Foggia grew from a village round the isolated church of S.
Maria at the end of the eleventh century; it was a fortified place (castrum) by 1125 and by the second half of the twelfth century the most important settlement of the great plain of the Capitanata (the Tavoliere). It backed Tancred in 1190, who meant to give it a bishop, and Walter of Palear, bishop of Troia and later Henry VI's chancellor, made war on it and subdued it. On 1 January 1200 it is a royal town under the regency, a neighbour and old enemy of the chancellor's see.
Who holds it
- Name
- The crown, through its officers (not pinned)
- Title
- Royal demesne town
- Confidence
- medium
Lord in 1200
The king (the regency government); Foggia lies in royal demesne territory and has no bishop (it is in the diocese of Troia).
How things stand that morning
Royal town under the regency; rival of Troia; no record of fighting that winter.
Charter
Not pinned before Frederick II.
Council
Royal officers; no commune.
Communities
Latin townsmen; Jews not pinned for 1200.
Fairs and markets
Not pinned for 1200.
Militia
Citizens' levy; no figures.
Walls and castle
Walled castrum (walls lost in 1229); Frederick II's palace is later (1223).
Trade and crafts
Grain of the Tavoliere and the crossroads of the Capitanata. The great seasonal sheep-droving between the Abruzzi and the Tavoliere, stopped since late antiquity, does not resume before the Angevin age (Federiciana, Capitanata): in 1200 the plain is grain land and small Norman villages (casali), not the winter pasture of the later customs house.
Places of note
- S. Maria (later Icona Vetere): The church round which the town grew
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Federiciana (Foggia, Gualtiero di Palearia).
Primary sources for Sicily
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.
- Annals of Montecassino; Annals of Ceccano (Fossanova) (12th and early 13th centuries; Ceccano to 1217). Two sets of annals from either side of the papal and Sicilian frontier. Read online
- Chronicle of Richard of San Germano, Richard of San Germano (first version about 1216, enlarged to 1243). The fullest southern narrative of the Hohenstaufen kingdom, written by a notary on the border of the Terra di Lavoro. Read online
- Annals of Genoa, by Caffaro and his continuators, with Ogerio Pane for 1197 to 1219, Ogerio Pane and the other official annalists of Genoa (year by year under the commune's authority; the 1197 to 1219 section by Ogerio Pane). The official record of the commune. Read online
- Chronicle of Burchard of Ursberg, Burchard of Ursberg (about 1229 to 1230, reworked by Conrad of Lichtenau). Written a generation later by a fierce partisan of the Staufen and a critic of Innocent III. Read online
- Chronicle of Otto of St Blasien, Otto of St Blasien (about 1209 to 1210). A Swabian continuation of Otto of Freising written from the Staufen side. Read online
- Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
- 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 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
7 more in the sources library for Southern Italy and the Islands.
Sources and studies
- Foggia, Enciclopedia Federiciana (treccani.it)
- Gualtiero di Palearia, Enciclopedia Federiciana (H. Houben, treccani.it)
- Capitanata, Enciclopedia Federiciana (treccani.it)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.