145:(which lay outside Desiderius' kingdom); it was the purpose of another papal delegation later that year to receive the cities, which, however, Desiderius did not agree to return. Probatus' embassy can be viewed as an effort, ultimately unsuccessful, to preserve the political order and its peace ("to save Desiderius from himself many in the duchy did not share the Lombard king's confidence in his own military strength"). In 774 Italy fell to
174:. A second privilege was issued on 29 May granting it spiritual immunities. Probatus returned to Farfa in January 776 and a flood of donations to the abbey, now patronised by the most powerful ruler in western Europe, followed. The years 776–78 were the most fruitful in the early development of Farfa's territory. In those years Farfa received seven grants from Duke Hildeprand, who had been confirmed in his position by Charlemagne.
122:
337:
ut nullus episcoporum pro electione abbatis dationem accipere debeat et potestatem non habeat de ipso monasterio auferre cruces, calices, patenas, codices vel reliquas quaslibet res de ministerio ecclesiae nec ipsum monasterium sub tributo ponere principum potestatem minime haberet nec denuo tributum
109:(promise of a future donation in land), and increased Farfa's lands by purchasing private property on one occasion and exchanging it on four others to rationalise the abbey's holdings. In 772 Desiderius, who had up to that point been acting as Duke of Spoleto, bestowed that office on
165:
Probatus was the first
Italian abbot to get confirmation of his abbey's holdings and of its spiritual immunity (from secular and prelatical authority) from the Frankish king. In order to obtain these privileges it was necessary for Probatus to travel to the Frankish court at
47:. With the benefit of his local connections he oversaw a great expansion of the abbey's properties through grants and purchases, and also rationalised its holdings to create a robust base for an early medieval monastic community.
185:, Miccio. This was a secular official pertaining to the secular offices the Papacy had acquired in the Duchy of Rome. The pope's letter to Probatus of 22 April 772, referring to the abbot's allegations of "many evils" (
80:
Probatus' familiarity with local politics made him a superior choice compared with the foreigners who had served as Farfa's abbots prior. He immediately attracted royal patronage: by 772 the abbey had received three
133:
to procure divine favour or vouchsafe his land to God by donating it to the abbey. The charters of three grants the duke made to Farfa credit the monks with suggesting them, a sign of
Probatus' gift for diplomacy.
238:(Cambridge: 2007), 158, notes the "practical advantage that his personal contacts and knowledge gave him in navigating the choppy waters of central Italian politics in the third quarter of the eighth century."
141:
sent a delegation led by
Probatus and twenty of his senior monks to deal with the king. The purpose of this expedition was to procure the return of some cities which had been captured from the
129:
Probatus may also have been the beneficiary of a famine that struck Italy in 774–75, and caused an increase in the charitable donations. Likewise the threat of war may have influenced Duke
77:
to intervene. The king expelled the interloper and confirmed the abbey's right to elect its abbots. In late
February or early March 770 the community chose one of their own: Probatus.
177:
The confirmation of spiritual immunity was important at the time, since Farfa was dealing with its first recorded jurisdictional dispute with the Papacy. According to the
170:
in 775. There, in his royal villa, Charlemagne issued his first privilege for Farfa on 22 May, exempting it from episcopal jurisdiction and confirming its freedom of
61:, a late ninth-century source, Probatus was "born in the Sabine province" and "fully educated from childhood in the chant of the holy Roman Church", that is, the
317:) the abbot, but the implications of hierarchy in this word are probably false. At this time all of Farfa's charter's were dated by the reign of the king.
101:). During his tenure Farfa secured thirty donations, more than three-quarters of which were gifts outright. He also received from private citizens one
387:
Costambeys 2007, 297–98, views the letter as evidence an effort to shore up the pope's secular lordship and assert Roman independence
57:
39:, trying to prevent the disastrous aggression of its last king, and kept it from falling under the jurisdiction of either the
154:
374:(early twelfth century), as implying Miccio's "charge of the affairs of the abbey of Farfa", but Thomas F. X. Noble,
255:. This may suggest a connexion with the Roman diocese, but it need not suggest that he learned the chant in Rome.
406:
36:
232:
Power and
Patronage in the Early Medieval Italy: Local Society, Italian Politics, and the Abbey of Farfa,
130:
110:
189:) committed against Farfa by some Romans, admits that the infractors hailed from "our Roman republic" (
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309:
181:, Pope Hadrian had ordered that disputes between Farfa and some men from Rome be settled by his
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20:
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32:
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28:
400:
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378:(Philadelphia: 1984), 158, followed by Costambeys 2007, 154n, reads no such thing.
121:
146:
362:(London: 1971), 112, reads the document, which survives only as quoted in the
90:
74:
349:
For an outline of the largesse of this period, see
Costambeys 2007, 302–06.
391:
the
Lombard kingdom. Noble 1984, 133, considers the letter insignificant.
97:. Probatus also succeeded in attracting private donors (that is, not the
94:
70:
193:, lit. “republic of the Romans”) and is dated by the joint reign of the
137:
In 773, before April, Desiderius was pressuring Rome with his army when
167:
125:
Map of the Papal States indicating the Duchy of
Spoleto and the Sabina.
289:
For a complete list of ducal grants to Farfa, see
Costambeys 2007, 75.
150:
89:(a church with a monastic community) that had previously belonged to
40:
253:
maxime vero sancte
Romanae Aecclesiae cantu a pueritia plene imbutus
73:. The latter's abbacy was opposed by the monks, who petitioned King
376:
The Republic of Saint Peter: The Birth of the Papal State, 680–825
120:
207:
In 777–78 Probatus was able to construct a three-kilometre
338:
aut censum in supradicto monasterio eorum exigere debeat
215:
gifts (for the sake of the soul) of the requisite land.
307:
Costambeys 2007, 282. The biographer of Hadrian in the
31:
from 770 until 781, and the first abbot native to the
117:Farfa and the fall of the Lombard kingdom (773–74)
211:for the abbey by convincing landowners to make
69:died and was replaced by his chosen successor,
35:. He steered the abbey through the fall of the
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283:
105:(confirmation of a prior acquisition) and one
8:
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161:Securing immunity and independence (775–78)
157:, and Desiderius was taken into captivity.
113:, who proceeded to make a grant to Farfa.
65:. He was a deacon of Farfa in 769, when
335:The wording of the first privilege is:
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298:Reported in a letter of Pope Hadrian.
7:
14:
179:Libellus constructionis Farfensis
58:Libellus constructionis Farfensis
313:says that the pope "summoned" (
93:, a gift to her from her son,
1:
85:(some type of house) and one
191:nostra Romanorum reipublica
155:siege of the capital, Pavia
428:
249:Savinensi natus provincia
277:Costambeys 2007, 152–58.
247:Costambeys 2007, 154n:
37:Kingdom of the Lombards
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24:
360:Rome in the Dark Ages
326:Costambeys 2007, 323.
153:, after a successful
131:Hildeprand of Spoleto
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51:Early abbacy (770–72)
230:Marios Costambeys,
368:Chronicon Farfense
310:Liber pontificalis
195:Byzantine emperors
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372:Gregory of Catino
364:Regestum Farfense
358:Peter Llewellyn,
315:accersiri faciens
172:abbatial election
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147:Charlemagne
103:confirmatio
412:781 deaths
401:Categories
187:plura mala
111:Theodicius
91:Queen Ansa
87:monasteria
75:Desiderius
67:Abbot Alan
27:) was the
389:vis-à-vis
236:. 700–900
213:pro anima
107:promissio
209:aqueduct
95:Adelchis
71:Guicpert
43:or the
17:Probatus
168:Quierzy
25:Provato
21:Italian
202:Leo IV
151:Franks
83:curtes
41:Papacy
33:Sabina
219:Notes
366:and
251:and
200:and
370:of
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282:^
260:^
23::
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234:c
19:(
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