In the early 740s, Hildeprand, nephew of king Liutprand, and Peredeo, duke of Vicenza, managed to take Ravenna, the capital of the Exarchate of Ravenna.

Eutychius, the Byzantine exarch, sought refuge in Venetia — which would be in either Heraclea or Grado, the main cities at the time — where he asked for help.

The Venetians, with a fleet, accompanied him back to Ravenna, which they retook in a surprise attack, and captured Hildeprand alive, and killed Peredeo.

This is the story, which John the Deacon told in his Istoria Veneticorum, written around the year 1000.

He placed the events in 740–741.

However, Hildeprand was associated to the Lombard throne as co-ruler of Liutprand in 737. Had these events happened after that, it is unlikely the other chronicles would have treated the capture and ransom of a co-ruler of the Lombards so lightly.

Paul the Deacon, in his Historia Langobardorum, mentioned the event in the passing, but almost certainly before 737, and probably in the early 730s.

The Liber Pontificalis doesn’t mention the event at all, neither for the pontiffs Gregory II (715–731), Gregory III (731–741), nor for Zachary (741–752). However, in the chapter for Zachary, there is a quite detailed description of Lombard raids on the Exarchate, in a period close to when John the Deacon placed this other raid.

It is not impossible that John the Deacon, getting the basic story from Paul the Deacon, and having seen a papal letter on the matter, conflated two separate, but similar, events.

Gregory II or Gregory III — which of them is uncertain — sent a letter to Antoninus, patriarch of Grado, urging him to entreat the Venetians to help the exarch. This letter was reproduced by John the Deacon in the excerpt below.

The much later Venetian Chronica per extensum descripta, written in the 1340s by doge Andrea Dandolo, copied another letter, possibly fake, from the same pope to the Venetian doge Ursus (726–737).

The Liber pontificalis ecclesiae Ravennatis for archbishop John VI (726-744) mentioned an exile in Venice, following a Lombard attack on Ravenna and Classe, but no intervention of the Venetians and the recall of him appeared entirely unrelated to any conflict. The entry for archbishop Sergius (744-769) has only the opaque reference that “This city was harassed by the Lombards and Venetians,” without any further details.

Source: Istoria Veneticorum (c.1008) by John the Deacon, translated by René Seindal, and controlled with the Italian translation in Iohannes : Diaconus Venetus et.al. (1999).

Available translations from the Istoria Veneticorum:

• The settlements of the lagoons — chapter I.7
• The first doges — chapters II.1–2, II.10–11 and II.14.
• Hildeprand in Ravenna — chapters II.12–13.
• Doges of the 700s — chapters II.17–19.

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Chapter II.12

Also, on those days,¹ the exarch, the primate of Ravenna,² coming to Venice and demanding from the Venetians that with their help to do so, he might defend and protect his own city, which Hildebrand,³ nephew of King Liutprand,⁴ and Paradeo,⁵ Duke of Vicenza, had held captive. The Venetians, favourable to his request, hastened with a fleet to Ravenna, a city of renown, approaching the city, and one of them, namely Hildeprand, was captured alive by them, while the other, who was called Paradeo, had fallen fighting fiercely, and in this manner, the city was decently restored to the aforementioned primate, the exarch.

Click to reveal the Latin text

Cuius quoque diebus exarchus, Ravenne primas, Venetiam veniens, nimiumque Veneticos postulans quatenus propriam urbem, quam Ildebrandus, nepos Liubrandi regis, et Paradeus, Vicentinus dux, captam habuerant, tueri atque defendere eorum auxiliis potuisset. Cuius Venetici faventes petitioni, navali cum exercitu prelibatam Ravennam ad urbem properantes, unus illorum, Ildebrandus scilicet, vivus ab eis captus est, alter vero, qui dicebatur Paradeus, acriter dimicando occubuerat, atque huiusmodi exarcho prelibato primati urbs decenter est restituta.

Chapter II.13

Because of this matter, also Gregory,⁶ the apostolic of the city of Rome, with full eagerness to help the aforementioned city, sent his own letter, which can be read below, to Antoninus,⁷ Patriarch of Grado, so that he should, with a loving entreaty, draw the Venetians to come to defend the same city.

“To my most beloved brother Antoninus, Gregory. Due to sin, the city of Ravenna, which is the foremost of all, was seized by the unspeakable people of the Lombards, and our distinguished son, the lord exarch, as we have learned, is staying in Venice,⁸ your fraternal holiness should give aid to him and with him jointly take action in our stead, so that the city of Ravenna may be restored to its former state of service to the holy republic and empire of our lords and sons Leo⁹ and Constantine,¹⁰ the great emperors themselves, so that with zeal and love for our holy faith we may be able to persevere steadfastly in the service of the republic and the empire with God’s help. May God keep you safe, most beloved brother.”

Click to reveal the Latin text

Ob quam rem Gregorius quoque, apostolicus urbis Rome, tota aviditate sepedicte urbi subveniendo, propriam epistolam, que inferius legitur, Antonino Gradensi patriarcha miserat, ut Veneticos amabili obsecratione inlicere deberet ad eandem defendendam urbem venirent.

“Dilectissimo fratri Antonino Gregorius. Quia peccato faciente Ravenantium civitas, qui caput erat omnium, ab nec dicenda gente Longobardorum capta est et filius noster eximius domnus exarchus apud Venecias, ut cognovimus, moratur, debeat tua fraterna sanctitas ei aderere et cum eo nostra vice pariter decertare, ut ad pristinum statum sancte rei publice et imperiali servicio dominorum filiorumque nostrorum Leonis et Constantini, magnorum imperatorum, ipsa revocetur Ravenantium civitas, ut zelo et amore sancte fidei nostre in statu rei publice et imperiali servicio firmi persistere Domino quooperante valeamus. Deus te incolomem custodiat, dilectissime frater”.

Notes

1. John the Deacon placed these events in 740–741, confounding them with later Lombard raids on Ravenna, in 741–742, as described in the Liber Pontificalis for Pope Zachary. ↩︎
2. The Exarchate of Ravenna was an ad hoc organisation of the Byzantine dominions in Italy, established c.584, in the face of the Lombard invasion and gradual conquest of much of the Italian peninsula. ↩︎
3. Hildeprand (†744) was the king of the Lombards with Luitprand from 737, but was deposed by Ratchis immediately after the death of Luitprand in 744. ↩︎
4. Liutprand (c.680–744) was king of the Lombards from 712 to 744. During his reign, he fought wars with Byzantine over Ravenna, and donated lands at Sutri to the Pope, leading to the creation of the Papal State. ↩︎
5. Peredeo was a Lombard duke of Vicenza, who was killed by the Venetians in Ravenna, which the Lombards had shortly taken, sometimes between 726 and 741. ↩︎
6. Pope Gregory III (†741) was bishop of Rome from 731 to his death in 741. Like his predecessor, Gregory II, he was staunchly opposed to iconoclasm, and tried to stop Lombard advances on the Exarchate of Ravenna. ↩︎
7. Antonino was patriarch of Grado, from circa 725 (or 730) to 748 (or 741), as we don’t have much information. ↩︎
8. Here, Venice meant the Byzantine province of Venetia, not the current city of Venice, which didn’t exist yet. The important cities at this time were Heraclea and Grado. ↩︎
9. Leo III the Isaurian (c. 685–741) was Byzantine emperor from 717. He is associated with the start of iconoclasm in 726. ↩︎
10. Constantine V (718–775) was Byzantine emperor from 741 to his death in 775. ↩︎

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