Editing Liutprand of Cremona

{{distinguish|Liutprand, King of the Lombards}}
{{Short description|Italian historian, diplomat, and bishop of Cremona (920–972)}}
{{infobox Christian leader
| image = Liudprand von Cremona, Antapodosis.jpg
| caption = Liudprand of Cremona, ''Antapodosis'' (detail from III, c. 32-34) Northern Italy, second half of the 10th century. Munich, [[Bavarian State Library]], Clm 6388, fol. 51r
| birth_date = 920
| death_date = {{death year and age|972|920}}
| title = [[Bishop of Cremona]]
| diocese = [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Cremona|Diocese of Cremona]]
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| honorific-prefix = Most Reverend
| birth_place = [[Pavia]], [[Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)|Kingdom of Italy]]
| death_place = [[Cremona]], [[Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)|Kingdom of Italy]]
| birth_name = 
}}

'''Liutprand''', also '''Liudprand''', '''Liuprand''', '''Lioutio''', '''Liucius''', '''Liuzo''', and '''Lioutsios''' ({{circa|920}} – 972),<ref name=Oxf>"LIUTPRAND OF CREMONA" in ''[[Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium|The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium]]'', [[Oxford University Press]], New York & Oxford, 1991, p. 1241. {{ISBN|0195046528}}</ref> was a [[historian]], diplomat, and the [[bishop of Cremona]] born in northern Italy, whose works are an important source for the politics of the 10th-century [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] court.

==Early life and career==
Liutprand was born into a prominent family from [[Pavia]], of [[Lombards|Lombard]] origins, around 920. In 931 he entered service as page to [[Hugh of Arles]], who kept court at Pavia as King of Italy and who married the notorious and powerful [[Marozia]] of Rome. Liutprand was educated at the court and became a Deacon at the [[Cathedral of Pavia]]. After Hugh died in 947, leaving his son and co-ruler Lothair on the throne as [[King of Italy]], Liutprand became confidential secretary to the actual ruler of Italy, [[Berengar II of Ivrea|Berengar II, marchese d'Ivrea]], for whom he became [[chancellor]].

==Mission to Constantinople==
[[File:Surrender of the Mandylion to the Byzantines.jpg|thumb|240px|Surrender of the [[Mandylion]] to  the Byzantines]]

In 949, Berengar II sent him on a goodwill mission as an apprentice diplomat<ref name=Sch>"Liudprand of Cremona - a diplomat?" by Constanze M.F. Schummer in Shepard J. & Franklin, Simon. (Eds.) (1992) ''Byzantine Diplomacy: Papers from the Twenty-fourth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Cambridge, March 1990.'' Aldershot: Variorum, pp. 197-201. {{ISBN|0860783383}}</ref> to the Byzantine court of [[Constantine VII|Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus]], with whom he became friendly. Liutprand went partly to learn Greek<ref>Liutprand, ''Antapodosis'', VI.2-3.</ref> and may have provided material for chapter 26 of Constantine VII's {{Lang|la|[[De Administrando Imperio]]}}.<ref name=Oxf/> Liutprand knew a surprising amount of Greek and he was among the first Westerners to use [[Greek minuscule]].{{sfn|McCormick|1991}} Both Liutprand's father and his stepfather had been sent as ambassadors to Constantinople (927 and 942).<ref name=Oxf/> (Knowledge of [[Igor of Kiev|Prince Igor]]'s [[Rus'–Byzantine War (941)|941 attack on Constantinople]] was told by his stepfather as Liutprand wasn't in the city at the time).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hansen |first=Valerie |title=The Year 1000 |publisher=Penguin |year=2020 |pages=93 |language=en}}</ref> Liutprand included in his later ''Antapodosis'' (950s) a glowing account of the hospitality he enjoyed there, including being carried into the audience hall on the shoulders of [[eunuch]]s, and Constantine's delight in receiving a gift of an additional four ''de luxe'' eunuchs from Liutprand.<ref name=Sch/> Liutprand uses the word "carzimasium" for the eunuchs he brought, suggesting that all of their external genitalia had been removed.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Grabowski|first=Antoni|date=2015-02-02|title=Eunuch between economy and philology. The case of carzimasium|url=http://journals.openedition.org/mefrm/2408|journal=Mélanges de l'École française de Rome:  Moyen Âge|language=fr|issue=127–1|doi=10.4000/mefrm.2408|issn=1123-9883}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Stevenson|first=Walter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_yPaAAAAMAAJ|title=Eunuchs in Antiquity and Beyond|date=2002|publisher=Classical Press of Wales and Duckworth|isbn=978-0-7156-3129-4|editor-last=Tougher|editor-first=Shaun|location=|pages=148|language=en|chapter=Eunuchs and early Christianity}}</ref>

==Bishop of Cremona==
On his return, however, he fell out with Berengar, for which Liutprand avenged himself in his ''Antapodosis'' ("retribution"), and attached himself to Berengar's rival, the emperor [[Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto I]], who became King of Italy upon the death of Lothair in 950. With Otto I he returned to Italy in 961 and was invested as Bishop of Cremona the following year. At Otto's court, he met [[Recemund]], a [[Umayyad state of Córdoba|Córdoban]] ambassador, who convinced him to write a history of his days (the later ''Antapodosis'', which was dedicated to Recemund). Liutprand was often entrusted with important diplomacy, and, in 963, he was sent to [[Pope John XII]] at the beginning of the quarrel between the Pope and the Emperor over papal allegiance to Berengar's son, [[Adalbert of Ivrea|Adelbert]]. Liutprand attended the [[Synod of Rome (963)]] that deposed John XII in 963, and wrote the only connected narrative of the events.

==Second mission to Constantinople==
He was frequently employed in missions to the [[Pope]], and in 968<ref name=Hutch>Mellersh, H.E.L. (1999) ''The Hutchinson chronology of world history. Volume 1. The ancient and medieval world: Prehistory – AD 1491.'' Oxford: Helicon, p. 277. {{ISBN|1859862810}}</ref> he was sent again to [[Constantinople]], this time to the court of [[Nikephoros II Phokas|Nicephorus Phocas]], to demand for the younger Otto (afterwards [[Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto II]]) the hand of [[Anna Porphyrogenita]], daughter of the former emperor [[Romanus II]]. The possible marriage was part of a wider negotiation between Otto and Nicephorus, the Eastern Emperor, who still claimed Benevento and Capua, which were actually in Lombard hands and whose forces had come to strife with Otto in Bari recently. His reception at Constantinople was humiliating and ultimately futile after the subject of Otto's claim to the title Emperor caused friction, triggered by a letter from [[Pope John XIII]] which offensively addressed Nicephorus as "the emperor of the Greeks".<ref name=Sch/>

{{wikisource|Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages/Appendix|Liutprand's Report of his Mission to Constantinople}}

Liutprand's account of this embassy in the ''[[Relatio de Legatione Constantinopolitana]]'' is perhaps the most graphic and lively piece of writing which has come down to us from the 10th century. The detailed description of [[Constantinople]] and the Byzantine court is a document of rare value, though highly coloured by his hostility towards the [[Byzantine Empire]]. The ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' asserted "Liutprand's writings are a very important historical source for the tenth century; he is ever a strong partisan and is frequently unfair towards his adversaries."<ref name="CE">{{CathEncy|wstitle=Liutprand of Cremona}}</ref>

Liutprand's candid account makes clear that often he was not as diplomatic as he might have been and Constanze Schummer has questioned how good a diplomat he really was in Constantinople, despite successes in the West.<ref name=Sch/> On his second mission to Constantinople, for instance, after his purchases of purple textiles are confiscated, he tells the imperial party that at home whores and conjurers wear purple.<ref>Liudprand, ''Leg''., chapter 54.</ref> Schummer and others have speculated that Otto I did not actually see the ''Relatio'' or receive an accurate account of Liutprand's performance at Constantinople.

Whether he returned in 971 with the embassy to fetch [[Theophanu]], the eventually negotiated bride, or not is uncertain,<ref name=Oxf/> but he may well have.<ref name=Sch/> Liutprand probably died before 20 July 972, certainly before 5 March 973.<ref name=Oxf/> His successor as bishop of Cremona was installed in 973.

==Works==
[[File:Geschiedenis zittend op een troon Titelpagina voor Liutprand, Opera, 1640, RP-P-1963-303.jpg|thumb|Liutprand of Cremona. ''Opera''. Antwerp: [[Balthasar I Moretus]], 1640.]]
*''Antapodosis, seu rerum per Europam gestarum, Libri VI'', a historical narrative, relating to events, largely in Italy, from 887 to 949. Compiled, according to ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', "with the object of avenging himself upon Berengar and Willa his queen"<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Liudprand |volume=16 |page=800}}</ref>
*''Historia Ottonis'', a praise of his patron Otto, covering only the years from 960 to 964, written as a partisan of the Emperor
*''[[Relatio de Legatione Constantinopolitana|Relatio de legatione Constantinopolitana ad Nicephorum Phocam]]'' covering the years 968 and 969
*The standard critical edition of all of Liudprand's works is {{cite book |last1=Chiesa |first1=Paolo |title=Liudprandi Cremonensis, Antapodosis, Homelia Paschalis, Historia Ottonis, Relatio de Legatio Constantinopolitana |date=1998 |publisher=Brepols |location=Turnhout |isbn=978-2-503-04561-0}}

==Works in English translation==
* {{cite book|translator=F. A. Wright|title=The Works of Liudprand of Cremona|location=London and New York|year=1930|publisher=George Routledge and Sons}}
* [[John Julius Norwich|J. J. Norwich]], ed. (1993). ''Liutprand of Cremona, The Embassy to Constantinople and Other Writings''. London: Dent (reprint, with new introduction, of the 1930 Wright translation).
* B. Scott, ed. and trans., ''Liudprand of Cremona, Relatio de Legatione Constantinopolitana''. Bristol Classical Press, 1993.
* ''The Complete Works of Liudprand of Cremona'', P. Squatriti, ed. and trans., Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2007.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite encyclopedia|last=McCormick|first=M.|year=1991|title=Liutprand of Cremona|encyclopedia=[[The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium]]|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=7 May 2025|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195046526.001.0001/acref-9780195046526-e-3172}}

==External links==
*{{Catholic Encyclopedia |wstitle=Liutprand of Cremona |volume=9 |first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch}}

* {{DBI |title= LIUTPRANDO di Cremona |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/liutprando-di-cremona_(Dizionario-Biografico)|last= Chiesa|first= Paolo|volume= 65}}
* {{cite book|url=https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/view/bsb10870573?page=9|title=Luitpandi Opera quae extant|others=editio princeps|publisher=Plantin Press|location=Antwerp|year=1640|editor=Lorenzo Ramírez de Prado}}
* [[iarchive:in.ernet.dli.2015.168391/page/n5/mode/2up|"The Works of Liudprand of Cremona London and New York 1930 F. A. Wright, translator]]
* {{wikisource author-inline}}
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09313a.htm ''Liutprand of Cremona'']
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150924061343/http://www.orbilat.com/Encyclopaedia/L/Liutprand_of_Cremona.html ''Liutprand of Cremona''] - Zdravko Batzarov, ''Encyclopædia Orbis Latini''
*[http://medieval.ucdavis.edu/20A/Luitprand.html Liutprand, ''Relatio''] - excerpts (in English)
*[http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/30_10_0922-0972-_Liutprandus_Cremonensis_Episcopus.html Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina with analytical indexes]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:972 deaths]]
[[Category:Bishops of Cremona]]
[[Category:Italian chroniclers]]
[[Category:10th-century Italian historians]]
[[Category:10th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:10th-century Italian bishops]]
[[Category:10th-century Lombard people]]
[[Category:920s births]]
[[Category:Medieval Italian diplomats]]
[[Category:Anti-Greek sentiment]]
[[Category:Ambassadors to the Byzantine Empire]]
[[Category:Byzantine Empire–Holy Roman Empire relations]]