Willa of Spoleto explained

Type:	monarch
Willa of Spoleto
Succession:	Margravine of Tuscany
Predecessor:	Willa of Burgundy
Succession1:	Duchess of Spoleto
Spouses:	Hubert, Duke of Spoleto
Issue:	Hugh of Tuscany Waldrada of Tuscany Bertha?
Father:	Boniface of Spoleto and Camerino
Mother:	Waldrada
Death Date:	7 January 978
Religion:	Catholic Church

Willa of Spoleto (also Willa of Tuscany) (– 7 January 978) was the daughter of Boniface I, duke of Spoleto. Through marriage to Hubert, Duke of Spoleto Willa became duchess of Spoleto and margravine of Tuscany.

Family

Willa’s parents were Boniface I, duke of Spoleto and Waldrada, daughter of Rudolf I, king of Upper Burgundy.^[1] Thus her maternal uncle was Rudolph II of Burgundy, and his daughter Adelaide of Italy was her cousin.^[2]

Marriage and issue

Around 945 Willa married Hubert, an illegitimate son of King Hugh and Wandelmoda.^[3] Hubert and Willa at least two children:^[4]

• Hugh, who succeeded Hubert as margrave of Tuscany;
• Waldrada, who married Pietro IV Candiano, doge of Venice;^[5]
• It is sometimes argued that Bertha, who married Margrave Arduin of Ivrea, future king of Italy, was also the daughter of Willa and Hubert.^[6]

Religious patronage

According to a diploma issued by Emperor Otto III in 998, Willa was the founder of the convent of San Ponziano in Lucca.^[7] Willa was widowed, around 968, and her son Hugh succeeded Hubert as margrave of Tuscany.^[8] Willa moved with Hugh from Lucca to Florence, establishing this as the new capital of Tuscany. In 978 Willa founded the monastery of Badia Fiorentina in Florence to commemorate her late husband.^[9]

Willa’s date of death is not known.

Notes

1. Hlawitschka, Franken, p. 158.
2. Brunhofer, Arduin, p. 118.
3. https://www.dmgh.de/de/fs1/object/goToPage/bsb00000870.html?pageNo=306&sortIndex=010%3A050%3A0003%3A010%3A00%3A00#ES Liutprand of Cremona, Antapodosis, III.20, p. 306.
4. Hlawitschka, Franken, p. 203
5. https://www.dmgh.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb00001080_00034.html?sortIndex=010%3A050%3A0007%3A010%3A00%3A00 Iohannis Chronicon Venetum, MGH SS VII, p. 25
6. Carutti, Conte Umberto, pp. 227f.
7. https://www.dmgh.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb00000443_00713.html?sortIndex=030%3A040%3A0002%3A010%3A00%3A00#ES Die Urkunden des Otto III. (Hannover, 1893), no. 269 (998), p. 687.
8. Hlawitchka, Franken, p. 203.
9. Goez, Beatrix, pp. 77, 128.

References

• Liutprand of Cremona, Antapodosis, in J. Becker, ed., Die Werke Liutprands, MGH SS rer Germ 41 (Hannover, 1915).
• Previté Orton . C.W.. Italy and Provence, 900-950 . The English Historical Review . 32 . 127 . 1917 . 0013-8266 . 5549158732 . 335–347.
• Book: Barker . John W. . Kleinhenz . Christopher . Hugo, Marquis of Tuscany . Medieval Italy : an encyclopedia. Vol. 1, A-K . Kleinhenz . Christopher . Taylor & Francis . 2004 . 0-203-50275-2 . 648136406 . 516.
• Brunhofer, Ursula: Arduin von Ivrea. Untersuchungen zum letzten italienischen Königtum des Mittelalters (Augsburg, 1999).
• Goez Elke: Beatrix von Canossa und Tuszien. Eine Untersuchung zur Geschichte des 11. Jahrhunderts (Sigmaringen, 1995).
• Hlawitschka, Eduard: Franken, Alemannen, Bayern und Burgunder in Oberitalien (774-962) (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1960).
• Thiele, Andreas: Erzählende genealogische Stammtafeln zur europäischen Geschichte Band II, Teilband 2 Europäische Kaiser-, Königs- und Fürstenhäuser II Nord-, Ost- und Südeuropa (R.G. Fischer Verlag, 1994).
• Book: Wickham, Chris . Early medieval Italy : central power and local society, 400-1000 . Macmillan . London . 1981 . 0-389-20217-7 . 7576748.
• D. Carutti, Il conte Umberto (Biancamano) e il re Ardoino. Ricerche e documenti (Rome, 1884, 2nd ed., first published 1878).