Ulric Manfred II of Turin

Ulric Manfred II (; 975  992 – 29 October 1033 or 1034) or Manfred Ulric was the count of Turin and marquis of Susa in the early 11th century. He was the last male margrave from the Arduinid dynasty. Ulric Manfred's daughter, Adelaide, inherited the majority of his property. Through marriage to Adelaide (c. 1045), Otto of Savoy, a younger son of Count Humbert I of Savoy became margrave of Turin. Their descendants would later comprise the House of Savoy who ruled Sardinia and Italy. Biography Born in Turin, Ulric Manfred was the son of Manfred I and Prangarda (daughter of Adalbert Atto of Canossa). Ulric Manfred inherited a vast march centred on Turin (1000), which had been created from the lands of his ancestor Arduin Glaber. An imperial diploma, dated 31 July 1001, records that, for his faithful service, Emperor Otto III confirmed Ulric Manfred's possessions and granted him several privileges. Ulric Manfred, immediately upon his succession, began to consolidate his power vis-à-vis Arduin of the March of Ivrea on one hand and Henry II on the other. In the fight over the regnum Italicum, he gained a great deal of territory at the expense of the March of Ivrea. Two charters issued by Ulric Manfred and his wife Bertha (a sale to the priest Sigifred, son of Adalgis in 1021 and a donation to the monastery of S. Solutore in Turin in 1031), give a good impression of the cities and counties that Ulric Manfred controlled, which included: Turin, Ivrea, Albenga, Ventimiglia, Auriate, Tortona, and Vercelli. In all the wars between Arduin and Henry, Ulric Manfred prudently avoided any confrontation with the two leaders and gradually extended his territories by arms (he was at war with the margrave of Tuscany, Boniface III, in 1016) and by increasing his authority within his proper domains. In 1024, following the death of Henry II, he opposed the election of Conrad II and instead invited William V of Aquitaine to take the Italian throne, but to no avail.