Ratold of Italy

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Ratold (889 – 929) was a King of Italy who ruled for a month or so in 896.[citation needed]

He was younger illegitimate son of Arnulf of Carinthia by a concubine[citation needed]. His mother may have been the same mother as Zwentibold, but may on the other hand have been a Lombard[citation needed], thus gaining the child standing among the people of Italy, or a Slav, based on his name[citation needed]. Arnulf had the nobility recognise the rights of Zwentibold and Ratold as his successors.[citation needed]

After his father was crowned King of Italy in Pavia in 896, he left Ratold behind as nominal sub-king[citation needed] in Milan and crossed the Alps for Germany. Immediately after returning to Germany, Lambert II of Spoleto, an opponent of Arnulf's for the crown of Italy, took control of the country.[citation needed] Ratold was forced to flee.[citation needed]