DESIDERIUS, son of --- (-Corbie after 774). A Lombard dux, King Aistulf sent him to command Lombard troops in Tuscia, where he learnt of the king's death in Dec 756 and assembled troops to seize the throne[573]. He succeeded in 758 as DESIDERIUS Duke of Spoleto, until 759. With the support of Fulrad and Frankish troops, as well as the promise of Roman soldiers from Pope Stephen II (III), he prevailed over his rival Ratchis and installed himself as DESIDERIUS King of the Lombards[574]. A later manuscript of the Origo Gentis Langobardorum names "Desiderius" when recording that he succeeded "Aistulfus" and ruled for 17 years and three months before being taken captive to France[575]. The Chronicon Vulturnense records that "Desiderius…Romanæ dignitatis Imperator Augustus et gentis Langobardorum Rex" donated property to Volturno monastery by undated charter[576]. His relations with Rome deteriorated under Pope Stephen III (IV) who refused to consecrate Desiderius's candidate as Bishop of Ravenna and to whom the king refused to cede territories which he had promised to return to the papacy. Despite attempts by the new pope Hadrian I to negotiate, the king continued to seize papal cities and in 772 marched on Rome. After unsuccessfully pressuring King Desiderius to return the captured cities, Charles I King of the Franks, allied with the papacy, besieged Pavia and then Verona in 773/74. King Desiderius surrendered in Jun 774[577] and was sent into exile with his wife and daughter to the monastery of Corbie[578].
m ANSA, daughter of --- (-bur Brescia[579]). "Anza" is named as wife of "Desiderius rex"[580]. She was captured with her husband at Pavia in 774 and lived in exile in the monastery of Corbie578. Paulus Diaconus wrote a poem in memory of "Ausonii coniux…regis Ansa"[581].
King Desiderius & his wife had [five] children