Papal state · The Papal State: the pope's own lands · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Spoleto

The old Lombard duchy is the heart of Umbria: the Spoleto valley from Assisi and Foligno down to Spoleto and Terni, the Valnerina and Norcia in the mountains, and Rieti beyond.

For twenty years it was German, under Duke Conrad of Urslingen; Innocent took it back without a fight in 1198, and the Umbrian communes, Perugia included, swore to him. On 1 January 1200 the duchy is papal, but it is a federation of quarrelsome communes rather than a province: Perugia and Todi govern themselves, Foligno is squaring up to Spoleto and Spello, and Assisi's popolo has driven out its nobles.

Who holds it

Name
Innocent III
Title
Pope, lord of the duchy since 1198 [a papal rector governs; his name on 1 January 1200 is not pinned]
Since
Early 1198 (Conrad of Urslingen's submission at Narni)
Confidence
high

Conrad of Urslingen, duke since 1177 (first attested as duke in February 1177 at Sirolo) and count of Assisi, submitted to Innocent's cardinals at Narni early in 1198: he swore fealty, promised tribute, gave his children as hostages, handed over the castles of Cesi and Gualdo and ordered Assisi to surrender, then left Italy at the pope's demand; by summer 1199 he was at Philip of Swabia's court (DBI). When Conrad left for Narni, the townsmen of Assisi pulled down the imperial rocca before the pope could take it over (Key to Umbria). In summer 1198 Spoleto, Assisi, Rieti, Foligno, Norcia, Gubbio, Todi and Citta di Castello submitted (Gregorovius); Terni and Norcia swore at Spoleto, and Perugia did reverence to a pope for the first time and received its communal franchises (Gregorovius; Key to Umbria).

What it holds

  • Spoleto: the ducal city, which submitted in summer 1198
  • Assisi: surrendered on Conrad's order in 1198; its townsmen destroyed the imperial rocca
  • Cesi and Gualdo: castles handed over by Conrad to the cardinals in 1198
  • Foligno, Spello, Trevi, Montefalco, Bevagna and Nocera: towns of the Spoleto valley and the Via Flaminia
  • Norcia and Cascia: the Valnerina and the mountain road to the March
  • Terni and Narni: towns on the Via Flaminia, under papal lordship
  • Rieti: submitted in summer 1198 (Gregorovius)
  • Perugia: the strongest commune of Umbria, which swore to the pope in 1198 and kept its franchises
  • Todi, Gubbio and Citta di Castello: communes that submitted in summer 1198

How it was acquired

Barbarossa made Conrad of Urslingen duke of Spoleto in 1177, and Henry VI confirmed the duchy to him as a hereditary fief in 1195 (de.wikipedia). The papacy claimed it under the Carolingian donations. In 1198 Innocent's legates made the claim real, by negotiation backed by the towns' hatred of German rule; it.wikipedia dates the duchy's entry into the Papal State to 1198.

How things stand that morning

Papal lordship recognised everywhere; real government in the hands of the communes. On the map the duchy core is held, and Perugia, Todi, Gubbio and Citta di Castello are shown held as self-governing communes under oath.

Wealth

The Via Flaminia, the main road from Rome to the Adriatic (Narni, Terni, Spoleto, Foligno, Nocera, Gualdo); wool and cloth at Perugia and Foligno; Lake Trasimeno's fisheries (Perugia); pasture in the Valnerina and around Norcia; the mills of the Topino and the Nera.

Threats

  • Foligno at war with Spoleto and Spello in 1200-1201 (Key to Umbria)
  • Assisi's civil strife: the popolo against the nobles, who look to Perugia for help (it ends in war in 1202)
  • Perugia's ambitions over Assisi, Foligno and the lake
  • Any revival of the Urslingen claim through Philip of Swabia

Advocates and rivals

Perugia, with its own plans for its neighbours; Todi; Foligno against Spoleto and Spello; Assisi's popolo against its nobles; Rome's interest in Narni and Terni; and the Urslingen claim, which will revive under Otto IV and Frederick II.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

  1. 1200-1201 (months not pinned)Foligno fights Spoleto and Spello (Key to Umbria).Depends on: Local quarrels over borders and roads. Stopped by: Papal arbitration or a rector strong enough to impose a truce.

Places of note

  • Rocca of Assisi: Imperial castle pulled down by the townsmen in 1198
  • Narni: Where Conrad of Urslingen submitted to the pope's cardinals in early 1198

Where the sources disagree

  • The campaign notes (Parts 2 and 5) group Spoleto, Assisi and Sora as 'taken back from Conrad of Urslingen in 1198'. The DBI on Conrad of Urslingen lists Cesi, Gualdo and Assisi as what he surrendered; Sora was held by a different German, Conrad of Marlenheim, until 1208 (see Sora).

Evidence: Thick for the 1198 submission and the list of towns (Gesta Innocentii, via Gregorovius and the DBI); thin for the rector and the government of the duchy in 1200.

On the map: The duchy is drawn as one outline from Gualdo and Assisi to Rieti and Narni; its south-eastern edge stops where the Kingdom's Abruzzi began (Leonessa, Cittaducale and the Cicolano lay in the Kingdom). Perugia, Todi, Gubbio and Citta di Castello are shown only by their modern communes, though their contadi were larger.

Primary sources for Papal State

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.

12 more in the sources library for Southern Italy and the Islands.

Sources and studies

  1. Corrado di Urslingen (Treccani, Dizionario Biografico)
  2. Konrad von Urslingen (Vater) (de.wikipedia)
  3. Umbria in the 13th century: Innocent III (Key to Umbria)
  4. F. Gregorovius, Storia della citta di Roma nel medio evo, vol. 5 (Project Gutenberg)
  5. Ducato di Spoleto (it.wikipedia)
  6. Innocenzo III (Treccani, Enciclopedia dei Papi)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.