Romagna (claim)

Who holds it

Name

Innocent III (claimant)

Title

Claimed by the pope as the exarchate of Ravenna; held in fact by the archbishop of Ravenna and the communes

Since

Claim renewed in 1198 after Markward's fall

Confidence

medium

Henry VI made Markward duke of Ravenna and Romagna at Easter 1195 (Federiciana). After Henry's death the Germans were driven out, and Ravenna and Rimini joined Ancona's league against Markward on 31 August 1198 (Federiciana, Ancona). Gregorovius records that Markward finally gave up the duchy and that the archbishop of Ravenna opposed the papal claims. No papal rector governed the Romagna on 1 January 1200 in any source consulted.

The claim was later written into Otto IV's promises (Neuss, 1201) and made good only in 1278.

What it holds

• Claim to the exarchate: Ravenna, Cervia, Comacchio and the towns of the Via Emilia from Imola to Rimini
• Claim to the county of Bertinoro, which the papacy said its last count had left to the Roman Church [thin]
• No papal garrison, rector or revenue on 1 January 1200

How it was acquired

Pepin's donation (756) and Charlemagne's (774) promised the exarchate to the popes; the emperors kept it, mostly through the archbishops of Ravenna. Innocent III renewed the claim in 1198 once Markward had gone.

How things stand that morning

Claimed, not held.

Wealth

Ravenna's harbour and the salt pans of Cervia and Comacchio; the markets and tolls of the Via Emilia; grain and wine of the plain.

Threats

• An emperor who refuses the claim
• The archbishop of Ravenna's rights
• The communes' wars

Advocates and rivals

The archbishop of Ravenna (Guglielmo, per the campaign notes [thin]) with his comital rights (another record covers his lands); the communes of Imola, Faenza, Forli, Cesena and Rimini; Bologna, pressing on Imola; the emperors-elect, who treat the Romagna as imperial.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The claim is certain; the papal position in the Romagna in 1200 is barely documented, and the boundary of the claim is drawn from the later papal province.

On the map: The claim is drawn as the Romagna proper, from the Sillaro to the Conca, leaving out Bologna and Ferrara (Ferrara appears in the Matildine claim), the Montefeltro (in the March claim) and the upper valleys held by the Guidi counts. San Marino is cut out.

Primary sources for Ravenna

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• The Deeds of Innocent III, Anonymous (a curial official, perhaps Peter of Benevento) (about 1208 to 1209). The curia's own account of the pontificate's first decade, with letters copied in. Read online