Liutward, Bishop of Vercelli, had in 886…
August 887 CE
Liutward, Bishop of Vercelli, had in 886 taken the sister of Berengar of Friuli, the chief secular magnate, from the nunnery of San Salvatore at Brescia in order to marry her to a relative of his; whether or not by force or by the consent of the convent and Charles the Fat, her relative, is uncertain.
Berengar and Liutward had had a feud that year, which involved his attack on Vercelli and plundering of the bishop's goods.
Berengar's actions are explicable if his sister was abducted by the bishop, but if the bishop's actions were justified, then Berengar appears as the initiator of the feud.
Whatever the case, bishop and margrave are reconciled by 887, when Charles appears to have succumbed to fits of madness.
During this crisis, Richardis has attempted to rule in her husband's stead, but is unsuccessful.
In an effort to bring down the over-powerful and hated Liutward, Charles' archchancellor, he and Richardis are accused by Charles and his courtiers of adultery.
Charles asserts that their marriage is unconsummated and demands a divorce.
The empress successfully undergoes the ordeal of fire, but Liutward is banished form court.
Richardis, protected by her family, withdraws to Andlau Abbey, which she had founded on her ancestral lands in 880, and where her niece Rotrod is abbess.
(Richardis herself was previously lay abbess of religious houses at Säckingen and Zurich.)
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