Liutprand (Liudprand, Luitprand) (c. 922-972), the Lombard historian and author, bishop of Cremona, was born towards the beginning of the 10th century, of a good family. Events Births Deaths March 26 - Al-Hallaj, Sufi writer and teacher Categories: 922 ... Events Otto II marries Theophanu, Byzantine princess. ... The Lombards (Latin Langobardi, from which the alternative name Longobards found in older English texts), were a Germanic people originally from Scandinavia that entered the late Roman Empire. ... A historian is a person who studies history. ... A bishop is an ordained member of the Christian clergy who, in certain Christian churches, holds a position of authority. ... Cremona, cathedral Cremona (45°08′ N 10°01′ E) is a city in Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left shore of Po river in the middle of Pianura padana (Po valley). ... As a means of recording the passage of time, the 10th century was that century which lasted from 901 to 1000. ...

In 931 he entered service as page to Hugh of Arles, who kept court at Pavia as King of Italy and who married the notorious and powerful Marozia of Rome; he was educated at the court and became a cleric at the Cathedral of Pavia. After Hugh died in 947, leaving his son and co-king Lothair on the throne as King of Italy, Liutprand became confidential secretary to the actual ruler of Italy, Berengar II, marchese d'Ivrea, for whom he became chancellor and by whom he was sent on an embassy (949) to the Byzantine court of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus. Since both Liutprand's father and his stepfather had been sent as ambassadors to Constantinople, and as Liutprand fitted himself by learning Greek (not widely known in the 10th-century West) he seemed well suited for a mission of that kind, but it proved a fruitless and humiliating four months' experience, for which Liutprand revenged himself in his account, Antapodosis ("retribution"). Events Ramiro II of Leon becomes king of León Eric Bloodaxe becomes second king of Norway Births Deaths Emperor Uda of Japan Harald I of Norway Categories: 931 ... Hugh of Arles was born sometime before 887, the son of Theobald of Arles and of Bertha, illegitimate daughter of Lothar II of Lotharingia. ... Church San Michele in Pavia Pavia (the ancient Ticinum) (population 71,000) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. ... Marozia also known as Mariuccia, given the unprecedented titles senatrix (senatoress) and patricia of Rome by Pope John X, was born about 890, and died, imprisoned by her son Alberic II, duke of Spoleto, between 932 and 937. ... King of Italy is a title adopted by many rulers after the fall of the Roman Empire. ... Chancellor (Latin: cancellarius), an official title used by most of the peoples whose civilization has arisen directly or indirectly out of the Roman empire. ... Events Belgian astronomer Jean Meeus asserts that the orbits of all nine planets were within the same 90% arc of the solar system on 1 February 949. ... The Byzantine Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Greek-speaking Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centred at its capital in Constantinople. ... Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos (the Purple-born) (905 – November 9, 959) was the son of Byzantine emperor Leo VI and nephew of Alexander III. He earned his nickname as the legitimate (or more accurately legitimized) son of Leo, as opposed to the others who claimed the throne during his lifetime. ...

On his return, however, he fell from favor at Pavia and attached himself to Berengar's rival, the emperor Otto I who became King of Italy upon the death of Lothair in 950, and with whom he returned to Italy in 961 and was invested as bishop of Cremona the following year. Liutprand was often entrusted with important diplomacy for Berenger: in 963 he was sent to Pope John XII at the beginning of the quarrel between the pope and the emperor, when the papacy was allied with Berenger's son Adelbert. Liutprand attended the Roman conclave of bishops that deposed John XII, November 6, 963 and wrote the only connected narrative of the events. Otto I at his victory over Berengar of Friuli Grave of Otto I in Magdeburg Otto I the Great (November 23, 912 - May 7, 973), son of Henry I the Fowler, king of the Germans, and Matilda of Ringelheim, was Duke of Saxony, King of the Germans and arguably the... John XII (born in Rome circa 937, died May 14, 964), was Pope from 955 to 963, was the son of Alberic II, whom he succeeded as patrician of Rome in 954, being then only eighteen years of age. ... November 6 is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 55 days remaining. ... Events Holy Roman Emperor Otto I defeats Mieszko I of Poland, compels him to pay tribute Luxembourg is founded, and the Belgium area becomes part of the United Provinces of the Netherlands. ...

He was frequently employed in missions to the pope, and in 968 he was sent again to Constantinople, this time to demand for the younger Otto (afterwards Otto II) the hand of Theophano, daughter of the emperor Romanus II. Peace with the Eastern Emperor, who still claimed Benevento and Capua, for long actually in Lombard hands, and whose forces had come to strife with Otto in Bari recently, was Liutprand's recommended course of action, and his humiliating and disastrous reception at Constantinople was doubly rankling. (For exerpts of his bitter Relatio see link below.) The pope is the Catholic Bishop and patriarch of Rome, and leader of the Catholic Church. ... Events Births Emperor Kazan of Japan Ethelred II of England Romanus Argyrus, later Romanus III of the Eastern Roman Empire. ... Map of Constantinople. ... Otto II ( 955 – December 7, 983, Rome), was the third German ruler of the Saxon or Ottonian dynasty. ... Romanus II (939 - 963) succeeded his father Constantine VII as Byzantine emperor in 959 at the age of twenty-one, and died, poisoned, it was believed, by his wife, Theophanu in 963. ...

His account of this embassy in the Relatio de Legatione Constantinopolitana is perhaps the most graphic and lively piece of writing which has come down to us from the 10th century. The detailed description of Constantinople and the Byzantine court is a document of rare value, though highly coloured by his ill reception and offended dignity. The Catholic Encyclopedia asserted "Liutprand's writings are a very important historical source for the tenth century; he is ever a strong partisan and is frequently unfair towards his adversaries." Map of Constantinople. ...

Whether he returned in 971 with the embassy to bring Theophanu or not is uncertain. Liutprand must have died in 972, for his successor as bishop of Cremona was installed in 973.

He wrote:

• Antapodosis, seu rerum per Europam gestarum, Libri VI, a historical narrative, relating to events, largely in Italy, from 887 to 949, "compiled with the object of avenging himself upon Berengar and Willa his queen" according to the Encyclopædia Britannica 1911;
• Historia Ottonis, a praise of his patron Otto, unfortunately covering only the years from 960 to 964, written as a partisan of the emperor and
• Relatio de legatione Constantinopolitana ad Nicephorum Phocam covering the years 968 and 969.

Events Emperor Uda ascends to the throne of Japan Births Deaths September 18 - Pietro I Candiano, Doge of Venice (killed in battle) Emperor Koko of Japan Categories: 887 ... Events Belgian astronomer Jean Meeus asserts that the orbits of all nine planets were within the same 90% arc of the solar system on 1 February 949. ...

External links

• Catholic Encyclopedia: Liutprand of Cremona
• Zdravko Batzarov, Encyclopædia Orbis latini: Liutprand of Cremona
• Liutprand, Relatio: excerpts (in English)

Reference: writings in English

• F.A. Wright, translator, The Works of Liudprand of Cremona London and New York 1930.
• J.J. Norwich, editor, Liutprand of Cremona, The Embassy to Constantinople and Other Writings Everyman Library, London: Dent, 1993 (reprint, with new introduction, of the 1930 Wright translation).
• Brian Scott, editor and translator, Liudprand of Cremona, Relatio de Legatione Constantinopolitan, Bristol Classical Press, 1993.