Rule As Holy Roman Emperor
After the deposition of Charles the Fat in 887, by virtue of being a relative of Archbishop Fulk of Rheims, he had hopes of being crowned king of West Francia, and in fact travelled as far as Langres, where the bishop crowned him as such. But because of Odo's coronation that year (888), he turned and went back with designs on the crown of Italy and the emperorship.
Guy of Spoleto was opposed by Berengar of Friuli for the Iron Crown of Lombardy. Although Berengar had the advantage of being allied with the Carolingian family, and of having been crowned as king of Italy in 887, from 888 Guy was closer to Rome, and had already allied himself with Pope Stephen V, who had described Guy “as his only son”. Fighting between the rival contenders began, and it was Guy who had himself proclaimed king of Italy in a diet held at Pavia at the end of the year 888. He was formally crowned King of Italy by Pope Stephen V in 889, and this was followed by his coronation as Roman Emperor on February 21, 891, together with the crowning of his son Lambert II as King of Italy.
The situation in Italy began to deteriorate with the election of a new pope, Formosus in 891. Distrustful of Guy, he began to look elsewhere for support against the emperor, as Guy found it increasingly difficult to end the threat of Berengar who still held out in his Duchy of Friuli. To bolster his overall position, at Ravenna on April 30, 892, Guy forced Pope Formosus to crown Lambert as co-emperor.
The pope therefore took the next opportunity to oppose Guy by supporting Arnulf of Carinthia for the Italian and imperial titles. In 893, Formosus invited Arnulf to come to Trento to overthrow Guy and be crowned himself. Arnulf instead sent his son Zwentibold with an army to join Berengar, the deposed king, and march on Trento. Their joint army surrounded Trento, but Guy probably bribed them to leave him unmolested. The following year, they defeated Guy at Bergamo and took Trento and Milan. Berengar was recognised as king and a vassal of Arnulf. Zwentibold returned to Germany, as fever had wreaked havoc on the German armies. Guy retreated in order to regroup at a fortified place on the Taro and died there suddenly in late autumn, leaving his son under the tutelage of his wife. Both would contest the throne with Berengar and Arnulf.
Read more about this topic: Guy III Of Spoleto
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