Battle of Pavia (774)
| Siege of Pavia | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Carolingian cavalry. |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Francia | Kingdom of the Lombards | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Charlemagne Bernard, son of Charles Martel |
Desiderius | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 10,000–40,000 | 2,500–10,000 | ||||||||
The Siege or Battle of Pavia was fought in 773–774 in northern Italy, near Ticinum (modern Pavia), and resulted in the victory of the Franks under Charlemagne against the Lombards under king Desiderius.
Charlemagne, rex Francorum, had succeeded to the throne in 768 jointly with his brother Carloman. At the time there was antagonism between not only the two ruling brothers, but between the king of the Lombards, Desiderius, and the papacy. In 772, Pope Hadrian I expelled all the Lombard officials from the papal curia. In response, Desiderius invaded papal territory, even taking Otriculum (modern Otricoli), just a day's march from Rome. Hadrian called Charlemagne for assistance.
Charles had produced an alliance with the Lombards by marrying one of Desiderius' daughters, Desiderata; within a year, however, he had changed his mind about the marriage and alliance, and divorced his wife, sending her back to her father. This was taken as an insult by the Lombards.
Upon the death of Carloman in 771, his own wife, Gerberge fled the kingdom with her children for reasons now unclear (Einhard disingenuously protests that she spurned her husband's brother "for no reason at all") and sought refuge with Desiderius at Pavia. Desiderius now returned the insult to the Franks by giving her asylum, and protesting that her children be allowed their share of the Kingdom of the Franks. The relationship between Frank and Lombard now broke down completely and the pope took full advantage. His embassy landed at Marseilles and travelled to Thionville, where they delivered this message:
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