Piacenza

Who holds it

Name

Not pinned for 1 January 1200

Title

Podestà and consuls of the commune

Since

not pinned

Confidence

low

Lord in 1200

The commune (podestà and consuls); the bishop, Grimerio della Porta (since 11 July 1199), holds the cathedral, his palace and the see's lands but no longer rules the city.

Charter

Peace of Constance (1183): regalian rights confirmed, Castell'Arquato restored, rights over the Po recognised; a mint since King Conrad III's grant of 1140 (not checked in a source read for this record).

Council

Consuls and, since 1188, a podestà (the first was the Milanese Iacopo Mainerio), with the city councils; the merchants and craftsmen whose rise forced the change sit beside the old consular families. The names of the councils in 1200 were not found.

Communities

Pilgrims' hospices on the Via Francigena; the monastery of Santa Brigida, the abbey of San Sisto (which holds Guastalla). Jewish or foreign merchant communities in 1200: not pinned.

Militia

The commune's host of knights and foot by city districts; defeated on the Taro on 19 June 1199. No figures in the sources read.

Walls and castle

The city walls of the 12th century (circuit not pinned); the commune's later Palazzo Gotico is of 1281, not yet built.

Trade and crafts

Po shipping and tolls, the Via Francigena trade and pilgrims, money-lending and long-distance trade through Genoa and over the Alps; cloth.

Places of note

• Basilica of Sant'Antonino: First talks of the Peace of Constance

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The city's institutions are attested in outline; the officers of 1200 were not found.

Primary sources for Piacenza

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