Hildeprand in Ravenna — Paul the Deacon

In the 730s or early 740s, Hildeprand, nephew of king Liutprand, and Peredeo, duke of Vicenza, managed to take Ravenna, the capital of the Exarchate of Ravenna.

Eutychius, the Byzantine exarch, sought refuge in Venetia — which would be in either Heraclea or Grado, the main cities at the time — where he asked for help.

The Venetians, with a fleet, accompanied him back to Ravenna, which they retook in a surprise attack, and captured Hildeprand alive, and killed Peredeo.

The event is variously placed in 732, or in 743, or sometimes in-between. Our main sources aren’t clear. Paul the Deacon didn’t provide any date, and John the Deacon placed it in 740–741, which is unlikely.

Hildeprand was associated to the Lombard throne as co-ruler of Liutprand in 737. Had these events happened after that, it is unlikely the chronicles would have treated the capture and ransom of a co-ruler of the Lombards so lightly.

The Liber Pontificalis doesn’t mention the event, neither for the pontiffs Gregory II (715–731), Gregory III (731–741), nor for Zachary (741–752).

Gregory II or Gregory III — which of them is uncertain — sent a letter to Antoninus, patriarch of Grado, urging him to entreat the Venetians to help the exarch. This letter was reproduced by John the Deacon.

The much later Venetian Chronica per extensum descripta, written in the 1340s by doge Andrea Dandolo, copied another letter, possibly fake, from the same pope to the Venetian doge Ursus (726–737).

The Liber pontificalis ecclesiae Ravennatis for archbishop John VI (726-744) mentioned an exile in Venice, following a Lombard attack on Ravenna and Classe, but no intervention of the Venetians and the recall of him appeared entirely unrelated to any conflict. The entry for archbishop Sergius (744-769) has only the opaque reference that “This city was harassed by the Lombards and Venetians,” without any further details.

Source: Historia Langobardorum (780s–790s) by Paul the Deacon, here in the translation by William Dudley Foulke from 1906.

Available translations from the Historia Langobardorum:

• The Justinian plague — II.4, IV.4 and IV.14.
• The invasion of Venetia — II.5–12 and II.14.
• The conquest of Venetia — IV.20, IV.23, IV.25, IV.28, IV.38, IV.45 and V.28
• Alboin and Rosamund — I.29, II.28 and II.29.
• Iconoclasm — VI.49.
• Hildeprand in Ravenna — VI.54.

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Chapter VI.54 (excerpt)

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Again when Hildeprand¹ the nephew of the king² and Peredeo³ the duke of Vincentia (Vicenza) got possession of Ravenna, the Venetians suddenly attacked them. Hildeprand was taken by them and Peredeo fell fighting manfully.

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Click to reveal the Latin text

Rursus cum Ravennam Hildeprandus, regis nepos, et Peredeo Vicentinus dux optinerent, inruentibus subito Veneticis, Hildeprandus ab eis captus est, Peredeo viriliter pugnans occubuit.

Notes

1. Hildeprand (†744) was the king of the Lombards with Luitprand from 737, but was deposed by Ratchis immediately after the death of Luitprand in 744. ↩︎
2. Liutprand (c.680–744) was king of the Lombards from 712 to 744. During his reign, he fought wars with Byzantine over Ravenna, and donated lands at Sutri to the Pope, leading to the creation of the Papal State. ↩︎
3. Peredeo was a Lombard duke of Vicenza, who was killed by the Venetians in Ravenna, which the Lombards had shortly taken, sometimes between 726 and 741. ↩︎

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