Port · Commune of Pisa · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Pisa

The city on the Arno a few miles from the sea, walled on both banks since the 1150s, with its cathedral square at the north-west corner of the walls.

The cathedral was consecrated in 1118; the baptistery has been rising since 1152; the bell tower begun in 1173 stands unfinished, its works halted after the first storeys began to sink. Pisa lives by the sea: its merchants, shipowners and sailors trade to Sardinia, Sicily, Africa, Egypt, Constantinople and the crusader ports, and its harbour is Porto Pisano north of Livorno.

Who holds it

Name
The commune of Pisa; no podestà in office since Count Tedice della Gherardesca's term ended on 10 April 1199 (the officers of 1 January 1200 are not pinned; see the realm record)
Title
Lord of the town
Confidence
low

The monuments, codes and diplomas are dated; the magistrates that morning are not.

Lord in 1200

The commune of Pisa; no podestà in office since Count Tedice della Gherardesca's term ended on 10 April 1199 (the officers of 1 January 1200 are not pinned; see the realm record)

Allies and rivals

See the realm record.

How things stand that morning

The commune holds the city; the factions round the Visconti and the Gherardesca counts are at odds over the chief magistracy. The archbishop, Ubaldo Lanfranchi (since 1176), primate of Sardinia since March 1198, is a Church map record.

Charter

Frederick I's diploma of 6 April 1162; Henry VI's of 1 March 1191 and 30 May 1192. The city's written law, the Constitutum legis and the Constitutum usus, dates from about 1160-61; the consuls swear a breve (oath of office).

Council

The consuls or the podestà, with a senate and the general assembly of citizens. On 1 January 1200 the chief magistracy is vacant or in dispute (see the realm record).

Communities

Foreign merchants; a small Jewish community (Benjamin of Tudela, about 1165); Pisan merchant quarters abroad at Acre, Tyre, Constantinople and Alexandria.

Militia

The city host by quarters and the galley fleet; the knights of the noble families. No numbers in our sources.

Walls and castle

The great wall begun in the 1150s enclosing the north bank and the Kinzica quarter south of the Arno; towers of the noble families inside; the cathedral square inside the north-west angle.

Trade and crafts

Shipping and the carrying trade; the Sardinian and Corsican trade (grain, salt, hides, silver); Elba iron; the salt of the coast; leather and cloth; money-changing; a mint striking Pisan pennies (denari) since the mid-twelfth century.

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 (possibly from April 1199: see the realm record on the Pisan calendar)No supreme magistrate can be elected (DBI on Tedice della Gherardesca).Depends on: The factions staying deadlocked. Stopped by: A compromise or mediation.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The monuments, codes and diplomas are dated; the magistrates that morning are not.

Primary sources for Pisa

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.

Sources and studies

  1. DELLA GHERARDESCA, Tedice (Treccani DBI)
  2. Pisa (Treccani, Federiciana), for the imperial diplomas

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