Le implicazioni politiche della sorellanza: Adelperga e Liutperga alla fine del regno longobardo

The daughters of King Desiderius and Ansa married some of the most important political leaders of their time. This happened prior to the conquest of the Lombard Kingdom by Charlemagne, which altered the political balance in the Italian peninsula and, more broadly, in early medieval Western Europe. Relying on two original letters preserved in the Archives Nationales in Paris, as well as on a rich dossier of narrative sources from the southern and transalpine regions, this paper analyses the political role that the daughters of Desiderius and Ansa played as royal spouses. It also suggests that Adelperga and Liutperga were involved in the negotiations between Benevento and Constantinople in 787, and in those talks that may have taken place between Benevento and Bavaria in the same year. This highlights the significance of family connections, particularly female bonds of sisterhood, in early medieval court diplomacy