berengar was king of italy from 888 but lost his lands to guy iii of spoleto who proclaimed himself king of italy and emperor. berengar was saved by the intervention of arnulf of carinthia in 894, defeating guy of spoleto, who died shortly after. arnulf in 896, crowned himself as king of italy (and emperor), but named his illegitimate son ratold as sub-king of italy. ratold and berengar agreed to divide italy between themselves, but shortly after they started to fight for supremacy. ratold died unexpectedly, so berengar remained as single ruler, and started to aspire for the title of emperor. aware of this, arnulf, very ill, could not go personally in campaign in italy, but concluded an alliance with the leaders of the hungarians, who in 895-896 occupied the eastern parts of the carpathian basin, convincing them to send an army to attack berengar. arnulf was accused by enemies that he concluded the alliance with the hungarians by cutting a dog and a wolf in two. this was the way of making alliances by the nomadic people, the parties swearing that they will keep the alliance, and cursed themselves to die like the animals they cut in a half, if they break their oath. so, probably beside the christian way, about which the chronicles do not write anything, arnulf had to conclude this alliance also in the hungarians "pagan" way. this shows that arnulf was aware of the hungarian danger for the eastern provinces of his realm: mainly the march of pannonia. so with this alliance had two purposes: to punish berengar and to divert their energies far away from pannonia, so at least for a while he could be assured that they will not attack him. and of course, maybe he hoped that these two dangerous neighbours will weaken each other.