Nursia, St Benedict's birthplace, the chief town of the high Apennine basin of the Piano di Santa Scolastica and the Sibillini, with its mountain villages and pastures.
It is the duchy's mountain frontier: east and south-east lie the upper Tronto castles of Amatrice and Accumoli, under the bishop of Ascoli's lordship (which Norcia will later dispute; they pass to the kingdom only about 1265), and beyond them the kingdom of Sicily's Montereale and Amiternum country; north lie Visso and the March.
Who holds it
- Name
- Consuls (names not pinned)
- Title
- The commune
- Confidence
- low
Lord in 1200
The commune of Norcia, in the mountain basin of the upper Sordo on the duchy's border with the kingdom, under the pope's lordship.
Allies and rivals
Neighbour and rival of Cascia, Spoleto and Visso; rival of the bishop of Ascoli for the upper Tronto castles (later); the kingdom's barons beyond the mountains.
How things stand that morning
Self-governing under the pope; its mountain borders are quiet as far as the sources show for that winter. Across the borders: Amatrice and Accumoli south-east (the bishop of Ascoli's, papal, per abr), Arquata and Ascoli's lands east (anc and abr), the kingdom's Montereale and the Leonessa plateau south (abr), Visso north, Cascia south-west, Spoleto's hills west.
Wealth
Pasture, flocks and mountain trade.
Charter
Not found.
Council
Consuls (names not pinned).
Militia
Mountain levy (no figures).
Walls and castle
Walls on the plain's edge.
Trade and crafts
Sheep and transhumance, pork, the roads from the duchy to the Abruzzi and the March.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: No dated fact for 1199-1200 found; the frontier's state that winter is not pinned.
On the map: Norcia's mountain district is drawn by distance; the upper Tronto (Amatrice, Accumoli) and the kingdom's ground are left to abr's records and the anchors.
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.
- 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
- Chronicle of Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (about 1227 to 1241, at the Cistercian abbey of Trois-Fontaines in Champagne). The widest net of any Latin chronicle for 1200, compiled from dozens of sources, many now lost. Read online
- Chronicle of Andres, William of Andres (about 1220 to 1234). The chronicle and cartulary of a small abbey between Guines and Ardres, near the border of Flanders and Boulogne. 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 Robert of Auxerre, Robert of Auxerre (Robert of Saint-Marien) (about 1190 to 1211; continued at Saint-Marien to 1227). A universal chronicle whose last twenty years are contemporary and well informed from Burgundy and the Auxerrois. 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
12 more in the sources library for Southern Italy and the Islands.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.