Medieval Lombardy
"[The Lombards after their arrival in Italy] gradually laid aside their fierce barbarian customs and intermarried with the natives. Thus their children have derived from the mothers' race, and from…
From: 1114 C.E. To: 1158 C.E.
Location: Milan, Italy
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From Readings in European History: A Collection of Extracts from the Sources by James Harvey Robinson, 1906.
II. Otto of Freising's Account of the Italian Cities
Otto, bishop of Freising and uncle of Frederick Barbarossa, may be safely assigned the highest rank among the historians of the twelfth century. In his great Chronicle, or History of the World, he exhibits a good deal of critical ability at times and shows really remarkable philosophical insight in some of his reflections. It would tax the skill of a modern historian better to state the conditions in Italy at the advent of Frederick Barbarossa than does Otto in the passage given below. This is taken from his Deeds of Frederick, which he undertook after the completion of his Chronicle; but he lived only long enough to present the first four years of his nephew's reign.
The Italian cities already exhibited in the twelfth century, as Otto's account shows, many of the traits which distinguished them in later times. Of their bad habits none is more striking than their readiness to call in foreigners to aid them in settling their perpetual broils. Milan, it will be noted, had already begun the career of conquest, which was later to make her one of the most important states of Italy.
[The Lombards after their arrival in Italy] gradually laid aside their fierce barbarian customs and intermarried with the natives. Thus their children have derived from the mothers' race, and from the character of the country and the climate, something of Roman culture and civilization, and retain the elegance and refinement of Latin speech and manner.
In the government of the cities and in the management of civil affairs they also imitate the skill of the ancient Romans. Furthermore they love liberty so well that, to guard against the abuse of power, they choose to be ruled by the authority of consuls rather than by princes. They are divided into three classes, namely, "captains," vavasors, and the people. To prevent the growth of class pride, the consuls are chosen from each class in turn, and, for fear that they may yield to the lust of power, they are changed nearly every year.
It has come to pass that almost the whole country belongs to the cities, each of which forces the inhabitants of her territory to submit to her sway. One can hardly find, within a wide circuit, a man of rank or importance who does not recognize the authority of his city….In order that there shall be no lack of forces for tyrannizing over their neighbors, the cities stoop to bestow the sword-belt and honorable rank upon youths of inferior station, or even upon laborers in despised and mechanical trades, who, among other peoples, are shunned like the pest by those who follow the higher pursuits. To this practice it is due that they surpass all other cities of the world in riches and power; and the long-continued absence of their ruler across the Alps has further contributed to their independence.
In one respect they are unmindful of their ancient nobility and betray their barbarian origin; for, although they boast of living under law, they do not obey the law. They rarely or never receive their ruler submissively, although it is their duty to show him willing and respectful obedience.
They do not obey the decrees that he issues by virtue of his legal powers, unless they are made to feel his authority by the presence of his great army. Although, in a civilized state, the citizens should submit to law, and only an enemy should be coerced by force, yet they often greet with hostility him whom they ought to receive as their own gracious prince, when he comes to demand his own.
This situation brings double evil on the state. The prince's attention is occupied with gathering together an army to subdue the townsmen, and the citizens, though forced to obey the prince, waste their resources in the struggle. The fault, in such a case, lies wholly in the insolence of the people; the prince, who has acted under necessity, should be absolved before God and man.
Among all these cities Milan has become the leading one….It must be regarded as more powerful than any of the others, in the first place, on account of its size and its multitude of brave men, and, secondly, because it has brought the two neighboring cities of Como and Lodi under its sway.
Led on by Fortune's smiles, as is the way of this fleeting world, Milan has become so puffed up with pride that she has dared not only to incur the enmity of all her neighbors, but, fearing not even the majesty of the emperor himself, she has recently courted his anger. How this came about I shall presently relate. But first I wish to say something of the prerogatives of the empire.
There is an ancient custom, which has existed ever since the Roman power devolved upon the Franks and has endured until our own day, that when the kings wish to visit Italy they should send officials of their household ahead to go through the various cities and towns and demand what is due to the royal treasury, called by the inhabitants fodrum. The usual result is that when the ruler himself arrives, most of those cities, towns, and castles which have ventured either to refuse to pay the tax altogether, or have paid it only in part, are razed to the ground as a warning to posterity.
Another right which is said to be derived from ancient custom is that when the emperor enters Italy all magistracies and offices are suspended and all things are regulated according to his will and the decisions of men skilled in the law. Even the Italian judges are said to recognize his supreme jurisdiction, to the extent of assigning to him for his own use and that of his army all that he needs of whatsoever the land produces, scarcely excepting the oxen and seed necessary for the cultivation of the land.
The emperor camped for five days, it is said, on the plain of Roncaglia and held an assembly there, to which came princes, consuls, and notables from all the cities. Many matters came up for discussion in consequence of the complaints that were made from this quarter and from that. The bishop of Asti and William, marquis of Monteferrat,—a noble and great man and almost the only baron in Italy that has kept himself independent of the cities,—both made grave complaints of the insolence of the people of Asti, and the marquis complained also of the people of Chieri.
The consuls from Como and Lodi also gave accounts calculated to draw tears of their long-endured sufferings under Milan's oppression, and this in the presence of the consuls from Milan, Obert de Orto and Gerard Niger. The emperor, who wished to visit the region of northern Italy and look into these matters, kept these two consuls with him to conduct him through the Milanese territory and help in the choice of convenient places to camp. There came also to this assembly ambassadors from the Genoese, who had recently returned laden with the spoils of the Saracens from Spain, where they had conquered the well-known cities of Almeria and Lisbon, famed for the manufacture of silk stuffs. They brought to the emperor lions, ostriches, parrots, and other valuable gifts.
Frederick, wishing, as we have said, to see something of northern Italy, led his troops forth from Roncaglia and set up his camp in the territory of Milan. The Milanese consuls aforementioned led him about, however, through arid regions where provisions were neither to be found nor procured at any price, and the emperor was thereby so angered that he determined to turn his arms against Milan, first ordering the consuls to return home.
The whole army, distressed by great floods of rain, was so exasperated by the double discomfort of hunger and bad weather that they did everything in their power to increase the emperor's irritation against the consuls aforesaid. Another thing which contributed not a little to his indignation was the fact that the Milanese not only refused to permit the towns that Milan had destroyed to be rebuilt, but they insulted his noble and upright character by offering him money to bribe him to condone their villany.
Robinson, James Harvey. Readings in European History: A Collection of Extracts from the Sources. Vol. 1. Ginn and Co. 1906.
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