The walled city under the Cidneo hill, seat of Bishop Giovanni da Palazzo and of a strong commune with its carroccio and its register of rights (the Liber Potheris).
In its cathedral hangs the enemy carroccio taken at Rudiano in 1191. Its people and its knights are organising in rival sworn societies (San Faustino for the people, the Militi for the knights), each led by a count of the Ugoni kin.
Who holds it
- Title
- the commune (podestà or consuls)
- Confidence
- low
Lord in 1200
The commune; Bishop Giovanni da Palazzo (Church map record).
Charter
Regalia under the Peace of Constance (1183); the Liber Potheris records the commune's rights and judgements (a sentence of 1192 on Volpino among them).
Council
Consuls or podestà and the general council [names for 1200 not pinned]; the society of San Faustino (people) and the Society of the Militi (knights) active by 1200-1201.
Communities
The rural counts as citizens (Ugoni of Montichiari, Mosio, Casaloldo); knightly families (Brusati, Martinengo, Poncarali, Gonfalonieri, Sala); the bishop's vassals.
Militia
City host with a carroccio (it.wikipedia, Battaglia di Rudiano) [no figures].
Walls and castle
City walls [12th-century circuit not pinned]; the Cidneo hill [its fortification in 1200 not pinned].
Trade and crafts
Iron and arms from the valleys; wool and linen; grain and wine; the Garda trade.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Societies and civil strife from it.wikipedia (Ugoni-Longhi) and Winkelmann; officers not pinned.
Primary sources for Brescia
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.
- Chronicle of Sicard, bishop of Cremona, Sicard of Cremona (about 1210 to 1213). A universal chronicle whose last part is a well-placed eyewitness account by a Lombard bishop who served emperors and popes. Read online
- The Lombard city annals of Piacenza, Milan, Cremona, Parma, Mantua and Verona (kept in the 12th and 13th centuries). The communes' own year lists. Read online
Sources and studies
- it.wikipedia, Ugoni-Longhi
- E. Winkelmann, Otto IV., ch. III 'Reichsitalien vor der Kaiserkrönung Otto's IV.' (Jahrbücher der deutschen Geschichte), citing the Annales Cremonenses and Odorici
- it.wikipedia, Battaglia di Rudiano
- it.wikipedia, Castello di Volpino
- M. Pantarotto, notarial script in 12th-century Brescia (Scrineum, 2005)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.