Siena

Who holds it

Name

Podestà or consuls of 1200 (not pinned; the first podestà, Orlandino Malapresa of Lucca, served in 1199)

Title

The commune

Confidence

low

Lord in 1200

The commune of Siena; Bishop Bono (1189-1215) holds the cathedral and the Vescovado of Murlo.

How things stand that morning

Governed by its commune; in the Tuscan League; hostile to Montalcino and Montepulciano.

Charter

Archbishop Christian of Mainz confirmed the right to coin and ceded San Quirico in 1180 (agreement of 2 February 1180 for his ransom from Marquis Conrad of Montferrat); Henry VI took the mint away after his siege in May 1186 and restored it five months later; Frederick I confirmed free election of consuls and coinage in 1186.

Council

Consuls or a podestà with a council (the council of the bell, Consiglio della campana, reorganised after the first tax register of 1202).

Communities

The hospital of Santa Maria della Scala opposite the cathedral, serving pilgrims on the Francigena; the cathedral canons; merchant kindreds.

Fairs and markets

Weekly markets; the city's great feast is the Assumption of the Virgin (15 August), the cathedral's dedication.

Militia

The city host of knights and foot; sworn rural lords of the Berardenga and the contado.

Walls and castle

Walls round the three ridges of the city (the later terzi of Città, San Martino and Camollia); the old core at Castelvecchio; the cathedral on the hilltop (the present cathedral is begun only in the thirteenth century).

Trade and crafts

Money-lending and exchange, the pilgrim traffic of the Via Francigena, the mint, wool and leather, the salt and grain of the Maremma.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Charters dated in the Enciclopedia Italiana and it.wikipedia; officers that morning not pinned.