kings of Italy. But in the early eleventh century the margraviate fell vacant and the
Emperor Conrad II did not appoint a new margrave. ==List of Margraves of Ivrea==