'Guy II' (sometimes 'III', died late
882 or early
883) was the eldest son and successor of
Lambert I as
duke of Spoleto and
margrave of Camerino. He was elected to succeed to these titles on his father's death in
880. He had an ambitious plan of expansion to the south and to the west that conflicted with the
Papacy.
He received a papal letter on
18 July in the year of his accession.
Pope John VIII asked for a meeting, but Guy ignored him and instead invaded the
Papal States. John responded by begging he aid of
Charles the Fat, already
King of Italy, and crowning him
Emperor on
12 February 881. Charles did little to help against Guy, however. A papal letter dated to
11 November and addressed to Charles referred to Guy as ''Rabbia'', an epithet meaning "rage." It stuck as a nickname.
In February
882, at a diet convoked in
Ravenna by Charles, the duke, emperor, and pope made peace and Guy and his uncle,
Guy of Camerino, vowed to restore stolen papal lands. In a March letter to Charles, John claimed that the vows went unfulfilled. Guy never succeeded in his dreams of expansion or his promisekeeping: he died young, later that year or early in the next. His uncle succeeded him, as his children were minors. His son
Guy IV later ruled in Spoleto and the
Principality of Benevento. His daughter Itta married
Guaimar I of Salerno.
Sources
★ Caravale, Mario (ed). ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani: LXI Guglielmo Gonzaga – Jacobini''.
Rome,
2003.